Open top menu
Monday, May 01, 2006
no image



Picture of the week
Birds like this is commonly seen here nesting. I noticed that they started appearing when spring started. They just nest on this lamps outside the houses in the Inn.






What's in for today?

It's Sunday!!! And I'm very excited cz it's church time.:) I like the church here, it's much like Praise Cathedral, only bigger and the service is short. Bigger doesn't mean better though. But I feel like this is the church I feel connected to in Lx, KY.:)

I basically stayed all afternoon in my room. I tried sleeping and watching TV (Oh!! what an unhealthy lifestyle). I dont feel like I'm getting fat though but it's unhealthy and I need to exercise.

I had the pleasure of watching NBA playoffs live - in TV.:) T'was cool... I enjoyed games of Kings vs Spurs and Cleveland vs Washington. :) I don't have any plan of watching the real game.... TV is enough for me. :)

It's a psycho thing... baby!!
It's interesting that I no longer feel "home sick" this week. It seems that knowing that I feel that I got "home sicked" make me feel that I should not feel home sicked.

I still miss home and my family though. I still miss my girlfriend. I still miss the people that I used to hang around with.

I just learned that people can get "winter depression" here. I am observing my emotion and see what changed and what adjustments I should take. In my situation right now, I need to be on top of my emotions and not just allow it guide me. :) I'm sure if I'm going to do that, I would avoid being depressed and get nuts.

Weather you like it or not.
It's showering here and its a bit cold. The temperature is 54 F = 12.223 C but its cool I can take the temperature. It's my kind of weather only that the rain would stop.:)
Read more
Sunday, April 30, 2006
no image




















I tried to take a shot of Alein when there two beauties showed up.... :)
Duh??? Ain't it ibvious???? hehehe.. I'm just b ored guys.. and I need some color for my eyes..:)

Finally, after 3 tries... I got the gwapings... the comeback. But who is the man behind Mules? Hmmm... abi nku pinoy ra ingon ana? hehehe

Read more
no image

We just came from a moviehouse and watched the movie, Silent Hill. When I was about to buy the ticket, the lady asked me for an ID. Then, I remembered that this movie is Rated R. I checked my wallet for an ID and found my SSS ID. I gave it to the lady and she was looking for my birthdate. I pointed to the date below my name and told her, "That's my birthday, right there." Then she said,"That's your birthday? Oh my god...". I said, "Why? Do I look younger?". "Yeah, you look like you are...(forgot what she said but surely it sounds like I look like I was born way earlier than the date she saw in my ID :))" replied the lady. All I can respond is, "Well, thank you!" with a wide grin in my face.I really look younger than most of the people of my age here. My sister's sister in-law told me,"You're Jacky's brother? Well, you look like a very young man." Hehehe... all I can say is that..."Well, thank you." with a wide grin.:)
Read more
Thursday, April 20, 2006
no image

Somebody told me that she is blessed because some people just dreamed to be where and what she is right now. We'll, I am blessed. I am here in this good country enjoying the benefits and all the good stuffs provided for me. I know a lot of people would die to be here. Some people lie, cheat, risk their lives just to be here. And in that light, I should be grateful that I have this opportunity at this stage of my life.

My point is, I think I should have all these in mind because many times, I don't feel good being here. I can't be myself... and I am away from the people who really care for me. Call it drama or OA... whatever.. you can think whatever you like to think... I don't care.

Being here is like being suspended in the air in the middle of the river, you cannot go back and you cannot move on. It's probably part of the adjustment. I am adjusting emotionally and somehow it's hard for me to get over it. It's like I left 3/4 of me from where I came from. Breathing is not as easy as before..it's like a part of me has been torned and now I am only half the man that I used to be. DRAMA.
Read more
no image

You probably heard of the story of a mother and her two sons : one, an optimist and the other one, a pessimist. In the story the mother brought here kids to a farm with two barns to observe her kids. She placed the pessimist in a barn filled with toys. The boy just went in and examine the toys and said,"Hmmm.. toys? Something is not right." The other boy, the optimist, was placed in a barn filled with horse's feces. The boy jumped to the feces and said, "Wow, horse's feces there has to be a horse in here." 

Many times, we need to be like that of the optimist boy; We need to look for a horse in every situation. We need to look for good things and choose to look at them instead of looking at the feces. When our friends starts to stink, we need to look for a horse in them. When our situation gets undesirable, we need to look for the horse that makes us ride with the tide of discomfort.
You might ask, what if there is really no horse? We'll let me ask you, have you really looked for it?

