The Long Way Up

When you've been raised on the move -- living from town to town, city to city, island to island -- you grow up loving movement. You don't get the privilege of establishing deep roots, or the nostalgia of claiming the title of being someone's childhood friend. You just don't have the currency for that, being peripatetic and all. When you've been brought up on the go -- changing addresses in a quick, three-year-cycle -- you get used to living out of a box, and get the hang of fitting your life in medium-sized back pack. You learn, along the way, the value of avoiding becoming a pack rat, and the necessity of discarding excess baggage. When you've been weaned on Sundays on the beach and frequent road trips, your heart learns to dream beyond the confines of your juvenile machinations, and soar beyond the perimeter of your economic limitations. You become more optimistic at the possible opportunities that are potentially opening up to you and for you. ...

My life has it own set of ironies and conundrums that have left me scratching my head for a long time. Ironies like why a guy like me gets thrust into positions of leadership. I'm not naturally commanding as a person, and I don't ask much from people, which is the very reason I'm still wondering why I have been put in charge of certain leadership responsibilities in the last eight years of my life. In my estimation, there are other, more qualified people out there who'd fit the leadership mold far better than I ever could: individuals who are goal-oriented, results-oriented, program-oriented, or career-oriented; people who are dripping with so much charisma and authority that they'd have multitudes hanging on their every word and eating out of their hand; men and women who know every twist and turn of the whole "follow-my-lead" routine. And then there's people like me: people who always feel ill at ease when it comes to urging people to fall in ...

It has been weeks now since I've been trying to recall some of my childhood memories (as a writing challenge from a friend who's also a blogger). I have had quite a few precious recollections from my early years and there are a handful that would come to mind at any given time. However, choosing a favorite from the many memories that I had as a child seems to be a very challenging task. I ended up gathering the memories that I delighted in as I thought about them. Memory One : I remember celebrating one of my birthdays as a young boy. It must have been my sixth or seventh. During that celebration I recall making a wish that God would give me superpowers through the vegetables that I would eat . Then I blew the candles on my cake and wished for that fantasy to come true. But this isn't my most favorite childhood memory. Memory Two : I remember purchasing my first cassette tape around the same time. "Color by Numbers" was the title of the Culture C...

A month ago, our church Facebook page got a series of queries from a random guy on the Internet. His line of questioning was geared towards the origin of the Bible and the formation of the "one true church" (his words; not mine). As one of the administrators of this FB page, I took it upon myself to answer his inquiries to the best of my abilities and with as much politeness and sincerity as I can extend. In response to his first question regarding how the Bible came into existence, I told him that his answer required a really long reply (which would not be properly addressed in a chatroom) and then referred him to some legit online pages that I felt somehow answered his query. He then proceeded to throw his second question: "what church did Jesus Christ establish on earth?" At first I thought he was simply an inquisitive guy who was probably seeking answers in his journey of faith. So again, with as much aplomb I could afford him, I proceeded to explai...