MattAndJojang's Blog

Fear not, I will help you.

- Isaiah 41:13

I used to wash my own clothes. Lately, because my health wouldn’t permit it, I send my laundry to the cleaners. But back then, when I would wash, I consider it a personal sacrifice doing this chore. Filling up water on a pail. Washing, rinsing, washing and rinsing again. Hanging clothes on a line and keeping it intact by a clothes pin. Strong winds or a storm, could not remove those clothes from the clothesline. Because a clothes pin lets it stay put. Unless, the clothesline snaps.

I’ve had many storms in my life. Winds have blown so strong, that I feel like I would snap. It’s difficult hanging on. I’d rather give up. But the clothespin of faith have yielded my heart unto Him. Other people beat me up. They tell me lies of who and what I am. And I hurt.

But then, I pause and look up. I see the truth. He loves me. He died for me. I owe my life to Him. If He could do this for me, what else will He not do for my good. My future is in His hands.

His love for me. My faith and trust in Him. The truth of who I am – His Beloved Daughter. The clothes pin that keeps me intact.

- Jojang

An excerpt from the article: “Malling” Consumes Shoppers in the Philippines written by Marnette Federis.

In the Philippines, “malling” has become a verb, the act of going to a shopping mall and whiling away the hours.

The Southeast Asian country has three of the world’s 10 largest shopping centers, two of them in the capital, Manila. Scores of others, ranging from modern glass and steel structures to older, fading buildings, dot cities across the archipelago.

Although over 40 percent of the country’s 90 million people live on $2 or less per day, malls here are crowded at all times, and especially packed at weekends.

Around 80 percent of the Philippines’ population go to shopping centers and around 36 million people visit shopping plazas once or twice a month, according to Nielsen Media Research.

“People just come to the mall to stay cool, said Chris Balberona, a driver for a bank, who was at Manila‘s Megamall watching ice-skaters on an artificial rink.

“Life is hard right now so we don’t really come here to shop.”

The air-conditioned malls are a boon in this steamy tropical nation. But shopping plazas in the Philippines have also become a place to pay bills, meet or watch people, eat or see a film.

Catholic masses are even held in the corridors of some malls. While the faithful sit on plastic chairs, less religious folk continue to browse the rails nearby.

- Source: yahoo.com

If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

- Mother Teresa

Matt and Leo

“Could I drop by at 6:30?” This was the text message I received from Leo, one of my good friends, yesterday afternoon. I immediately replied:”Of course, you can.”

It was dinner time when Leo came to our house. He was excited because his sister passed the Medical Board Exams. But, as usual, our conversation spun off to a whole gamut of topics (religion, politics, technology, blogging, philosophy, life, etc…) with a few laughs thrown in between. For me, there’s nothing like having a good conversation with friends; while enjoying a delicious home cooked meal by my loving wife.

Friendship is one of God’s greatest blessings.

Friends comfort us when we’re sad and lonely. Friends celebrate with us when we’re successful and happy. Friends encourage us when we’re down and out.

Friendship is a treasure beyond measure.

- Matt

Natalie and Jojang Eating at Magnolia Ice Cream House Reminiscent of their High School Days

Natalie’s my high school chum and best friend. We’re BFF (best friends forever). To date, we’ve been friends for 35 years. That’s more than half of my life. She lives her life. I live mine. But our love and concern for each other is always there.

I remember when Matthew and I were starting to see each other. She had a play by play account of all my girlish kiligs and fears. I made sure that they were introduced because it was so important to me that they got along well. Which they do.

Now, even when I live in Baguio, we are in touch almost everyday. We are just a phone call away to each other. In fact, when the phone rings (or if I dial), and it’s Natalie that I’m speaking with, Matthew would tell me, “I won’t wait up for you. I’ll sleep ahead.” He knows it will probably take hours before I join him. It’s funny that even if we talk all the time, we never run out of things to discuss.

Real friends are priceless. I don’t know how I would have gone through my life without them.

- Jojang

Faithful friends are beyond price; no amount can balance their worth.

- Sirach 6:15

Who Am I is a Christian song. It’s one of our favorites… Enjoy!

Today is the death anniversary of Ninoy Aquino. To honor him, we posted an excerpt of his letter written to Sen. Soc Rodrigo from his prison cell in Fort Bonifacio last June 19, 1973.

The mysteries started me on my meditation. It was the life of Christ from birth to ascension. Suddenly, Jesus became a live human being. His life was to become my inspiration. Here was a God-Man who preached nothing but love and was rewarded with death. Here was a God-Man who had power over all creation but took the mockery of a crown of thorns with humility and patience. And for all his noble intentions, he was shamed, vilified, slandered and betrayed.

