Red Tape

Jemuel had been retired two years when he finally received his SSS pension. Before then, he was told to retrieve all documents from his past office, which had already closed shop. He was also told to produce affidavits to prove that the person Jemuel M. Vargas was the same as Jemuel Vargas. 

At the SSS office, he begged to see the person in charge of records, but was told that he had to make an appointment. It would have been so easy to explain how, somewhere along the way, the office he was working for had dropped his middle name from some documents. 

Meanwhile, Jemuel’s health was deteriorating and he could hardly commute from one place to another for all the SSS requirements. 

Red tape. 

We are all familiar with how it stretches to years what otherwise could be done in days. 

Contrast this with the way the Lord made Himself so accessible. He even provided us a number of ways to reach Him: praying with our voice, our thoughts, and our pens. We can also listen to Him anytime by reading His Word.  

At any moment we can talk to the Creator of the universe! Not only are we welcomed into His presence, we are also invited, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." (Hebrews 4:16 NLT).

“Let us come boldly.” No ID card, no password, no waiting time, and no appointment necessary to reach our heavenly Father. 

No red tape.     

In fact, we are told, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need . . . Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand . . .” ( Philippians 4:6-7) 

Grace is more accessible than anything we can think of.     

Finest Art in Flight

Every morning, since the pandemic began, Tony and I would spend our time savoring grace on the terrace: read the day’s newspapers and solve their crossword puzzles; read books; discuss about or argue over politics; catnap; review old photo albums; watch Mother Teresa water our garden; and enjoy the sight and sound of many birds. 

These flying marvels come and visit because our house is surrounded with trees. They sway with the branches and chirp our virus fears away. Some hover comfortably above us. 

Perhaps because of the summer heat, we see various migratory birds from cold places. 

“Look! That bird looks unusual,” Tony said one morning, pointing to a stunning work of art in flight, not much bigger than his thumb but with a tail three times its body size! 

I clicked my phone camera and tried to research online what it might be called. 

I had read up on birds before and in fact blogged about their colors, but I could not find the same exact bird in my camera. So I typed "rare birds" and eureka! I found tons of other unusual birds, which took my breath away!  

Sometime ago I also oohed and aahed over rare flowers and blogged about them. It was an underwhelming post, if one were to imagine all of the flowers that God has created. 

Now comes another word-deficient post—on rare birds. Of the over 100 rare birds (from different places in the world) I pored over, I am sharing photos of only 12 for lack of space. 

Each of these birds is a perfect example of the finest of fine arts in flight. Their beauty is indescribable and the reason for their creation is unexplained. 

We can only take a hint (our wisdom for understanding is finite) from Scripture:  

“Then God said . . . ‘Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.’ So God created . . . every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply.” (Genesis 1:20-23 NLT) 

Do you know of a bird photographer who has taken the photos of all birds of every kind?   

Tools, Not Schools

Many people today (and that includes me) rely on the Internet too much that we take what we read as gospel truth—and so they become schools, institutions for education. 

Google is now also a verb—a useful action word when we want quick answers to our questions. Professors scratch their heads (or bang them on the wall?) when they read student papers with cyber info put together, minus critical thinking. 

And today, the chatbot is all the rage. All one has to do is ask a question and voila, the answer comes! 

Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant are now members of many households. Then just recently, ChatGPT was launched to answer questions of practically anything on many areas of endeavor.  

The sad truth is, Internet data and information are simply tools. We still need to sift, analyze, and re-check them before we come into conclusions. 

I tried chatGPT to test how accurate it is. I used myself as guinea pig because only I know all facts about me. All the areas underlined in red are either wrong or no data.   

In sum, this chatbot does not really collate all Internet data—not about me anyway. It gives erroneous information that could mislead all readers, except me.  

My advice to students and to everyone, including me, is: let us look at information from the Net, no matter how advanced the creators claim it is, as simply TOOLS. They are not substitute for SCHOOLS. 

Critical thinking is key to learning. We need to listen to our professors or our bosses, or those who have the original, authentic wisdom and knowledge that the Internet appropriates for popularity, and eventually for money. 

"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." (James 1:5 NLT)

Day of Forests

Today, 21 March, has been declared by the UN Forest and Agriculture Organization as International Day of Forests. We celebrate the ways in which forests and trees sustain and protect us. 

Sustain and protect . . . how? 

“They purify the air we breathe, filter the water we drink, prevent erosion, and act as an important buffer against climate change. Forests offer a home to much of the world's diverse array of plants and animals and provide essential natural resources from timber and food to medicinal plants.” (World Wildlife Fund Inc.) 

Together, we must guard against any form of deforestation. We need to tend and watch over God's creation.

Photo credit: Unsplash/Waren Brasse

March 17: Green Day Memories

As a part-time girl Friday, I had to finish my errands before rushing to my classes at the Chicago Art Institute. I took my job seriously because it earned me some money to augment my meager allowance. 

