Different Definitions

Though Alyssa and I are usually together we don't really have many pictures together. So last Sunday after a youth welcoming activity at church we decided to take pictures together. Here is one of what we took.

(L-R) Alyssa and Christin goes wacky.

The picture should really be wacky but it turned out that we have extremely different definitions of wacky. :)

Nokia 8210 Is A Classic!

I am an owner of a Nokia 8210 cellphone model for so many years now--and hopefully for more years to come. My cell phone can text people up to only 160 characters. It can call and receive calls, don't you worry. It has a 1-hour maximum talk time. It has a yellow backlight and black characters--in short, it's not colored. It has limited space for only 60 text messages and around 500 contacts for storage. It has a calendar, an alarm clock, and basic calculator. Its tones are all monotones. And yeah, my ringing tone is Love Is the Answer, if you care to know.

My phone is pretty much functional. It works I assure you. It's kinda invincible too. I've acidentally dropped it many times. It even got smashed but when assembled, it still works perfectly well! If you think my cell phone is boring, you're wrong! It has games. I have the classic headless snake, the mind-boggling memory game and the frustrating rotation game.

Many people gloat at the fact that I still own an old cell phone model. There are so many "hi-tech" phones out there that has plenty of options for texting, calling, voice, messaging, gaming and even Internet. To many, my phone is outdated and totally out of fashion. Obsolete. I could read people's eyes when they look at my phone, "Why on earth is she still using that phone?"

I guess I just learned to be content. I've learned (and have been learning) the difference of need and want. God taught me that some things, such as cell phones, can be so alluring that you will want it too much and end up thinking that it's a need. "It's gotta be a need!" We shout and then we go into a flurry of why it should pass for a need.

Cell phones for the past years have heightened people's mobility with the advent of Internet right at your phone. "The world is at your fingertips," an ad says. It may have increased mobility and interaction but it has lessened the value of true interaction with real people in real life.

Online activities are already overwhelming with computer alone. And I won't have online activities follow me everywhere I go. Email, Facebook, Twitter, and everything online should stay home in the computer, their rightful place. Call and text is all I really need to carry with me and the rest would be natural and real life conversations with friends. Something God has originally designed for what communication and interaction should be.

It must not be mistaken that I am against online interaction. I have plenty of online friends and it's always a pleasure to chat with them when we "meet" online. It is just this: God has placed in my heart to value higher the real life communication He designed than the high technology communication our human efforts invented.

My Nokia 8210 isn't outdated. It's a classic and it reminds me of my favorite biblical adage,

But godliness with contentment is great gain
(1 Timothy 6:6)

I will continue to pursue God with whatever He provides regardless of what the world may think of his provisions for me. They may be unfashionable, outdated and obsolete to them. But anything from Him, I regard it classic and timeless.

Names of God

I love names. I have a list of my favorite names. I like telling people that I like their names and would say their names five times or so just to enjoy its beauty. Some of them are Sunday, Honor, Umaga, Jane, Anne, Edward, Paul, Elaine and Louise. I just love calling them their names.

As much as I love human names, I've been constantly drawn to know more of God's names. Listed below are some of His many Names. Look them up and enjoy the beauty and meaning of Him and His Names.

1) Jehovah Rohi
The Lord Your Shepherd (Isaiah 40:11)

2) Jehovah Nissi
The Lord Your Banner (Exodus 17:8-16, Deuteronomy20:4)

3) Jehovah Shalom
The Lord Your Peace (Judges 6:23-24)

4) Jehovah M'Kaddesh
The Lord Who Sanctifies (Leviticus 20:7-8)

5) Jehovah Jireh
The Lord Who Provides (Genesis 22:13-14)

6) Jehovah Sabaoth
The Lord of Hosts (Psalm 46:7, Psalm 24:8)

7) Jehovah Elyon
The Most High God (Psalm 7:17)

8) Jehovah Rapha
The Lord Who Heals (Exodus 15:26)

9) Jehovah Shammah
The Lord Who Is There (Ezekiel 48:35)

10) Adonai
Lord and Master (Joshua 24:19-21)

11) El Roi
The God Who Sees (Genesis 16:13, 1 Chronicles 28:9)

12) El Olam
The Eternal God (Genesis 21:33)

13) El Shaddai
The Almighty, All Sufficient God (Genesis 17:1)

14) Elohim
The Strong Faithful and Only True God (Genesis 1:1. Deuteronomy 10:20)

I'd Like To Know You More

In high school, I loved having my friends sign my autograph book. Aside from spending time with them, my knowledge of them increases because of the autograph book. Take note though that my autograph book is not the kind you buy from bookstores. I made it myself with questions and things that I want to know about them. From contact details down to their hobbies, likes, dislikes and all favorites than can be listed such as colors, seasons, food, drink, etc.

