Ramblings Intérieurs

Philippine Daily Inquirer

100. Philippine Daily Inquirer

Finally, I reached the 100th mark for my list of reasons to be happy and thankful that I am living in this lifetime. Since this is a record, it is only appropriate that the 100th reason would cross all boundaries. And what more could this be but our newspaper for more than 15 years (if I'm not mistaken).

This broadsheet has been a very big help not only to me but to my family as well. The information that this newspaper has giving us for the last 15 years or so has been very, very useful to us. It does not only give us the latest news (very, very credible I must say) but tips on practically every aspect of life - personal, financial, mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. It's an all-in-one paper.

I can give short examples about those as I grew along with PDI.

Personal: I grew up reading the advices of Robbie, Rissa, and Raya Mananquil (now all models and professionals) when they were still teens in the 2BU! section of Inquirer. The advices of Tita Dulce also made perfect sense as I heed her advices and gave her advices to my friends who turn to me for advices (shhh...that's a secret).

Financial: The Business Section of PDI has more that just business news. It has featured and is still writing stories about the inspiring and success stories of the best entrepreneur the country has produced. Of course, on those stories it is clear that the success stories of these CEO's, COO's and taipans were not walk in the park. They encountered a lot of challenges, difficulties, and pains but they continue and succeeded. How? Read the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Mental: The Opinion Section of the Inquirer is another gem. This is where I read the best writers that the country has produced. Conrado de Quiros, Michael Tan, the late Adrian Cristobal are just one of the few many writers that I read in PDI that got me hooked on reading the most widely-read broadsheet in the country.

Emotional: A lot of stories in PDI had made me emotional. The stories of the youth in "Young Blood" and their counterpart, the uhmmm, sixty-something in "High Blood." Not to mention the real stories that appears in it's front page. The not so-good-things about our country and how we and I are not able to do something about it. But what makes this truly special is that because the stories always end up with hope. Hope that we should not abandon despite everything.

Physical:
Of course the Sports Section of the Inquirer is a class of it's own. Almost always on time (sometimes PBA results yesterday would not be included in the next day's issue). But in general, I could rely on PDI regrading results of sports tournament I watch. NBA, US Open, Super Bowl, you name it they got it. They also have the best sportswriter in town, Al S. Mendoza and Recah Trinidad (who came back after a fling with retirement). The Tuesday Section of PDI about Lifestyle and Leisure also gave me tips on how to live a healthy and happy life with articles about the latest exercises and how to have a happy disposition in life through the articles of Cory Quririno.

Spiritual: This is the best part.

PDI has Fr. Jerry Orbos in it's Opinion Section every Sunday. Fr. Orbos column is my must-read column of Inquirer every Sunday with his jokes and anecdotes about life and his practical tips in life on how to live life as a Christian.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer also has what it calls "radical optimism" every Sunday. This means that every Sunday, it's front page only features good news. Yes, only good news. If you read a bad news or headline, you will see the good news inside it. I have another good news. It's not limited to Sundays anymore, as you can see in my previous blog entries.

Now, how's that for news?

Fasting

45. Fasting

You might be wondering why something like fasting be in my 2008 lists of reasons to be happy and thankful that I am living in this lifetime. Well, let me give you a rundown why. I was encouraged to fast by Bo Sanchez in one of his preaching in The Feast.  I am not doing a 40-day fast by the way because I can't since I was working in a call center on the first few days of Lent and it would not be healthy if I fast then work in the evening. I might have fainted or something if I did the 40-day fasting.

Here are the benefits of fasting (these are taken from Bo's booklet about 40 days of prayer and fasting):

1. Prayer and Fasting Brings You Closer to God.

When you fast, you’re telling God that He’s more important than food.

So instead of eating, you spend it in prayer, reading Scripture, writing your journal, before the Blessed Sacrament, reading Spiritual books…

It declares that you’re dead serious about pursuing Him because you’re crazy enough to say No to something as basic as food.

If you can say No to a very basic need, what else can you not do for the Lord?

You also gain discipline—something crucial for any kind of success in the world.

