Here Am I

[photo]

Isaiah 6:8

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,

"Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"

And I said, "Here am I. Send me!

I'm on it, Lord. I'm sooo into it.

(Have you responded to His call, too?)

-Ber time again (what have I become?)

Here goes the -Ber-month blog! It's tradition already :-D
What's good about this 'tradition' is that I get to see and analyze changes --physical, spiritual, etc-- in me through the years.
So anyway, what do I love about -Ber months? Technically, it gives the appeal of the pasko (Christmas) season.

Here's what I'm looking forward to having for the rest of the -ber months:
finishing my thesis' first part, sem break, trip to anAsian country (my hopes are up!), celebrating my last teenage birthday (sigh.bigat sa loob ng part na ito), my younger sister's 18th, my parents' silver wedd anniv, practices for our church's Christmas Cantata and the event itself, youth Christmas party, Christmas eve with, Dec25th at Pampanga, pre-new-year shopping, being able to bring out my jackets/coats again, and.. chapped lips :-D

Photo-digging time (a.k.a. the highlight of this blog)

And here is my picture for 2009 :)
I couldn't just present myself without them. As dad told me a few months ago, one cannot define a mother without her child/ren.
I've been ministering to these girls for years already (been a leader-leaderan back in 3rd year HS.hehe), but it has just been a year since I really became a father mother to them; spiritual mama, that is.
God has done a lot in year.. siguro para na rin to compensate for the lost time [that we didn't gave much attention to cells and the strategies of G12]. Pastor Noel Alkuino's right when he said that when there is fire and Spirit in the ministry, there's fast growth among believers. I, myself, have experienced and witnessed such skyrocket growth in my [and these girls'] Christian life[ves] for the past year. Wow. God's works are really unpredictable and amazing!

I'm excited to check out what I'll be able to write for next year's -Ber blog!
..but then, I also enjoy living and witnessing God (and The life) a day at a time :)

[on a lighter note, I look so cute back in 2005! haha.Nyee]

Related blog posts:
-BER na! (Sept'07)
SeptemBER 1 (Sept'08)

Fruits and Advancement

It has been almost two weeks since Ptr.Phillip, our youth pastor for more almost 3 years (and I’d like to believe is still my youth pastor), came from KSA. Missed him so much!

Every time he’s in the country, the Lord would always give me a venue to deeply evaluate our works for the youth ministry. Last Thursday, we (youth net leaders) had a meeting/ fellowship with Ptr.P.. we shared updates about the ministry, cell groups.. Talked about a lot of things, but there were two that really awed me: (1) seeing how far we’ve gone in our Christian walk (I know there’s still a long exciting journey ahead, though). As we reminisced, I commented, “dati hindi uso yung nagbabasa ng Bible at consistent sa prayer life, pero ngayon, pag wala ka nun..”, “hindi ka IN”, said some, finishing my sentence. How the youth leaders have supernaturally matured in faith is,

I smell something TWEET-y

Check out my first ever tweet (post made on twitter.com)

more than a year, I only had like 20+ updates on twitter. Lately, however, I've been enjoying this tweet stuff. I even added twitter applications my blog (check that on the left side), Facebook, multiply, and Friendster accounts! This means even if I rarely update my other online profiles (as i've decided to stick on to my blog nalang), I could still actually update them (labo ba?) :-D

What added to my fascination on tweeting was a site/project called ISIP.PH. I love, love, love it because it allows registered Filipino tweeters (users of Twitter) to actually send tweets thru their mobile phones via SMS--kahit hindi iPhone or BlackBerry-- for free (or for a peso, pag hindi naka-unli--yata, ha. I still have to check that out).

Well, even if others say that Plurk is the site to go for microblogging, I'd still go for the so-last-month classic Twitter :-)

Best worship experience, anyone?

Do you have what you consider your 'best worship experience'?
----------
After Hillsong United’s worship concert [and I Heart CD promotion] here in the PH last year, the blogosphere was filled with posts that went like “it was my best worship experience” or “never praised like that before”. My heart rejoiced. HSU have been catalysts for breakthrough!
Anyway, while I agreed that it was indeed an unforgettable night, I do remember that in a casual talk with Ps.Phillip a few days after the concert, I mentioned that unlike most recent blogs on the WWW, I simply couldn’t say that it was the first time I worshiped God that way, nor it was the ultimate and best worship experience for me. Instantaneously, Ps.Phillip responded that he could say the same. “Mas matindi pa sa youth service”, he replied (not the exact words, though.hehe).
Having that outlook, I just praise God because (now in exact words I’ve put it last year—recorded sa diary ko ito, that’s why) “hindi na kailangan pang i-lead ako ng HSU para makapag-worship ng totoo at superb kay Lord”.
After all, worship is the abundance of a life, heart, spirit that connects to God, and not the abundance merely of a magnificent musical experience.

Up to this day, I delight in the Lord when I look back at that moment when I was able to realize that I have caught the heart of worship even at an early age. Yes, I do also have little times of obscurities that parallel to moments of back-face from worship and pleasing God, but He is faithful enough to always have His arms wide open. Thus, I live to this day still being thankful that worshipping God doesn’t necessarily require a dome, a great band or choir, but a heart and spirit that meets His heart whether I'm at school taking a quiz, at home sipping a cup of hot choco, at church leading worship, or in my room praying :)

*Last photo credit