He’s the reason why I sing.

'Twas a busy day today at work. I just finished doing what I have to do and called all the students to bug them about NOT paying their tuition (I'm brutal about it too, haha! – j/k!). And now, I'm taking the time to post something on my journal. LOLYesterday, JP was supposed to come down to hang-out, but he didn't so I decided to do some errands. Ended up at the Lighthouse, and bought m'self a new Bible (yayness!) and a praise and worship music book which actually came with a demo-cd in it, which is pretty nifty. I was also contemplating on buying CDs, one of which is the new FFH cd, but decided to hold off 'til next month. I got to listen to it and it's excellente'

Anyway, Katzy was working yesterday as well (what's up Katz!), and we got to chat a bit about whatever it was that we chatted about…mostly about Christians and how non-believing family members deal with them and vice-versa. He was supposed to come over the house after work but he didn't. What happened Katz?! j/k! You missed out! LOL

Last night, we had a very short Bible study on John 6:16-21 (Jesus walking on water). We basically talked about fears that we have in our lives and how Jesus helps us deal with our fears, and the bottomline is that if Jesus is in your life, you don't need to fear because He is always with you and reassures you that He's is in control of everything, so if we focus on serving Him and glorifying Him and "seeking His kingdom and His righteousness" (Matt. 6:33), we have nothing to fear, we shouldn't worry about things. He'll take care of it AND of you. After the study, we took some time to talk about how we're doing with our spiritual lives, especially our prayer lives. One thing we all had in common was that we all need to improve on our prayer lives. We face the same struggles when it comes to praying. And we talked about what we should do or what we should aim for to make our prayer lives more effective and more vibrant. It's nice to have that time of accountability within our group, the Amazon Women of OCC…LOL Yup, I'm bringin' the name back y'all! hehe a.k.a. the "A-dubs" courtesy of PJ. *shakes head* Luv yah brotha!

After Bible study, Ant and Mike came by and we watched Monty Python's "Quest for the Holy Grail". Man, I haven't laughed like that from watching a movie in a long time! I've seen the movie before, years ago, and it's still as funny to me as the first time I saw it. It's sooo random, no plot whatsoever, but hilarious. If you're into British humour, you'll definitely get this movie. Conan and I were just rollin' from laughing sooo hard! LOL I was planning on going to the gym tonight, but I'm just not up for it. I should, but I'm just too tired. I'll try to go tomorrow before going to work (hah! like THAT'll happen! LOL).

Well, I'm off. Later y'all.

I just want to say once again that God is good! He is amazing and loving, forgiving and merciful. And He answers prayers! He definitely answered my prayer (see my previous post) and I just feel so much closer to Him and to that person that I was having a struggle with. Thank you to those who prayed for me as well.

Well, I wasn’t able to go to CFBC’s Bible study last Friday because I got out of work really late and I knew that if I had decided to go up to Walnut, by the time I got there, Bible study would be long over. I was thinking that I was just going to head home after work, but decided to go to FBF’s Youth Bible study instead. It was nice to see everyone again. Ant lead the study. He talked about using your talents for the Kingdom! The study was taken from Matthew 25:14- 25. And by “talents”, we’re not just talking about your skills or anything like singing, or teaching, etc. We’re talking about everything that you have, everything you own, your whole being. Everything that we own is from God and He requires us to use whatever He’s given us to ultimately glorify Him and proclaim who He is to everyone around us. It’s quite humbling to think about that because it just makes you realize how generous and gracious our God is. But along with the things He’s given us comes responsibility. What do you do with what God has given you?

Sunday was just totally hectic for me. I didn’t get much sleep the night before due to the fact that I was getting stuff ready for the following day. Uncle GG wasn’t there at all, so I had to lead praise and worship by myself, the first time in years and the first time I had to play the guitar during Sunday worship! That was quite a stretch for me, you don’t even know! Anyway, I stayed up half the night for that, practicing and picking out songs (yes, I picked the easy ones!) LOL I also stayed up to study for Sunday school, I had to teach as well. Anyway, by God’s grace both went well – teaching Sunday school and leading praise and worship. (Thanks to Ate Joyce, she came and played the keyboards for me during p&w.) After church, the family headed over to my aunt’s house in Arcadia for my cousins’ birthday party. And the party had to happen during the hottest day of the summer! The party ended early, and I found myself looking for something to do, I didn’t want to go home yet. So, I ended up calling people to find out what they were doing (sorry Yom, Neens, and especially Peej, didn’t mean to bug yah!), since I was kind of in the area. Anyway, I just decided to head home and sleep early (which turned out to be beneficial for me since I was running on empty the whole day).