“Hey, Grace, come! This won’t take a few minutes!” my big, burly boss called. When he as much as whimpered, I moved. He and the rest of the staff were looking down from our 17th floor window. 

“Aaahhh!” Ooohhh!” 

The Chicago river turned green! I pinched myself, trying to wake me up from fantasy land. But the green river was real! It was March 17 (never mind the year), St. Patrick’s Day. On this day, everything turned green—not with envy, but with a celebration only the Irish can pull off. 

St. Patrick’s Day originally started as a Christian feast day celebrating the life of this important man for spreading Christianity in Ireland in the late 5th century. But the day has mutated into a time of revelry and a celebration of all things Irish. Many people wear green, wear lucky charms like the four-leaf clover, and drink green beer. 

Why green? In 1798, the year of the Irish Rebellion, this color became officially associated with the day when they sang the song “The Wearing of the Green,” tying the color’s relevance to Irish history.

I remember that Chicago green day today and thank the Lord for those grace experiences that livened up my busy, struggling student days.     

Let me leave you, my cyber friends, with my favorite Irish blessing as we yelp, TGIF! 

May the road rise to meet you,

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

International Women's Day 2023

In Scripture, when God created man, He did not create a person with no gender. He made a distinction: man and woman. 

“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 

And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."  (Genesis 2:21-23 KJV) 

Since 1908, women have been demanding for better conditions in workplaces. Two years later, Clara Zetkin, leader of the “women's office” for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, proposed in a conference the celebration every year of an International Women's Day—to press for demands.

And so on March 8 this year, we again celebrated this special day. 

While I agree that women have less say in all aspects of politics and the economy, I celebrate the day not to push for reforms but to thank the Lord for creating women. We have been given roles to play, as outlined in the Bible.     

This year, I am grateful to the National Library of the Philippines (NLP) for featuring women writers, whose books they carry, in an exhibit. 

The books I write are of grace; by grace, at the NLP, more readers will find them and be reminded of their own gifts of grace.  

Testy and Cranky

Many young people perceive seniors to be testy and cranky. 

“I have a right to be!” exclaimed Mr. Ogaras. “I have paid my dues. I don’t owe anybody anything anymore.” 

Well, older adults get crotchety not because they think they are entitled to it, but because, according to Ali, a psychologist, “Seniors know their longevity is running out. They no longer earn as much as they did, yet their medical needs cost more than their Social Security pension. Then there are the physical discomforts—aches, pains, constipation, rheumatism, etc.—that come with the decay of the human body.” 

“May I add,” said a friend in her 70s, “Adult children who use Mom and Dad for babysitting or being there when needed, take some spark out of us. Of course, I enjoy this new role, but since we are just their hands and no longer in control, we feel helpless sometimes.”  

“As they say, ‘He who has the gold makes the rules,’” sneered Mr. Ogaras.  

“That’s where the testiness and crankiness come in,” Ali said, laughing. 

Many of us seniors may plead guilty to these bouts of bad behavior, which cause misery to the people at the receiving end. Being pleasant, then, is the route to go—a deliberate daily endeavor.  

How? 

Scripture can help us. It details a virtue that corrects unpleasantness: gentleness. It is the quality of being kind, mild-mannered, and gracious. “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (Ephesians 4:2 NLT)

Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”  

Gentleness towards others is a struggle. Oh, how we need gobs of grace do it—every single day!  

When a Good Deed Goes Bad

It was a perfect day to celebrate the almost-end of the pandemic. As we no longer hear of hospitals being overcrowded with people sick with Covid-19, I declared myself safe to go out. 

A friend, who just arrived from her US vacation, and whom I have not seen for three years, called and declared, “Let’s have coffee and catch up!” 

“Let’s!” 

We met in a coffee shop and chatted till our voices turned hoarse. We each rode a tricycle (also my first in three years!) to go home. 

“How much is the fare now?” I asked the driver. 

“Fifty pesos,” he said quickly. 

Euphoric over my rare day out, I gave him P100 and told him to keep the change. “From Leni,” I joked.

He froze for a few seconds then thawed. Behind his mask I could “see” a big smile. He exclaimed over a dozen “thank yous.” 'Twas a good deed to punctuate my rare day out.  

Teresa met me by the door and said, “Isn't it shocking that the tricycle fare jumped from 25 pesos then to 39 now?"  

“What?! But the driver charged me 50!” 

“Haha,” she laughed, “you were duped!” 

I suddenly remembered the sardonic phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished.”  Acts of kindness backfire on those who offer them. 

Are random acts of kindness a thing of the past? I thought, as the tricycle driver morphed into an enemy in my mind.  

Feeling distraught, I recalled my go-to grace verse found in Luke 6:27 (ESV), “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great.”

