Occupied or just lazy?

We haven't moved a thing yet to our new place, worst we haven't started painting the walls. We are supposed to do all that last weekend (Saturday and Sunday) but I was requested to work on Saturday, Sunday after church was spent bonding with Jakob (our newest joy-a dear friend's son) and Rudolf was too lazy na to go and work there late Sunday afternoon.

I do not know when are we gonna finish the re-painting and moving of all our stuff. We are both pretty much occupied during the day. Moving is really not a pleasant thing to do. We are both like someone who wear ankle braces and we can't move. Lol. I admit we are too lazy to do this and I guess we are not both excited anymore for whatever reasons I do not know.

I guess we are currently enjoying living in the mission's house :)

Keep the fire burning!

I am so blessed with what is happening with our youth ministry these days, the concert that took place last Sunday was just the beginning of the "fire" in their hearts and I hope they will keep it ablaze forever. Sure there will be tough times but I do hope everyone gets matured spiritually by then and will not backslide anymore.

Last Friday, I was there at their prayer vigil which was their first for this year and I was in awe and amazement when I heard all their testimonies and thanksgiving. Why wouldn't you be bless when you hear someone speak of his dark days as youth and now sharing how God has been good to him and to his family. I hope that from this group, no one has to stop going to school again, no one has to stow away from their parents, no one has to be involved in drugs, no one has to smoke monte cristo cigars or any kind at all.

But I pray that these young people will become great leaders of our church, of their communities and of our nation. God bless them!

Refiner's Fire

My prayer for today ..Lord purify my heart..



Purify my heart,
let me be as gold and precious silver.
Purify my heart,
let me be as gold, pure gold.

(Chorus)
Refiner's fire,
my heart's one desire
is to be…holy;
set apart for You, Lord.
I choose to be…holy;
set apart for You, my Master,
ready to do Your will.

Purify my heart,
cleanse me from within
and make me holy.
Purify my heart,
cleanse me from my sin, deep within.

Only in the Philippines

I was on twitter yesterday and I was one of those who first noticed that a certain place here in our city is trending worldwide. "Ayala-Alabang" is one of the place where the richest people in our country live. It was trending because the twitter world reacted about the Brgy City Council creating an ordinance that you can not buy condoms without prescriptions, so you see people were like..uh..are you crazy? what are you thinking? I understand if it's a pill like you know those prohibited pills that are being used to abort a baby or even a male enhancement pills but I don't get why would anyone need a prescription to buy a condom?

I'm all pro life but I find this city ordinance funny. How would a doctor prescribe a condom? Don't they have anything to do anymore beside creating an ordinance like that?

Only in the Philippines no?

Planetshakers in Manila. March 12,2011

Planetshakers will be in Manila again and will have a concert on March 12 at the Phil Sports Arena (formerly ULTRA). Me and my husband wants to go because the we missed the first time they went here last 2009. Now should be our chance to celebrate/sing/shout/worship the one true GOD with them together with all the Filipinos but we haven't bought tickets yet. We've been through many expenses the last month and we've lost money (from the t-shirt with wrong print if you remember that) and we haven't yet recovered from that. BUT I am still hoping God will make a way for us to go, if not I'll just pray that everyone who will go and watch the concert will be blessed.

I'm sure the dancing and singing that night would be like one top rated fat burner because of the many calories burned. I really wish I could go. I've never been to ULTRA through, I do not know if it's okay toi buy the 300.00 ticket price for gen. admission.

Who's going?

Isaiah 41:10

I dreamt of my parents last night, in my dreams I keep hugging them and telling them I love them. When I woke up this morning I texted my father and asked how are they doing, he sent me a sad text saying that my mom is sick and they are both feeling weak and that they both consumed all their meds already. I felt bad and sad because the last time I saw them was Christmas and I missed them terribly. I was worried (again) and began to pray.

I didn't call right away because I knew I will be crying over the phone and I do not want them to hear me cry. Instead I made arrangements (thank God I have good friends) and borrowed  their ministry van to go to ouyr home province and pick them up and bring them to my sister's house. BUT..when I finally talked to them and told them I'm going home tonight and picking them up, they refused and told me I will just waste money. I was like whaaat?