Why am I saying this? Probably because, I feel like I am in a barn filled with feces right now... it's stinky and I am starting to complain. I need to look for the horse in my situation today. I need to open my eyes and look for that one good thing. I have read a statement that says something like this,"People can make a thousand excuses why they can't do what they are asked to do but they only need one good reason why they should do it." I can make thousands of good excuses why I should not be happy here and I can make thousands of complain to make myself feel bad being here but I only need to look for one good horse in the barn to choose to be happy.

Frankly speaking, I am not in the barn of horse feces and the horses here are not very hard to find(Lexington of the horse capital in the world.:p )but my attitude made a hell out of this very nice place. I begin to understand a bit that our situation can change depending on our attitude. Our outlook in life will determine how the world will look like. OS if we have a bad outlook, we are most likely feeling that we are in a bad place.

The Lord Jesus Christ wants me to be happy, He placed me here to enjoy His blessings. I don't want to miss the horse that God wants me to find here. Now, it's time to look for the horse!
Read more
Saturday, April 15, 2006
no image

"Hubagang ate oi... " I asked someone here what hubag means, and he said that it's a slang term for "pretty".

Hmm.. my girlfried says it means "big boobs". My friend says its big butt.

So which is which? beautiful? big boobs? big butt?

Hubag is swelling in English so it should mean something is swelling.

To say, "hubag kaayu ka" means... you are so swelling... swelling what? where?

when you say that a girl is hubag... should the girl be flattered or not?

One thing I can say, I can't tell my girlfriend that she is hubag to flatter her. For one, it's soooo unromantic. Secondly, it's sound disrespectful to the ladies.

Yeah, we have our own choice in using words but for this one, count me out.

//posted 4/15/2006
Read more
Thursday, April 13, 2006
no image


Yesterday, I had the privilege of listening to a bunch of married guys talking about their experiences with having a baby. The conversation flowed from childbirth to basic experiences. Some of them said they were really interesting and funny. A father in the group said that the perfect word to describe his situation when he was with his wife during chilbirt is INTENSE. He said everything was just so intense and the pressure in the operating room was just boiling up. I could just imagine, watching a person I love, trying to cross from life to death so that life could be born into this world.:) There were so many things they said that I can consider precious coz I really learned a lot of things about childbirth and rearing kids.:)

No... I'm not getting married yet..:) I still want to prove something to myself.:)
The truth is, when those men talked about family... I began to think about me and Joyce. I mean I begun to miss her more..:) Corny, but if you are in my situation: you have a great girlfriend (not to mention very beautiful and sexy) and you are a bazzillion miles away from each other and time seems to pass sooooo slowly, you would feel the same way.:)
That's all for now...:)
Read more
no image

Notes



Looong hours
I've been here in the US for almost 2 weeks but it feels like I've been here more than that. I feel that I've been here for a very long time. I am probably to attached to the people I cared so much in the Cebu that I feel time is just slowing down.I really miss my girlfriend..:(....

Radio program
I always listen to positve and encouraging KLOVE radio station. Sometimes I jam alone in my room. Speaking of alone, I heard a preacher last Sunday said that we were never alone bcause the devil was always been with us.:) That's sounds funny. I think he is right in saying that. Before God found us, we were the son of the devil but God saved us and now the LORD is always with us... but I think the devil never went away even though God is with us. The Bible says that Satan is an accuser of the saints.

Sing the sermon
BTW, I joined a fellowship in a church in Lexington called the first Alliance church and last Sunday, I went to a church in Alabama and it was cool cz it was my first time to be in an African-American service, and the pastor sung 50% of the sermon.:)
Read more
Thursday, April 06, 2006
no image











Almost 23 hrs of flying, 8 hours of waiting, 4 airplanes, 3 big bags, 2 travellers, 1 shamrock box and a partridge in a pear tree and I'm finally in Lexington!!!!

I know this post is already 5 days late but I guess I have chronicle this event in my life. A lot of things that happened to me, happened to me for the first time. So if I will be asked, "First time mo?", I will gladly say,
YES!.:) I am very please with what happened, Glory to God!


All I can say is, I am not where I am today (as in the literal - today) because I am smart or because I am good looking, or because I performed well in life or because of what I have done but it is all because of what the Lord did for me; it is because of the favor of God hovering around me. Looking back, I could honestly say, that every breakthrough I got is from the Lord and from no one else. Glory to God! So I am sure that my future victories and breakthroughs will still come from the Lord. In this post, I give back the glory to the Lord.
Read more
Monday, March 27, 2006
no image

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.


Some thoughts:
The purpose of mourning is not to suffer the loss but to be grateful that one person came to your life and change your world.

Is heaven not boring? I mean, out there we won't feel any pain.. no more problems. And we already know everything according the the book of Corinthians. Isn't it boring that we don't have any problems any more? In short, is heaven worth it?

