4 Things Tag

A friend tagged me a few weeks back. Here it goes...

4 Things Meme

Here’s the rule:

Click copy/paste, type in your answers and tag four people in your blogroll! Don’t forget to change my answers to the questions with that of yours.

Question # 1. Four places I go to over and over:
Asian Theological Seminary (hehe), TrueVine Christian Reformed Church (our church), parents house (both side), Labandera ni Angge!

Question # 2. Four people who e-mail me regularly
Misha, Kawayan Camp '99 (campmates), State Varsity Christian Fellowship - Diliman, Aleks (haha!)

Question # 3. Four of my favorite places to eat?
The Old Spaghetti House - Timog, Napoli - T. Morato, Little Asia - T. Morato, 7-11!

Question # 4. Four places you’d rather be?
Beach (white sand), mountain top, furniture shop, beside my wife (hehe)

Question #5. Four TV shows I could watch over and over.
(kahit wala kaming TV? Ok..) The Unit, MacGyver (old series), Samurai X, Justice League (animated)

Tagging (uh oh...) Misha, Butch, Rhea, Ivy (may nagtag na ba sa inyo? Should I tag ate Grace?)

social networking me

I dont' know why but I got myself another blog. Hacking Through has two short posts now, both about life during the past few days. Why another blog? I was thinking of blogging on a dedicated theme but I can't decide what. Life? Architecture? Things that I enjoy? If you have any ideas, let me know. But would you believe that I'm also thinking of opening a Multiply account? That's aside from the Friendster & Facebook that I have but not using. Why? I don't know! If I did this blog would have been different. :)

Book Fair!

It's that time of the year for book lovers!

new link

If you happen to glance at the blogs & sites linked here (lower right, please), you'll notice I've added two friends: Rhea Paredes is having fun, working & ministering, somewhere in the US; Redefine Weddings is the photog outfit of Jayson & Jo Anne Arquiza, the wonderful couple who took our wedding photos last September (enjoy their photos! - and, sorry, Ruth & I haven't finalized our pics yet, kaya wala pang album). Did I say two friends? Three pala...

tinkering

Had some time to play with the features in Blogger. The above picture was taken from Pearl Farm in Davao. Beautiful place. Some friends have been ribbing me for not trying out the swimming pool. Hehe! Next time, Lord-willing, we'll try the pool.

mrt woes

Woe is me...I take the MRT!

That was not poetry, just sheer rant. Reports say that the MRT & LRT have reached their full capacity...more, maybe out of desperation, are taking the MRT than that boxy thing we call 'bus' (pero marami nang magandang bus, ha). Do I have the right to rant? Ang sikip, grab. When you get off, you don't feel inspired to work anymore...like you've had a full day of stressful work and all you want to do is go home and sleep! Anymore. Wahahat? I haven't started work yet!

I realize the solution here is to get up earlier...so I can take that boxy thing to work! And avoid the MRT altogether! Ugh...brilliant. Maybe a conspiracy here somewhere.

reading this

I'm almost halfway with Discovering the God Who Is. RC Sproul continues to remind me of the majesty, greatness, faithfulness & love of God. Here's from the chapter I just finished:

"We must not forget that Jesus was, in human form, the Creator of the world. At any moment in His ministry He could have extinguished the life of those who opposed Him. The world was made by Him, in Him, and for Him. He had the power and authority to alter that creation by eliminating some undesirable rascals. But He chose to humble Himself before those very rascals. He allowed Himself to be arrested, tried, scourged, mocked, and crucified by men whom He could have annihilated with a single glance. That is humility. Acting with less power than one has at his disposal when attacked by another displays an astonishing level of grace. This is the Jesus who is our Lord. It is precisely His mindset that Paul called us to imitate in Philippians 2."

amazing grace

Since Thursday (July 24) evening my sister Grace has had this slight fever. I'm not sure if she went to work on Friday but by Saturday she felt better. Certainly she was up to entertaining our Youth Group from church. Then her temp went up again last Sunday, as high as 39. So she checked in at Medical City on Monday. And we suspected dengue, which the tests at the hospital confirmed. Her platelet count last Sunday evening was 167. Normal is 150-400. Monday morning her platelet was 120, Tuesday morning 90, Tuesday afternoon 80, Wednesday morning 70.

Nixon & Joan gave us this weed Monday evening, that could help raise her platelet. We washed and boiled the leaves and Grace drank the tea. She was stronger Tuesday night, eating and drinking well, but Wednesday she again lost her appetite and was a little weaker.

Wednesday evening we were elated to hear that her platelet rose back to 80! The doctors said if it will go up again on the next test, the trend would be upward and she will pull through. This morning, Thursday, her platelet count is now 110. We're now planning to take her home, with Doctor's approval, on Friday afternoon.

Thank you everyone for praying! We really have an amazing God.

THE answer

Funny how the surest way to ease life's questions is not found in the answer to those questions, but is found in remembering and discovering again the One who oversees it all. Like Job, we end up being satisfied not with the answers but with the presence of God in our lives.

On one quiet working day afternoon, I picked up Discovering the God Who Is by RC Sproul, borrowing the book from our OMF Lit Bookshop. It's a book to be read every now and then, because we humans have a tendency to forget.

again

It feels like I've been this way before
So sure, unsure, are you sure?
Trusting yet haltingly, take the next step
Drowning, falling, walking blind
The same sensations of helplessness
Trusting yet haltingly, take the hand
Of the Helper
And let go
Again

brain-dead

...uh...whew...

on the job

One of the things I enjoy about my work is I get the chance to scan, browse and read our books at OMF Literature, just to get a 'feel' for the themes and kinds of books we have published and to understand how to better market them. Right now, I'm going through our Professional Growth titles - books about leadership, working excellently, teamwork in the marketplace, etc. I'm trying to make a chart of the themes/topics we have addressed in our publications and see what else need to be addressed in terms of working - from entering the workplace to retirement (and sometimes even after retirement) - anything possibly connected with working. Let's see what I come up with.

