Why do bad things happen to good people?

Why do bad things happen to good people?

It is so easy for a person to accept a consequence out of his misdeeds for he is guilty; but how can he accept a consequence out of upright and decent living?

This is one of the most celebrated questions of many people worldwide. Yet is one of the hardest mystery of life where people sometimes are being misled by their limited human perspective.

Some people answer this question with good and bad karma belief. Others have a thought that suffering is a normal portion of our daily routine on earth while the rest still continue to ask God why such suffering strikes them with no fair reason because they believe they are good people.

Well, the story of Job about his long-term suffering might not totally answer the question but it shows us the right and wrong ideas and feelings of people about suffering. Also, it paves the way for everyone on how we should certainly react when such circumstances caught us by surprise.

Job is a wise, rich, honorable man living decently and faithfully in the name of God. But then one day, God took his ten children and all his wealth plus he bore a painful skin disease. He shove his head off in mourning and yet still he praised Him, and for a fraction of second never had he dared ask God about his excruciating suffering. Three of his friends came by to see him and gave interpretations about his suffering. They told him that God is punishing him for his sins. Job insisted that it is not true and he became so discouraged but he still believed that God cares about him, though he didn’t know the answer why he must suffer so.

Well, in the end, God gave his answer about everything that happened to him. He told him that people don’t know how great God is. His three friends surely lack understanding about God.  Finally, God restored his health and wealth twice as rich as he had been before plus another ten children. Job realized that no obstacle should hinder his trust in Him.

This is a reminder that God is in control of our life. No matter what happens to us, we must not stumble nor shake our trust and faith in Him. We must believe that everything will be alright because God knows more about His plan for us. God may allow Satan to intervene us but, we must understand that we are born of God, who is indestructible and powerful. If God is stronger than Satan, then we must bear that inheritance in our DNA. It’s in our blood, all over our body. We must prove that we are sons and daughters of God by neither being strong in the midst of every neither trial nor suffering.

Nothing should separate us from His love!

Live by faith, not by what we see (2 Cor. 5:7) for God is bigger and far greater more than what we can ever imagine. All we have to do is trust Him and ask for his everlasting strength, wisdom and comfort so we may not be shaken in whatever we go through for God loves and cares for us more than what we think, more than what we feel, and more than everything else. Thus His love is beyond our human understanding.

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The truth behind teaching

When I was about to graduate, I asked my friend as to what major will he take up in university, and he said he wanted to become a teacher because it is the easiest known profession in the world. I almost believed him because when I enter the university, most of my batch mates in the lower sections were all found enrolling the same major.

My friends would always tell me that education is the safe ground for those who are most likely to fail in their class. It is being looked down as at the bottom of all the professions because ,probably, it is the lowest paying profession that has ever existed in our country. I still remember my professor back in high school with his most discouraging words which go like this,

 "There is no money in teaching!"

"Look at me, I have been teaching for a decade and yet I am still wearing the same shirt everyday."

"You can dream bigger, do better than teaching for God's sake!"

When I started setting my feet into the realm of teaching,I started to realize about his exaggeration. There is indeed, very little money in the profession which can barely support the needs of my family.

Then, one day I met this teacher and was surprised when he knew that we both earn from the same profession for he was thinking I am going to be an engineer or architect. We had a dinner in the mall and shared each other's experiences in teaching. At the last part of our conversation, he said that he is very proud of what path I have chosen to take of all the profession. He said that though we earn less in teaching, we gain more because we,teachers, are part of molding the future of thousands of students coming from different walks of life. Also, it is thoroughly rewarding not because of the gifts you receive from them, but the joy it gives you when you were able to make them understand not only the lessons contained in the four walls of the classroom, but the real life itself. 

Some of the teachers out there would feel regret upon choosing this profession, or weariness with the ever changing challenges in our class, problems with our bills because of the insufficient salary we receive from private and public institutions, stressed out with what people gossips about your private life,  but I tell you this brothers and sisters, this path that we have chosen to take is not only us who made this to happen. God has planted us in this profession to grow and bear fruit and then in return plant the new seeds to become children of God. We are part of the extricate overall work of plan in the hands of our God. We are  entitled to pieces together the entire picture of His plan.We are the ambassadors of God called upon for the awakening and renewal of the people of the world that has gone astray and for without us, how can God fulfill His plans for all of us?

