meetteem

The 2008 Men’s Summer Household starts today. I will be moving in with some brothers this afternoon in Pasay. It’s far, yes, but the fruits of this month-long journey will be a harvest.

Household is an activity in our community where a group of men or women stay together in a household for two to four weeks. The goal of this activity is to develop our love for the Lord and our love for one another. Personal growth in terms of leadership and service as well as growth in relationships are expected.

I just got my first VPS yesterday from Slicehost. I’ve learned a good number of things in setting up my server like DNS settings and Apache configuration. If you’re looking for a good VPS, slicehost would be a great choice. Click here to get a slice (and refer me).

I’ve transferred most of my blogs from wordpress.com and blogger to wordpress in my slice.  I encountered a small problem while doing this. I noticed that Wordpress and Safari (I’m using version 3) don’t work well together. p tags are not saved neatly in wordpress in Safari. When you’re editing a post and even if the post’s Visual looks good, once you save that post, the whole post becomes one single, large paragraph. Now I’m back to Firefox.

Coffee. I cannot remember the last time coffee has affected my sleep. It’s three thirty in the morning. Sleep is eluding me. And coffee is the only reason I can think of why no matter how hard I try, I could not sleep. My eyes are very tired but my brain is very active and sensitive. It is raining hard outside. I am certain it’s Lando, the tropical depression, making its way east-northeast. Hehe.

Sleep, please come.

I am a product of your love.

I realized that I focus more on developing my mind and less on my body and my soul. I’ll break sooner or later if I don’t change this.

Nagpunta ako kasama ng ilang brothers kanina sa Conspiracy sa Visayas Ave. We were lucky because there was no entrance fee– launching ng Artists’ Arrest, an initiative formed by artists who have deep concern for the country especially now that there are lots of issues in the government and the nation, from the ZTE deal to bribery, etc.

This year’s NLTC in Ormoc was light, fun, and Spirit-filled.

It was light because the topic was mostly about worship, which is something we love to do, as compared to last year’s NLTC plenary sessions topic, which was about the Ten Commandments, dealing with what we ought not to do. There was also a lot of free time compared to last year’s NLTC, meaning more time to relax and to meditate horizontally.

It was fun for many reasons. One is I met my previous roommates and last year’s delegates. The NLTC was a venue to catch up with them. And of course, though it was just for a short time, I got to know other brothers and sisters from other branches. It’s fun worshipping with a lot of people who love GOD.

The brothers and sisters of the Ormoc branch were amazing in their service.

It was Spirit-filled. I came to the NLTC with a purpose– to experience GOD and to listen to Him for directions. I was expecting GOD to speak to me. I kept that expectant attitude throughout the whole NLTC and my GOD didn’t fail me. A certain sense came to me on Tuesday. It was confirmed during the retreat, being one of the passages that concluded the retreat of the brothers. And even as I think about right now, it could be deeply meaningful to my current situation wherein I’m discerning on something. But maybe I got the message wrong so I have to medidate more on the passage.

One of the things that hit me during the NLTC was during the retreat, the retreat facilitator, Bro. Raul, said something like, do not try to live according to your passion and self-control because you will surely fail, but live according to steadfastness. I’ve always live according to my passion. It drives me. And to hear that was like, What is he saying?! What should drive me then? Anyway, to cut it short, what he meant was we should always STAND UP whenever we fall down, to be steadfast in what I believe in.

Another thing I got from the NLTC was a reminder. I was reminded to focus more on GOD. I was reminded that everything I do should aim to glorify GOD. Even in the relationships I have and the things I want to have, they should glorify GOD. It’s hard but it is possible to form a habit, which according to Raul is the battleground of character, of pursuing what is truly good. Steadfastness rocks.

Light, fun, and Spirit-filled. When GOD is there, the best things happen. All we need to do is to expect nothing less from Him. You just don’t let the Lord pass by.

One last thing. I haven’t mentioned anything about something particularly important, perhaps the most important. Love. All of the things I experienced there was because of GOD’s love. I was affirmed in my decision to seek GOD. And as I seek GOD in this life, I would seek to love. To seek GOD is to love in every way you can, in every moment of your life. Loving as GOD commanded us glorifies GOD.

si John, ang aking brother, sa ECE board exams! Ang galing ni Lord! Praise Him!Nakakatawa. Ayaw ata maniwala ng mga magulang ko at mga kapatid ko sa balitang ito kaya sa mga sandaling ito ay tumutungo sila sa internet cafe para i-verify ang impormasyon ko, na nakuha lang naman sa INQUIRER.net!Text ni Gi, ang bunso, “as in lahat (kami pupunta sa internet cafe)! aku, ate, john, nanay, tatay!”Hehe Naging family outing! Ayos din to. At least nagkakaisa sa mga ganitong pagkakataon. Sana nga tuloy-tuloy na ang grasya. Sana. Sana talaga.

“May the Almighty and merciful Lord grant us a restful night and a peaceful death.”

Nag-jog (o jumog ba?) ako sa Ateneo kaninang umaga. Hindi naman masyadong matagal ang pag-jog ko. Mahigit-kumalang sa kinse minuto lang ang aking tinakbo. Ang natira, linakad ko na lang at sinabayan ng pagmumuni-muni. Buti di ako nadulas o napano sa daan.

The more I love, the more I persevere. The more I persevere, the more I love.

Eto ang pumasok sa aking napakamisteryosong makina, a.k.a. breyn, at least after ko pagnilay-nilayan ang isang karanasan na kamakailan ko lang napagdaanan.

Napagkabit ko lang siguro ang isa sa mga pinaka-magandang paniniwala na napulot ko sa aming komunidad: “Expressing love increases love.”

Ang pagpersevere ay isang expression ng love. Parang pag nabasted ka sa pag-ibig, at kinulit mo yung nambasted, unless ayaw talaga nung isa, baka makita nya ang perseverance bilang proof of your love for her. Naks. Hehe.

If expressing love increases love and perseverance is an expression of love, then perseverance increases love.

Pagninilayan ko pa siguro ito in the next few days. Ang astig kasi ng perseverance at steadfastness!