Call me naive, but I can’t allow one bad tricycle driver to stop me from doing a kind deed. 

If It Ain’t Broke

There is an an unwritten agreement in advertising: if the ad is still working well, don’t touch it because the change can be risky—it will either succeed or fail. 

Eventually, however, because of changing consumer behavior and trends, the ad has to be replaced.  

In sum, nothing on earth stays the same. Even if things are working well today, they can bog down tomorrow. 

After the rain, streets get flooded; after an earthquake, a mountain could disappear; after a volcanic eruption, a whole village could be buried; after a fire, structures and even people turn to ashes.  

The same is true with man and all living things. 

We are born, we grow up, we grow old, then we die. In life, our hair falls off, our bones atrophy, our muscles weaken, our skin wrinkles, our mind dulls, etc. Science has come up with theories about matters of consequence, only to be debunked by new discoveries. 

There is only One that never, ever changes—our Creator and everything about Him: His Word, His blessings, His authority, His plans, and His love for us.     

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8 NLT) 

“The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)  

“. . . the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken." (Psalm 33:11)

“Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” (Matthew 24:35)  

If it ain’t broke . . . “’For the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then my faithful love for you will remain. My covenant of blessing will never be broken,’ says the Lord, who has mercy on you.” (Isaiah 54:10) 

Join me in a prayer of thanksgiving: For manifesting faithful love and abundant grace in the dark and bright phases of my life, thank You, Lord. Amen.

Photo credit

24-Hour Love Collage

Separated by time and space, exacerbated by the pandemic, my siblings and I have not seen each other for almost three years. We had to make do with group chats and photos sent via cyberspace. 

But nothing can take the place of face-to-face get-together—hugging, chatting, catching up, reminiscing, and doing everything together. 

We had that rare chance this month, but only for 24 hours.  My brother Earl and his wife, Tess, are on a short 13-day visit from Australia, so their schedule is tight.  

We were ecstatic when they said they would hop over to our place with four others—my sister, sis-in-law, and niece. Bliss. 

A blog is not enough to record all the wondrous things that happened. I made a collage of all our photos shared on the Net by whomever took them to document the love. 

But then, again, love cannot be recorded with words and images. Only our heart can, and only by grace.

John 15:12: "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."

Growing into a Goliath

Underdogs in different organizations (business, sports, politics, etc.) use what is called “David strategies” to overcome Goliaths—the biggies, leaders and favorites. 

This of course originated from the oft-told Bible story of David, the shepherd boy who slew the celebrated warrior, Goliath. The concept is simplistic: Goliath represents life’s giant problems around us, which we could conquer if, like David, we have God in our lives. God will do the fighting for us. 

I held on to this simple concept all my life—till now. 

Although I wholeheartedly believe that we cannot fight our own battles without God, I came upon a more profound lesson from David and Goliath. It is one of the many blessings of the pandemic, while worshiping at home, and listening to a pastor's message online. 

“Goliath is arrogant, full of Himself. Hailed as a great, undefeated warrior, he does evil in God’s sight,” he said from the pulpit. “When we have achieved fame and amassed riches in life, we think we are invincible in our 9’9” frame and—knowingly or unknowingly—we lord it over everyone smaller or less than us. In this state, we are Goliath; we do not need God.” 

The world’s view of success and how we achieve it make us grow into a Goliath. We pursue power and fortune as the world defines them. This thought occupies our being; we claim our successes as the products of our own strengths. We ignore the role of the Lord in our lives.    

“We need to fight the giant we have become," the pastor continued. "But on our own, we cannot. Without God, David could not have trounced Goliath. We need the Lord to curse the giant in us, the way He cursed the Israelites when they did evil in His land."  

This fight between the big warrior and the small shepherd foreshadowed the coming of Jesus. People expected our Savior to be a warrior who would crush the Romans. 

Instead, He took on the enemy of Israel (and the world): SIN. He defeated it in an unexpected way—by dying for our sins on the cross.

We face Goliath every day—externally (slave to the good things in life) and internally (slave to sin). But when we put our trust in Jesus, and totally depend on His grace unknown and beyond degree, we will know that our achievements are not about laurels, cash, and earthly glory. It’s about Jesus. Only Jesus.  

Photo credit 

A Celebratory Selfie

In Chicago, when I was young and restless, I aced my class in photography. I only had what we called a Brownie camera in those days, while my classmates had professional doodads.  

But my teacher always gave me an A+ for creativity in all assignments, because every single one was out-of-the-box.  Unfortunately, all those shots were part of my portfiolio which became school property. I misplaced the negatives and never got them reprinted. 

Today, photography is a different ballgame. Cameras now are part of our phones and selfies are as  natural as breathing.  