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:28-31)

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The Power of Music

Last Sunday, we were in charged for the Praise and Worship Team. With seven songs I could feel the presence of the holy spirit through us. While playing the guitar, I realized that music prepares the soul to receive the message of the Lord through our speakers. Serving the Lord through music has always been delighting and  invigorating especially when I feel weary and exhausted from the everyday challenges of life. It just feels that all the weariness are being washed down as I pluck and strum the strings of my guitar.

Music is so powerful. It has the ability to stir a person's feelings or mood. Also, it helps a person to express words that are hard to speak out that's why we can tell quite easily  if a person is happy or sad through the music he sings.In short, music is a simple tool of expression through notes.

It has always been used as a tool to worship God particularly David in his psalms. He has written many songs of praise for the God  with which most of the new songs we are singing recently are derived from them. 

However, music has evolved significantly over the years.Worldly music such as emo, hardcore,hip hop,rnb, with explicit lyrics have surfaced the earth for which it stirs the emotions of people into the wrong direction. Even songs to mock God has already existed nowadays. These music are provoking people to feel alone,wasted,unloved, hate, grudge and others which could lead them to destruction through suicide or murder. 

Well, I was once an emo music lover for which it almost lead me to eternal darkness - suicide. All I ever thought after my heart was dumped by a girl was that I am always gonna be alone and sad with my entire life. Most emo feel this way because they think that they have the most miserable and gloomy life after the unsuccessful relationship with the one they love. They feel wasted, broken, and no longer  worthy to live their lives that's why they usually end up in committing suicide using the razor blade to slice on their hand pulse.

Our God has invented music for a far better reason and we abused the true nature of it for He made it to make us come near to Him. Thus, He knows that people would love music for it brings joy and satisfaction. He made it to offer the original and everlasting - to become in harmony with Him. He wants us to enjoy music together as we walk each day of our life to remind us that we are not alone on this earth filled with hate,grudge,weariness,apathy and others that lead to destruction which the devil wants. The devil also knows our weakness so we must pay attention to the music we listen or sing.

If the music has the power to influence many people into darkness, then, you  also have the power to save those lives of many and be transformed to a life worthy of living again.

Oh come! Let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

                                                                                             - Psalm 95:1




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The truth about giving to the church

Way back in the days when I was still little in the Philippines, whenever I go to the church every Sunday, I would regularly drop a few coins to the tray of the church as it is being passed towards the end of the aisle. Before I go to church,I had to make sure that my coins are already placed on my right pocket so that it won't be hard to get my money for the offering. My mom told me that if I give to the church, later, God will answer my prayers that's why I was so eager to ask my dad for coins every Sunday. My mom is an active CWD member at the church so after the mass, I would always stay with them after the mass and see how much money the tray have collected for a particular Sunday. Every Sunday is no surprise to me at all for the tray was always filled with all coins with a few ten peso bills.

Then, one day I read the story of an old woman/widow in Mark 12:41-43

The temple was big and beautiful. The people draw here to worship God. Inside the temple are big money boxes where people put money inside it to worship God.

Then, one day Jesus was sitting across one of the money boxes. He saw many rich people put in lots of money. All of a sudden there was an old woman put two coins into the money box which worth less than a penny.

Then, Jesus told his friends that the old woman has given more money than  the rich people for the old woman gave all the money she had and there was no money left for her at all while the rich people only gave a part of what they have.

The story of the old woman teaches invaluable lessons that giving to the church should bubble up from the bottom of our hearts and not from recognition which loses its value. Also, the old woman showed us her great faith and generosity to God from the moment she put her last two coins into the box, she surrendered totally to God that He may provide her mercy and grace. Sometimes, it makes me think that it is impossible for men to do such generosity nowadays because we rather place big money on our clothing,gadgets, and other form of lifestyles whereas we only put small money at the foot of the church. It really seems that we worship the things on earth and not our God.

These are where we place our big money on.

But it's not yet too late!  We can still make a difference right now. We should turn the world into the true  generous giving which bubbles from the heart and not from mere recognition nor from selfish desires.

"Giving is the lesson had emphasized,
In the statements written of a wise,
If not satisfied do not criticize,
Give yours that are of your side."

                                  

                                     - Mr. Felix Pineda

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Divine Calling: Do you have it?

A: So, how is your plan for putting up an orphanage?

B: I can't tell, but it is really hard to put it up here. 

   You know the government, don't you?

A: Well, I don't. Please tell me everything you have to say.

