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!

The Good Christian Girl: A Fable | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

An Article by Gina R. Dalfonzo from Christianity Today:

Once there was a good Christian girl who dreamed of growing up, getting married, and having children. She read all the right books and did all the right things. She read about how she was a princess in God's sight and how he wanted the very best for her. She committed herself to sexual purity, to high standards, and to waiting for the good Christian man that God was going to bring her. 

Just as she was getting old enough to start dating, however, she noticed something. Some of the popular Christian books were talking about not dating at all, and just being friends, until God had made it clear that the guy she liked was exactly the right one for her. Her Sunday school teachers taught from a very popular book about how dating was unbiblical, and how a truly righteous young Christian man would initiate a courtship with marriage as the goal, working in tandem with the girl's father and the pastor and others in the church body. 

The heroine of our story observed that as these things were being taught, the level of romantic involvement among her peers at church, not very high to begin with, shrank to practically nonexistent. 

Click here to read more

What do you think?

---

Just to clear any misconceptions and misunderstandings, I thought I'd put my stand here. First, I don't believe in dating (therefore I believe in waiting :D). Second, I believe in keeping myself pure, and I believe in setting high standards that are God-glorifying.

I posted the article, not because I agree with the whole of it, but because I think there's an important lesson we can learn from it. Yes, the article focuses on dating and relationships, but if we look at the big picture, I think there's something else we can learn as well. It's not so much as finding your future mate as it is seeking godly advice.

Sometimes, we tend to listen and do what other people want us to do, forgetting that it is God we should follow and obey first and foremost of all. Yes, God sometimes speaks to us through the people around us, but we should check things first if the advice they are give is from Him and not a personal opinion. Sometimes, we follow what other people tell us to do to please them, forgetting that we must first please God.

We must remember—God's ways are not our way. The wisdom of man is nothing compared to the wisdom of God. Before we seek advice from other people, let us first go to God and ask Him to lead us to do His will.

A Message to the Philippine Rebelutionaries

Do Hard Things Prayer Day

Do Hard Things Prayer Day

June 14, 2010, Monday

1:00 - 4:00 PM

Audi A, Greenhills Christian Fellowship

(view map)

It will be an exciting time of prayer and worship! See you there!

Refund Your DHT Tickets

Please be informed that the Do Hard Things conference for Manila slated on June 19, 2010 at the PhilSports Arena (formerly Ultra) has been canceled. 

Tickets can be refunded in the outlets where you bought your tickets. Please be advised that payments will no longer be refunded after June 30, 2010. Please refund your tickets as soon as possible. Thank you.

Why Philippine DHT Conferences Are Cancelled

Dear Filipino Rebelutionary,

We are sad to announce that the Do Hard Things Conferences for the Philippines (Manila and Cebu) are cancelled.

God is sovereign and His purpose will stand. There happened to be a circumstance that neither we nor the Harrises expected to arrive which affected their plans on coming here. Mrs. Sono Harris, Alex and Brett’s mother, was diagnosed with cancer in the fourth stage.

The Harrises need our prayers more than anything now. The Lord has used their family to tremendously change people’s lives and though they cannot come here to minister to us, let us be the one to minister to them through prayers.

A lot has been prepared already for the conferences both in Manila and Cebu. Tickets have been bought and people have registered for it. Both teams from Manila and Cebu will be updating everyone on how you can refund your payments. Please check our  Facebook page more often for more updates in the coming days.

I know you were all excited for the conference and are now sad or even disappointed at the turn of events. Some things just do not happen the way we want it but all God requires of us is obedience.

More than anyone, the volunteers for the conferences are the ones heavily affected by this news. They’ve spent the past three months preparing for the conferences and everyone was shocked to learn that we have to stop everything we are doing. Though we will be stopping the preparation, we will not stop doing hard things. And we’d also like to challenge you to continue doing hard things, conference or no conference.

Our human nature teaches us to think that everything is a waste; all the efforts are now trash. But when we think like this, we're actually just thinking of ourselves and not of God. We think of what we've done and our accomplishments but not of the favor He's bestowed upon us. Nowhere in the world would you find anyone who would fully entrust organizing a big conference to inexperienced and money-less teenagers but the Creator of the universe did.

God knows what He is doing and He does all this for His own sake--that He can make Himself known more in our lives. Often, we think that we already know much of Him but really we don't and in a situation like this does He often make Himself even more known.

We would not be humans if we say we're happy and excited that the event got cancelled. We are sad and disappointed, yes. It's something that we have to go through for a moment but tomorrow will find us glad on what God will bring into our lives. In the end we will realize and be glad we tried and did something than have done nothing at all. Do Hard Things is more than a book and a conference. It's a mindset that has got a lot of people taking up their arms to fight and will take on more people in the future--all for His glory.

Yes, this is hard. But we’re rebelutionaries. We do hard things.

In behalf of all volunteers for the conferences,



With Much Gladness In Christ,


Christin A.

OIC

DHT Conference

Do Hard Things in the Philippines

We are very pleased to announce that the DO HARD THINGS Conferences are coming to the Philippines.

