The fire of love on a sunny Sunday afternoon

Let me share with you two poems that are really close to my heart. I've been posting P.Arrupe's poem in my previous blogs and this time I'm reposting yet again. :)

On falling in love with God

nothing is more practical
than finding God,
that is, falling in love
in a quite absolute, final way.

what you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.

it will decide what will
get you out of bed in the morning,
what you will do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read,
what you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with
joy and gratitude.

fall in love,
stay in love,
and it will decide everything

- P. Pedro Arrupe, SJ

Nothing is indeed more practical than finding God and falling in love with Him. He changes you from the inside out and transforms you to the person who you are made to be. Recently I have been reading this book that acknowledges how people like reading self-help books to improve themselves. It is good we do not settle. We want to be more. People try to change their attitude and the way they deal with people but sooner or later will resort to their old selves. Motives might be wrong and therefore the outward show will be temporary.

It isn't a matter of how much you change outwardly for people to see you and perceive you the right way, it is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of what's inside your heart. What is inside your heart will soon overflow, it cannot be kept hidden. "For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks".(Matthew 12:34)

What is inside your heart?

If God is inside your heart and your purpose is for Him, victory is on its way. As it was said in

Acts 5:38-39 For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

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I have met some people in my life who would look at Christians in the wrong way. Others would think that Christians are self-righteous and then see them stumble later on. Then they would say, ".. And to think he/she is a Christian".

But what does being a Christian mean? Here is the simplest way for people to get a glimpse of and understand what it means to be a transformed Christian.

When I say I am a Christian

When I say I am a Christian
I am not shouting I’m clean living
I’m whispering I was lost
Now I’m found and forgiven

When I say I am a Christian
I don’t speak of this with pride
I’m confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide

When I say I am a Christian
I am not trying to be strong
I’m professing that I’m weak
and need His strength to carry on

When I say I am a Christian
I’m not bragging of success
I’m admitting I have failed
and need God to clean my mess

When I say I am a Christian
I am not claiming to be perfect
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it

When I say I am a Christian
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my shares of heartaches
So I call upon His name

When I say I am a Christian
I ‘m not holier than thou
I’m just a simple sinner
Who received God’s good grace, somehow.

We Christians are also responsible for our actions. Be a living witness of the love of Christ. This poem is not an excuse for us to fall into sin, this only means that we need God more in our lives because we are aware of the call of the world for us to do wrong. We are aware that we are in need of Him to constantly transform our hearts that we may be become more and more like Christ each day. May we not cause others to stumble but may we be true witnesses of Christ and His unconditional love for the world.

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A blessed Sunday to everyone :)

Transforming Power of Prayer

Last week, I was able to join Dawn Watch though online. I was really moved by Pastor Bong's message on praying meaningfully.

All of us have prayers and usually our prayers are what we want in life. We ask God for requests may it be small decisions to major ones.  As simple as a prayer like, God if it is your will, may I be able to travel this year, may I be short listed for my dream career, may my business succeed, or that my love life will blossom. We also tend to give God deadlines or even ask for signs, I myself am guilty of that.

When the deadline is up, we see no signs and we find that our prayers are not answered the way we want it, we become frustrated and then rebel against God. We choose to do things our own way because we feel we can't trust God on certain aspects in our lives. We try to control everything and force things to happen in fulfillment of our desires.

We fail to understand God's higher purpose and focus on ourselves rather than on Him.

As Pastor Bong said, Prayer is not about answers but rather an encounter with God. It is not changing the will of God but changing our will to conform to God's will.

The power of prayer is that as we pray unceasingly, we may not know it but we are slowly purified and transformed into the likeness of Christ. We see how big God is and how little our problems are. We see our total dependence on Him and we are humbled by knowing that we alone cannot make things happen without Him.

The best answered prayers are the prayers that we wait upon and pray earnestly for. And the reward of that answered prayer pales in comparison for the relationship that has been established between you and God.

Never stop praying. Pastor Bong reminds us with this:

If the request is wrong, God says no.

If the timing is wrong, God says slow.

If you are wrong, God says grow.

BUT...

If your request is right,

timing is right,

you are right, God says YES. God says GO.