2. Prayer and Fasting Unite You with the Poor

Every time you fast, you  remind yourself that this is the daily experience of 12% of the world’s population. Not because they’re fasting. But because they’re poor.

740 million people will sleep tonight hungry.

And out of those 740 hungry people, 30,000 will die of starvation. 

Half of those 30,000 will be children.

Fasting shouldn’t just make us more spiritual.

Fasting shouldn’t just open me up for more blessings and miracles.

Fasting should also move us to love the poor in a more passionate way.

3. Prayer and Fasting Opens You to God’s Power

When you pray and fast, you’re inhaling a greater amount of God’s power into your life!

Fasting isn’t a bribe. “Lord, I’m fasting, so you better give me what I’m asking for!”  That’s not how it works.

When you fast, God doesn’t change. You do.

You become more expectant, more open, more sensitive, more attentive.

So when you fast, you can pray for something specific in your life.

·       wisdom for an important decision you need to make;

·       freedom from a particular bondage;

·       physical healing;

·       family restoration;

·       financial blessing;

·       any miracle that you need!

4. Prayer and Fasting Cleanse Your Body

One way of caring for it is by fasting.

By relieving the body from the hard work of digestion, it focuses its energies on getting rid of the toxins we’ve piled up in our system from all the wrong food we’ve eaten. All the junk, the chemicals, the stuff that shouldn’t be in our body in the first place. These toxins weaken our immune system and make us more susceptible to disease.

Your body, after three days of fasting, will also burn up and decompose diseased, damaged cells in your body. What a beautiful way to purge the bad!

If you fast, you’ll do some “house cleaning” for your own body, removing the toxins and diseased cells naturally—while blessing your soul at the same time.

(Now you have an idea why I feel healthier than ever before. ü)

5. Prayer and Fasting Empower Our Ministry

(As you all know, the church that I am regularly attending now every Sunday is The Feast with Bo Sanchez and this is what Bo Sanchez has to say about the fasting that we are taking)

In the Bible, people fasted before they started their ministry or before a big change in their ministry. Moses did it. Elijah did it. Daniel did it. Esther did it. And Jesus did it.

So fasting will release God’s power in our ministry.

Because we need God’s anointing for the many things we’re doing. To name a four prayer intentions:

1.    We’re growing our Central FEAST to three and four sessions

2.    We’re planting weekly Local FEASTs all over the world;

3.    We’re using more radio, television, and the Internet to share God’s love;

4.    We’re expanding KerygmaFamily.com;

5.    We’re aiming to raise more funds so that we can use 50% for evangelism and 50% for our ministries to the poor.

The five blessing above that you read is the reason why I am doing a fast this Lent (this is my first time by the way to fast). I did a juice fast for the past six Fridays since the start of Lent and I will be on my final stage this Holy Week where I will do again a juice fast from Holy Monday to Black Saturday. It will be really, really hard but I know I can do it. And when I do, I will post down the Seven Dreams I wrote down after taking this commitment to fast. Watch out for it. You will be in for a little shock.

Hillsong

31. Hillsong

If you have been reading my blog lately, you would know that I am now attending the weekly prayer gathering of the Light of Jesus in Valle Verde Club in Pasig called "The Feast."

In "The Feast" I have re-discovered Christian music that I forgot for a while. One of these is the music of a great Christian group in Australia called Hillsong. It was about a decade ago when I first heard a song called "So Close (I Believe)" in a Born-Again church I used to semi-attend and the song's lyrics captured me and I really felt that "God is with me, holding me, in His Hands, I belong and would never let me go."

It was the start and few more songs came that touched my heart like no other songs did. "The Heart of Worship", "Lord, I Offer My Life", and "Majesty (Here I Am)." 

Today I am again re-discovering their music and I am currently listening to one of their new songs called "This Is How We Overcome."

I know this is one part of the start of my journey of re-discovering God and never letting go. By reading my blog, I am inviting you to read on and enjoy this journey with me.

After re-discovering Hillsong, I remember a Philippine Idol forumer's signature saying "Music for God is the greatest music there is."