As I began to ponder on this thought, I heard a voice in my heart saying " maybe heaven cannot be fathom by your mind". Probably heaven is so wonderful that my mind cannot even imagine/comprehend/fathom its beauty, its make-up, its content, its time boundness, etc.

Is heaven worth it? For sure hell isn't the best alternative so knowing that hell isn't a very nice place to be then heaven is worth it. :)
Read more
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
no image


In your arms I found my place in this universe.
In your touch is a song in my heart.
Your every breathe is an eternity unfolding.
Your gaze is a future to behold.

Take me to our small world.
Where time stops and there is only you and me.
Take me to my deepest dream.
Where this world seems as faint as a yesterday.

Take me... take me away...
Read more
no image


Quote of the day:

"I need a map because I get lost whenever I look into your eyes."
Read more
Thursday, March 16, 2006
no image

It's over... I mean, what we waited for happened two nights ago. It didn't came as a surprise... it came just like a flashed number... another person added to the dead list.

I don't know what to feel... all I'm feeling now.. are pressures from what happenend. I got stressed out plus my girlfriend keeps on whining. It drives me nuts. "Da panguyab pa!!!"
Lets just say, its part of the game. My officemate and I call it, "Signning the License Aggrement".
It's just sickenning sometime; It dries my soul.

On the lighter side, it's almost my birthday. Should I be happy? I don't know, but I think I should be thankful to God that I'm alive and thriving. I am grateful... I am blessed. I achieved my (short term) goal and pursueing for the long term ones. I enjoy God's mercy and faithfulness every single day. God has rescued me many times in my life and has lifted me out from certain dangers.... etc. Praise the Lord for what He has done and for all that He is going to do. I am a 23 year old miracle!!!!
Read more
Sunday, March 12, 2006
no image

This week was tough... I thought it was an easy week (with a two-day vacation) but it got hard..
Still in everything... God is still God and He is still good no matter what happened.

As of this moment... the worst has not happened yet but it is already anticipated.
It's like an enivitable event happened in fast tracked... At first, my hard choleric emotion
really puffed up but later... I softened and begun to understand that sometimes we need to take some necessary risks (even illogical ones - necessarily illogical risk) at some point. It happened that for some people it is hard and costly. I reflected on what happened and I could say that if I were in their position, I would have taken the same risk.

God bless them.
Read more
Friday, March 03, 2006
no image


Walk OUT!!!
UP students are planning to have a class walk-out today. For 4 years I have heard of the same crap! Walk-out? For what? For the President to resign? Duh???? I have heard a looot of complains against the government.. against the budget... against the program.. against "self-expression"... against everything.

Blame it!!!!
I think some of the UPians are fun of playing the "blame-it game". It's easy... you can play it too. All you have to do is... to say "Blame it!!!!". Blame it to... the sun.. the moon the stars.. the teacher.. the president.. the government. Blame it! Blame it! Blame it! Don't do anything... just blame it. Don't take resposiblity... just blame it to anybody but yourself. I love UP and I love being a UPian. However, I think I have grown enough to realize blaming anybody to for any
situation will not do any good.

God will make way
I believe that the President is accountable to God and if the opposition's complains and allegations against the president is true then, God will be the one who will make the president pay. I believe God can take charge and God can build up a president or take a president out of power.

Pro-Active Protest
If you want to make a protest then make a pro-active protest rather than a re-active protest. What is a pro-active protest? A protest that does not use much mouth, a protest the uses the mind, heart, and spirit. A good example of that is, Mother Theresa; she made a protest against poverty and apathy. Now, her protest was made known. There are many more.. I just can't think of any other for now.:)

Summary
I believe we can count on God in this case. Let us be like David, that even, when Saul would throw a spear on us, we will say "I will not do anything against God's annoited".
Read more
Sunday, February 26, 2006
no image

Lifesigns
Last week has been a tough week.. i've been on the rocks..
inspite of everything.. i could say, I will live; i will survive.

Writing
I'm thinking of writing something about "The God I serve and the people I know".
This week I look back about a lot of events in my life and I would say that many of the things
happened to me revolves around the "The God I serve and the people I know".
I'm sure that my future experience will also revolve on this.

Radical Worship
I missed those times... just worshipping God all out.. to the last breathe of the energy He gave me.
Even though, during those times... I struggled with a particular sin at that time, yet I would say
God was pleased in my heart. It was all out... it was like an explosion from within...uncontained passion.
Today, I am no longer such a worshipper... people probably call it.."mature" but
I think its mediocrity in terms of worship.
It started when I begun to think of what people think and look more on how sinful I am... rather than thinking of what God thinks and how merciful God is and how awesome He is.
I need to unlearn this.. get this out from my system.. it would take time but I'm sure it will happen.