Born in the Jurassic period, I don’t take selfies. But one day this love month, I was in a celebratory mood. My sister messaged me that my “change of name” to my real name, Grace, has been approved by the powers-that-be. Finally I got rid of Mary Grace!  So I took a selfie of Grace to commemorate the breakthrough. 

As you can see, it’s anything but celebratory. How can a photographer angle a camera properly when the subject is herself? The lights, shadows, composition, distance—they could not be tamed. Where has “say cheese” gone? 

Nonetheless, no one can crush a cheerful spirit. I uploaded my non-celebratory, celebratory selfie to mark the special day. It got over 300 heart emojis.   

Just about the same time. I received a digital portrait of me from a friend.  I uploaded it also to my FB page, and it got over 300 emojis! This is his perception of me, wow, a far cry from my somber selfie, which is my reality. 

The only similarity between them is the  color PINK.  

Both perception and reality celebrate the day I am finally and legally the Grace I have always been. 

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverb 17:22 

Valentine's Day 2023

 "Hatred stirs up quarrels, but love makes up for all offenses." Proverbs 10:12 (NLT) 

"We love each other because he loved us first." 1 John 4:19 

Saying "Yes"

Our pastor was quite emphatic behind the pulpit that Sunday morning, “Heed God’s call every single time! Don’t ever miss an opportunity to tell His story.” He then enumerated familiar excuses of people in avoiding jobs for the Lord: 

In our women’s gathering after the service, we discussed a forthcoming event that needed a speaker. Nobody volunteered. So the president of our group said, “Grace was our speaker the last time, so can we have a volunteer?” 

“Blessie!” exclaimed a chorus of voices.

“Oh no, no, no!” she said. “I am not a good speaker.” 

Someone jokingly nudged her, “Remember the message half an hour ago? We need to heed every call from God. This is an opportunity for you to speak about Him.” 

Blessie blushed and said in a tiny voice, “I am sorry, Lord. If you are calling me, I will come.” 

We gave her a prolonged applause.  

When God asks us to do something out of our comfort zone, we become fearful. But we must always remember that every call from God is an opportunity to say, “yes,” trusting His wisdom and not our own.   

At the event, everyone was immensely blessed by Blessie's message, spoken with passion and conviction:  

By her example, let’s go back to His promise in Isaiah 41:10, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” 

May He continually give us power and joy so we can say “yes” to what He wants us to do, even if it is something out of our comfort zone. 

000

This blog was written before the pandemic; I am re-uploading it in memory of Sis Blessie, who turned her back on her lucrative career as a metallurgical engineer to say "yes" to her role as a Pastor's wife—raising three daughters, who are all just as passionate in serving the Lord. 

Sis Blessie again said "yes" to the Lord on Tuesday this week when He called her home to join her husband and all those who faithfully served Him in this temporal place. Although we mourn her leaving us so soon, we rejoice because she is now in that perfect place where we shall worship God together again, someday. 

More importantly, she left us a lasting legacy of saying "yes" to the Lord whenever He calls.   

Three in One (Part 2)

Blogging about my first three-in-one grace, for which I am exceedingly grateful, is as gleeful as drinking it. 

My second one is not for me alone—but for the whole household, which includes Tony, sons #1 and #3, Attorney and Judge (our pet dogs), and Sammy, son #3’s weekday driver. 

Her name's Teresa.   

For almost three years now, since the Covid-19 lockdown, she has been a part of our family. She used to be a three-times-a-week-part-time househelp, but in March 2020, she had to stay in to avoid being infected while coming and going.  

Since we lost Ate Vi+ (our trusted househelp for eons, who always needed an assistant or two), we could no longer hire one as dependable as she was. So we had to make do with part-timers who came and went within weeks or months. 

Now this! 

Teresa is three Ate Vi-and-her-assistants rolled into one. There isn’t anything she can’t do. She is constantly moving—cleaning, gardening, sewing, re-arranging furniture, fixing leaking roofs, finding unused items and using them, serving us, caring for our dogs, cooking, etc. etc.

She is a spoiler too. She won’t allow Tony or me to help with her chores. As a mother, she constantly calls her children to make sure they are okay.    

In the beginning, she was insecure about her kitchen non-talent, but by watching the Net and chefs from all over the world, she has become an international chef herself. 

We hardly dine out these days as we were wont to do weekly, not because of virus fear, but because she can cook them all. She orders her ingredients from son #3 who sources them online.  

She is with us at a perfect time: when Tony can no longer navigate the kitchen and stairs as he used to; when JR has been assigned big responsibilities in the university where he is now dean; when JC transitioned our medical transcription (MT) school into online learning that requires his constant presence; and when I am stressed out over alien technology as the invited speaker for online book talks,  as our MT school’s English trainor, and as our church’s Sunday school facilitator for the women’s group—while writing.   

Teresa freed us from housework so we can focus on our new loads.  