I can only say "Amen."

Praise and Worship

24. Praise and Worship

The first time that I attended a "Praise and Worship" service was about ten years ago in a Born-Again church that also doubles as an apartment where I have also lived for about two years.

When I first entered the "room" or the church, I was, at the back of my head and looking and laughing at the people and saying, "what the heck are they doing raising their hands with their eyes closed singing "worship" songs to the top of their heads and shouting "Halleluiah," "Praise the Lord," and stuff like that?" That is how I felt the first time, like an ordinary person who enters a Born-Again Sunday Praise and Worship service for the first time.

I am now ashamed that I felt that way. However, it was just on the first few Sundays because somehow I was continually attending every Sunday since then. As I was continuously hearing songs like "Give Thanks," "Majesty," "Come Holy Spirit," etc. every Sunday, somehow I overcame the "silliness" that I was seeing in other people in the Church and began singing the songs too. I felt the meaning of the song and I felt I was being closer to God and that God is in the same room with me and the people around me. It was the first time I felt that. I, for the first time in my life, had a "personal relationship" with the Lord since I started attending that Sunday "Praise and Worship" service.

However, as the years went by and as my personal relationship with the Lord became deeper. The Lord was asking me to do some things I was not able to do or I did not do. He wanted me to do some things. Some big, some small but somehow I was not able to do those things because of one thing or another. Like any normal relationship, the relationship faded.

Why did the relationship faded? It's because of the same thing that I haven't overcome until today: cowardice. Yes, I was a coward "until today" but right now, as of this moment that I am writing now, I am shouting to all people who are reading this, if not the world, that I am no longer a coward. I would prove that and would write proof about it in my next blog entries.

What is happening to me right now? Not much. I am just again starting to have this personal relationship with the Lord. How? I don't know how but since I started attending the "Praise and Worship" Sunday service, this time in Valle Verde Pasig called "The Feast" organized by "Light of Jesus Community" led by world-renowned preacher Bo Sanchez, the relationship with the Lord that faded has come back.

I just attended that Sunday service a few hours ago and for the second time in my life, I again felt the praise and worship songs and the meaning of it. I was raising my hands and singing to the top of my lungs, "You turn my mourning into dancing, You turn my sorrow into joy" and "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." This time it is more pronounced and I was not holding back (before I was still holding back a little).

Then, in the last part of Bo Sanchez's preaching and after a long, long time, tears was falling down in my eyes. I don't know when was the last time I cried but it was years ago with Fr. Sonny Ramirez's sermon and Fr. Ramirez is no longer serving Mass. What made me cry in Bo's talk? The topic that he was preaching is about "How To Be A Miracle Worker." Bo was telling everyone that each and everyone of us is a miracle and that there's a lot of little things that you really don't notice but is already a miracle by itself. He asked us, "How many of you woke up today this morning?" then asked a follow-up question, "How many of you are sure that you will wake up again tomorrow morning?" He continued "No one is sure and did you also know that 200,000 plus (I forgot the exact number) people did not wake up today. 200,000 plus people around the world was alive yesterday but died the next day! Waking up this morning is already a miracle. Your family members, your mother, your father, your brothers and sisters waking up this morning with you is already a miracle." He then said that his father passed away last year and that he sorely missed his father. I really don't why I cried. Maybe because I am afraid of losing any of my immediate family members and I am really happy that they are still with me. Having them with me around is already a big miracle for me.

Today, a lot of people still laughs and make fun of the people doing "praise and worship." I don't want to judge them but there's more to the "raising hands in the air," singing "This is the day that the Lord has made.." than meets the eye. And that is something that they won't be able to see, hear, and feel unless they become part of it.

Praise the Lord and have a blessed Sunday!

 

Da Vinci Code vs. Faith

--->>hi guys, salamat kc ndi kau nag alangan
basahin ang laman nito.. alam ko ndi me perpect
khit kau.. pero alam nyo sa sarili nyo at ako n my
faith prin tau.. share lng,,pero malaki ang
maitutulong sainyo nito..