I do not understand why they wouldn't want to be here with us. I was left with no choice but to obey them.I lifted them to the Lord and asked for comfort and peace (because I've been crying the whole time in the office) when it comes to my parents I'm a cry baby. My sister also told me not to worry that much anymore and I was reminded of my devotion last night.

Isaiah 41:10 says

"So do not fear, for I am with you;

do not be dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you and help you;

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

I immediately whispered "Thank You Lord" and I felt peaceful. I will not be afraid and be worried that something bad might happen to mom because I know the Lord will help me and have heard my prayer for them.

But of course I still miss them that much and I will definitely go home and visit them the soonest possible time. And I called a relative to go and check on them from time to time. :)

Now I can search about prevage elizabeth argen prevage in peace and read and sleep well knowing that my the Lord is protecting my parents.

It is so hard to live hundred miles away from your loved ones no?

Radical Youth Concert : A success!!

Praising God for the successful fund raising youth concert this afternoon. It was successful in many ways.

First : it generated some funds for the youth camp (maybe not too big but still it was not bad)

Second : we discovered the many talents these young people have, we were amazed to witness how they revealed their talents through this concert. Now, we know who have very good voices and can definitely sing, those who can dance, those who act (which has been not visible to our youth ministry for such a long time)and those who can be leaders in the future.

Third : People who came went home blessed and touched by the presentation and it's the greatest achievement for the concert. We were able to minister to audience through the songs and the finale act (drama) which was very well applauded. The message we wanted to impart was clearly communicated even without someone preaching. And the message? that there is HOPE even if you're life is a mess. Broken homes? troubled? Unwanted pregnancy? A life threatening disease? Give it all to the LORD and HE can fix it.

My husband who played bass for the whole concert (he normally plays the lead guitar) need not take the best fat burners for men anymore because just helping the youth with this kind of activities burns even more fat I guess. I love how he encouraged the audience to give offering and help the youth raise more funds for the upcoming camp.

I was asked to do the stage directing and I gladly did accepted the job. It was a pleasure working with these young people burning with passion to love and serve the one and only GOD!! And it was also a pleasure to see everyone who went out of their way to support the said concert. May the blessings be returned to you all in ways you can not imagined!

To HIM be all the GLORY!!

Seven Things I’ve Always Wanted to Say to Worship Leaders

I loved this article which was shared by a friend through facebook. This is from Fire in My Bones and is written by J.Lee Grady
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Seven Things I’ve Always Wanted to Say to Worship Leaders

We would honor God if we applied these principles to our praise.

I consider myself open-minded about worship. My tastes in music are eclectic, so I love everything from Hillsong choruses and black gospel anthems to classic hymns and Spanish worship artists Marco Barrientos and Jesús Romero. My playlist even includes Native American, Nigerian and Iranian worship.

I love any music that stirs my soul and points me to heaven, so worshipping the Lord with other believers is one of my favorite pastimes. But there are a few things I’d like to say to worship leaders. Please don’t take these comments as criticism but as encouragement from a brother who has “seen it all” when it comes to the Sunday morning drill.

“In poor countries where people struggle from hand to mouth each week, praise is so energetic that the congregation quickly moves into the aisles to dance. Yet here in the United States our worship is often stiff and way too sophisticated.”

1. Give us something to shout about! In most countries I visit, worship is an exhilarating workout. In poor countries where people struggle from hand to mouth each week, praise is so energetic that the congregation quickly moves into the aisles to dance. Yet here in the United States our worship is often stiff and way too sophisticated. What we lack in genuine zeal we substitute with technology, orchestration and hype. It’s a pitiful tradeoff.

Worship leaders must stoke the fires of spiritual passion. Don’t let the people’s hearts remain cold or stale. Exhort them to go higher. Say like the psalmist, “Praise the Lord! …Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their king. Let them praise His name with dancing. …Let the godly ones exult in glory. …Let the high praises of God be in their mouth” (Ps. 149:1-3,5,6) NASB.