Then it dawned on me how puny were my sufferings compared to Him whose only purpose was to save mankind from eternal damnation.

Then as if I heard a voice tell me: Why do you cry? I have gifted you with consolations, honors and glory which have been denied to the millions of your countrymen. I made you the youngest war correspondent, presidential assistant, mayor, vice-governor, governor, and Senator of the Republic, and I recall you never thanked me for all these gifts. I have given you a full life, a great wife and beautiful lovable children. Now that I visit you with a slight desolation, you cry and whimper like a spoiled brat!

With this realization, I went down on my knees and begged His forgiveness. I know I was merely undergoing a test, maybe in preparation for another mission. I know everything that happens in this world is with His knowledge and consent. I knew He would not burden me with a load I could not carry. I therefore resigned myself to His will.

To think, I have been praying the Lord’s Prayer for three and a half decades without really understanding fully the words I mumbled. I repeated the prayer so mechanically that I never really knew what I was saying: Thy Will be done, on earth!

Thy Will Be Done! These words snatched me from the jaws of death. In Laur, I gave up my life and offered it to Him… picked up my cross and followed Him.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Ninoy Aquino was a former Filipino politician who strongly opposed the regime of President Ferdinand Marcos. When Marcos declared Martial Law he was imprisoned for many years. He was later permitted to leave for the US for medical reasons. On August 21, 1983, upon his return to the Philippines from the US, he was gunned down in cold blood at the Manila International Airport (now Ninoy Aquino International Airport). His death triggered massive protests which led to the People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos regime. He is considered by many as a hero, and remembered for his famous quote: “The Filipino is worth dying for.”

A View From Our Balcony On A Stormy Day

We woke up to a stormy day. It’s cold, windy, foggy, and raining hard…

Fog

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

- Carl Sandburg

Satellite Image of Typhoon Karen

WEATHER STATS

City: Baguio

Weather: Stormy

Temperature: 15°C – 21°C

WEATHER FORECAST

Northern Luzon will experience stormy weather while Central Luzon will have rains and gusty winds and the coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough. The rest of luzon and the western section of Visayas will experience cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms while the rest of the country will be partly cloudy to at times cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the Southwest will prevail over Southern Luzon and Western Visayas and its coastal waters will be moderate to rough. Elsewhere, winds will light to moderate blowing from the Southeast to Southwest with slight to moderate seas except during thunderstorms.

- Source: www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph

The past is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift; that’s why it’s called the present.

- Kung Fu Panda

Do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ …Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.

- Matthew 6:31-34

Lord, why do people suffer?

Mind you, the question popped up from my mind not because I wanted to satisfy a deep philosophical yearning. Rather, I feel that I am going through it. And I see it happening around me.

Why do we suffer, Lord?

I knew it was a rhetorical question. But the last thing I expected was to get an answer from the most mundane task that I do everyday.

You see, this year is such a trying year for Matthew and I. Three times I rushed him to the emergency in the hospital. Twice he had to be confined. Not only was it draining for us financially. But getting hospitalized is always a distressing experience. I did too, when I underwent a hysterectomy operation. That was likewise, an unnerving and draining (financially and emotionally) experience.

Why do we suffer, Lord?

Rising prices, sickness, famine, conflicts, bickering, gossip, slander. Countries at war. Families fighting each another. Will it ever stop?

I really don’t know. Probably, it will. Probably, it won’t. But one time, I felt God speak to me while cleaning up. I was sweeping the balcony at our little unit when lo and behold, I saw that this little green plant sprouted out of the crack of our concrete wall.

“Strange”, I said to myself. “How can a plant grow from a cracked concrete wall?”

I looked further, and saw an array of green plants growing out of the bigger cracks at our wall.

Can life be found in the midst of a hardened edifice? Who planted it? I know, i didn’t!

That’s when I heard a still small voice in my heart.

Bloom where you are planted.

Suffering is not the issue. Rather, what does suffering make of me? Probably, the Lord needs to break the hardened edifice of my heart so that he can make the most unlikely beautiful piece of art bloom. And give beauty not for anybody else but for Him and Him alone.

I felt such a deep peace in my heart after that.

Everyone suffers. No one is exempt from it. But what does it make of you? Will it harden you like the concrete wall that we see around us? Or can life be found within the cracked walls that suffering has wrought upon us. The answer lies not with Him but with us, and us alone.

- Jojang