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God knows what is best for us. He knows our deepest desires even before we speak about them. We may think that earthly riches would make us happy, but God gives so much more to make us happy when we seek Him first. He gives us all things for us to enjoy.

"Pray sincerely, never stop knocking.

Pray until His kingdom is established in our hearts.

Pray until we conform our hearts to God's plan.

Pray until God becomes bigger.

Pray until HE becomes your everything."

A hearty and memorable lunch at Olives Restaurant

Perfect ambiance, check

Breathtaking view, check

Great company, check

Appetizing food, check.

Lunching at Olives Restaurant in Thunderbird Resorts, Poro Point La Union could go down on the memorable ones.

After more or less 6 hours of travel, we were famished beyond measure.

So there we went straight to Olives Restaurant which we had all to ourselves for quite some time.

[caption id="attachment_637" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Bringing Olives Restaurant to life"][/caption]

They had a lot of attractive choices on the menu - it was difficult for us to identify what our taste buds would be up for.

[caption id="attachment_640" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Found anything you want yet Henson? :)"][/caption]

Price range was from 400-700 except for the steak menu it was about 1,400-1700.

Service was quite fast, our drinks were concocted and served in less than 10 minutes.

[caption id="attachment_641" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Calamansi Juice (Php140)"][/caption]

Can't I have this when I'm not sick? :( When my drink came, Jason teasingly asked if I was. Well I just felt it was the best low-calorie choice... wasn't it? :( Ok nevermind. I found it refreshing anyway. :)

[caption id="attachment_642" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Cherries Milk Shake (Php200)"][/caption]

Julz had Cherries Milk Shake which was served pretty in pink perfectly matching the owner of this drink.

[caption id="attachment_643" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Iced Queen Dance (Php150)"][/caption]

And guess whose beautiful ladies mix was this? The one who poked fun at mine - Jason no less. :P I can't have my Calamansi Drink while he can have this gorgeous Iced Queen. Coffee lovers would adore this - the caffeine was a bit strong, I liked it. But for some it might cause some palpitations so maybe you can request that they go easy on the espresso.

When our orders were served, we couldn't wait to attack it. Sorry guys for holding you off, I couldn't resist taking a few snaps of it. :)

[caption id="attachment_649" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Steamed Dory Fillet (Php480)"][/caption]

You couldn't get guilty over this dish. It looked healthy with all those greens - spinach and broccoli, and it tasted healthy too. According to Julz, she was reminded of airplane food...  Good? Bad? it depends on how your experience of airplane food is. :) Mine was decent  except that it was a little bland.

[caption id="attachment_651" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Bolognese Lasagna (Php270)"][/caption]

I love lasagna but this one I wasn't much of a fan. It was just okay for me, not one of the best I've tried. It had a tangy bite to it - Henson said it tasted like mustard.

[caption id="attachment_653" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Greek Lamb Stew (Php460)"][/caption]

I guess this was the only Mediterranean meal we had on the table. Jason's Greek Lamb Stew was memorable. Why? It had our favorite spice - cumin. Okay I was being sarcastic. You know how cumin can get aromatic and intoxicate and drown you. At first we couldn't help but cringe, but the after taste wasn't so bad. You just had to get used to it and soon that cumin won't be such a struggle to swallow.

[caption id="attachment_654" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Steak Sandwich (Php360)"][/caption]

Oh the comfort of familiar food. Julz's steak sandwich was the most normal one I suppose. It was sirloin steak, fried onions, lettuce, tomato and mustard sauce on the side also served with fries.

I'd say that we were filled after - with all the cheerful banter here and there, side stories left and right. Because of the company this quite satisfactory lunch turned out to be quite all right.

For dinner, we decided to pass on Olives. Maybe Mediterranean isn't my thing so to Olives Restaurant, I'm glad to have tried it once. :)

P.S. Their all you can eat breakfast buffet is a different story. :)

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Olives Restaurant

Thunderbird Resorts - Poro Point
VOA Compound, Pennsylvania Avenue
San Fernando City, La Union

Philippines

Tel No: (+63 72) 888 7777

Surfing 101: Finding your inner peace

I finally got to tick one off my bucket list!  And I'm just glad to come out of it in one piece with just a few bruises on my knee. =)

Life is too short to be overcome by fears and worries. So I guess it's about time to live life the way it should be. Last Saturday I've finally rose above my fear of sea swimming without a life vest (yes I'm proud of that :p). I'm such a wuss really and huge waves scare the heck out of me. But in Surfing 101, you've got to learn to embrace the huge waves and soon you'll be able to ride it smoothly.

