If Only He Could Hear

Our church has been undergoing renovations these past weeks. Yesterday I was able to watch some of the workers doing repairs in our comfort room. In one corner, there were two workers, of which one is deaf. I was amazed at how the deaf was able to manage working with the normal people. However, what really caught my attention was how they were able to work together and finish a lot of things despite of disability. If only the deaf could hear, they could have accomplished more things quickly. As I was looking at the workers, I asked myself, if they could work well together how much more we, who are normal and gifted with the sense of hearing. Often, we just need to listen to one another to accomplish more things rather doing our tasks alone.

Wondering about Wonders!

After fixing my senior pastor's PC, I headed to the house of my bible students. Smiles from young men met me as i enter the gate. Our bible study was full of interaction. That afternoon's bible study was about "Heaven". This topic opened the minds of these young men and made them wonder about the wonders the Bible revealed to them. One of them kept on asking about the angels. Some were silly questions, some were out of curiosity, while some were meaningful. I was able to answer most of the questions, but some, which are still mysteries remained to be mysteries. if God created everything, who created Him anyway? this is one of the mysteries only God can answer. For the unanswered question, I challenged them to keep their faith and wait til Jesus comes and ask Him these questions in person.

Like Paul to Timothy!

One of the youth in my pastorate has been going with me on my visitations for almost a month now. After the morning household chores, he would meet me in my house and together we would visit the houses of our brethren. Often times this young man would ask me questions regarding the ministry. I could sense that little by little, he is starting to enjoy what we are doing. He would also ask me personal questions like, why did i take up ministry? Who were the people that influenced me to go into the ministry? I feel that the passion for the ministry has started growing in the heart of this young guy. Whenever I see both of us doing visitation I remember Paul and Timothy. These men of God who became partners in the ministry have been a great inspiration to me. Just as Paul wanted Timothy to be molded in ministry, I also want this young man to grow in his spiritual life. And if he feels that God is calling him in to the ministry I would be more than willing to do whatever I can to help him. I just hope i will be like Paul to this Timothy!

Too Big A Task!

I went home really late last night. It had been a challenging evening. It was my second time to chair our church board meeting. The first time I did it, everything turned out well and we ended up early. But last night was so tough. I was stressed out compared to my previous chairmanship. Probably one of the factors was that in some of the agenda my name was involved. There was even one agenda that was all about me. Last night was one of the longest meetings we had. Members spoke out, some relevant, some superficial, some helpful while some were just for show-off. But despite the stresses that night, I am so thankful that God sent a big help for me, my senior pastor. He was beside me all the way, coaching me on how I should react to each circumstance, and he thought me when and when not to speak. He was like the Holy spirit at my side guiding me in all my decisions. I'm glad that God made me understand that there is no task too big if you are doing it for God's glory.

Beyond Our Grip!

The sun was about to set, yet we were still rushing to finish the church's newsletter. The Lay-out artist and I had both been busy in the past days, so we both did our best to get the newsletter done before the day ended. We were planning to release it tomorrow but everything didn't turn out well. A lot of pictures were still missing and one column wasn't finished yet. But we still persisted to finish it. We filled the blank spaces intended for the pictures with some graphics and eventually finished the lay-out and editing. We brought the files to the printing shop after the final editing but to our frustration, the printer in the shop was not working. Boy! What a day?! We did our best, but our best wasn't enough. One thing I've learned, some things are beyond our grip. We may not know why it happened but God does. It may seem so frustrating but in the end, it's for our own good.. We will be releasing the newsletter next week, so at least there's more time to finish the unfinished.Thank God.

When Everyone Stands Up!

I woke up at 4am yesterday and headed to church to meet pastor Gerry. We both went to Malabon to attend the workers' meeting at Central Luzon Conference. The meeting started with a typical devotional. After all the announcements, all of the Pre-interns, including me, met together and discussed the formation of our own organization. Ephraim Tolentino, one of the new pre-interns stood up and led the meeting. He proposed, that our group should elect our own officers and be organized. Many stood up and questioned the proposal. Many disagreed with the proposal and some even made their own proposal. While everyone else was standing up, I remained seated and whispered a prayer. "Lord help me to control myself, that I will remain humble when everyone else becomes proud, that I will remain seated when everyone else stands up!