The Long Way Up

It will almost be a year now since I discovered The Chosen -- the first multi-season show on the life of Jesus and His followers -- and its precepts and posited theses still reverberate in my mind up to now, giving my brain some really substantial moral, existential, and spiritual ruminations. The series is simply wonderfully-produced . One of the show's elements that has gotten me completely impressed is the level of excellence displayed in the way its narrative structure is crafted: from its pacing, to its characterizations, all the way down to its dialogue, The Chosen's script is entertaining, engaging, thrilling, and thought-provoking. The series writers undeniably took a page from their ancient, world-famous source material. The first season is a great example of how adeptly Tyler Thompson, Ryan Swanson, and Dallas Jenkins made use of their writing proficiencies to tackle -- or, at the very least, present -- profound religious conundrums that many of us wrestle with on a ...

I have recently seen this worship set aired on Facebook Live where the song leader sang out a few ‘artistic and rhetorical phrases’ toward God and toward the audience: a common practice that worship ministers do apparently. This reminded me of the times when I had been a part of such worship sessions, where I myself have said certain pleasant, spiritual-sounding quips, which in hindsight were, at best, impulsive and, at worst, presumptuous; I guess our emotions can get the better of us sometimes (most of the time?), even in such a hallowed setting. As I continued to watch this band play and sing, I had to fight my own judgmental and self-righteous tendencies since I — as previously mentioned — have been in that position of being on a pulpit to sing songs to God and have gotten carried away with my words, releasing statements that now feel awkward, out of place, and even embarrassing. How many times must I have said and sung words, phrases, and sentences that were not inspired by the Ho...

A father plays a major role in the lives of his children. An understatement? An overstatement? Well, whichever your preference, it's a true statement; one that has been poorly heeded, greatly ignored, or severely missed out. Anyone can biologically sire a child -- we got a lot of that going on these days; but to be a father in every sense of the word is, for sure, such a tall order, which is why many men -- for several varying and valid reasons -- opt out of their responsibilities. One such responsibility inherent to the paternal role is the privilege of representing the Heavenly Father to his children. This wouldn't be much of a stretch if men, to begin with, had an existing relationship with their Father in Heaven growing up, and have spent their season of singleness practicing being God-conscious in whatever form of relationship they had with other people. But sadly, that isn't the case most of the time. So, whatever a man learns during his bachelorhood he usually carrie...

After watching the latest Kendrick Brothers' movie, Overcomer, and after coming out of our last session with the young adults (on Paul's epistle to the church in Ephesus) I got inspired to do a simple sweep over the text of the letter to the Ephesians and just compile what it says about "me". These are rich spiritual blessings indeed. CHAPTER ONE I am blessed with every spiritual blessing I have been chosen by Him before the foundation of the world… that I would be holy and blameless before Him I have been predestined to adoption as a son His grace has been freely bestowed on me in the Beloved In Him I have redemption through His blood I have been forgiven of my trespasses The riches of His grace has been lavished on me I am sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise CHAPTER TWO I have been made alive together with Christ even when I was dead in my transgressions I have been raised up with Him I am seated in heavenly places in Chr...

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." -- Ephesians 6:10-11 - - - - - Although this passage finds the reader towards the tail end of the epistle to the Ephesians, I feel like this is nevertheless the perfect way to sum up what the apostle Paul has carefully laid out in the preceding chapters: the need for relational vigilance, spiritual militancy, and perpetual determination to persevere amid the raging invisible conflict. I went through Ephesians this month via three sets of devotionals as part of my study on different books of the Bible with my fiancée. And though I have read this Pauline epistle before, this examination gave me an insight that I have not had a privilege of receiving. Many people would probably know of the 'full armor of God' passage in chapter six. Preachers have no doubt spoken about or taught on our weapons of spiritual ...

The Bible is rife with life lessons, meaningful maxims, powerful principles, and revitalizing revelations that enlighten the human mind when understood and transform the human being when applied. For the month of October, my fiancée and I agreed to go through a series of devotionals on the book of Galatians as part of our joint spiritual growth disciplines. We are not by any means attempting to go 'scholarly' on our study of Scripture (as valuable as it is); we simply desire to know God and His word more, especially in the context of us looking forward to living out our walk with Jesus together as husband and wife. As of this writing, we are on the second devotional series on Paul's letter to the church of Galatia. I think we will be able to go through a third one before the month ends.  At the outset of this joint study on the book of Galatians, the thought of learning more spiritual things that can be applied in practical ways piqued my interest: it would a...