I have always believed that the Lord makes us feel His love when we so thirst for it. In our case, as we slogged through the fearsome pandemic and the disorienting changes it brought to our lives, He sent us not one, but three angels in (mother) Teresa.  

New New Year's Resolution (Part 2)

My last blog was about an old lady (who had recently passed on) and her last new year’s resolution. It was life-changing for me to discover what she had realized in her sunset years. 

It won’t be long now before my hands will be gnarled as hers were, and as she did, I stopped sometime ago making a new list of what to improve on in my life. I guess at the back of a senior’s mind is that, my world has shrunk, my faculties have weakened, there is nothing I can still resolve to do that would dramatically affect my circles. 

The repetition of the word “new” in my title is intentional. There is something new about new year’s resolutions upon reaching a certain age. Mine started coming again last year when I got involved in the presidential run of Atty. Leni Robredo. 

Before then, I had given up on public officials and the problems they bring—corruption, greed, and impunity, among them. But when she decided to run, I  witnessed the enthusiasm of the youth (and those younger than I am). I jumped in. The passion and energy were catching. 

They sucked me into working for a better-run Philippines, as symbolized by PINK, the campaign color they chose.  

Since then, I had likewise carried PINK as the symbol for hope. 

But my hope goes further than politics. It is based on Scripture, on what God said to the Israelites, who had become rebellious, “I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed.” Ezekiel 36:26 (The Message) 

It isn’t I or anyone who has the power to change hearts. This I knew since my years in advertising. I dealt wth a motley group of characters (atheists, LGBT, polygamists, etc.), but unlike Chita, I never dared change their hearts, or wars could have erupted. 

That’s probaly why I am a writer. Words can be read without the author arguing her point and losing control of her emotions. 

That’s probably why, today, I have also embraced the role of a teacher in Sunday School among women. They are faith sisters by grace and fellow students of the Word—the wellspring of hope.

I’ve digressed. 

My new new year’s resolutions are 10 verbs that  have been affirmed by my involvement in the PINK campaign, and collectively taken as a Noun: Jesus. 

New New Year’s Resolution (Part 1)

“New Year’s resolutions are for the young,” Chita laughed when asked by her seven-year-old grandson where she kept her written list.       

“Why don’t you make them anymore?” he wondered.    

“Go ahead, make a list," she replied, rememberning what her list was like many years ago. 

"Look,” she added, showing her shriveled, arthritic hands. “These can only flip pages of books, but can no longer write a list.” 

In truth, Chita had made a new resolution in her mind. It was something her grandson could not yet understand. It was drawn from one of her Bible readings (Romans 14:1-13 NLT) during the Christmas season. 

She likened it to a special present wrapped in grace, because it talked to her in a personal way. 

The verses made her examine herself. Now advancing in years, she was becoming more and more judgmental, thinking that with her vast experience and intimacy with the Bible, she knew more than any believer younger than her—and expected them to follow her stringent rules.   

Verse 13 particularly affected her, almost rebuking her, “So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.” 

Like the Romans in Jesus’ time, Chita realized that she had been too insistent for others to adhere to certain behaviors, not really explicitly written in the Bible.  

Like Chita, we, who no longer write our list of New Year’s resolutions, can perhaps include this verse in our mind’s list. It is to encourage fellow believers to walk with God, instead of setting up roadblocks that can cause them to stumble and fall.    

The Three Pasketeers

The year 2022 was a challenging time for our church. Over and above the pandemic, there was a leadership vacuum that had our elders doing this and that, trying to fill in where there were gaps.  

But the Lord never leaves gaps unattended too long. He closes them. And he fixed those gaps with three young pastors whom he lined up to help with His ministries.  

I now reflect, with much gratitude, on how all this happened in God’s own time. I am leaving out the details as this blog is not about disgrace but the opposite—the grace that comes just when we need it, and plucks us out of the tragic to bring us to epic (a term young people today use to mean: awesome). 

These three gap-closers were seen together one day having a tete-a-tete.  Their photos were uploaded to FB and Mitch, a faith sister, quickly called them. “The Three Pasketeers!” 

It's a perfect pun on Alexandre Dumas’ book, “The Three Musketeers.”  

The similarity, however, ends with the word three. Our pastors' task was to join hands with the church board to keep the transition in God’s work seamless. Let me call it a grace triad.   

Because they are young and upbeat . . . 

    • the youth and children are drawn to them; and the older ones spare nothing to support them;    

    • their messages are down-to-earth, earnest, and authentic;  

    • they unabashedly ask for help where they feel they have failings; 

    • their youthful energy and passion in serving the Lord is palpable, as they enliven our worship services;

    • their work ethic is collegial, acceptive of suggestions for growth.

      

How refreshing to work alongside them! 

We all know that feeling when we work alone. We get exhausted and burned out. Why? Because God never meant it to be that way.