This was a part of our long conversation with Pa Asmat, a counselor from Cimahi, Indonesia

Recently, I met Pa Asmat who is planning to put up an orphanage along with his beloved wife. In our first meeting with him, we were discouraged with so many obstacles that will go along with  the process of building the foundation of the orphanage. There were no orphans yet for the building is physically undone. So much to be done in the second floor especially the roofing and the wall. The building is struggling to be put up because of the lack of money and they do really need a huge amount of money to finish the entire building.  Both of them have been sweating blood to earn money for the construction of the house. We were so much discouraged when we heard about the government's harshness in the procedure of having the orphanage legally registered. The government's corruption  on this matter is intoxicating for they play cruel to those people who wants to put up an orphanage. It's is so damn ridiculous!

I thought putting up an orphanage would be that easy. It's not only the money that you need to consider, most especially the sharp eyes of the government. The corruption of the government is unmistakably discouraging. Totally discouraging.

Yet, Pa Asmat is not stumbled. His high hopes that people will soon realize the need to help him pursue the orphanage is untainted. His size is as huge as his hope and faith that God will send those people he needs in the most precise time.

He is a very good example of  a man who lives by faith despite the discouraging situations. A man who willingly fulfills his call to help the orphans with everything that he has.

If he is already on his way to manifest his divine calling, what could be yours?

Sin and its powerful remedy

I have been so sick for two days. I have been suffering body ache, headache, burning eyes,stuffed nose, body chills,dry cough that brought me sleepless nights. Probably it is the worst illness I have ever had in my entire life.

I have been drinking  several paracetamols to tone down my fever especially every night when I get chills but then it seems nothing keeps my health better the next morning.  I almost finish a gallon of mineral water a day that makes me get in and out of the bathroom. I have been putting pain reliever to alleviate my body pain temporarily. I have been drinking syrups for my unstoppable coughing throat for two days already.

It seems that I have done all the things  I need but then here I am still wearing pajamas all day.

If the symptoms still persist  on the third day, whether you like it or not, you should go with me and see the doctor for your diagnosis.(This is Anna's inexorable comment a day ago. )

Well, this circumstance is somewhat similar with man's dealing with sin. The illness is like a sin which makes a person locked up in a cell who cannot find his way out of it. Sin has many symptoms as well which makes a man branches out a lot more sins. Sin is hard to cure because of man's vulnerability against it. Once he is infected by sin, there's a fat chance to get rid of it unless he severs the roots.

Most of us tend to only cut off the symptoms, and not the roots, which makes the sin grow back every now and then. The roots are what keep the tree from living. So, let us cut off the roots to stop ourselves from the illness of sin.

How can we fight off the root of sin then?

Like me who really needs to see the doctor to end my suffering...

We  need the prescription of our Heavenly Father: the Bible.

 Not after three days, nor later, but NOW!

He has the potion, the remedy and the medical kit to bring down sin. You only have to believe in Him so that You will be healed and be freed from such illness.

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Things you could have done before a beloved's passing

Last Friday, June 15,2012, I attended an internment of our fellow co-worker’s dad somewhere around Jalan Sudirman, Bandung. It is the first time I have witnessed a Chinese funeral for my entire life. Beautifully ornamented flowers welcomed us by the entire façade; Chinese texts on a fine fabric was suspended on either sides of the room; people wearing plain white shirts greeted us and offered us some refreshments like sweets, bread, chips and glasses of water. Lastly, melancholic silence illuminated the entire room. I could see from the eyes of the family, relatives, friends, colleagues and others brimmed with unspoken heartache and grief for no one expected the sudden passing of someone they cherished most.

Death is the most feared and most unaccepted sad reality in our life. When I see people grieving over someone’s passing, I see guilt and shame. Usually, we only lament when someone totally left us physically. Thus the saying goes “You can only see the true value of someone, when he is already gone”.  Pain is natural when somebody left us but don’t we think that we should have given the true importance of someone while he is still with us. We should have let them feel that we care, love and value them. 



The problem is there are things that keep us from doing such virtuous deeds and we are left off-guarded from doing them. Kind words are unspoken, act of benevolence are left undone, hatred and anger unsettled. Or even very simple things that matters a lot such as buying someone’s ice cream, watching an exciting film together, listening to the music you love to hear, and others. More often, these simple things are being looked over because of fixating our attention with other things which we think more valuable than anything else such as earning  more money, paying bills, playing video games, and even checking notifications over Facebook or Twitter.

Life is so uncertain. No one really knows when will be our final hour, our last breath and  our last words.  Let us do the best in making most of our lives now before regret hunts us. Let us put into actions the good plans we have in mind to make other people see their worth. You might be the only person doing that and it matters a lot to anyone who receives it.