Sex and sexuality, and lust
In UP, we talked about sex and sexuality often. I think about it a lot of times... Someone told me that men thinks more about sex more than women. I haven't ask a woman to confirm this but I think men think of sex more often than women. It's probably because men are very visual creatures. I could say it is a weakness of most men - I mean, not weakness for sex but weaknes in the perversion of the sex[lust].

Love and love-making
My friend said that studies show that hotels and inns have more customers during valentines day than any other day. I'm not sure how true this is but i think it makes sense; People are confused between the difference of loving and love-making. People think that just because they love each other... they can now make love. I think.. people should get married before having sex.
No marital seal, no sex.
One person told me that marriage is just a licensed to have sex. She went further on saying that marriage is a licensed prostitution. Do i agree? Well, i think it depends on how you view sex. If you look at sex as just a physical intercourse then those statements above have a good point. But if you look at sex as more spiritual union than physical union then your opinion might change. I heard one prostitute said something like, it's like a part of her is taken everytime she has sex with men. I think, such statement is hint/rumour that there is a part of sex that's spiritual. If having sex is also spiritual then isn't getting married a rightful seal to that pact?
I think God (inventor of sex) intends sex to be is special.
I have read an article that cited studies upon studies that couples who waited to have sex after marriage enjoyed sex more than those who didn't.
When I get married I think I'll write more of this.:)
Read more
Saturday, February 11, 2006
no image


Thr3e by Ted Dekker.

My mind got twisted while reading this book.
Good, bad, and everything in between. :)

Some thoughts:

After reading the book, I thought of people [including myself] who might be like Kevin Parson.
Read more
Thursday, February 09, 2006
no image


I enjoyed this book: Your Best life Now by Joel Osteen.

Some Thoughts: Waiting for God's timing. Waiting is not easy for me. I'm an impatient young man. I want answers and I want it immediately. However, God has an appointed time and God's timing is always the best. I realized that I don't have to be pressured when it seems that things are turning up so slow. Or when things seemed not moving. God has His own timing. We should pray and let God do His thing. Sometimes, I do things to sort of "help God" make my dreams come to pass. But you know, we cannot "help God", because God doesn't need our help. Waiting on God means "confident expectation". We are waiting and we are doing it with great confidence that what God promised will surely come to pass. The Bible says that the vision will happen and it will not be a second late.
Read more
no image


Failing Forward by John Maxwell

Some Thoughts:
Before, I view failure as an enemy; I am afraid of failing. But I realized that failure is a good teacher, only if you listen. You can fail backward or fail forward; how to do either of them is determined by us. Today, when I fail [though it often hurts] I feel a since of joy knowing that I am growing and learning. In that way, I can say I fail forward.
Read more
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
no image


Another Ted Dekker novel called Blink.

Some thoughts:
God is beyond time. He is not subject to time.

Quote: "In a battle of wits, never fight with an unarmed man."
Read more
Monday, February 06, 2006
no image


I just finished reading Nightmare academy by Frank Peretti.

Some thoughts:
What is right and what is wrong? Who determines one from the other? What could be right for you may not be right for me.

These are common statements in times such as today, where a lot of people adhere to the philosophy of the "Relativity of Truth". Is truth really relative? Is right and wrong relative?

Frank Peretti explored this issues and gave a preview - effect when the line between right and wrong gets blurred. I don't want to elaborate read is for yourself.:)

One philosopher once said," Truth is truth in all possible worlds".
Jesus said, "I am the way, the Truth, and the Life...". Would you believe Him?

Read more
no image


About a week ago, I finished reading, "It's not about me." by Max Lucado.

Some thoughts:

The part of the book that strucked me the most is when Max talk about a tour guide of a museum: What the tour guide usually do is that, the tour guide introduces the painting and the painter then steps back. But some time later, the guide would take the glory of the painter to himself. After the "ohhs" and "ahhs" of the crowd becuase of their amazement, the guide would say, "Thank you"; as if he is the painter. Then the time came where the guide would block the painting and face the crowd with a biiiiig smile, as if he is the center of the amazement of the crowd. When the director of the museum sees this he approach the guide and told him," This is not what I want you to do Joseph!". Ouch! Claiming the glory that's not mine. :) The glory belongs to God and God alone. It's not about us. We, priests of God, should step forward, introduce God and steps backward. The "Ohhhs and ahhhs" are for the Lord and not for the priests. It's not about me. It's about God.

The books is great. Calm, direct, and truthful to the title - It's not about me.

All glory and honor and praise belongs to our God!
Amen:)
Read more
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)