It's most useful to me during holidays and birthdays. I would know just what to give to please them and make them happy in those special dates. I just love making their day.

I'm currently reading A.W. Tozer's Pursuit of God and it has been shaming me of my shallowness and correcting my views about God. Tozer wrote,

"The modern scientist has lost God amid the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His word. We have almost forgotten that God is a person and, as such, can be cultivated as any person can."

Most people would acknowledge that there is a God. And to Christians we wholly believe that there is a God. We know that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins and if we receive Him in our hearts we receive the gift of eternal life...

Sadly, we end there when in fact there is so much more to receiving His gift of eternal life.

John 17:3 clearly defines what is eternal life, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." (NIV)

We forget that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit is a Person. He is not an object in the far heavens who is just there. He is a Person who "thinks, wills, enjoys, feels, loves, desires, and suffers as any other person may." (Tozer)

We enjoy the fellowship of our family and friends and He also enjoys having fellowship with His children. Yet, between us and Him, He is the only One who really desires and would enjoy fellowship. We treat quiet times as something dragging, tiring and boring. I'm very much guilty with that.

In relationships there is what you call interpersonal communication. It's a communication between two persons. For it to be effective, each person should keep the communication flow constantly. Just how can our personal relationship with God flourish if the only Person who wants to keep the flow going is Him?

As much as we love being with our loved ones then so much more should we love being with the Person who is our Redeemer, Father, Brother and Friend! We can never enjoy the gift of eternal life if it's only Him knowing us and us not truly knowing Him.

To enjoy eternal life is to enjoy Him. Take action brothers and sisters. How have you been treating God? Is he a mere object or a faraway God to you? Thirst for Him. If you don't feel that thirst, then ask Him to make you thirst! Because only when you thirst will you have the longing to know Him more.

Know what He likes and dislikes. Know all His names. Know what glorifies Him. When we try to know Him, He is so much pleased with us and is glorified.

O God, you are my God,
Earnestly I seek you,
My soul thirsts for you,
My body longs for you,
In a dry and weary land
Where there is no water.

Psalm 63:1

Let us continuously thirst for Him and we shall truly know what is eternal life.

Harris Twins' Live Steaming

The twins announced their live streaming yesterday over at The Rebelution. 3:30 EST. I converted it to GMT +8 twice, set my alarm clock and waited for it... I would never wholly trust time converters again! I missed the Harris twins' live streaming by 25 minutes! But time converters immediately made it up with me when I was given a great time chatting with rebelutionaries across the ocean. 15-20 rebelutionaries all on at the same time? It was tons of fun and excitement. More of that in a while.

Alex & Brett talked about the concept of their upcoming book and released its title. No spoilers... you can watch the video and learn what the title is. If you think that Do Hard Things has left you wandering where to start in doing hard things, then you'll surely look forward to this new book.

For more excitement. Alex said that they might do live streaming again if we liked it. If Alex could hear, "We liked it very MUCH!!!!" Quite apparent because there are still people on chat at this very moment.

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How To Watch the Video:
At the bottom of the airing video
click on "On-Demand"
then click the twins' video on the
topmost of the selection.

Ignore this if the video embedded above works well.

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Hatred On the Prosperity Gospel

John Piper nails so many truths in this short video. Be gripped and live not the prosperity gospel.

A Tale So Lame

We decided to poke into some fun and the result is a video that ended having such a lame story. It was made roughly and at the spur of the moment so no guarantees of any amusement at all.

Meeting Sir Paul

Yesterday, Christin and I went to OMFLit. We had the wonderful privilege of meeting Sir Paul Aragones, the CEO, a very kind man who is enthusiastic about the message of Do Hard Things. We thanked him for having the book published in the Philippines and assured him that we would continue to promote and spread the word about Do Hard Things, as well as other books.



Truly, Do Hard Things is spreading across the Philippines, not just among teenagers, but among parents as well. As each day passes, our excitement grows, as more and more people step up to take the challenge of doing Hard Things.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Spreading Do Hard Things

A few years back, The Rebelution was only a simple blog with great posts. It blew our minds that there's actually much more to teen years than school and fun. That there's much more that God can actually do through us if we would just choose to throw the shackles of low expectations and step up to the challenge that God has for us.

Alyssa and I were so excited. We wanted to share the potential of teen years to every Filipino youth. We recommended the site to everyone we know but the response wasn't exciting as we expected it to be. Just how do you recommend a site to people who are not keen in reading blogs? (Blogs weren't that very popular here)

Fast forward three years later... The Rebelution has become a great website with great posts, forums, and conferences. And the blog posts were condensed into a book: Do Hard Things. With a book as a medium, more people caught the fire in maximizing their teen years for God. But just how do you recommend a book that isn't even available in your country? God answered by bringing the book here through OMF Literature.