Blessed is the man who joyfully values each man through actions they met along their path. Blessed is the man who never grows tired of manifesting the word of God to people regardless of their disparity for He shows no partiality. (Romans 2:11)


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Pressing through the crowd for the Miracles of God

Yesterday morning, as I was scanning the verses of the New Testament in random order, I was struck  down by the message that appeared from Luke 8:40.

The story is about the woman suffered an incurable blood disease for twelve long years. She spent so many years seeking help from doctors and no one was able to cure her.
  

If you were in her shoes, would you still have the same hope that someone would heal you after several years? Would you still believe that someone like Jesus whom you barely know will take you out from your suffering?

Or would you accept the fact that no one is capable of curing your disease and wait for your demise? Or maybe not prolong your life by ending it so you may escape the curse of suffering?

After   a few moments of pondering about these verses, I have realized how deep the message of God is for His people.

You see that as Jesus was walking, the woman put her faith that He can heal her disease. She believed that by merely touching Jesus, her disease that caused most of her life’s tremendous suffering would finally end. 

But something stood up between the woman and Jesus – the crowd. The crowd was so busy pressing one another towards Jesus. So, there’s a hindrance towards the woman’s goal of touching the Messiah at that very moment. But the woman didn’t pay heed to the busy crowd before her. Instead, she patiently pressed through the crowd. She is a woman and fragile and weak because of her disease. She was pushed hardly, stumbled down the ground and yet she continued on her way to Jesus.  The crowd is so excited to see Jesus face to face and the people might not see her on the ground crawling under them so they might have stepped on her body, from head to toe and yet she was determined gearing towards Jesus. Never had she thought about going back where she was standing before the crowd because of her great desperation and faith that Jesus would really heal her.

Out of her sturdy willpower, she was only able to touch the cloak of Jesus from behind and something incredible happened to her. Yes! She was healed from her disease!  She stopped bleeding the moment she had touched the cloak of Jesus Christ!

This particular woman in the bible shows us a great example of her profound faith to the Savior. 

Sometimes we have big issues or problems in our lives. Life gets even tougher if a problem is followed by another and then the other one which makes our life wrap up with seemingly endless chain of problems that causes many people to give up. Sometimes these problems take a very long time before we can find the solution and fix it. Worse comes to worst, we end up peddling in the middle of uncertainty searching for answers we cannot find. Truly, man is very limited; there are diseases in life that we cannot cure. There are questions in life that we cannot give answers. These circumstances most of the time have caused thousands of people to give up.

The story of the woman teaches us to take hold of the difficulties of any scales in life. We are surrounded and get so impacted by a range of problems as we walk each day and we tend to give up; but we must remember that Jesus is always on the other side of the crowd. We must break through the crowd, press through it and fixate our eyes towards reaching Jesus.  Don’t care about what people might say and do to you. We must not be intimidated by the big crowd because our God is bigger than anybody/anything else in this universe. 


Don’t let the crowd stand between you and the miracles of God.

He is our healer! Our portion! And mighty redeemer!

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Holding Hands While Walking

Why is it that its awkward seeing two guys holding hands while walking but with girls it’s normal and ok?

Well, the society has already put up the standard for both men and women. Men don’t hold hands together maybe because they are physically strong and don’t need any security from other fellow men. If we see two men holding hands while walking, we would normally think they are gays. On the flip side of the coin, women are known as fragile and a little weaker than men so they need security from one another by means of holding hands together while walking. Moreover, women are more expressive physically than men especially when they are happy.

Our God also has his own standards as well. In his view, it is too awkward for man to hold hands while walking with the world. For Him, the world is not the standard He put up for us to hold hands with. Instead of holding hands with our God, we have backed away because we found the world’s pleasures inevitably appealing so much more than Him. We have indulged living under the wisdom and norms of the world. We have turned our eyes to the sinful pleasures of the world as well. And for doing so, we have turned down His incredible offer of eternal life and happiness.

But the lust and pleasures of the world will pass away. Therefore, don’t love the world for it is temporary. If we do, both the world and us will walk hand in hand into endless darkness where there is gnashing of teeth.

                                                                                --          1 John 2:15

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Distance defying relationships

Last Saturday, I have attended the wedding of my fellow colleague in Bandung, Indonesia. True happiness was found in the eyes of the couple during the entire wedding ceremony.

Ewout and Soffa

The journey of their love is truly uplifting and inspirational. They are two individuals who both fell in love divided by great and discouraging distance.  I couldn’t imagine how much pain and emotional distress they bore during the years of their relationship.