Interestingly, check out the titles (and guess the themes) of two of our books: 9 Things a Leader Must Do and Never Steal a Paper Clip.

my desktop wallpaper

Several friends at the office have already asked about my desktop wallpaper. Thanks to Nixon, who sent me the picture, I have the cast of GI Joe the Movie (coming out in 2009) on my screen. Oh boy, this is one excited boy. I practically grew up with GI Joe - the comic book and even the toy line. On some days, an average of once a month, I would gather with friends and do a GI Joe vs Cobra battle using toys - vehicles, figures - and sewing thread to make sure the shots were more or less accurate. Those games lasted the whole afternoon! Sometimes, for fun, we'd throw in a few Transformers with the Joes and Cobras.

Because GI Joe is a year away, right now I'm looking forward to the Prince Caspian movie. We're skipping Indiana Jones. But we have to watch Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe first. Hopefully this weekend. Then Prince Caspian next week.

I know some of you have watched Prince Caspian already. No spoilers please! Especially you, Glads! :)

wow, i'm checking out my blog!

I'm killing time while waiting for a text message from my wife. Last I visited (and wrote - ok, blogged) my blog was February...well. The disadvantages of not having your own pc? Or no time to blog? I actually have three 'articles' written in a notebook at home that I planned to transfer here, but that was months ago. I'm not even sure what those articles were about. But, yes, time flies fast when you don't have a watch with you. Or a pc.

Faith and life. Several days ago, our dog Hunter sprained his right hind leg. He slipped while chasing his rubber ball. But the dog does not know when to rest his leg so it still hurts. We try to get him to stay put, sit down, rub, rub, just so Hunter will not jump up and down on all three good legs and one bad one...but no, he has to jump anyway! Sometimes I really get frustrated with that dog, sometimes he's just so endearing. Ruth and I have gotten around to calling him our first baby. Sweet, hehe.

Ooops, I changed the title/header. Hmmm, guess I'll be explaining why, in a few months. :)

what's going on?

It took me a few minutes of trying out one title from another until finally I'm satisfied with this one. Notes on Faith & Life. Yup, it's so simple even I won't forget what my blog is about. Expect just that - posts about faith and how it intersects/interacts/interrupts with events & circumstances around me.

And, yes, I finally finished Philip Yancey's Rumors of Another World.

first weekend blah

It's the first weekend of February 2008. And though it's still cold early in the morning, it's starting to get hot during the day. Summer is around the corner, a few months away, but who knows if it will come early or late. Or it will rain early and we'll have a wet April and May. I'm just blabbering, I know. One of these days I will stretch my legs and run.

Hunter and Ruth

this is a video taken of one of our morning walks with hunter. enjoy :)

almost the end of this day

Whew. The day is almost over. All that's left is walk our dog, Hunter. We (sometimes Ruth, me or both of us) walk him every morning and evening. We made it Hunter's routine. But, oh great, how this is so hard to do when I get out of bed late and have to rush to the office. And when we get home very late, and the dog still wants his walk. Our fault, really.

But walks with Hunter are sometimes God-enlightening. Like every time Hunter tries to have his way, pulling on the leash and straining to get away - despite the danger he does not recognize. And I remember that sometimes I, too, try to get away from God - even if I don't see the danger God obviously sees. I pull away when He's leading me - "quiet waters and green pastures" all.

So I have that walk with Hunter. And let God teach me through a little, 5-month old, frisky, cute dog.

to the beat of different...uh..

It's past 7pm and I'm still here in the office. While I'm working at my station, the next-door department is celebrating the birthday of their manager with food and, what else, music. Hehe, I'm actually working with their music as my background! And I'm enjoying it! How we as Filipinos love music...you don't know the depth of it until you jam with the karaoke together with friends.

A Different Worship Service

Several weeks ago, our church got word that the hall we were renting for our Sunday service and Wednesday Prayer Meeting would be demolished. Alarmed, we scrambled for a place to rent on such short notice. There were already plans to move to another place, but this time we had to move fast! Calling some members of the congregation, we made plans to temporarily relocate some of our church equipment. Ruth and me found ourselves housing the four huge speaker units of our church in our new apartment.

Where to hold our worship service? Some church officers sought approval to hold our services in a seminar hall two blocks behind Capitol Medical Hospital along Quezon Ave. While waiting for that approval, we needed a place for Nov. 4. Guess where God led us? In McDonald's, Quezon Ave.!

Church was never more different for most of us that Sunday. We booked a party room from 10-2. We conducted our regular worship service, complete with hymns and preaching. And because it was the first Sunday...we had our Lord's Supper! Because the room was surrounded by glass, people inside and outside McDo were curiously looking (or pretending not to look). The McDo staff were very helpful. And all of us had McDo's chicken fillet meal for lunch. It was airconditioned and the kids had fun at the play area. It was a serious, fun, casual worship service—very different!

It's one of those situations where God reminds you that the church is foremost the people rather than the building. And that where we worship, there He is with us. And He is everywhere.

God provided the hall behind Capitol Med and we'll be there for six months. But that McDo Worship Service was really an experience.