The Long, Long Saga

Longlong has been a long-time friend and used to be a peer in the workplace for years. An excellent art director, he rendered the layout and images of one of my books, gratis et amore.    

His jokes never failed to make me LOL. But one of my favorites was when he would introduce his long, complicated name (I won’t mention it here for privacy) with his punchline, “Call me Longlong for short.” 

That was in my long list of ideas for a book. And one grace day, voila! It all came together. I made it my handle in "Ready, Set, Focus" (published by CSM), a devotional for children, whose lack of focus is a lament of many teachers. 

After the book was launched at the MIBF, I surprised him and his wife with a copy via courier. His reply was this! LOL,

One of the questions I am often asked in my book talks is, “Where do you get your ideas?” 

My answer may seem like a cop-out, “Everywhere.” 

But, really, they’re all there, wherever you may be, “Look at the germ in non-moving and moving creation with eagle eyes, jot them down in a notebook or park them in your head.” 

To Longlong: a super loooong thank you.  

Read, yes! Understand, no?

That’s basically what many teachers in grade school say about their students. That’s also the result of a PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) research among schoolchildren.  

Comprehension is the problem: no active engagement, no critical thinking, and no interpretation of whatever they are able to read. Sure, they could see and read words, but they cannot grasp their meaning, purpose, or implications.  

This alarming situation prompted one of our church members, Deo (a teacher), to draw up a Literacy Program in one underprivileged community with his wife, Yamie. They were immediately joined by other volunteers to lead 15 children into comprehending the words they read. The project became two-fold!   

While the children were being tutored in our church's classrooms, their parents were invited into a fellowship to meet the Lord. 

The results were amazing! Not only could the children begin to understand what they were reading, their parents started attending our Sunday worship and other church activities, including Sunday school!  

The culmination program came after the 6th week, when the organizers invited me to be the speaker. As I am wont to do during events such as this, I do not deliver a speech, I tell a story. 

I chose “The White Shoes,” a story about treasuring and thanking God for every blessing, big or small. Each kid received a copy as a graduation present.   

The success of this first Literacy Program has inspired the volunteers to make it a continuing project, as a part of our church's 50th anniversary celebration--one community at a time. The Lord's grace never ceases to open doors. 

 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9 NIV    

May All Who Come Behind Us

That phrase is the chorus of the hymn "Find Us Faithful," written in 1987 by Jon Mohr, with music arranged by Steve Green. It’s pretty new for me, compared to the hymns written before the 1900s that I hum daily to keep me going. 

But it never fails to touch my core whenever we sing it in church.  It is based on Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Like Mohr, I pray that my life would serve as a faithful legacy for future generations to follow. 

Legacy . . . is something I think about often these days. And I am grateful that as part of our church’s 50th celebration, the next generation has decided on installing a LEGACY WALL: how the Lord used His people to plant His church in our then new village, and how faithfully He has guided all to make it fruitful through five decades.   

These photos document the unveiling of this wall, with the six remaining pioneers cutting the ribbon.  On both sides (far left and far right) are of the second generation, whose hands now hold the mantle of leadership. 

I have no doubt—the way the church has been alive and alert with younger members at the helm—that when the Lord takes the six remnants home, the next generations (bottom photo) will step up beyond 50 years.   

This LEGACY WALL serves as a nudge of grace.