The Long Way Up

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, ...

Who decides the value of an individual being? Who makes the judgment call to determine which persons deserve to live or die? Who has the right to take another human life? Looking at the way our global society has trended towards self-rule and relativism, the answer to these questions is ringing loud and clear: Apparently MANKIND is the one who decides the value of an individual being; MANKIND determines who lives or dies; MANKIND has the right to take another human life! THIS IS THE WORLD WE ARE LIVING IN NOW! It's a world that has decided that each one of us can now do as we please based on our own preferred version of the truth, and often regardless of how each of our choices affects other people in the vicinity of our individualistic bubbles. It's a world that has decided that the life of an unborn -- but already living -- child is not valuable enough let out of the womb alive. Or if they, by some fluke of medical procedure, make it ou...

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...

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 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,...

I don't have tricks and Valentine surprise But what I have for you I'll publicize These ten and four are things I love in you Here's hoping you'll appreciate them, too 1 You have a way with words that's so unique I hear it in your voice each time you speak From random daily things to grandest schemes To talking about God and online memes 2 And then you have a way with written words You put a heart to nouns and chosen verbs The way you paint scenarios in prose The style you use in every one of those 3 I love how you adjust to what may come You flex and shift to people, and then some Adapting to what's needed at the time But still yourself enough to call you mine 4 And then, there's you who overcame the mess The one who grew resilient through stress The challenges you faced emboldened you Renewed your mind, and made you stronger, too 5 I am a fan of your persistent dreams Of conquering the worl...

Intricate Like spider webs spun Between two majestic oaks Line upon line, crisscrossing Matching, missing, imploding Tangential, incidental, intentional Connections made on sticky words Fluid moments and movements Complicated Into the eye, enter the storm A calm is found buried beneath the clouds In raging tempest solace is found And light and shadows mingle It works, it dazzles and mystifies Not everything makes sense But all is comprehensible Simple You choose it or you lose it That's really all there is When rains pour on the cobwebs Hold on tightly and love on brightly When sun is shining, beaming Embrace the rays, bask in it Life still goes on, go onward Profound Quell curiosity to find more questions Give all you have to gain everything Nothing is lost in vulnerable state Except our rusty shields But swords exchanged to sharpen both Each one, the other's pledged patrol This is here, this is now, this is it

A shy, scrawny boy sits isolated on one of the benches facing the soccer field of an all-boys' school. He is insecure about himself and uncertain about his life. He is eleven. He is quiet and quite reserved, kept to himself, and tried to attract as little attention as he could. He isn't like the other boys. He didn't care about being the leader of the pack; the Alpha male. He didn't care about being the strongest in the class. He didn't even care about being the smartest either. He just wanted to go through secondary school unnoticed. However, noticed was exactly what he got. It only took one judgmental thought verbalized into one careless statement from one clueless teenager to form one lasting effect on this shy boy's life: "Hey, faggot!" And just like that, a reputation was born. Reputation: ...the common opinion that people have about someone or something;  ...the way in which peop...

A subtle invitation Longed for, accepted, embraced Little morsels of hope Forming mosaics of a future anticipated Every flourish swirling outward Conveying dormant fancies now awakened Every brush stroke sweeping inward Collecting vibrations from a heart invigorated Two fortnights breeze by my window Lifetimes encapsulated, placed on the ledge Perhaps a friendly pigeon will make haste Carry me to my Dear within the year Love, the multifaceted Muse Crept in slowly and grew fiercely Linger longer please Even if only on a sil

I entered 2019 with a very promising direction and a new-found relationship from God. Without warning, the forces of darkness worked immediately to sow fear, anxiety and confusion into what should have been unhindered bliss and rejoicing in the Lord. It wasn't until I felt that my back was pushed against a wall that a holy anger for the devil's minions arose from within me, prompting me to speak God's promises back to Him, and rebuke the enemies surrounding me and my girlfriend. As I prayed over her and myself, I felt God's Spirit finally taking hold of our hearts, setting our souls at peace, and the demons of fear, anxiety and confusion, rendered powerless by the Name of Jesus. This ten-year-old blog entry still strongly resonates with me, and I feel like this is a reminder for me to keep bathing my life, and my relationship with my girlfriend, in prayer, faith declarations, and Bible scriptures. God's word is powerful! - - - - - Raise Your V...

My girlfriend gave me a book on writing prompts for Christmas, knowing that I write, just as she does. Today, I was able to take time to stretch some writing muscles with the first of the many prompts in the book, 'A Year of Creative Writing Prompts' . The first five-minute challenge was to write around the word 'peaches' . This is the result. Not quite orange, neither yellow I took a bite; it made me mellow I'm not much of a fruity fellow But for peaches? I'll always say "hello!" Get it fresh from the market Or from the many aisles of Target Outside the grocery, vendors park it Or in a lovely dress, girl, work it! Mix it with the fluffiness of cream See it in vivid, colorful dreams Put in a pie, or a single-hued ream Splash it on a suit, or hinted at the seams There's quite a lot to say about peaches Of softness, sweetness, joy -- it teaches One taste, and flavor boundaries it breaches Alluring tint...

Pitch black. Groggy. Disoriented. Jimmy came to his senses, but wasn't so sure what had happened prior to this, or what was going on at this particular moment. He felt dizzy; his head heavy from something... he had no immediate recollection of. He tried to open his eyes; but couldn't see anything. "Oh God! Eyesight! Have I lost my eyesight!?"  Jimmy started to panic but did his best to push the fear down, and assess his situation. He tried to reach for his eyes but felt his hands restrained. "Hands tied? Oh God!" he thought. At the time, he wasn't as concerned of the fact that both his hands were tied; he was more focused on his apparent lack of vision. He blinked several times trying to get a glimpse of... anything. Nothing! He tried again, hoping that his constant eyelid movement would somehow activate his sight. He blinked a few times more; he felt his eyelids and lashes brushing against something. "Blindfold?" He tested his t...