… To THIS address.

After months in hiatus, I have now started posting again here in my WordPress blog. I’m now in my second year in Medical School and it’s tough but I’m enjoying it.

You know what, this is something I still don’t understand:

(The concept of) Love still baffles me.  I guess that’s a good thing, haha.

The intro of the chapter started with this:

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

I’m always convicted whenever I read this chapter.    It always puts me in perspective…

To put things simply, it says that if we think that we got it made as Christians when we have supernatural mega wowowow faith, immense spiritual wisdom and knowledge, receive dreams and visions, destroy the strongholds of th enemy…  Well, we’re not even close.  That’s not the point of “Christianity”.

Yeah, they’re not the point.  I read 1 Corinthians 13 again and again and is one of my favorite verses, and yes, those are not the things that will make the headlines in heaven.

Of course, charity is good.  Learning to do things in a spiritual warfare is equally beneficial…  But it’s not really the #1 thing that will make God smile.

It’s love.

I’ve always wondered why love (those stated above) is the utmost thing. 

And I just realized now.  It’s because it’s love that made Jesus come for us.  Nothing more, nothing less.  So I guess the saying is true, “Love conquers the world.”    And we ought to do the same to others.  With the same measure we have received that we do.

Love even when they don’t act that they deserve it.  Because we didn’t too, but Jesus loved anyway.

Love even when they talk about you behind your back, because Jesus gave love even to those who spitted on Him.

Love even when you don’t understand, because Jesus went through it as well but took the stand for us.

We can think of reasons why not to love, sometimes they outweigh more than the reasons why we should love but Jesus gave us the encouragements to be selfless:  The Cross.  The empty grave.  The new life.

If He wasn’t selfless, where would you and I be now? 

Katatapos lang ng 1st sem…  Last week.  

For the second time around, I’m called a “freshman”.  Haha.

And yes, di na ako yung last sa list of students. I remember reading my previous post (yung ‘I Got into UST MED”), nasabi ko dun, “Kelan kaya magkakaroon ng Z?”  *Peace*  Hahaha.

It s true that there will come a time when you would have to choose which exam to study for.

It is also true that you fall asleep not because you’re getting lazy… But because you’re really tired.

And it is also true that you will cry because of hardship.  Well, ako, umiyak.

Never thought that this will be possible:  Di makalabas ng building kasi wala nang oras, kaya sa cafeteria ka na naman kakain.  At nauumay ka na nang sobra.

At umpisa na talaga akong mag-aral nang mabuti. 

Aside from the academic side…

There have been entrance’s and exit’s in my life.  I have new friends.  New culture.  New environment.  I have friends who left to study in not-so-near places.

I was reminded to say “No” to the things that will make me compromise my faith, my values, and my priorities.

I learned to enjoy the world, and at the same time not forget who I am, who I stand for.

Cheers to a great 1st semester~!

“We will never have more affection or passion for God than we understand He has for us. We will never be more committed to God than our understanding of His commitment to us.”

– Mike Bickle

No one and nothing else for J. 

To the One who loved me even when I don’t find any reason to love myself.  Thank You.

To the One who gave every thing up, even unto death.  For me…  For the whole world.  Thank You.

To the One who rescued me from a life of bitterness, resentment, and pride.  Thank You.

To the One who loved me so much that He did not want me to stay the same.  Thank You.

To the One who holds me in the present and is very excited for my future.  Thank You.

My life.
My everything.
My God.
My Lord.
My Savior.
Jesus.

Everything is a process…  The Pat right now is sooooooooo different from the Pat 7-8 years ago.  It was not done by self-help books.  Nor by a system of beliefs aka religion…  But only by His power.

His power changes.  His power transforms.  His power overcomes.

The semester is nearly over and I’m taking a break both from the finals and the personal alphabet to write about some equally important and “oh-that-woke-me-up” things.

Just a few hours ago, I was with some friends whom I haven’t seen in a while. All of a sudden I just blurted out, “Gee. I miss myself…! I really do…!” And for the rest of the day, I was reminded of this verse, “For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34b, NKJV).” Also, this guy’s blog post (clickity click please) made me second-check myself.