The Rebelution's first stop will be in Cebu! Be there on June 12, 9am-5pm
at the Plenary Hall, Cebu International Convention Center Mandaue, Cebu
Conference fee is at P200. Register NOW before you run out of slots!
For more details visit www.rebelutioncebu.tk

Second and last stop will be in Manila on June 19
at the PhilSports Arena (ULTRA) Pasig
Conference ticket price is at P250* and will be P350* starting May 20

*all Manila conference tickets are inclusive of a free Do Hard Things Philippine conference edition

______________________________________________________________

There's always something hard and exciting to do. And it starts with you. Be involved in making these conferences happen. Be part of the Cebu or Manila team! Interested? Sign up HERE.

Papuri Grand Reunion Concert 2010

Earthquake Scare

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit Manila this afternoon which caused people to fear and run out of their buildings. While some people who hardly pray prayed, many take it as a countdown to 2012, a.k.a end of the world. The earthquake scare began when it hit Haiti (7.0) last January killing a great number of people. Then it was followed by the one in Chile (8.8),  then Taiwan, (6.4), Sumatra (6.8), Turkey (5.5), Peru (6.0), Japan (6.5), Cuba (5.6), and now here in the city where I live.

I had my earphones on listening to Owl City while working on emails. I thought I was just getting dizzy when the earthquake struck. It shook the table I was on. You'll probably think I'm crazy and totally insane but I tell you, I am in the right mind and I honestly think that the earthquake was pretty exciting! Now you probably think I don't care about people's lives. Well, I do. Much more than the life that you probably know.

I never wished to experience an earthquake but neither did I wish not to experience it. The tragedies caused by the recent earthquakes are heart-wrenching and it's easy to get scared that it might happen to me or to anyone I know but I rest in the comfort and assurance of my Father in heaven.

It was He who laid the foundations of the earth and if He chooses to shake it and destroy the structures humans built, what have I got to question? And if the end that He has set is to come and the earthquakes are the introduction of the end, what have I to fear?

All I know is that I'm excited to see Jesus in my lifetime. Whether it be He comes today or I get smashed by falling debris I don't really care. Either way I will see Him in my lifetime.

I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about or probably not.

If you do understand what I'm talking about, aren't you excited with what's happening, knowing that Jesus might be coming so soon? And that we'll get to finally see Him face to face? If you're not excited, might it be that even if you know Jesus, He's probably not your priority. Or you're busy with other "important" things more than the Gospel work He left?

Now, if you're lost with what I'm talking about, don't be. You can probably sum up now that I might have lost some screws in my brain. Well, I actually have lost a lot of it ever since I truly knew Jesus. I am not scared of earthquakes because I am friends with the One who made the heaven and the earth. And if He wants to take me to meet Him through it, I'd be glad to.

Jesus must be a crazy man to have made people (e.g. me) like this. Well, yes and no. He's crazy because even if you don't know Him, He chose to die for you and He's not crazy because He knew He must do it because He wants to share eternity with you--even if He doesn't really need you.

Jesus Christ is my Lord, Savior, Father, Brother and Best Friend. He is my everything. My life. I can never imagine what life would be like without Him.

Your life is so precious, don't waste it! I care about your life not because I really care but because He cares for you. I'm writing this not because I want to but because He wants me to tell you that He loves you more than you know. Would you care to love Him back?

Papuri Grand Reunion Concert

Encounter With An Orange Robed Man

It was a regular day this morning when I got to the train station on my way to work. I was walking towards the platform when I saw something that turned my day unusually regular. In the platform was a tall and lean man wrapped in a light orange robe. As I got nearer, my eyes were drawn to his feet. He was barefoot and on his right foot was a huge cut of a not-so-fresh wound but with some blood still showing. I felt my defenses weaken and my heart fainting.

I was very curious about him that I immediately forgot his feet and watched him in my peripheral vision. Now that he's closer I was even more surprised by him. "A western monk? I thought Buddhist monks are supposed to be Asians."

The train came and we sat across each other. I got occupied in thinking of Buddhism and why this man is walking barefoot around the city. I decided that he must be a pilgrim trying to fulfill some Buddhist vows to save his soul. Then it struck me. This man needs the Gospel.

How I suddenly wished that I've gotten over my flesh earlier and thought not of his wounded feet. How I wished I sat beside him and chatted with him even for a few minutes of our train ride together. It was too late for that but I know I can give him the Gospel in some other way. I quickly rummaged  through my bag for something; a tract, a sticker or a card that has the Gospel or a Bible verse in it. There wasn't. I felt so helpless that I cannot give him anything.

I frantically thought of what I must give. I asked God to show me what I must give this man and to my excitement He answered right away. I remembered that I have a copy of Do Hard Things with me and it has the Gospel on its last pages.

It felt weird giving him Do Hard Things as I got off the train. How on earth is Do Hard Things relative to a western Buddhist monk in a pilgrimage excluding himself from the world? I may not know the exact answer now but I do know that it has the Gospel in it and God will be the one to work in his heart.

I'd like to invite you to pray for this man. That he'll read through the book and hear the Gospel in the end. Don't just stop praying with this man but for all Buddhists in the world.

LEARN MORE ABOUT the BUDDHIST PEOPLE

and HOW YOU CAN PRAY FOR THEM