IF

If you never felt pain,
how would you know that I am the Healer?

If you never had to pray,
how would you know that I am the Deliverer?

If you never had a trial,
how could you call yourself an over comer?

If you never felt sadness,
how would you know that I am the Comforter?

If you never made a mistake,
how would you know that I am the Forgiver?

If you knew all,
how would you know that I will answer your questions?

If you never were in trouble,
how would you know that I will come to your rescue?

If you never were broken,
how would you know that I can make you whole?

If you never had a problem,
how would you know that I can solve them?

If you never had any suffering,
then how would you know what I went through?

If you never went through the fire,
how would you become pure?

If I gave you all things,
how would you appreciate them?

If I never corrected you,
how would you know that I love you?

If you had all power,
how would you learn to depend on me?

If your life was perfect,
than what would you need me for?

Love,
Jesus

Burn: U Rock U Run

 

Liz Mendoza sent me this email…

We are inviting you to join BURN: U Rock U Run.

The UP Chemical Society, in its 81st year, presents its first ad hoc event, BURN: U Rock, U Run, a fun run for the rehabilitation and construction of the buildings of UP Diliman Institute of Chemistry.

10 April 2011, 5:30 AM, Venice Piazza, McKinley Hill, Taguig

Events: 3K, 5K and 10K
Registration Fee: P450
Race kits include singlet and race bib.
Promo: Register as a group of 10 and get P50 off for each person.

Contact Ralph (09062488759), Joseph (09336541191), Mara (09164302502) or Jason (09178742050) for inquiries.

You may register here: http://upchemicalsociety.org/
You may also register at http://www.runnersrunner.com/store/events/burn-urock-urun-2011.html
and at selected Chris Sports branches (SM Mall of Asia, SM Megamall, SM North Edsa Annex, Glorietta, and Market! Market!)

You may pay your registration fees at any Banco De Oro branch.
Account Name: Ralph Rolly A. Gonzales
Account Number: 0251056325

 

Also, on the same date, there’s also a Mt. Mayon 360 Run courtesy of  a  dear friend and an icon in running, Sir Jovie Narcise aka Baldrunner. You may visit his website at http://www.baldrunner.com for more details.

That’s it for now.

 

See you at the road my friend.

 

God be Praised!

Irony Of Being A Man

 

Just sharing…

God created the donkey and said to him.

“You will be a donkey. You will work un-tiringly from sunrise to sunset carrying burdens on your back. You will eat grass,
you will have no intelligence and you will live 50 years.”

The donkey answered:
“I will be a donkey, but to live 50 years is much.
Give me only 20 years”

God granted his wish.

God created the dog and said to him:

“You will guard the house of man. You will be his best Friend.
You will eat the scraps that he gives you and you will live 30 years. You will be a dog. ”

The dog answered:
“Sir, to live 30 years is too much,give me only 15 years.”
God granted his wish.

God created the monkey and said to him:

“You will be a monkey.
You will swing from branch to branch doing tricks.
You will be amusing and you will live 20 years.”

The monkey answered:
“To live 20 years is too much, give me only 10 years.”

God granted his wish.

Finally God created man … and said to him:

“You will be man, the only rational creature on the face of the earth.

You will use your intelligence to become master over all the animals.

You will dominate the world and you will live 20 years.”

Man responded:

“Sir, I will be a man but to live only 20 years is very little,
give me the 30 years that the donkey refused,
the 15 years that the dog did not want and
the 10 years the monkey also refused.”

God granted man’s wish.

And since then, man lives :

20 years as a man ,

marries and spends

30 years like a donkey,
working and carrying all the burdens on his back.

Then when his children are grown,
he lives 15 years like a dog taking care of the house
and eating whatever is given to him,

so that when he is old,
he can retire and live 10 years like a monkey,
going from house to house and from one son or
daughter to another doing tricks to amuse his grandchildren.

So this is Man’s Life.

 

See you at the road my friend.

 

God be Praised!

Kindness Is…

“Be kind to people until you make your first million. After that people will be nice to you.” -selected

 

Someone said that when you are good to others, you are best to yourself.

In his book Les Miserables, Victor Hugo tells of Jean Valjean, whose only crime was the theft of a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children. After serving 19 years, he was released from the galleys. Unable to find work because he had been a convict, he came to the home of a good old bishop who kindly gave him his supper and a bed for a night.

Yielding to temptation he stole the Bishop’s silver plates and slipped out, but was soon caught and returned. The kind bishop said to his captors, “Why, I gave them to him. And Jean, you forgot to take the candlesticks.” Jean was astounded at such kindness, and this brought about his salvation.

A little deed of kindness can turn a sinner to the Saviour.

 

John Wesley had this for  his rule of life and let me end my sharing for today:

Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as  ever you can.

We are all fellow passengers on a dot of earth. And each of us, in the span of time , has really only a moment among our companions.

Never return a kindness. Pass it on.

See you at the road my friend.

God be Praised!

I Wish You Enough!

“Commit your ways to the Lord, and He will direct your path.” -Proverbs 3:5

 

Recently I read about a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, “I love you and I wish you enough”.

The daughter replied, “Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom”.

