Isaiah 40

This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. One of the comfort verses I run to in times of trouble.

It talks about having a high view of God. My favorite line is:

"Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth!"

-haha may pagkasarcastic pa eh! =P "...di mo ba alam???"

That's one of the things I love about the Bible. It's super honest and more contemporary than we give it credit for. Compared to the BIble, C.S. Lewis and JRR Tolkien sound ancient!

Hehe, so here it is, enjoy the verse and allow the words to sweep over you and comfort you. For we have a BIG God who is in control of EVERYTHING!

Isaiah 40:12-14,17-18,25-31

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales
and the hills in the balance?

Who has understood the mind of the Lord,
or instructed him as his counselor?
Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him,
and who taught him knowledge
or showed him the path of understanding?

Before him all nations are as nothing;
they are regarded by him as worthless
and less than nothing.
To whom, then, will you compare God?
What image will you compare him to?

"To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?"
says the Holy One.
Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?

He who brings out the starry host one by one,
and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God"?

Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

Valentine Blues

It's been a weird couple of weeks leading to Febuary. I find myself more moody than usual - it almost feels like i have my "old" self back. You see, back when I wasn't a committed Christian yet, I was overly moody, and although I'm not overly moody now, I don't think I exude the joy that I should. Don't get me wrong - I'm not backsliding (at least I think I'm not) - I love God more than ever, I regularly spend time with Him, I give back to Him as much as I can. I try to serve Him and be faithful to what He has entrusted to me. BUt there's just a deep-seeted sadness in my soul lately. And just like anything BIG, I can't quite describe it or put my finger on the cause of it. Most likely it is the usual lot of things that get me down, such as my ever dramatic family problems, my personal insecurities, and top it off with the constant whisperings of the evil one in my head - lies that I do tend to believe in vulnerable times like these.

I guess my Valentine blues are not romantic in nature. But my valentine blues are caused by the trials and adversities of life. I really think I should be used to problems by now - after all, I did grow up in the midst of chaos and constant bickering - but I guess you never get used to the hard stuff of life. It almost makes me envious to see other people worry about a fight with their parents or siblings when I have to contend with deeper stuff. Not that I'm undermining the gravity of other people's problems, but the fights in our family are not as simple as mere misunderstandings - they go a lot deeper, much much deeper - the type of problems that you couldn't just get mad and lash out about. It's the type that paralyzes you - it freezes you coz you don't really know what to do. I guess that's how I've been the past few weeks - paralyzed and helpless.

But I surrender to my God. Although I think that a lot of the crappy stuff in my life right now are unneccessary, my wisdom will never compare to God's. And when God deems it necessary, who am I to contend with Him? But it's not easy. It takes real effort to constantly remind myself that nothing is an accident - that all the days of my life have been laid out before me before I was even born -

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. - Psalm 139:16

I have to constantly tell myself that the stuff in this world are temporal and that I can spend all my energy making things right in my own little world but lose it all in one blink of an eye - or I can choose to trust God and believe in His goodness, faithfulness and love, and that an eternity of unimaginable things await me.

So I still hold on to God even if there are days that I really want to let go. I guess it's different when you've experienced the goodness of God. To me, my Jesus is so REAL. He has seen me through the worst times of my life, and as I look back on these times, I'm just awestruck at how the Lord has worked things out. And I guess now is a low point - a majorly low point in my life. But I KNOW that one day, as I look back on this time, I will look back on it with fondness, and also with a sense of awe of how God really does work things out in our lives - if we only let Him. And I guess that is my prayer this day - that I will let God work things out in my life and that I wait on Him and His plans patiently.

This is the quote of my life right now.

"Were I to leave where else would I go? The words of life and truth you hold."

As for the verse of my life, I claim Habakkuk 3:17-18

"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in god my Savior."

Frisbee!!!

