How To Save Our Country
I have been itching to write about our country's present state but I seem to be at a loss for words. Despite the political scandal that has hit our government, I somehow am fighting the impulse to lash out again at the people "responsible" for the turmoil our motherland is in. But if I think about it, we are no less responsible for what happens to our country than the people elected to govern it. Sure, you can argue that if you were in the president's place, it would be a different story altogether. You would probably have your own set of rigid rules like turning down bribes or fighting corruption at all costs or something as noble as those I've mentioned. You'd probably picture in your mind a Philippines that you have always dreamed of.
Peace would thrive.
Poverty will take a back seat.
Maybe you won't have any uprisings that you see on TV every other month or so.
People think that electing a new leader is the right choice to lift this country from its fragile economic state while others feel that the situation is utterly hopeless. Finding a solution to the problem we now face has proven to be as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack.
Economists and businessmen have all of these great theories on how to start a revival in our beloved country but all they talk about is about what others should be doing. They keep on talking about the how ineffective this person is or what mistakes that person has committed. Honestly, I can't really blame them. I mean, who could actually trust someone who has blatantly lied to the Filipino people? To some people, forgiveness is still acceptable but forgetting is definitely out of the question. And how the Filipino people clamor for a change in governance; how they openly challenge the ones who are in power.
And how could they not? It's their right to have a morally upright leader. It's their right to have an honest person run the country. The truth of the matter is, everybody wants to exercise their rights, not their responsibilities.
Everybody wants a president who listens to the problems of the people yet we ourselves find it a drudging chore to listen to a friend about the stresses that she's going through.
Everyone is expecting that the leader of this country be a morally upright leader when in fact, they themselves compromise their values when they exchange it for a higher rung on the ladder of corporate success.
We see the impoverished people looking for the the president to exhibit compassion towards the poor yet we hear them talk to their children with a loathing only one can imagine.
The Filipino people struggle with the fact that the leader of their country can casually lie while they miss the little white lies they craft themselves in their workplace.
Everybody is demanding for their rights but dismiss their responsibilities as much as the next delinquent. We are all dissidents to our political system. We rant and bicker about the shortcomings of our government but the bigger picture that we always fail to see is that we are responsible for our country too.
I was recently introduced to how one should go about starting a revival in our country. And it's not as difficult to do. In fact, if everybody does it, our country will immediately become a much better place to live in.
Draw a circle on the ground.
Go inside that circle.
And start the revival there.
Funny, how we hold other people responsible and almost always stop there. We seem to be enchanted by discussing what other people are doing wrong that we lose focus of what we should be really doing. Whatever anybody does is their own choice; their will is their own and we can't change that. Should they choose to tread the evil path instead of the path of goodness, then that is their choice. We cannot control other people but we can control ourselves. James 4:11-12 warns us of the folly of judging people. It is not in our right to sit in judgement of others because we ourselves are slaves to our own immoral behavior no matter how trivial they may be. No one can claim to be more righteous than the next person because whatever good we may have done, we still feed our sins from time to time. If you do not pillage like a tyrant, you can be inclined to look down on people just the same. If you believe yourself to be incapable of lying in front of a nationally-televised show watched by millions of Filipinos who've never met you, then how worse is that by lying to the people you work with everyday? Romans 3:10-12 reminds us that we are all sinners just the same.
Start the revival by being the one who speaks the truth to everyone you meet and see. Start the revival by being the morally upright person you'd wish this country would follow. Start the revival by having compassion for those who do not deserve compassion because in the end, loving those who are unlovable brings us closer to our end goal--unity. We ought to try going against the flow of this immoral world and see how much change we can elicit from others.
Be honest for a change.
Seek the good of others.
Talk lovingly to your family.
Give others the benefit of the doubt.
And if they betray your trust, start your lesson on forgiving.
Instead of chastising them, help up those who have fallen.
Cease the petty fights with one another.
Stop living in all sorts of immorality.
Treat others with respect and love.
Forget about "right of way".
Follow rules.
To a child, it may all be as simple as black and white when it comes to right or wrong but as we progress in this earthly life, we learn about the loopholes that we can afford. We are introduced to those little compromises that we so masterfully give justification to. We lie a little or get angry only at people who "deserve" it. Little do we know that it is something akin to dropping a grain of sand into a car's carburetor every day. Soon enough, it becomes filled with sand and it fails to run anymore. Such are the little compromises that we make; such are the little sins that we choose to drop in the carburetor of our life. Soon enough, we will have gone so deep that a meaningful change will be nigh-impossible.
To date the population of the Philippines is 86,241,697.
This country will not be changed by one God-fearing, honest and morally upright president. He or she will need 86,241,696 more to join in. And maybe, just maybe, if we did a little overtime we'd get this country back on its feet.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Monday, July 04, 2005
Another Notch On The Bedpost
Another Notch On The Bedpost
After 25 years, you'd expect a quarter-life crisis to come barging in like a crash of rhinos. I knew it was bound to happen; I expected it last year as much as a child was expecting a gift from his mother. I really thought that getting older became more and more difficult as you step up the age ladder. I thought that whatever disappointments that I had experienced, they would be magnified each year.
Sigh.
That was one of relief. I am so glad I was wrong all along.