In Ecclesiastes 4:9 (NLT), God tells us, “Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.” When we work as a team, we get so much more done. Plus, having open and receptive teammates is fun and encouraging.  

A special energy comes from being part of a shared mission for Jesus. Just in time last year, The Three Pasketeers joined God’s Mission team in our church at crunch time.   

In our faith journey, we cannot do everything alone. We need other people to walk with us, just as those people also need us. As we share the burden of our work with fellow Christians, we can  actually accomplish more for God. 

This, to me, is what The Three Pasketeers symbolize. Bonded together, we respond to Jesus’ call for us to be one, working hand-in-hand in a circle for His glory. 

“May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus."  Romans 15:5-6 

Fad Diet

A fad diet, or novelty diet, is a program for losing weight that is popular for a time. It is similar to fads in fashion, which come and go. This diet promises unreasonably fast weight loss and health improvements.

Those who perceive themselves as being fat fall for a fad diet. Let me narrate a story that happened prior to the pandemic.

Deux at 5’7” (aged 32) weighed 200 pounds (from 140) after binge-eating during the Christmas season.

His close friends who saw him after his weight gain teased, “Oh, Santa Claus has not gone home!” 

Deux had had enough of their ribbing. He decided to follow a fad diet. He lost 25 pounds on the first week. Then on the second week, he was rushed to the hospital because of breathing difficulty. His body could not take the drastic diet change.  

Abandoning his fad diet, Deux’s body ballooned again—back to Santa Claus proportions. 

A fad diet can help one lose weight, but there are consequences. Unless the dieter goes through the process of changing his eating and other bad habits, he is likely to gain back his original weight. 

Deux’ doctor advised him to stop drinking and smoking, sleep eight hours a night, and  walk daily. In six months, he lost 30 pounds, and was on his way to his ideal weight.    

Our body is not our own; it’s grace from God, who bought it with a steep price.  

In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, we are advised, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” 

It is necessary for every believer in Jesus to take care of his body, instead of making excuses like, “Christmas eating comes only once a year.” I hope we remembered this and did not overeat last Christmas.   

 geriatric doctor said, “Many senior people today are on maintenance medicines because of ailments that could have been avoided had they taken care of their bodies in their younger years.”   

Ouch. 

Poles Apart

Ambivalence—that sums up my feelings for years about Santa Claus. 

Like many Christians, I abhorred this obese man’s intrusion into our celebration of the Holy Birth. Parents use him as the symbol of gift giving and therefore, to many kids, this carricature in red is the personification of Christmas.  

On the other hand, I liked what it meant to children—if you’ve been good and nice, Santa will give you a gift/s on Christmas. A perfect example of what psychologists term as Operant Conditioning (carrot and stick).  

As I aged, travelling through valleys and dirt roads with faith in my heart, I came to realize that Santa and the Reason for the season are poles apart (or more like apples and oranges). In fact, there is no comparison whatsoever. God created all poles, the North Pole being just one of them. 

The red, rolly-polly character squeezes his cholesterol-laden heavy body into chimneys to deliver gifts. He diasappears after Christmas—to re-appear again the next year on the same date. 

On hindsight, I wish I hadn't dismissed Santa as a non-entity. I could have explained his cameo role in my young sons’ Christmases, for them to better ingest and digest the never-ending-never-sleeping Source of moment-by-moment grace, Who became flesh on Christmas, then only to wear a crown of thorns and die for us on the cross.    

Thankfully, as now adults, they celebrate Christmas for what it really is: the day the greatest Gift is given to all men, no matter what kind we mght be, whether we've been good or bad. 

   

Treasure from a Snail

Snail mail has been deleted from our modern lingo. With technology, messaging is at real time, faster than a cheetah.  

In olden days, the snail was a bringer of treasure. The waiting took days and nights of excited anticipation. Then when the mail finally arrived, a sacred ritual ensued: from carefully opening the envelope to joyfully reading the message handwritten by the sender. You could feel his/her heart and soul  with every word. 

On January 1 this year, son #3 asked me to look for a document I might have filed by mistake. Instead, I found one snail mail I received 10 years ago! 

What makes it a treasure? It came from someone I never met. Let me quote parts of it . . . 

“Two years ago, someone gave me a copy of Gifts of Grace. I read it in just two days. Then I read it again slowly and took notes. After a while, I began lending it to my friends, mostly Pastors’ wives like me.  Unfortunately, it never returned so I asked my daughter in Manila to buy me another copy . . . 

“Last Christmas, she gave me a copy of Grace Found Me. Again, in just two days, I finished reading it, then went back to read daily and slowly.”

What this snail mail tells

 me is that my books go to places I may never set foot in, and that they minister to different types of people. In this case, a church worker.  