They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry.. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, “Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?”.

Yes, I have,” I replied. “Forgive me for asking,
but why is this a forever good-bye?”.

“I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is – the next trip back will be
for my funeral,” she said.

“When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, ‘I wish you enough’. May I ask what that means?”.

She began to smile. “That’s a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone”. She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. “When we said , ‘I wish you enough’, we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them”. Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude
bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

She then began to cry and walked away.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them but then an entire life to forget them.

TAKE TIME TO LIVE…..

To all my friends and loved ones,
I WISH YOU ENOUGH……..

 

Have a very productive week to us all!

Blessings!!!! 🙂

Lessons From Eagles!

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength as eagles. They shall RUN and not be weary, they shall walk and not be tired.” -Book of Isaiah

 

We can learn so many things about eagles. Let me share with you some principles we can apply as we go on in our journey:

Principle 1
Eagles fly alone at high altitude and not with sparrows or with other small
birds. No other bird can go to the height of the eagle. They stay away from
sparrows and ravens. Eagles fly with eagles.

Principle 2
Eagles have strong vision. They have the ability to focus on something up to
five kilometers away. When an eagle sites his prey, he narrows his focus on
it and sets out to get it.No matter what the obstacle, the eagle will not
move his focus from the prey until he grabs it. Have a vision and remain
focused no matter what the obstacle and you will succeed.

Principle 3
Eagles do not eat dead things. They feed only on fresh prey. Vultures eat
dead animals, but eagles will not. Be careful with what you feed your eyes
and ears with, especially in movies and on TV. Steer clear of outdated and
old information. Always do your research well.

Principle 4
Eagles love the storm. When clouds gather, the eagles get excited. The eagle
uses the storm’s winds to lift it higher. Once it finds the wing of the
storm, the eagle uses the raging storm to lift him above the clouds. This
gives the eagle an opportunity to glide and rest its wings. In the
meantime all the other birds hide in the leaves and branches of the trees.
We can use the storms of life to rise to greater heights. Achievers relish
challenges and use them profitably.

Principle 5
The Eagle tests before it trusts. When a female eagle meets a male and they
want to mate, she flies down to earth with the male pursuing her and she
picks a twig. She flies back into the air with the male pursuing her. Once
she has reached a height high enough for her, she lets the twig fall to the
ground and watches it as it falls. The male chases after the twig. The
faster It falls, the faster he chases it. He has to catch it before it falls to the
ground. He then brings it back to the female eagle. The female eagle grabs
the twig and flies to a higher altitude and then drops the twig for the male to
chase. This goes on for hours, with the height increasing until the female
eagle is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art
of catching the twig which shows commitment. Then and only then, will she
allow him to mate with her. Whether in private life or in business, one
should test commitment of people intended for partnership.

Principle 6
When ready to lay eggs, the female and male eagle identify a place very high
on a cliff where no predators can reach. The male flies to earth and picks
thorns and lays them on the crevice of the cliff, then flies to earth again
to collect twigs which he lays in the intended nest. He flies
back to earth and picks thorns laying them on top of the twigs. He flies
back to earth and picks soft grass to cover the thorns. When this first
layering is complete the male eagle runs back to earth and picks more
thorns, lays them on the nest; runs back to get grass to lay it on top of
the thorns, then plucks his feathers to complete the nest. The thorns on the
outside of the nest protect it from possible intruders. Both male and female
eagles participate in raising the eagle family. She lays the eggs and protects
them; he builds the nest and hunts. During the time of training the young ones
to fly, the mother eagle throws the eaglets out of the nest. Because they are
scared, they jump into the nest again. Next, she throws them out and then takes
off the soft layers of the nest, leaving the thorns bare. When the scared eaglets
again jump into the nest, they are pricked by thorns. Shrieking and bleeding
they jump out again this time wondering why the mother and father who love
them so much are torturing them. Next, mother eagle pushes them off the cliff
into the air. As they shriek in fear, father eagle flies out and catches them up
on his back before they fall and brings them back to the cliff. This goes on for
sometime until they start flapping their wings. They get excited at this new
found knowledge that they can fly. The preparation of the nest teaches us to
prepare for changes; The preparation for the family teaches us that active
participation of both partners leads to success; being pricked by the thorns
tells us that sometimes being too comfortable where we are may result into
our not experiencing life, not progressing and not learning at all. The thorns of
life come to teach us that we need to grow, get out of the nest and live on.
We may not know it but the seemingly comfortable and safe haven may have
thorns. The people who love us do not let us languish in sloth but push us
hard to grow and prosper. Even in their seemingly bad actions they have good
intentions for us.

Principle 7
When an Eagle grows old, his feathers become weak and cannot take him as
fast as he should. When he feels weak and about to die, he retires to a
place far away in the rocks. While there, he plucks out every feather on his
body until he is completely bare. He stays in this hiding place until he has
grown new feathers, then he can come out. We occasionally need to shed off
old habits & items that burden us without adding to our lives.

 

See you at the road my Friend.

God be Praised!

Spilled Apples

 

A few years ago a group of salesmen went to a regional sales convention in Chicago. They had assured their families that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner.