No matter how much I try, I can't seem to look at the world through the eyes of that once-lost soul who cried on his birthday a year ago. I can't manage to imagine the futility that I once spoke of. And despite being unemployed, it really is such a great feeling to have peace knowing that I should be thinking otherwise.
Thank you to all of those who remembered me today. :)
After 25 years, you'd expect a quarter-life crisis to come barging in like a crash of rhinos. I knew it was bound to happen; I expected it last year as much as a child was expecting a gift from his mother. I really thought that getting older became more and more difficult as you step up the age ladder. I thought that whatever disappointments that I had experienced, they would be magnified each year.
Sigh.
That was one of relief. I am so glad I was wrong all along.
No matter how much I try, I can't seem to look at the world through the eyes of that once-lost soul who cried on his birthday a year ago. I can't manage to imagine the futility that I once spoke of. And despite being unemployed, it really is such a great feeling to have peace knowing that I should be thinking otherwise.
Thank you to all of those who remembered me today. :)
Sunday, July 03, 2005
Like No Other
Like No Other
I had an indescribable weekend. Definitely a weekend like no other--not with this much high.
I believe that when your heart is right with God, amazing things happen. The youth ministry of our church which is aptly named JZone, (short for Jesus Zone) handled the very first Youth Worship Sunday in CCF which entailed handling everything from ushering, to delivering the message. It was such a great experience because there was a change in everybody who sang in the praise and worship. I was able to attend the weekly Saturday Jzone worship and I immediately felt the difference when the praise and worship part came up. The euphoria even escalated today during worship because it was absolutely amazing.
Everything came together and I when I saw people, they were singing from their heart. Last night when JP and I were finishing up the stage, he mentioned that me staying there was an answered prayer.
God works in our lives in more ways than we can imagine. All we have to do is ask and there He will be.
Glory and honor to God! :)
I had an indescribable weekend. Definitely a weekend like no other--not with this much high.
I believe that when your heart is right with God, amazing things happen. The youth ministry of our church which is aptly named JZone, (short for Jesus Zone) handled the very first Youth Worship Sunday in CCF which entailed handling everything from ushering, to delivering the message. It was such a great experience because there was a change in everybody who sang in the praise and worship. I was able to attend the weekly Saturday Jzone worship and I immediately felt the difference when the praise and worship part came up. The euphoria even escalated today during worship because it was absolutely amazing.
Everything came together and I when I saw people, they were singing from their heart. Last night when JP and I were finishing up the stage, he mentioned that me staying there was an answered prayer.
God works in our lives in more ways than we can imagine. All we have to do is ask and there He will be.
Glory and honor to God! :)
A Heart of Service
A Heart of Service
There's so much that I wanted to say before sleeping but it's already 12:14 in the morning and I still have to wake up early tomorrow for a special occasion in our church. For the first time, the youth (yes, teenagers as young as 12) will be the ones who will handle the worship service in our church.
It's so blessed to see and know that people of all ages, regardless of their age or maturity in the faith can serve God in their own special and personal way. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:14)
Truly God works in mighty ways; ways that we might not think possible. There's so much I want to say but I'll get back to it later. I'll wrap up my blessed weekend with a confession that whenever I see people who want to serve God in any way possible, I am humbled.
I am humbled because I know I should do the same.
I should do the same because I am only creation and He is Creator.
We think of service as getting dressed up in a lab coat and going on to dental and medical missions to help the sick but it really isn't as narrow as that---it honestly is something more than that. So says 1 Corinthians 10:31.
Sometimes, service is simply lending a helping hand to someone in need; it is staying longer than necessary to finish something; it is listening to someone without wanting to ditch the conversation right then and there because you truly are concerned about the person who's pouring out his or her heart out to you.
All without asking anything in return. Not even a obligatory thank you. Because it is done all for Him---not for men, because praises are fleeting and flattery's intoxicating high can only last a certain period.
But finding favor in the eyes of the Lord. It's so amazing that your only way of defining it is experiencing it. God bless each and every one of you today!
There's so much that I wanted to say before sleeping but it's already 12:14 in the morning and I still have to wake up early tomorrow for a special occasion in our church. For the first time, the youth (yes, teenagers as young as 12) will be the ones who will handle the worship service in our church.
It's so blessed to see and know that people of all ages, regardless of their age or maturity in the faith can serve God in their own special and personal way. Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:14)
Truly God works in mighty ways; ways that we might not think possible. There's so much I want to say but I'll get back to it later. I'll wrap up my blessed weekend with a confession that whenever I see people who want to serve God in any way possible, I am humbled.
I am humbled because I know I should do the same.
I should do the same because I am only creation and He is Creator.
We think of service as getting dressed up in a lab coat and going on to dental and medical missions to help the sick but it really isn't as narrow as that---it honestly is something more than that. So says 1 Corinthians 10:31.
Sometimes, service is simply lending a helping hand to someone in need; it is staying longer than necessary to finish something; it is listening to someone without wanting to ditch the conversation right then and there because you truly are concerned about the person who's pouring out his or her heart out to you.
All without asking anything in return. Not even a obligatory thank you. Because it is done all for Him---not for men, because praises are fleeting and flattery's intoxicating high can only last a certain period.
But finding favor in the eyes of the Lord. It's so amazing that your only way of defining it is experiencing it. God bless each and every one of you today!
