Hello Everyone...

Welcome to our fairly neglected blog.

Alyssa and I barely post anything here now but that doesn’t mean we’ll be shutting our blog down like many joint bloggers usually do. We are pretty sentimental about material (and immaterial) things and the thought of throwing them away utterly breaks our hearts. So we will remain, and maybe like mushrooms (poor comparison, but we just love mushrooms) we’ll pop once in a blue moon to post something.

We graduated from college centuries ago and since then it’s been a more wonderful journey that God has been taking us in the long trail He wants us to take. Alyssa graduated with a degree in Intercultural Studies as summa cum laude of her batch (clap, clap, clap!). She’s pretty mum about it but I like mentioning it whenever there’s a chance to do so. She taught Introduction to Intercultural Studies for a semester in her alma mater and presently works as a staff member of Homeschool Association of the Philippines (HAPI), a not for profit organization that helps build people through homeschooling. On the other hand, I graduated with a degree in Journalism, took a half-year gap and volunteered (with Alyssa) for True Love Waits Philippines  where I ended up working in.

We didn’t really choose to work for non-profit organizations but we strongly believe that where we are right now is where God wants us to be. Many people ask us, that with our nice-sounding degrees, we would be in a job more closer (and higher paying) to the courses we took. I would be in a news organization writing stories and Alyssa would be in foreign service. Yes, we’d love to be in those fields but careers only last for so long and money doesn’t really make us happy in comparison to helping and seeing lives change in what we do.

By the end of the day, in our line of work, we still get to do what we always love doing since time immemorial: reading and writing and truly living.

 *****

P.S. We’re extremely late bloomers and after being forced in certain situations, we finally broke our lifelong vow to hate makeup and have gradually softened to it. Alyssa began it a year ago then I followed suit three months ago and some say I now talk like a pro makeup artist. Thank YouTube for that.

P.P.S. We believe that this world is a school and learning must never stop until we die. Alyssa is learning French while I’m learning Korean.

P.P.P.S. We may not post here often but we post regularly in our personal Twitters. For more useful tweets, check Alyssa’s twitter.com/peraldaiel. For less useful but you might find useful anyway, check mine twitter.com/ponderosacanopy.

P.P.P.P.S. This is the last postscript, I promise. Don’t forget to visit The Rebelution.com! It has tremendously played a great part in our lives—and still is. If you think that going through the posts is too much clicking and reading, you might want to settle for a more concise version: Do Hard Things.

The Love Chromosome

I know they have slanted eyes. That’s how I identify people with Down Syndrome. Majority call them “abnormal” but the more I know about them they aren’t at all abnormal. They are unique in many ways that I can’t explain. They seem to have joy that naturally comes with their eyes and smiles—maybe that’s the Love Chromosome they have that we all should also have: slow to anger and quick to love. As Julie points out, "I'd rather be slow to learn than slow to love."

The Danger of Trying to Please God

Rick Thomas writes about how we often confuse performance and obedience with "pleasing God." An excerpt from his article which struck me most was his description embodied in a Christian named Sandra.

Sandra is a Christian. However, she is not seeking to please God by trusting (faith) in Him. She is still performing, but this time she is performing for the Father, hoping to get a good grade.

Rather than accepting what is pleasing to God–the works of the Son, she tries to please Him by her obedience. For example, she says she feels more spiritual by going to church. She believes her activity for God gives her more of God. She feels more spiritual when she is doing.

She also says that if she misses her prayer time, Bible reading, or a church meeting she feels less spiritual. She will read her 4.25 chapters each day, even while brushing her teeth so she can check it off.

Sandra is convinced that if she has her morning prayer time and things go well for her during the day, then she will partially contribute God’s favor on her based on her prayer-time-obedience.

As you might imagine, if she does not have her prayer time and things do not go well for her during the day, she feels as though her lack of prayer (disobedience) caused her day to go bad. Sometimes her friends affirm her theology of legalism when they observe her bad day and say, “You must not be prayed-up today.”

As you can see, when her biblical counselor gave her a list of things to do in order to please God, Sandra initially was excited about the list. Any people pleasing, self-reliant, performance-driven person would be.

However, as time went by, she could not juggle her list of spiritual disciplines with the rest of her life. Eventually discouragement and depression set in–she could not keep up. From her perspective, God was not pleased with her–basing this on her poor performance.

According to Sandra’s functional theology she could control God’s pleasure by what she did rather than what the Son did. Her understanding of Christ’s work was limited. She believed the Gospel was for her salvation, while her obedience was the primary thing needed for her sanctification.