2. Please give us content. Most of us packed away our hymnals 30 years ago and discovered the liberty of free-style choruses. Yet I get tired of singing the same phrase over and over—especially if that phrase has questionable theology. And we are cheating people if half of a song consists of lines like “Ooh, Ooh, Ooh!” or “Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

There’s a reason “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross” is a classic. Its words inspire deep worship in a way that simpler songs can’t. The best solution is to mix up the playlist with both new and old songs—as well as old songs with new arrangements. If we only sing today’s trendy Top 40 we will forget where we came from.

3. Spare us the concert. True worship leaders lead rather than perform. We want you to play skillfully, but we don’t want the focus to be on you. Point us to Jesus!

Some worship leaders shift into extended periods of spontaneous worship. That’s great until you look around and realize that the congregation is sitting down while the worship leader has his eyes closed—oblivious to the fact that most people got lost 10 minutes ago. That’s not corporate worship. That’s a stage show.

4. Don’t run a song into the ground. Maybe this is just a pet peeve of mine: When a worship leader announces, “Let’s sing it one more time!” and then proceeds to sing a chorus again and again and again and again (and again and again), this is a form of lying. This happens especially with certain choruses that are like broken records—they never resolve.

If a song is so repetitive that it’s annoying, or if you can’t figure out when to stop it, just retire it. No one will ask why you don’t sing it anymore.

5. Please don’t burst my eardrums. I have a high tolerance for noise and I love rhythm. But I have been in churches where the music was so loud that my head rattled for the rest of the day. God can open deaf ears, but I don’t think we should manufacture the deafness. Have mercy on us. God doesn’t want us to drown out the sound of the people’s voices with bass guitars and subwoofers.

6. Show us the lyrics. Memo to the technical crew: We don’t have hymnals, and we don’t know the words by heart. Please don’t wait until we have sung the second verse of the song to put those words on the screen. (It would also be a good idea to have someone proofread the song lyrics. I was in a church where we were supposed to sing “Praise Him for His mighty acts,” but the Power Point slide said, “Praise Him for His mighty axe.”)

7. Honor the Word. There is nothing ruder than a worship leader who walks off the stage after the last chorus and then disappears to a side room to eat donuts. When the praise team vanishes from the church and never comes back, it sends a message to the congregation that these people don’t need to listen to the sermon. Not! Worship does not end with the last song; the last song sets the stage for the next act of worship.

I’m not a worship leader, and you wouldn’t want to hear me on a keyboard. But I believe we would honor God if we applied these principles to our praise.
******************
J. Lee Grady is the contributing editor of Charisma. You can find him on Twitter at leegrady. His latest book is 10 Lies Men Believe (Charisma House).

Blog talks

I've been blogging since 2005 and yet until now I do not know the fastest and easiest way to increase SEO or search engine optimization, My page rank remains the same for over a year or two but of course am grateful with that because I know a lot of good blogs or websites and yet doesn't even had a PR.

This blog is made for our ministry and my goal is to be able to share whatever we do and also to at least be of help to those who read this.

But landing on the first page of a search engine is quite a hard task and I know I have to work hard for it. Like what I did on my other blog.

I wish I could repeat the same here.

Conference over

Wow..it's been a while since I last posted, we are still here in Singapore although the conference ended last Saturday night. We decided to stay longer so we could visit some nice place here and meet some friends as well. So far we've been exploring since yesterday, visited Esplanade and Promenade and we are set to go out again this afternoon. Hubby is checking all the gadget stores,looking and comparing prices.Wishing he could buy but he knows he can only wish :) and look at the price Atrix or matrix..whatever :)

We had an amazing time at the conference and I'm making several posts for it. I particularly love the last part where we wrote in a sticky note and left it at the cross.

That's it for now. I miss bloghopping because I have no time but will definitely visit everyone once I get back to normal blogging hours.

Work and serve overseas

The main purpose of our Singapore trip is to attend the International Teams East Asia Regional Conference that happens every two years. It's a gathering of International teams Missionaries working in Asia. This year will be our second time.

However, since Singapore has lots of opportunities to work and earn more than what you can earn here in Manila, I also thought of applying for a job there and then settle for good if ever. I just do not know what job I would apply for since tech jobs are what in demand now a day. And I do not have such background.

Of course that plan and thought of mine is subject to God's approval.

I was just thinking how life would be different if we are to work and serve the Lord overseas.
Someday maybe.