Now, why would I re-discover it on the first day of the year? Well, I take it as reminder that I have a job to do.  I have to finish that book I was assigned by CSM, my publisher, to write. But I had mimicked the speed of the snail by writing too slowly due to distractions like holiday activities and such. 

So now it’s back to the “work” I love. I hope to mimic the cheetah, a creation built for speed and grace.  

My New* Bible

Every Christmas, after our traditional turkey dinner, I look forward to unwrapping a gift with my new Bible for the next year. My excitement is not being presumptuous. Every single year, since 2009, son #1 has made it his tradition to give me a new Bible translation. 

In the last few Christmases, I received a different translation of the chronological Bible. It’s safe to say I am one of those who have a complete collection of all the translations. 

The last one in 2021 is not a chronological Bible. It follows a daily reading plan that includes portions from the Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, and New Testament, aiming to read through the entire Bible in 365 days.   

It came in time for my assignment in church as the Sunday school facilitator for the women’s group in March 2022. It has all the information and assistance in looking for resources I needed to deeply understand each lesson. 

This new Book of grace is my staple reading for the year 2023. 

It has daily insights from Pastor-Teacher Dr. John MacArthur.

The Bible is the one and only Book that keeps giving, blessing, teaching, guiding, enlightening, inspiring, reminding, affirming, and rebuking when one goes astray. 

As an author on grace, I refer to over a dozen Bible translations for better understanding. But whichever Bible translation you prefer to read, the Holy Spirit will guide you to understand and be enriched by it. 

“Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:29 NKJV 

*New is a misnomer. God’s Word has been here from the beginning of time (John 1:1).  

Familicious

Can you think of anything more delicious than a holiday with family? I can’t. 

A holiday is a dish that combines the authentic ingredients of idling, laughing, relaxing, exchanging gifts, bantering, reminiscing, feasting, and simply being. Now, add the exotic flavor enhancer called family and wow, it’s nothing but a chef-d'oeuvre! 

After almost three years of being corralled by Covid-19 at home, Tony, two of our three sons, and I finally dared risk spending precious two days bonding with my siblings and their families who reside in the Philippines. 

We met on the 69th floor of an airbnb building, where we had an unrestricted view (and mind tour) of the whole of Makati and neighboring districts. It’s the next best thing to visiting them all. 

There were 14 of us—divided right down the middle: seven seniors and seven fireballs. Again it’s the next best thing to having the complete family together (19 are in the US and Australia).  

During these difficult times, we make do with what is available to us (these are more than we deserve, actually) and be exceedingly grateful for them. 

Within those two days, we watched old videos and laughed till we cried;  played games like Jeopardy and Bingo, the mechanics of which the seniors never got right; had meals—some room-cooked, some in restos across the street; attended our 78th Clan Reunion online where we worshiped the Lord together and honored traditions of remembering loved ones now in home eternal. After that, our mikes were unmuted and a rowdy tete-a-tete went into many chaotic directions. It was perfect. 

One of my nephews bought a high-end camera to document his first born’s birth. But the birth is yet to come, so the 69th floor denizens were beneficiaries of his test shots. 

My siblings, except for Earl in Australia, and I

Yet no state-of-the-art camera can ever capture or record the grace of bliss. Again, the next best thing is to borrow emojis to see and listen to the fullness of joy. 

Taken together, these emojis taste familicious. 

We pray for a blessed 2023.  "Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil." Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT

What’s Up in 2023?

 It’s another new year on planet Earth. What’s in store for us earthlings?  

Will it be (to borrow Charles Dickens' words) the best of times or the worst of times? The years 2020, 2021, and 2022 were appropriated by the Covid-19 pandemic that bought our economy to its knees. And worse, our presidential election brought our values to the gutter.      

What’s up in 2023? 

We do not know. 

What I do know, as a Christian, is what I have experienced in my faith journey all through the new years of my life.   

My Saviour, Jesus Christ, the King Who became poor so He could save me from my sins, and so I could live with Him in His Kingdom forever as soon as (to borrow Shakespeare's famous soliloquy in Hamlet), I have shuffled off this mortal coil is:  

“. . . the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8 (NIV)  

In lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV), we read, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” 

It’s a new morning, the first one this year 2023. It may still be fraught with worldly troubles, but it will be another grace-filled year! 

GIF 

Our 2022 Christmas Turkey: The Backstory

Not that anyone is interested (ha, ha!) except me and perhaps Tony, but my fingers are raring to write about it. The writing itch is something I can't ignore; it needs to be scratched.   

One of my first grace blogs in 2006 was about our turkey dinner tradition on Christmas eve. It has not been broken yet—not even during the pandemic. What we broke was the preparation. Tony used to do the bird, with the help of our longtime househelper, Ate Vi. 

Somewhere down the road, Tony gave up. Son #3, with his youthful evergy, immediately took over.  This new chef, however, has a different style from Tony’s, who winged it every single year.  