How many of us are like Sandra, whose life in Christ is often measured by the work done? That we base our growth by the number of times we've read the Bible or the span of time we spend in prayer?

All of us feel a sense of accomplishment when we achieve something by our works. I'm not saying it's wrong to  try to achieve something but let us be cautious on how our works can oft times spiritually rob the joy of Christ's accomplishment when he said, "It is finished."

I encourage you to read the whole article here.

New Year: Knowing God

One great way to start 2012 would be to head off to ChristianAudio.com and grab their FREE audiobook download of the month, the classic Knowing God by J.I. Packer.

1. Log in to ChristianAudio.com. If you don't have an account, you will have to create one.
2. Click "Add to Cart"
3. This download does not need a gift certificate or coupon code so you can skip that part and click "Check Out"

Happy New Year everyone! May the grace and knowledge of our Jesus Christ continue to abound in you.

God made him who had no sin 

to be sin for us, 

so that in him 

we might become 

the righteousness of God.

-2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

Help Our Sister Come to Freedom

Asia Bibi is a Pakistani Christian woman, who was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by hanging after speaking these words to defend her faith:

"Our Christ sacrificed His life on the cross for our sins.

... Our Christ is alive."

The Voice of the Martyrs and our Pakistani brethren are hoping to gather  1 million signatures in behalf of Asia. As of this moment, 5:46 PM GMT +8, there are only 216, 329 signatures signed in the petition.

While we all sit in front of our computer reading emails, doing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc., our sister Asia is being persecuted and is sitting in prison waiting for the court's ruling on her appeal. Please spend time helping our sister by clicking the photo below and signing the petition.

I believe that we can gather more than the needed million signatures for the petition. Please share the petition page linked in the photo above to your friends and let us not forget to pray for Asia and her family.

Let us also kneel down for the innumerable brethren around the world who are persecuted daily--most we may never hear of.

That Which Was Once...

Well, wow! It's been a long time since Alyssa and I have blogged! News is that Alyssa graduates from college in two weeks time. Congratulations Lys!

As for blogging, thought I'd post a photo scribbling I made:

I was in a mall waiting for a friend and while waiting I often busy myself in observing passers-by. I thought there was only a minority who wear this kind of shorts. But looking closely, almost all girls I saw were wearing this including girls who were probably around ten or younger. My jeans looked out-dated in the sea of Daisy Dukes. And sadly, even in churches I see Christian girls wear this. It's heartbreaking to see "dressing that draws attention to the face and away from the body" is being replaced by "if you've got it flaunt it."

It's disheartening but I am hopeful that God, despite the prevailing fashion, will call out parents to raise girls as women who clothe themselves in strength and dignity. Like a Proverbs 31 woman.

What Is Love?

I have always liked Justin Taylor's classified lists yet I find this one the best because of its simplicity in presentation of such a complex word: Love. For those who often wonder what love really is, I hope this gives you a better and deeper understanding.

God and Love

God is love.

Love is a gift of God.

What Love Is

Love is patient.

Love is kind.

What Love Is Not

Love is not arrogant.

Love is not rude.

Love is not irritable.

Love is not resentful.

What Love Does Not Do

Love does not envy.

Love does not boast.

Love does not insist in its own way.

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing.

What Love Does

Love rejoices with the truth.

Love bears all things.

Love believes all things.

Love hopes all things.

Love endures all things.

Love lasts forever.

Love fulfills the law.

{1 John 4:7-8; 1 Cor. 13:4-8; Rom. 13:10}

HT: Justin Taylor

Diagnosing Your Spiritual Health

Don Whitney's 10 Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, from the book of the same name:

1. Do you thirst for God?

2. Are you governed increasingly by God's Word?

3. Are you more loving?

4. Are you more sensitive to God's presence?

5. Do you have a growing concern for the spiritual and 
    temporal needs of others?

6. Do you delight in the bride of Christ?

7. Are the spiritual disciplines increasingly important to you?

8. Do you still grieve over sin?

9. Are you a quicker forgiver?

10. Do you yearn for heaven and to be with Jesus?

Just to add: These questions help diagnose. But "trying harder" is not the prescription. Behold and believe.

(HT: Jared Wilson)

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Where do we stand in our walk with God? Are we walking faithfully with Him or are we gradually drifting away? It's our hope that all Christians would really desire to grow in Christ. We hope this list will help you diagnose your spiritual health and trust God to continually transform you.

Watch and Support Andrew Cunningham!

Andrew Cunningham is a Rebelutionary from Georgia. Recently, he entered a contest on You Tube, called 104.7 The Fish Opening Act. If he wins, $10,000 will go to a student-led missions organization. So what are you waiting for? Watch and share!