In their rush, with tickets and briefcases, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over a table which held a display of baskets of apples. Apples flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time for their nearly missed boarding. All but one. He paused, took a deep breath, got in touch with his feelings, and experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose apple stand had been overturned.

He told his buddies to go on without him, waved goodbye, told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain his taking a later flight. Then he returned to the terminal where the apples were all over the terminal floor. He was glad he did.

The 16 year old girl was totally blind! She was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in frustration, and at the same time helplessly groping for her spilled produce as the crowd swirled about her, no one stopping, and no one to care for her plight. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the apples, put them into the baskets, and helped set the display up once more. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised; these he set aside in another basket. When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the girl, “Here, please take this $20 for the damage we did. Are you okay?”

She nodded through her tears. He continued on with, “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly.”

As the salesman started to walk away, the bewildered blind girl called out to him, “Mister…” He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, “Are you Jesus?”

He stopped in mid-stride, and he wondered. Then slowly he made his way to catch the later flight with that question burning and bouncing about in his soul: “Are you Jesus?”

Do people mistake you for Jesus?

That’s our destiny, is it not? To be so much like Jesus that people cannot tell the difference as we live and interact with a world that is blind to His love, life and grace.

If we claim to know Him, we should live, walk and act as He would. Knowing Him is more than simply quoting Scripture and going to church. It’s actually living the Word as life unfolds day to day. You are the apple of His eye even though we, too, have been bruised by a fall. He stopped what He was doing and picked you and me up on a hill called Calvary and paid in full for our damaged fruit.

Let us live like we are worth the price He paid. Think about it.

P-E-A-C-E!

“The time has come  for me to reorganize  my life, my peace-I cry out. I cannot adjust  my life to secure  any fruitful peace. Here I am at sixty-four, still seeking peace. It is a hopeless dream.” -H.G. Wells

There once was a King who offered a prize to the
artist who would paint the best picture of peace.
Many artists tried. The King looked at all the
pictures, but there were only two he really liked
and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake.
The lake was a perfect mirror, for peaceful
towering mountains were all around it. Overhead was
a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw
this picture thought it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains, too. But these
were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky from
which rain fell, and in which lightening played. Down
the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall.
This did not look peaceful at all. But when the King
looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush
growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother
bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the
rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest.

The King chose the second picture as the winner.
“Because,” explained the King, “peace does not mean
to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble,
or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all
those things and still be calm in your heart. That
is the real meaning of peace.”

My Prayer:

Lord, keep me still. Though stormy waves may blow. And waves my little bark may overflow, Or even if in darkness I must go; Lord keep me still.

The waves are in Thy hand, the roughest sea subside at Thy command. Steer Thou my bark in safety to the land and keep me still. Keep me still.

* This portion of my blog is lovingly dedicated to the people of Japan. May God grant them peace in moments like these…

See you at the road my friend.

God be Praised!

SHARK In Your Life…

“The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” -1 Corinthians 10:13

 

I found this very interesting fact about a fishing company in Japan in which I think we can also get lessons from…

The Japanese have always loved fresh fish. But the waters close to Japan have not held many fish for decades. So the fishermen had to go further in
the sea to catch their supply of fish, the fishing boats got bigger and
bigger. The farther the fishermen went, the longer it took to bring in the
fish. If the return trip took more than a few days, the fish were not
fresh and they lost their fresh taste.

To solve this problem, fishing companies installed freezers on their
boats. They would catch the fish and freeze them at sea. Freezers allowed
the boats to go farther and stay longer. However, the Japanese could taste
the difference between fresh and frozen and they did not like frozen fish.

Also, the frozen fish brought a lower price. So fishing companies
installed fish tanks. They would catch the fish and stuff them in the
tanks, fin to fin. After a little thrashing around, the fish stopped
moving. They were tired and dull, but alive. Unfortunately, the Japanese
could still taste the difference; because the fish did not move for days,
they lost their fresh-fish taste. The Japanese preferred the lively taste
of fresh fish, not sluggish fish.

So how did Japanese fishing companies solve this problem? How do they get
fresh-tasting fish to Japan? To keep the fish tasting fresh, the Japanese
fishing companies added a small shark to the tanks that the fish were kept
in. The shark of course eats a few fish, but most of the fish arrive in a
very lively state due to the fact that the fish are challenged.

MORAL LESSON OF THE STORY:
Some of us are also living like fish that have been caught, we give in too easily, and we are not challenged. Some of us could use a Shark in our life. Consider new challenges and problems in your life as a shark – the challenges and problems can keep us motivated and moving forward. Without challenges we can become complacent, find life boring, and become inactive.

Challenges in our lives can keep us moving forward. As the quote goes,

“When we long for life without difficulties, be reminded that – oaks grow strong in contrary winds, and diamonds are made under pressure.”

See you at the road my friend.

To God be the Glory!

Cherokee

“If we can’t see God’s hands, we can trust His heart.” -selected

 

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth’s rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone.

He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.

He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.
He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm.

The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we don’t know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.

Moral of the story:
Just because you can’t see God, doesn’t mean He is not there.
‘For we walk by faith, not by sight.’