The Long Way Up

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 ...

At a young age, there are many things that a child may wish to become when they grow up. Some might want to become doctors or astronauts or scientists. Others might desire to become police officers or pilots or ballerinas. At the age of ten, I remember wanting to become two things when I grew up: a teacher, and a priest. Around that age, I remember playing with my action figures, setting them up in a ‘classroom’ scenario where I played the role of teacher and they, by no choice of their own, became my students. During this childhood play time, I did not only give them lessons to learn, but I also pretended to give them exams afterward. I was probably a little over nine. Not long after that when, again, I had to move to another school — a Catholic school, no less — the other of my childhood dreams was incepted. To begin with, I had always felt a closeness to God even before I left the clutches of traditional religion, but having been exposed to the lives of the Catholic s...

As we journey throughout the span our lifetime, it is essential that we keep track of events that have marked our progression from one stage of life to another. There is an encouraging, edifying, and affirming corollary that comes out of reminiscing the successes, breakthroughs, and triumphs one has had in the past. We oftentimes call these markers milestones, and they serve as points of reference for potential future victories over unforeseen hurdles that may or may not announce themselves. I have just recently reminisced and evaluated my own set of milestones, having been in need of encouragement, edification, and affirmation. The last ten years are laden with these markers. 2009 Blessed with the ability to hear God calling me to pursue full-time ministry. Equally blessed to have gotten my parents' confirmation and affirmation of the path I decided to take. 2010 Made it through an intense year of family illness, death, financial need, healing, restoration, ...

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...

I stalk people on social media every now and again. Last night, I was perusing the older posts on a friend's blog and caught a glimpse of the changes in her tone of writing, life priorities and outlook in general. Upon telling her of my stalkery behavior, she later on mentioned that she herself has noticed her growth over the years as documented by her voluminous posts. Today, I decided to start reviewing my really old posts from another blog. I only did a light browsing through the titles of former entries and the first paragraph previews, but I could already see the vast difference between the old me and the now me. There was an overabundance of naivete and legalism peppered all over my writings... but at the same time an obscured depth of understanding of biblical truth. This is one of the blog entries I found from around ten years ago... and found it quite amusing. - - - - -  I was having lunch at the office cafeteria the other day when I overheard so...

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...