In Sebay, La Union my friends and I dared to take on the challenge.

We each had our surfing instructors and for 1 hour at P400 only (which they guaranteed to return if we failed to stand up), my guide holds my life.

1st we were taught about surfing terms like long board and its parts - nose and tail, among other things.

[caption id="attachment_615" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Getting ready to surf"][/caption]

Safety instructions were:

1. When we have to jump off the board, we should jump at the back of the board or on its side. Never in front.

2. If we get toppled over, we had to cover our heads to guard it from the possible blow of the board.

3. Once we part with our board at sea and we're all settled, we should pull on the cord that links our ankles to the board so it won't be tossed and turned all around us.

With all those warnings said, I just had to go and see for myself what they meant - I experienced (unintentionally) the don't s of 1 & 2.

How?

I jumped in front to have the board hit my hips. (Good job to me :P)

On the next, I fell over and the board crashed on top of my head. Experienced some wardrobe malfunction so I just hid under the board while fixing my stuff. Since there were waves the board kept hitting my head so I got dizzy again and again. Hello stars under water.

Now you see that surfing is really a feat. Once you get hold of these 3s's you're sure to claim this achievement as well :)

3S of Surfing 101

1. Swing- Once our guide gives the signal to get ready, from lying on our chest position, we had to swing our right leg up with our right foot against our inner left thigh.

[caption id="attachment_616" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Steps 2, 1 and 3 =)"][/caption]

2. Stand - Draw your hand up to your chest and push with all your might. At this point, your right foot should be lying flat on the board, and your left leg should be positioned in front of your right.

The instructors were really good. They went over the steps with us thoroughly until we could coordinate it all in one swift movement. So don't worry they'll show you what I mean.

[caption id="attachment_621" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Step 2 - To Stand"][/caption]

Now that you've stood up comes another challenging task - balance.

Lucky you if you get it on the first try like Jason. But to us normal people, it takes a number of falling, picking yourself up, and heaving yourself up on top of the board to ride the rhythm of the waves.

It is a lot similar with how we should approach life. The more you try, fail, and yet continue to get on your feet, the closer you are to finding your balance.

3. Surf - Now that you've swung and stood up comes the best part - surfing and riding the waves. The instructor will give you a little push to get momentum from the waves and then you're on your way.

I remember what Julz said, "surfing is a matter of freeing and emptying your mind." Truly it is. I noticed that the more I thought about my fear or that I am pressured to stand up, the more I couldn't find my balance. But once I focused on that moment alone and freed myself from my fears and doubts, I was able to become one with the sea and glide through waves smoothly.

 

[caption id="attachment_622" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Riding the waves"][/caption]

It's a matter of reaching your zen zone - that inner peace (credits to Kung Fu Panda). You've got to let loose, and let your mind run free. And soon enough riding the waves would really be a breeze.

[caption id="attachment_624" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Now this is what you call inner peace"][/caption]

At first I didn't think I could stand up. I even had a hard time getting on my board. As I peered left and right, I saw my surf mates on their board, poised to ride. But there I was, struggling to carry my weight and my instructor probably growing impatient and wanting to give me the lift I badly needed.  It took a while for me to get on top of my board.

But after that first fall, it didn't take much coaxing for me to get back on it. I was determined to stand up. Wardrobe malfunction or not, ab cramps and all, I just had to do it.

The moment I was able to do it truly it was the sweetest surf ride I've had in my life.

 Amidst the noise of the sea and the crashing of waves, I found the balance I needed and experienced the most peaceful connection with myself.

[caption id="attachment_625" align="aligncenter" width="510" caption="Surfing 101 graduates!"][/caption]

So here's to my surf mates who have embraced the waves and encountered inner peace. Congratulations guys we did it! :D

If you still don't know what I'm talking about, you've got to try surfing - also to cross one off your bucket list :)

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Sebay Surf Resort

San Juan, La Union