For this young heir, everything has to be scientific—to the letter—from a recipe he meticulously chose from many.  All ingredients should be original; no alternatives allowed. 

But Ate Vi passed on, and son #3 became a lawyer, swamped with too many stressful court cases. We decided to simply order one. 

It was a major error. The taste could not even come close to any of our past turkeys. So the next year, we decided to go on a staycation in a hotel that served turkey on Christmas eve. For three years we did that—if only to honor the tradition. 

Guess what came next. The Covid-19 pandemic. Son #3 decided to take on the challenge once more, because an Ate Vi in the person of Mother Teresa (marooned in our home) was a perfect sous chef. 

This is our third Christmas dinner where he did the turkey—and it always elicits comments from us, “This is the best one yet!”

Because I hardly go out anymore, I had been able to document the turkey prep step-by-step, from defrosting to serving. It is tedious. It is time consuming. It takes a passion for cooking to master it. 

My three sons inherited that passion from their father. Now, please spare my feelings by not asking what genes they got from me. Ha, ha! 

Worth a Thousand Words

Pictures populate social media the day after Christmas. On my wall, I see nothing but beautiful and colorful pictures of people laughing in a group shot, eating scrumptious food, opening expensive gifts, and basking in activities worth freezing in photos.  

The adage, "A picture is worth a thousand words" is true in every shot. One does not have to use words to explain the meaning of the celebration. 

Before taking pictures, we put on make-up, comb our hair, wear our best clothes, arrange the food and the decor—all art directed to elicit oohs and aahs from the  beholder.   

But what those pictures (at least those uploaded to the Net) do not convey are the stories behind them, or what happened before and after they were taken. Those are  actually worth more than a thousand words. 

Our own photos on Christmas eve (below), for instance, which were taken by son #1 and  uploaded to His FB wall, went through some (okay, lotsa) art-direction. The layout of the table, the décor in the background, the angle of the camera, yadda-yadda-yadda—these took more time than the picture-taking itself. 

This is not to say that picture-taking is a sham. All I mean is that pictures really do paint a thousand words, but the scenes behind them paint volumes more. 

Try looking at your photos many years later. The unpainted words come flashing back—from each of our own perception of the experience. There is no single story in a picture,  but there are memories (good or bad) worth going back to, because they are a part of what we have become today. 

While we’re at it, I’ll peek at my old albums of Christmases past with our three young sons. I want to give thanks to the Lord once again for those pictures He painted with grace. 

Red and Green

Red and green are the two colors that are closely associated with Christmas. 

Once I wore a red and green printed dress to a summer get-together with close friends, and I became the center of playful teasing.

“I didn’t realize it’s already Christmas!” “Oh, no, I haven’t wrapped my Christmas gifts yet.” Some even sang “Joy to the world!” 

Why indeed do red and green remind everyone of Christmas? Nobody knows for certain, but there are many tales or theories that explain it. 

My favorite, of course, refers to the Reason why Christians celebrate Christmas: Jesus.  

Red represents the blood He shed for us at His  crucifixion. Green pertains to the evergreen tree that remains green through all seasons, including a long, deadly winter. It's a metaphor for the everlasting season, where we will be forever green in eternal life, after our earthy death—if we accept, in our heart, Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. 

These symbols, which have been going around the Net in various stylized graphics, explain it best. 

Grace Came Down

A Christmas reflection:   

In fact and in truth, man can't do or be anything—not even breathe—without God's grace. Every good thing on this planet called Earth is by God’s grace. All our smarts, skills, possessions, accomplishments, and successes are by His grace alone. 

Without His grace we wouldn't even be here celebrating the day Grace actually came down from His lofty throne to a lowly manger, all because of His unspeakable, unconditional love for you and me.   

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16 (KJV) 

Merry Christmas dear family and friends!  

Well-loved Speck

In relation to the vast universe, man is just a teeny-weeny speck. Consider these scientific statistics: “The earth’s sun belongs to a galaxy called the Milky Way. Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies.”

Now let’s translate that into images that the naked eye can see: if all the stars in our sky  were only the size of pin head, they still would fill the Philippine Arena to overflowing, more than two billion times. 

Mind boggling, isn’t it? 

What’s even more incredible is that the God who created those twinklers that surround the immense cosmos loves us!  He loves not only the whole humanity, but loves you and me individually. So if we think of ourselves as important, we are—to the Creator of  unimaginable galaxies.    

John 3:16-17 (NLT) paints this for us beautifully and implicitly: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” 

Scientists might think we are astronomically insignificant, but God considers us worthy to be in His loving care. He demonstrated this by coming to Earth to be with us on Christmas!  

We may ask, I am just a tiny speck in the bodies of stars up there all over and God wants me to live with him for eternity?  

“But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God." (John 1:12-13) 

On Christmas, may we all celebrate God’s greatest Gift to tiny specks like us.