Haha, seems like a lot of people are interested in frisbee - especially my dear OOCL officemates. =)

Well, you are all welcome to join us frisbee-player-wanna-bes at the Ateneo BelField every Sunday. It starts around 2PM and ends, well, when it ends. =P

So, for your benefit, I'm posting some pictures on frisbee Sundays. BTW, most of these pics i just robbed off zeusy's multiply account, hehe so thanks a lot to jzone's photo master Zeus! (who by the way has a super nice Canon SLR cam =P)









Hehe, as you can see, it's absolutely fun! Now, don't be intimidated if you non't know how to "frisbee", hehe we have a resident pro in town - known also as the "disc diva" - he's a real pro! He teaches the basics to the first timers, and conducts drills on the more "advanced" players. Coach na coach talaga ang dating! =)

So guys, ano na??? =) See you in Ateneo?

WATRUW8NG4? Frisbee??

Saturday. 04 FEB 2006

It was Jzone's second year anniversary last Saturday, Feb 04, 2006. I almost didn't go coz of a terrible headache. I had to drink 1,000mg of Mefenamic Acid just to kill the pain. But, it was worth it coz it was really fun! Many Jzoners performed, including the Jzone East dancers as well as the WD4J. But more than the presentation, the company was great... hehe =)

The topic was also timely - a great challenge to welcome another exciting Jzone year. What are you waiting for??

But it was the making of the chronicle that stood out of my anniversary weekend. Jerome texted me early that week to ask if I could do a special Jzone Anniversary Chronicle. I said yes, coz it's always such a privilege to work for God through the Chronicle ministry. But, it was FridaY morning before I got everything (articles, announcements, jzone pics...), and I couldn't work on it at once coz I had work. So I did it during my lunch break and after our office hours. I was so rushed! I had to send it by Friday evening so that it could be printed by Saturday morning!

But praise God He saw me through the whole thing. =) It was really the Lord who guided me through every click and drag of the whole Chronicle. Thanks God!

Hehe, I especially liked the photospread.



I guess I'm biased coz I really love collages. But the pics were really good (thanks zeus!), and I think the black and white effect came out really nice. =)

Sunday. 05 FEB 2006

Frisbee Sunday! Hahaha! I have been planning to go to the Ateneo BelField to play frisbee for the longest time. But I didn't get to go the past few weeks coz I was "tamad". I felt that Ateneo was just too far away, and that I probably wouldn't enjoy it, coz I'm not a "runner". (I'm a swimmer! =))

But God gave me a reason to go last Sunday. Memen wanted to go! Haha! Kewl! Of course she needed a "friend" there, and since Dj was going to the Franklin Graham event, I was tasked to be Memen's companion for the day.

Anyway, so I went to the 2nd worship without having any idea how to get to Ateneo by 2PM. But then, guess who was the first person I met when I got to the 4th floor?? It was my beloved Dolor! Haha, she asked if I was gonna go to Frisbee later, and I said "Yes!". We then decided to meet up at 12PM so we could go together. God is super great! He even fixed up my transpo to get to Ateneo! Iba talaga si God!

So anyway, Dolor and I met at around 12PM. We had lunch with Atid, Bensan and Fers at Chowking. It was a fun lunch, hehe which was made especially memorable by the "delicious" Chowking milk tea! Hahahaha! We just laughed and laughed the whole lunchtime and the 1+ hours of wait quickly passed.

So we left Podium at around 1:45PM and Dolor and I got to Ateneo a 'lil over 2PM.

I was just blessed by the whole frisbee event. First of all, because Memen was so game! She even said she'd go play again this coming Sunday. Praise God! I was also super blessed with the devotion of Dags. She shared an excerpt from the book "Captivating" (which is a must-read for all y'girls out there, I think I'd write a book review on that =D). It was super good coz it was specially geared towards women - on how sometimes we feel that we are too much, yet not good enough at the same time. Dags also talked of how God uses our "weaknesses" to be His strength. Our beloved Dolor even gave a short testimony on how God uses tough times to mold and shape us, and how He could change our perspective and make the seemingly worst event of our lives, be the best! Praise God! =)