I guess it's a start

So, my question for you is... What do you want to be when you grow up?

i remember back in grade school, i just want to quit studying and play video games for the rest of my life.i didn't 
want to do anything that would stress my brain.i just want to enjoy and enjoy and enjoy; til my last breath, playing video games. period. it was my life i couldn't live without it. 

i never had a really clear direction in my head. i envied my classmates for having the ability to answer "what-do-you-want-to-be-when-you-grow-up question." i couldn't answer it. i'd come up with a very clever response though. 


grade school teacher: Roland, what do you want to be when you grow up?


me: (looks at my classmate who just answer the question) well, just like him.


and then after saying that, i'd come up with an on-the-spot explanation as to why i wanted it. i was a quick thinker, snappy in coming up with brilliant explanations to justify my answer (though, most of them were lies, of course). it was probably why i was extemporaneous speech champion in my school for two years and why i won as best dabater (without ever preparing any of my answers beforehand.)


i can boast about those achievements all night long but in reality, i actually hated it, because of the ability to come up answers (or lies) granted me the option to never have to answer "what-do-you-want-to-be-when-you-grow-up question." ever again. if anyone would dare ask me to answer that question,i'd just tap it into my brain and come up with a stupid lie to answer it.


what can i answer anyway? i had no talent whatsoever, i wasn't smart, and i never cared about world peace, and the only thing i'm good at is playing stupid children games. so for the longest time in my life, i had no idea who i was or where i was headed. no idea at all.


then i met Jesus. now you would think that it would solve everything-but no. it did give me however, an assurance of salvation and that i actually had a purpose. i just had to know what it was, but for some reason i couldn't find it. i still didn't know where i was headed, but now i know that Someone's got my back, and it made me feel better. oh and uh... it made me reconsider world peace.


it was in high school where things were to take an interesting twist. one day, a classmate of mine brought a guitar to the classroom. i thought, "what a strange looking instrument..." he told me to give it a try, and i did. I SUCKED. i gave up the instant i felt my fingers hurting. but for some reason, i thought it was interesting. not because i sucked, but the fact that i might have found something that can keep me occupied during break times from class hours.


i noticed i was learning to play really fast. i couldn't believe it. a computer nerd/geeky looking guy like me, may actually have some sort of talent after all. heck, maybe i could form a band someday, write my own songs, and become President of the Philippines. 


another classmate of mine eventually brought a cd of Switchfoot and i instantly got hooked. the guitar riffs were amazing and the song writing was absolutely brilliant. Jonathan Foreman. that's the name of the frontman of the band. i'll never forget that name. the message in his songs even helped strengthen my faith. i looked up to him as a role model. it's amazing, how he inspires the younger generation with his music. 


then it hit me.i think that's what i want to be. i now had a better answer to the  "what-do-you-want-to-be-when-you-grow-up question.". i want to inspire the younger generation through music. "not a bad answer" i thought. i guess it's a start. 

That's My King!

Hug of Grace

   
    The worst feeling in the world is knowing that you've let someone down. There is a certain agony in the waiting - standing by, powerless, as a person decides whether or not he will forgive you. The feeling multiplies because you know you don't deserve forgiveness.

    I betrayed a close friend of mine not long ago. I didn't tell him, but instead waited, hoping he would never find out. I sort of knew that he eventually would. He did discover my dishonesty shortly thereafter, and he confronted me. All the excuses I had stored up were suddenly useless. There were no words that could remedy the damage I had done to our friendship and to his trust.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

   One day that friend came to me and gave me a hug. He told me that he had decided to forgive me. He said he cared about me too much to let me go because of one mistake. His forgiveness felt great, but it also made me feel guilty. It seemed too easy, too quick and definitely undeserved.

    What I experienced is called grace, and it's God's gift to us. God loves us dearly; we are his most prized possessions. We take his love for granted daily and betray him with a constant stream of sin and deceit. The best part is, He still loves us. We certainly don't deserve it, but he gives us forgiveness anyway. He not only moves on, but he forgets our sins just as soon as he forgives them.

    Grace is a hard thing to grasp, but just think of it as God's make-up hug.

Confessions of A Sunday Morning Christian

      Strobe lights illuminated the room while the DJ played yet another great jam. It was a typical Saturday night. Stumbling teenagers gyrated against one another, beers in hand. I overheard some kid across the room say to his friend, " Doesn't that guy over there have church tomorrow? He's such a hypocrite, just as all Christians are."

Living Two Lives

      There are obstacles in each of our lives that we are forced to face every day. How we deal with those obstacles strongly affects others around us in ways we cannot always see.

      "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." That powerful statement by Brennan Manning should be a challenge to all of us believers.

      When I was in high school, I considered myself a Christian, but I was not really following God- I did what I wanted, when I wanted. I went to church every Sunday with my family, but that was the extent of my relationship with God.

      Though my friends knew I considered myself a Christian, they could not see any difference between themselves and me. I was what some people call a Sunday morning Christian. I would party and drink with my friends on the weekends and then go to church Sunday mornings. I never imagined the extent to which this type of behavior would hinder me in the future.

