Wordsmith for God

Our church multimedia team is composed of pastors, deacons, young adults, and young people who are blessed to have spiritual gifts and talents to serve God through (1) delivering information to the congregation, (2) creating an open method of communication between attendees and church leadership, (3) helping set the tone during worship, and (4) keeping people engaged during the sermon.  Our church's multimedia room has four basic avenues for service: sound system operation, operation of slides presentations, OBS operation, and online ushering. One of our pastors or deacons stay inside the multimedia room throughout the worship service to guide the team.  The multimedia team was established during the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic with one sole purpose — to continue preaching the Word of God, no matter the circumstance. I could still remember the first Sunday of the online worship service. I was alone in our boarding house, stuck there because I do not have passes ...

I remembered my Mama Shirl while reading 1 Chronicles 22: 7–13 today. I felt quite emotional as I reflected on how this moment between David and Solomon might have happened. I imagine them sitting in their favorite spot together as David talks to Solomon about God's charge on the building of the temple. Verses 11 to 13 got me teary-eyed. This also led me into remembering the countless moments Mama Shirl brought me on the side of her bed to pray for me. If I will be asked to give an example of someone I personally know whose life is marked with prayer, I will not think twice in answering, "Mama Shirl". I've witnessed (and even eavesdropped) the daily conversion mama has with God in prayer. When I was young, I found it so delightful (as in 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑔 to max) when I hear mama mentioning my name on her prayers. I know exactly what she wants for me. It is through hearing her prayers that I get to hear how much she loves me, adores me like her own, stubborn I am...

I came home with a heavy heart once this week. I felt so strong for having held my tears throughout that day. I was at the verge of giving up people whom I treasured long. I was at the tip of saying words which have the power to break friendships that were built for years. I felt so strong for having held those bitter words which could haunt me for the rest of my life. Praise God for the strength to keep quiet and keep myself distant in the midst of brewing rage.  I languidly entered my husband's office. He was giving an intervention to one of his learners when I arrived so I had the time to cool down and process my emotion on his swivel chair. I focused my gaze on the ceiling, tried to push back my tears, and worked on normalizing my breathing. I was too tied up on trying to be okay that I wasn't able to notice my husband staring at me. I just suddenly felt his warm hand on mine. When our eyes met, I knew right then that I couldn't put back my broken pieces on ...

'𝐽𝑎𝑛𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢? 𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 – "𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠, 𝑀𝑟. 𝑅𝑜𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟."' '𝙈𝙧. 𝙍𝙤𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧, 𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨.' ••• I have been reading Jane Eyre for a couple of weeks now. I am at this point where Jane chooses to obey God rather than follow what her heart desires.  If you have read this book, Mr. Rochester's confession of love might seem so romantic. All those little details of the first time he met Jane until the day he asked her hand for marriage which consumed almost four pages would give you that 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑔 feels. But if you know Mr. Rochester's life, as a believer and follower of Christ, you'd be amazed with Jane's courage to say "no".  Ideas of love (no matter how 𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑔 and romantic it may be) is not worth pursuing at all if it means disobeying God.  The chapter I am reading tonight reminded me of ...

The bright and warm rays of the sun was the first beautiful thing I've seen when I opened our window this morning. Rain poured throughout the day before and seeing the sun shining brightly today feels invigorating. I feasted on God's Word first and asked God through prayer for strength in doing today's house chores.  My husband and I both have a basketful of laundry. I loaded our washing machine with water, poured enough detergent, sorted the clothes according to their colors, and started putting into the washing machine the first batch of laundry . I was about to hang the second batch of clothes into the clothesline when my husband suggested that I must stop doing the laundry because the weather seems to get relatively humid. He started transferring the clothes hanging on the clothesline into a shady area, but I took them again and returned them on the clothesline. I have this confidence in God that rain will not come. Yes, it started to drizzle, but there is t...

Hanun, son of Nahash, king of the Ammorites, waged war against David because of wrong assumptions. The princes of the Ammonites said to him, "Do you think, because, David has sent comforters to you, that he is honoring your father? Have not his servants come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?" (1 Chronicles 19:3, ESV) He misread David's intentions. He became overly suspicious and brought disaster upon himself. As I was typing 1 Chronicles 19:3, an event in the Book of Genesis came into my mind. Asking a question that led to sin is a very familiar scheme, right? Remember the serpent in the Garden of Eden? He asked Eve, "Did God actually say 'You' shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1b, ESV) One question that led to the fall of man. This scene brings shivers to me now.  I have been a Hanun countless times, but let me reflect on the recent Hanun moment I've had this year. I confess I've gone ...

When God chooses someone else to implement your ideas, will you respond with such humility? Bullseye! This question I encountered while reading my life application study Bible hit my pride of life. I've been desperate to find my worth in this world — family, colleagues, students, and friends. I desperately made myself relevant and of value to the people around me, but I failed terribly. Rejection after rejection, backstab after backstab, and loss after loss made me build my own dungeon of self-pity, bitterness, and resentment. I detached myself from people whom I can't find myself being valued and waged war against those whom I felt were stealing my "spotlight". I was battling with the pride of life and I was at the losing stance. Yet, in my desperation, God drew me close to Him.  It took only a few weeks for me to realize how sinful I've been this year. I danced with the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. I made a god of my im...

I do not normally post photos of my pupils, but I'll share this one here because their presence meant so much the day this was taken. The first week of classes did not went well for me. It was not because of the workload but more on personal matters which somehow affected my work. I had to look fine even though my heart is bearing a heaviness only the Lord knows. One afternoon, while I was at the verge of crying my heart out, some of my learners last year came running inside my classroom. There were eight of them actually but the boys were too shy to join the groufie. They showered me with hugs and stories of how their first day of being grade two students went. I never knew how ameliorating a child's hug could be until each of them gave me one.  For the last three days, my former learners would drop by my classroom just to bid me goodbye before going home. Others would drop by to tell me an experience they find spectacular for that day. There were even few of them who'd ru...

One of our church pastors, Rev. Raggi Aungon, lent me a book written by David Platt two Sundays ago. The book was a narrative of Platt’s trek to the Himalayas and how that trek became a life-changing experience for him. I gained a lot of snippets from the book and few reflections I’d love to share with people. As I write this journal, there is stir in my heart on going back to writing. This time, however, it is no longer about the things here below but on things above.   “These teachers are passionate about both physical need [in this case, education] and spiritual need [in every case, the gospel]. They don’t choose between the two, even while they prioritize the spiritual. They know education is huge for opening up all kinds of opportunities. But they also know that education alone won’t open eternal life,” Aaron said to David when they visited a school in the Himalayas. The teachers there aren’t some kind of paraprofessional teachers whom few or a lot of us deem as less compe...