In 2018, the Philippines had its fourth privilege of claiming the title of Miss Universe through the beauty, brains and boldness of Catriona Gray. Viewers of the pageant -- and the judges for sure -- were not only enamored by her looks and poise, but were also amazed by her wit and eloquence. In particular, Ms. Gray's answer to the competition's final question earned her the coveted crown as well as the admiration of most everyone who witnessed her speak her heart out with grace under pressure. "What is the most important lesson you've learned in your life and how would you apply it to your time as Miss Universe?" was the ultimate poser thrown at the three finalists of the beauty pageant. My girlfriend and I -- both writers and bloggers -- decided to take on this question as the topic we would write about for the month of April, albeit with a little amendment: "What is the most important lesson you've learned in your life and how would you appl...

A few blog posts ago I mentioned that the nature of my job has an ebb-and-flow, peaks-and-valleys kind of set-up: sometimes task as few and far between; sometimes they come in droves. In the last few weeks I've been feeling more of the latter, which has kept me from writing new material for my blog -- been wanting to continue my Japan-based tech-thriller of a short story for some time now. In view of this circumstance, you could probably understand now why I've been bring out some of my old stuff from an ancient blog of mine to sort of keep the momentum going on this current blog. This one is yet again another entry in both my parental and throwback series, and was written over 10 years ago. - - - - - Last Saturday the cell group discussed the topic of discipline using Hebrews 12:7-12 as the springboard. The Lord gave me this word to share to the guys just hours before and I really believe it was a "now" word. I see in the spirit that many young m...

It's become a habit of mine lately to get really old articles from one of my past blogs, and re-post them here under my 'throwback' series . This time around, however, the article I chose also fits into my parenting series category, so I guess this entry is going be a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of deal here. As an introduction to this blast from the past (for my Parental Guidance readers), the Bible clearly instructs fathers and mother in Proverbs 22:6 to "train up a child in the way he should go" so that "when he is old, he will not depart from" whatever lesson or principle his parents have taught him. I wrote this blog entry over ten years ago keeping in mind the dynamic between the two generations in the body of Christ -- the old and the young. Nevertheless, having read it again a decade later, I realized these truths were super-applicable in the parenting arena. God bless you as you read! - - - - - This is part of the Great Commis...

When I was just a fledgling preacher/teacher speaking in front of lots of people from a pulpit,  printed or written down outlines were a necessity since I hadn't had a wealth of preaching experiences to draw from and speak out of. This is one of my earlier 'teaching' outlines that I used in our now defunct Saturday night service. - - - - - Text: 2 Chronicles 20:1-30 Jehoshaphat was the fourth king of Judah and the son of Asa. As one of David's descendants, he had a lifestyle of devotion to God, seeking God, crying out to God, and instructing people in the ways of God. 2 Chronicles 17:3-6, 18:4, 31, and 19:9, 10 give glimpses of this. Here are seven things we learn from Jehoshaphat's life, particularly during an impending war described in 2 Chronicles 20:1-30. 1. WAR WILL ALWAYS COME UPON YOU (v. 1-2) Life is a battlefield between two kingdoms -- the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God. Whether you seek it or not, ask for it o...

I have a lot to get off my chest about parents and parenting. A lot! My perspective and opinions, however, do not emanate from a firsthand experience of raising biological children, as I am not a biological father... yet. The beliefs and principles that I espouse about parenting come from another vantage point: the broken children at the receiving end of parenting gone wrong. As an introduction into this series of articles on parenting  that I have been desiring to write since last year, I want to issue these preambles in the interest of making my intentions clear, and my motives evident. (1) I AM NOT A BIOLOGICAL PARENT God only knows how daunting and challenging the task parents are faced with when they have kids, and when said kids grow up and start having minds of their own. These articles are not experiential from the point of view of a father or a mother, but they are experiential from the point of view of a son who grew up watching (and later on, learning from) ...

I'm still really astounded how some "believers" do not see nor understand the value of patiently waiting for the fulfillment of God's sovereign plan in and for the affairs of human beings. In the course of the last month and a half, I have repeatedly shared with different circles of my family and friends the story of how God orchestrated the events of my life that led me to the point of asking one of my best friends to become my girlfriend. In each telling of the narrative, I have emphasized the fact that we were first and foremost really good friends for about 16 years, and that the last three of those years were seasons of watching over our friendship, evaluating my attraction to her, contemplating a possible relationship with her, and praying to God for guidance through my emotions and in my decisions. Time and patience were always key elements in the story I was telling; that regardless of my chronological age and the level of my spiritual maturity,...