I'm so excited that we're not the only ones now who recommend the book but there are rebelutionaries springing up from everywhere across the archipelago. We're glad that the book is here but there's still a lot of work to do in igniting fire and it does not end in reading the book.

Do Hard Things is still new and you might be the only one in your group who has read Do Hard Things. I'm sure you're excited as we are with what the book has to offer to teens but not everyone loves nor likes to read. While it is prevalent among Filipino teens to easily get bored with books there is a way you can share the book's message to them.

Not many people may care when you say, "Do Hard Things!" or tell them about the book, but there are many teens and adults alike in your church, school or work, who are chained by the society's low expectations. And their hearts are silently crying out for bigger things that God has for them. You must find these people.

These people may not be easy to find at first. But until you reveal yourself will they only probably reveal themselves. Your first "hard things" might be alone but if you live as if God is the prime source of your life and faithfully exert yourself in doing hard things you'll attract these people. They're just around and are probably looking for a fellow youth and a comrade like you who can be with them in stepping out of their comfort zone and forward to battle.

I pray you'll find these people and together with them,

DO HARD THINGS FOR HIS GLORY!

Are You A Princess?

Are you a princess? I would request you to answer that truthfully before reading the rest of this post? Well, are you?

Princess culture has been so prevalent in the past few years. At first, it was just Barbie and Disney dolls and in came Bratz Dolls and all sorts of "princessy" items in the market. Megan Bashan of the Wall Street Journal wrote an interesting article on how this princess industry is turning little girls into future narcisstic women.

Bringing Up Princess: Turning Girls Into Narcissists
http://online.wsj.com - Megan Bashan - 12-June-09

The princess industry has been booming in the past few years -- not just the Disney dolls and scratchy toy-store ball gowns that are a rite of passage in most American girlhoods, but a brazen new breed of princess products that target a far wider age range and tap into less seemly attitudes. The hot-pink, leopard-print princess backpacks, T-shirts, purses and bedspreads that girls are now buying (or, rather, their parents are buying for them) have little to do with indulging sweet princess fantasies and everything to do with catering to over-indulged princess egos.

Take the popular tween retailer Justice. At malls nationwide, it carries multiple "Princess" tops and accessories that look a lot more like Paris Hilton's attire than Snow White's. No surprise that part of its marketing slogan is "Love yourself."

How many times have I seen girls wearing shirts with similar prints and didn't even realize that narcissism was creeping into the culture like a pussing kitten? I thought it was all cute and safe but reading Bashan's article revealed that there is an underlying power in this princessy culture that we all seem to adore. Bashan noted a sad fact that even we Christians have already caved into the princessy narcissism.

Sadly, even believing Christians are participating in the princess push. Christian retail outlets like A Different Direction carry "God's Girlz," glamour dolls dressed in princess shirts and spandex with sparkling tiaras on their heads. St. Paul may have exhorted women to be modest in their dress, but many church-going girls proudly wear Christian-marketed clothing imprinted with messages like "Yes, I am a Princess." The small print underneath -- "I'm a daughter of the King" -- is supposed to differentiate the sentiment from secular princess gear (never mind that the King's firstborn declared himself not a prince but a servant of all.)

Read the rest of the article>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm 100% sure that you answered, "Yes, I am a princess. I'm a daughter of the King." If you didn't, I bet your answer is the same but just of another form. Aren't we God's children? He is a King and so, we are His daughters. His princesses.

Most Christian girls have that reasoning and though there is truth in that logic, it poses a great danger to us on becoming narcissists. It may be we use that reasoning to have an alternative of the mainstream princess culture but the question we should answer is, "What kind of princess/daughter are you?"

While you may call yourself a princess, God doesn't want you to become a royalty. He, the King of all Kings and Lord of Lords, a royalty in every right, did not come down to earth to declare himself a royalty but to become a servant to all.

Philippians 2:5-8 tells how, as we daughters of the King (i.e."princesses") should conduct ourselves. "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness."

What is our attitude towards the prevailing princess culture? Do we consider ourselves none the better than others (Phil. 2:3) or puff up and declare royalty to our unbelieving counterparts with the hey-I'm-a-princess-too-daughter-of-the-Creator-King-of-all-Kings attitude?

What is it like to be a servant then? Phil 2:8 completes the answer of what it is like being a servant.

"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on the cross!"

As a servant He did more than healing the sick, raising the dead, turning blood into water, and feeding thousands. He served as an atonement for our sin.

Now, what are you? A serve-me-love-me princess? Or a Christ-like love-others-serve-others daughter?