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.