Ruined Reputation

      During my senior year of high school, I rededicated my life to Christ. I finally realized how wrong I had been before, and I wanted to live in a way that was pleasing to God. I stopped drinking, got involved in youth groups and Bible studies and tried my best to set a good example for others.

      But my witness was ruined before it even started. When I shared with my friends the reasons I stopped drinking, they thought I was trying to act like I was better than they were. They would just respond, "You have no right to tell us that drinking is wrong when you used to drink with us." They thought I was judging them when really I was just trying to love them.

      I never imagined that because of my former behavior, my credibility would be destroyed. It really hurt me, but I had no other choice than to accept it and try to keep living as an example.

      As sad that was for me, it taught me a lot. I am now much more conscious of my actions. I know I have to live consistently with what I claim to believe.

Second Chance

      Because I have stayed strong in following God over the past few years, people have begun to notice. My friends are now starting to see that my relationship with God is real. Some of them have asked to talk to me about my faith. One friend even gave her life to Christ as a result of our discussions. I never would have thought that I could have a part in something like that.

      It is amazing the ways God works in our lives. He wants us to be examples of him. We can affect so many people's lives just by living out what we believe.
  
      Always be aware of your actions. Do not be the reason that someone else does not know Jesus. But remember that even if you do mess up, God will forgive you if you ask. He can still use you in unimaginable ways to further his kingdom.

Day 11

On this day of your life, Rc, we believe God wants you to know...
... that you've been talking to God too much, and not listening enough.

Prayer is when you talk to God. Meditation is when you become quiet and listen to God. You've learned how to talk and ask well. Time to learn how to listen and hear, because God has been answering you.

Dear Zoe by Philip Beard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Dear Zoe is a letter, from Tess DeNunzio to her younger sister, who died in a hit-and-run accident on a day when the world’s attention was focused elsewhere, with no grief to spare for Zoe’s death, except in Tess’s family. On September Eleventh, 2001, Zoe died, leaving Tess and her family devastated. It’s certainly something we don’t think about, all the personal tragedies that played out on that day. When you hear the words ‘September Eleventh,’ you see the towers falling or the Pentagon smoking, not the individual deaths of all of those people, related or not to terrorism, on that day.

That’s not what that day means to Tess, though. To fifteen-year-old Tess and her family, it means the loss of her little sister, Zoe. It means their lives are changed forever, in ways the rest of the world (to whom that day may seem life-changing as well) can never imagine. Still, Tess has to find a way to handle it all, to go on with her life, to keep on living even if Zoe can’t.

Philip Beard’s Dear Zoe is a powerful and emotional story about love, grief, growing up, and moving on even when forgetting is impossible. It’s a story about one personal tragedy on a day when everyone else mourns the deaths of thousands of others. In Dear Zoe, Tess is just one of a cast of very real characters; her voice is powerful, and will have the reader’s attention from the beginning to the end, keeping the reader breathless and racing through the book, but still not going too quickly–wouldn’t want to miss something!

Dear Zoe is a powerfully moving, beautifully written story that will haunt readers even after closing the book at the end of the last page. This painfully real, breathtaking novel is sure to be a favorite with all who read it.

Rating: 10/10 (And I’d give it more if I could…Wait, who says I can’t? 20/10!)

View all my reviews >>

A must-see picture

This image has been taken from loosechange911.com/blog (also visit http://loosechange911.com/videos.shtml)


Last night I met someone, really amazing. I had the nicest dinner I remember in years: very interesting yet light conversation and somehow inspired me to work hard, fight for what I want etc.


Take this image in whicheverway inspires you the most, but let the message in, open your mind, make your own decisions, get things wrong (several times) and learn from it, I'm sure you'll meet great people on your way.

Insecurities and Imperfections

while searching for the video that my former classmate want me to see on youtube, I noticed this video on the upper right that says: featured video (watch this video), so I immediately hit the right button. While watching, I said "that's true, ako i have lot of insecurities(before), but now I admit kahit konti meron pa (especially my body) but the good thing I learned how to overcome such insecurities. Before I used to hide it but naisip ko how can i overcome such insecurities kung forever ko n lng hahayaan or itatago. Attending Victory Christian fellowhip helps me to overcome such trash, it's a long story pero this one I am sure, I accepted Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior and everything else follows. So here's the video:

Day 1

Good Morning. Weekend yahoo! Any plans? For me, I guess today i will start to post some thoughts on what God wants me to know, or maybe some verses etc. I hope the message will help/encourage/inspire you..i know it will help. And please do share. So for today:

On this day of your life, Rc, we believe God wants you to know...
... that doubt is the rust of life.

Doubt holds you landlocked in paralysis unable to move either way. The time you spent doubting is the time you are not alive. So, rid yourself of the doubt, take that step one way or another, your heart knows what is best, but take it right now.

- just when I needed. Thank God.