The Long Way Up

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...

Photos are quaint inventions: they freeze moments in time and, when at a later time viewed, evoke emotions and memories of captured life events. I was earlier browsing through my old pictures that have been posted on Facebook and I was delighted by the different events it brought me back to, along with the varied feelings they stirred up in me. From family photos of vacations in Manila, to trips I had made to other countries, to the times I spent teaching biblical truths to high school students, to the first few dates I had with my fiancee, pictures have a way of immortalizing the fleeting and preserving the meaningful. Pictures also bring back precious memories of dearly departed loved ones: like my late father who can often be found sporting a matter-of-fact look on his face; or Sir Allan, a member of one of my Bible study groups who used to bring all sorts of questions to our meetings; or my cousin Edward who was witty, sharp, and amiable all rolled into one. Two ...

Six months into an exciting, engaging, and exhilarating romantic relationship with my then-best-friend-now-girlfriend, my initial belief in the utmost significance of communication in fostering honesty, openness, and strong bonds of the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual kind has been gradually but steadily reinforced, applied, and lived out. From talking about the spiritual (faith and the rule of God) to the physical (health and food choices) to the musical (Scarypoolparty and Songland) to the extra special (travel plans and future goals), J and I have had awesome hours talking to each other, exchanging ideas and points of view as we both have a particular knack for meaningful dialogue and clever conversations. One major factor for our robust discussions is our ability to listen attentively while the other is talking . We both do love to talk -- a lot -- but we've come to a realization that in order to have effective communication in a relationship, we have to use our e...

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...

We human beings come into existence in this world through no choice of our own. When we are born many things have already been decided on our behalf: our birth date, our birth place, and our birth parents. Our parentage is one of the choices we never make at the commencement of our lives. If we could have made that decision prior to birth, I think many of us would have chosen quite differently since not everyone has been born to loving and responsible parents. Growing up, a lot of us really don't get to see the value of our fathers and mothers because, at the time of our youth, we viewed them from the lens of immaturity, impatience, and ignorance. As an adult, I have come to realize how infinitely blessed I have been to have the parents that I got. I expressed this gratitude for having been influenced by my father in an article I wrote over three months ago. Today, in honor of my mother's birthday, I decided to express how grateful I am for her and how she broug...

Fathers have been endued by God with a powerful impact on the life of their children, whether they realize it, admit it, own up to it or not. This is especially true during the formative years of children (I would say from conception to ten) when most everything kids experience early on in life is presented to them by -- and filtered through the involvement of -- their fathers. When a father abdicates his parental role, the chances of a young person finding a wayward path in life is exponentially increased, since the main guiding force in their life becomes physically or emotionally absent. However, when fathers take up their paternal mantle of loving, mentoring, validating, and directing their sons and daughters, the chances of children finding their purpose in life, learning to spread their proverbial wings, and soaring high despite the adversities of life is dramatically amplified. Even with pronounced flaws and inherent human weaknesses, a man who musters enough courage and ...

Family relationships are tricky: you are bound to them by blood and are expected to love them even when they are unlovable and when you would much rather shed their blood (kidding, of course). So it would come as a pleasant bonus when you have relatives that you not only love because they are kin, but also actually like because of the bonds of friendship formed among you. I could tell you stories of family drama (from both my paternal and maternal sides of the equation) collected through the years that have left me wishing I wasn't related to  some of 'these people': stories of conflict over money matters, broken trust over inheritance issues, severed communication because of unresolved misunderstandings. The list could go on. On the other hand, there have also been many encouraging memories of relatives going above and beyond the call of familial duty that reinforced the maxim, "blood is thicker than water": cousins, uncles, aunts, brothers, sister...

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...

At the outset of my 27-day vacation in Manila last March (to spend time with my brother and his family from New Zealand), I told my nephews and niece that I would take as many photos and videos of them and with them as I could. My 12-year-old nephew asked why. I told him, "You know, when the vacation's over and we've all gone back to respective corners of the earth, these photos and videos will be all I have of you." You know the expression "time flies when you're having fun"? It always proves true whenever quality time is spent with the ones dearest to you. That pretty much sums up my time with my three favorite KiwiPino kids. I'm glad that I did take all the pictures and videos I could of them and with them. Almost a month has passed since we've all parted ways and gone back to our corners of the globe, but every memory of the time spent with my family still lingers lovingly in my heart and mind... and more so on my phone. Pict...