Here are the questions left by the author of the blog: What is your list? What are the things that you are supposed to protect? What are you leaving wide open?

To reiterate, “What are the things that I have forgotten and must learn to continue to protect? What are the things that need to be cultivated more?

1. My time with God aka “quiet time”.
2. My convictions/standards.
3. My mind.
4. My heart.
5. My mouth.
6. My relationships with family and friends.
7. My giftings.
8. My character/attitude.

Hold on. I’m not implying that I can pull this off by myself. It’s impossible. Change does not come from self-will. We can read all the self-help books out there and still remian the same. Change only comes when we allow God to teach us.

I’m in a new environent with a new culture now. Sometimes I felt my convictions were falling apart. There were days when I felt like my faith has jumped right out the window. There were times that courage to speak up has left me. Sometimes I felt like my world hus shrunk to the size of 8″x14″ -sized handouts. Somewhere along adjusting to everything in Medschool, I lost sight and lost taste for the things that matter most. And I really don’t like it.

As C.J. Mahaney writes, “You know how much of the world you can tolerate without becoming intoxicated, and no one else can tell you when you’ve had too much.” He talked about Demas, Apostle Paul’s companion who started out strong but in the end, deserted him and the gospel.

We all know a Demas—someone who, like a spiritual meteorite, burned bright with the love of Christ for a while, then suddenly (or so it seemed) faded from fellowship and turned his back on Christ, or fell into serious sin, leaving all to wonder what happened.

A love for the world begins in the soul. It’s subtle, not always immediately obvious to others, and often undetected by the people who are slowly succumbing to its lies.

It begins with a dull conscience and a listless soul. Sin does not grieve him like it once did. Passion for the Savior begins to cool. Affections grow dim. Excitement lessens for participating in the local church. Eagerness to evangelize starts to wane. Growth in godliness slows to a crawl.

In this way, the person who was once genuinely passionate for Christ—like Demas—is, over time, taken captive by sin.

It’s simply one more step from apparent follower to deserter.

So, are you drifting?

“Oh, it’s not serious,” you say. “I’ve just been in a busy season. Yeah, I’m not as excited about the gospel or the Christian life as I used to be, but I’m fine. I’m still attending church. It’s not like I’ve left God or anything. I’ve just been preoccupied lately. I’ll get back on track soon.”

Was there a time you were passionate for God, characterized by extravagant devotion and love for the Savior? Demas was like that once too.

What about now? Have you fallen in love with this present world?

Sadly, Christians are largely unaware of the peril. Because we’ve ignored verses such as 1 John 2:15 (Do not love the world or anything in the world. NIV), we’ve become completely desensitized to the clear and present danger of worldliness.

Excerpt from Chapter 1 of “Wordliness: Resisting the Seduction of the Fallen World”.

The reason why I shared this and the list above is to remind myself and to let you guys know that falling away can happen to any Christian. Whether you’re an anointed worship leader, or you have discipled hundreds already, or you’re just “new”. It happens. It happened then, and it can still happen now.

But our God is still sovereign, and the Author and Perfector of our faith. He is faithful to complete the work He has started in us. And we have a part to play and that is to be conscious of the things we allow to shape our mindsets. Enjoy life but stay grounded and stay guarded for Satan walks around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. When we feel like there is no one to run to, God is our Refuge.

Don’t you just feel this huge thankfulness to our God who holds our lives in His hands? Of all that has happened, I have learned this: Before we can engage and influence culture we must first stay grounded.

So… What’s in your list?

You just gotta love ‘em. 

No matter busy we get, we should still rest.  Make time to rest.  I’m happy to have some time to just relax and not think about anything, i.e., today is a free day for me.

Med school is different from my college days.  I can’t demand it to change for me.  Haha.  Things don’t change for us, we change our hearts towards things.  I’ve got a few courses which I wished were not part of the curriculum.  But they are.  So it’s a matter of just humbling myself and just going for it.

Of course, there is a thin borderline between compromise and submission.  And we need to be wise in the things we do.

So cheers to doing the best we can while believing God for greater things and still having time to enjoy and rest! 

With Kate.  Clockwise from top: Lou, Cams, Me, Gle, Kate.