--->> nabasa ko n halos ang buong bibliya.. and
ang DA VINCI CODES ay isa n may koneksyon n
nabanggit sa BIBLIYA.. Sinabi dun n darating ang
araw n maraming magpapanggap n cla ang diyos
at mga paraan para maligaw ang tao.. aminin man
ntin, kapag napanood ntin or nabasa ang LIBRONG
iyon ay mapapaisip tau at mababwasan ang faith..
TAGUMPAY diba? Tinatawag clang ANTI_CHRIST..

---->>sinasabing sa BIBLIYA ay may kulang at bkit
ndi naisama ang DOCTRINES ni JUDAS.. TAndaan
nyo guyz, na nagbigti agad c JUdas ng isauli nya
ang pera kung saan ipinagkanulo nya c JESUS..
PAano gagawa ang isang taong nagpakamatay n?
Bago ginawa at itala nila Peter at ang ibang
apostle ang DOctrines ay naipako n c JESUS at
nabuhay at tuluyang bumalik n s langit.. NANgyari
muna ang dapat mangyari para ng sa ganun,
maayos nilang maitatala at maikwento ang lahat
sa atin.. NAgbigti c JUDAS bgo palng ipako c
JESUS..AT ANG NAKAKAGAWA LNG NG
DOCTRINES AY ANG PINAPASUKAN NG
KALUWALHATIAN NG DIYOS.. TINGIN MO C
JUDAS AY TAPAT?

--->> Hinihingi ko ang inyong talino sa mga gnitong
sitwasyon,, maraming problema n dumadaan pero
ang pabarito nting i-blame ay ang DIYOS.. ang
pelikulang iyon at libro ay NDI NGA SAKTONG
BUHAY ni JESUS..RELIGION KUNOH ANG
TINIRA..at gumamit nga cla
ng characters pero aminin ntin may tagos at
napapiASip tau.. Ang ganda at maayos ang storya
n tipong madadala ka.. BKit ka mabilis maligaw?
ang galing nmn ni DAVINCI n my koneksyon pala
ang painting nya sa history ng mundo at faith ng
tao,, dati rati'y litrato lng xa at napapnood ntin n
sikat ito.. Ang galing nmn ng da last SUPPER at
uso n pala ung effects sa LITRATO n
maaddjust..GANYAN ang DEMONYO.. kumikilos
na,,,

--->> BAKIT KA GANYAN?? BKIT BA
PINAGPIPILITAN MONG MAGING MASAMA AT
IMORAL ANG DIYOS SA PANINGIN MO.. BKIT
BA PINIPILIT MONG MAKAHANAP NG BUTAS
PARA LNG MAGING MASAMA ANG DIYOS
SAU?? KAKAMPI KANA B NG KAAWAY???

--->> NGAYON.. KUNG MAHAL MO ANG ATING
PANGINOON.. MANANATILI TAU SA FAITH NTIN
SAKANYA.. AT KUNG NDI KA SANKYA...
KANINO KA..??? PLZ RE-POST NDI PUO
SURVEY.. PATUNAYAN NMN NTIN UNG FAITH
AND LUV NTIN KAY GOD,, SHARE THIS IF YOU
WANT SA MGA FRENDS NTING NSA FRENDSTER
DIN, WAG NTIN HAYAAN MABULAG CLA AT
MANIWALA SA LIBRO AT SA DAVINCI CODES..
NAKATINGIN SAU ANG DIYOS, UMAASA N NDI
MO XA IIWANAN..

Hindi po galing sakin tong msg but true nabasa ko na halos ang buong Bibliya and I can say that only one verse in the Bible can hold Da Vinci Code untrue: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."
2 Corinthianns 3:16

I haven't read The Da Vinci Code or watched the movie not because I don't want to or it would sway my faith (I don't think so; not by a long shot...) but because I don't have the time and the money (commercialism at it's best) to do so. What I can say to those who took time to read or watched Da Vinci Code or took ineterest in The Gospel of Judas, read first the Bible before reading anything else...ayt?
God Bless to all.

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