Big in God's Eyes

I've always been fascinated how ants can carry 100x times their own weight (upside down, on glass according to the link). Ants are one of the strongest animals in the world--relative to its size.  This small creature has been endowed by God with something unique and special--a reflection of how He loves the little ones.

Have you ever felt small, insignificant, and even stepped on? In the Bible, God always uses the least of all to do His great works--the youngest brother tending the sheep (David), the least in a family of the least tribe (Gideon), the one sold as a slave (Joseph), a stutter (Moses), a small insignificant nation (Israel), and the list of the least goes on.

Never underestimate how God will use you. The Lord sees a lion in us even if we feel like a scared cat. God who is the source of true strength can give us the power to carry even 100 times the weight  of things we think we can't bear. Remember, Jesus bore the weight of mankind's sins that we may enter heaven. Sometimes our crosses feel like too heavy to bear, but the Holy Spirit enables us! How? We cast our burdens upon the Lord, we who are heavily laden.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,^* and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” Matthew 11: 28-30

We have a supernatural God who gives us supernatural strength. Without Christ in our lives, we will be borrowing strength from the wrong sources---worse, from the devil---that will lead us to our ultimate fall.

Get your Bible, hold it tight...feel the power, see the truth, live with His strength! You are BIG in God's eyes.

Finishing Strong!

My son Sev and I joined the CFC Ancop Global Walk to sponsor scholars. It was participated by about 80,000 people. It was a 5km distance and Sev was on his bike. At first I doubted if Sev could finish the whole stretch. But my son was determined. It also helped that I was encouraging him. We took it slow, enjoying every bit of the scenery and the people until we finished the race. We were not ahead of the rest but I could say that we finished strong!
In our walk with the Lord, we can easily have doubts along the way. Some of us start strong with our relationship with Him, only to give it up later in life. Somehow we get tired and succumb to the weaknesses of our humanity. But the Lord is there to encourage us and to show us how to enjoy our journey with Him until we reach the end. So how do we finish strong? We must have...

1. Faith that God wants the best for our lives. The Lord wants us to reach heaven and he'll do everything to help us get there. We go through trials to strengthen our faith and practice humility, so we may fully embrace the cross. We have to keep on believing in him in both good and bad times to reach heaven, our finish line. We have to...

2. Invite the Lord daily to walk with us. Prayer and Scripture is key. The Lord encourages us through His Word. But if we don't invite Him and take time to listen, we might just miss out His message that will give us hope and determination. We have to seek...

3. Nourishment to gain strength. Attending Mass regularly is the ultimate nourishment. The Eucharist gives us the grace to partake in the body and blood of Christ that will quench our thirst and hunger. We are also nourished through the relationships in the community of believers. We must gain...

4. Inspiration from those who successfully finished. One of my inspirations is a video in You Tube about a father who entered an Iron Man race with his son who could not walk and speak. They called their team "My Redeemer lives." Despite the odds, the father pressed on and finished the race. I was inspired to tears. We also know of countless saints who like us, humans with weaknesses, have kept the faith and finished strong in life. We can draw inspiration from them.

5. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God. And yes, all these things shall be added unto you. What slows us down are the many distractions along the race. We get sidetracked by our own greed and selfish ambitions. We must remember that if God comes first, everything else will be put in order.

6. Help others along the way. God calls us to evangelize and bring glad tidings to the poor. In fact the only way to reach the finish line, heaven, is if we have helped the poor around us.
Let us strive to finish strong by being faithful to the end. His grace will give us strength to endure and reach the finish line.

I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3:14

Be Spiritually Healthy

I tried this unique healthy juice mix. It's called Green Giant. It's fresh-pressed celery, cucumber, and apple. It actually sweet, with a little veggy after-taste.

They say health is wealth. Many of us would be more concerned about the health of our loved ones than our own. But then, how can we take care of them if we are not well?

The same goes with our spiritual life. Many of us are very concerned with the "sheep" entrusted to us. May it be our kids, prayer group members, or parishioners. But how is our own spiritual health? How often are we nourished of God's Daily Bread? Are we progressing in our time of prayer? When was your last retreat?

Let us then take time, better yet, make time, for God to feed us so we can be strong in Spirit. In this way, we can truly respond to Jesus' challenge to Peter, "If you love me, feed my sheep."

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

Learning from Steve

Today, it was announced that Steve Jobs passed away.  I'm a fan of his leadership and his relentless pursuit for excellence and innovation. He went through many challenges in life. He was adopted, a college drop-out, got kicked out from apple and back again, and suffered a rare illness. Yet despite all odds, through his leadership he gave us the mac, ipod, iphone, ipad, and even Toy Story through his Pixar years.  His inspiring 2005 Commencement speech in Stanford University went viral. He was a master presenter and blew the audience away with his new product ideas.  He changed technology forever.

What can we get out of Steve Jobs' life?

1. He turned defeats into victories.  He had all the reasons to quit and lose hope, but he kept on moving forward until one thing led to another then it led to success.  He knew that there was a reason for everything, evident in his "connect the dots" analogy of life (see his 2005 Stanford speech).

2. He was a master innovator. Steve would "cannibalize" his own products. The iphone could do almost everything that the ipod had to offer.  He knew how to excite the people with new ideas.  We need to be able to innovate our work, our products, or even ourselves.  Having the drive for innovation makes us lifelong learners.  Innovators always challenge the status quo and they know that there is something better than what they see.

3. He finished strong. He resigned as CEO of Apple at the height of his career. I even saw in the news at that time that Apple had more money than the US gov't.  I feel that if he lived longer, he could have given more. He was only 56. The tech world will surely miss him. A void is being felt by the tech industry.  He gave his utmost and truly finished strong.

I am uncertain if Steve Jobs was a Christian. But through his life, we can reflect on how we should live our lives. Christ offers us the fullness of life. With Christ, we can turn our defeats into victories. Jesus innovates our lives by renewing us with his love and He wants us to finish strong by serving Him 'til the end.


I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14).