I thought that was nearly impossible to happen because it didn’t work for me. I couldn’t picture out how they settle their conflicts or arguments in such a case.  How did they manage to live under such cruel circumstances for several years?

They were able to defy that distance is nothing when the relationship is sealed with selfless love, untainted trust, strong will to persevere, and  faith to one another and mostly to the God in heaven. Those virtues have filled the cup of struggles, limitations, and shortcomings they had that enable them to conquer the world.


There are a few people I know who ended up happily ever after and they did show us a good example for us. 




But, there is only one person I know who has did more than anyone did.





The original example of this love is our Heavenly God. He is more than gazillions way above from us and yet He is able to put hope and love on us since the creation. Also,  He sacrificed His only Son to save us from the fire of destruction. 


He is the original conqueror of the world!


He is the first one who defied humanly impossible distance! 


Let us be glad, rejoice and give him a shout of praise for I know and am very most certain that our relationship with Him will end up more than the happily ever after stories we used to read when we were young. 


Let's be still, and wait until our Groom will walk us along the aisle of His heavenly kingdom.

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The truth about giving to the poor

When I was in the Philippines, I would normally drop a coin into the old tin can of a beggar. I would always do that especially when I pass by the short bridge going to the St. Rosary Church in Angeles City. But there were times that I didn’t give because of not having pennies in my pocket. I would never give a bill to them because I feel that it’s too big for them to have it. I had lived that kind of generosity to the poor along the streets.

Well, I had just adopted that doing in my community. My friends and relatives would always tell me that giving small money is enough for them to survive a day. We would even compute the money he can get in a day considering the number of people in the place. We would even make some jokes that when we are broke, we can dress up and be like them to earn some money.

What is inside the money that makes it hard to give it up for the poor?

When  I went to Indonesia, my perspective about giving has changed. In here, I was able to see more people suffering from poverty. Most people I see are homeless and they depend their survival on the people passing them by.

The bible tells us to be of great help to them. We are not talking about the selfish generosity which I used to do before back in the Philippines. They literally need more than pennies. They need home,food,clothing and education to make them live like a normal person does. The problem is we were so soaked up to the love of the world. We have indulged ourselves with selfish ambitions.

We can do something more. I was inspired by some people who have traveled abroad and gave up everything (possessions) for the poor they don't even know.

We can also do what they do.  

Many people especially our close friends, relatives or even our own family may object about such action for they might think it's too much to give up. They may also think that we have gone crazy but we must tell ourselves that even God is crazy about us. 

Indeed, God is crazy because of his love for us. He is crazy to each and everyone of us that He gave his own Son in order to save us from darkness. Who are we to be loved that way that He chose His Son to suffer the cross to save us from death?

How big is it to help the poor in compare to His love for us (as sinners)?

Even a tiny dot will be barely visible on a clean white piece of paper.

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When Science testifies God's love for man

Yesterday, my science topic for my kindergartners was about stars and luckily, they were so interested about them. Majority in the class liked Rigel, Pistol Star, Arcturus and most especially the biggest known star - Canis Majoris.  I explained to them that stars are not like as tiny dots as they can see in the clear night sky everyday. These colossal stars are more than millions or billions miles away from as that's why they appear small from us. Furthermore, I explained to them that these stars are much bigger than our sun and that they are not the animated stars they used to sing when they were in preschool.

While we were watching the short video clip that showed the clear comparison of the stars and the planets  in the solar system, a sudden strange feeling stirred me up so I immediately went to the toilet and washed my face for I could not believe how great our God is. I was completely stunned in awe for His love for us.

Take a look at the photo below.

Our planet barely appears a tiny dot when we put a Canis Majoris next to it. Yet Canis Majoris is only a tiny dot among several hundred billions stars forming our galaxy. And there are a hundred billions of galaxies out there! That is so unbelievable!

A hundred billions of galaxies

We are loved! I felt so happy that we are far away from these dangerous and scorching stars. How could Earth, only  a tiny spectacle, be placed in a safe location in the solar system far away from these gigantic stars? Why doesn't earth change its distance as it revolves around the sun?  Is it just a coincidence? No! 

God is the creator of all these things.

He placed the planets, stars, galaxies and other objects in the universe into their proper order and He knows each of them by name. Indeed, God is enormous and omnipotent. There have been discrepancies between science and the bible but we are not aware science itself testifies the truth about our living and Almighty God.

We are so tiny and fragile,barely visible like a vapor in the air and yet His love for us surpasses the vast universe.

How are you going to respond to this incomparable love?

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