***

Last night, I hung out with Charisse after work. She wanted to drive around on the freeway so that she could get used to it. She hasn’t really driven on the freeway since she’s gotten her license a year ago. So, anyway, after work, we went to her house to drop off my car, ended up having dinner at their house while watching LOTR (haha!), then around 10pm we went to The Block so she could get her freeway-driving experience. LOL Her goal for this week is to drive on the freeway everyday until she could get used to it, so that she could drive herself to Eagle Rock this Friday for a church bbq. Before we headed off, we prayed (always look to God first for safety!), and we were off! We walked around The Block for a while, got our Starbucks drinks then headed back to Cerritos. When we got back, we ended up watching The Pianist with Blessing and John until 2 am! LOL Speaking of The Pianist, man, such a good movie! A must-see.

Well, I just found out today from Blessing that the NYC plans fell through. Ugh! I’m soooo ready to go, I can’t believe they changed plans on us again! They wanted to change the dates again so we just decided to postpone it sometime next year. OH well. Anyway, Blessing, Charisse and I are still planning on going in August though. Well, Blessing’s still thinking about it. Either way, I think I’m gonna go, just for the fun of it. I’ve been telling my cousin Ry and my friends Ken and Grace that I’m coming. I just want to go see them and just get out of Los Angeles for a little bit. The last couple of times I went, I never really got to see nor hang-out with Ken and Grace, so I want to do that this time.

Last night, I went to Filipino Baptist Fellowship for Bible study. It was nice to see everyone again, and have fellowship with them. I haven’t visited in a while, I want to visit more often, maybe every other week. After Bible study, Conan, Ant, Katzy, Michael and I went to Denny’s for a late dinner, and continued our fellowship there. I had a great time you guys! We should do it again sometime! Midnight run at Starbucks Ant! I’ll go with you and Katzy next time…LOL Remind me to rent Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail for Wednesday, after our church’s Bible study. “‘Tis but a flesh-wound!” ROFL

I really am grateful that we finally have our own Bible study at Olive. It just happened at the right time when all of us (the young adults), had actually decided to commit ourselves to seek God’s word and learn more about Him through it, as a group. Last Wednesday’s Bible study was exceptionally good because we were able to openly discuss things that we still don’t understand as far as being a Christian (a person who believes and accepts Christ as his/her personal Lord and Saviour) and what living for Christ is all about. I just hope that some questions have been answered that night, and some things have been clarified. I hope we, as a group, continue to be more comfortable and trusting enough with each other to ask when there are things that we still have a hard time grasping. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Pray for discernment, understanding and growth for each and everyone in our little group. Pray for wisdom and confidence in God for those who lead the studies. And if you guys are free on Wednesday nights at 8 pm, you’re more than welcome to join us!

This weekend has become particularly trying for me. I never thought that someone so close to me doesn’t seem to understand why I do things the way I do. And doesn’t seem to see the “bigger picture“, and that I do the things that I do for God’s glory. I understand the concern, but I don’t do anything that I know will harm me, I don’t do things that misrepresent Christ (maybe a few months ago, I have, but not anymore). All I ask is for a little trust and a whole lot of faith in God from that person’s part. I know I’m being very vague about this and somewhat cryptic, but I just ask that you pray for me and this person, that both of us will understand where we’re both coming from and to come to some sort of compromise. Thanks.

This is totally shhwweettt….. Thanks, Japes for sharing this. (The following is written by my friend (and li'l bro), JP Martinez – I hope that it speaks to you in a way that you'll see the glory of the Almighty God):

I wake up and it's dark all around, and it's only 9 o'clock in the morning,
something must be wrong… something terrible must be happening. The gloom skies
welcome no smiles or happiness, only sadness and despair graze the dark clouds.
I'm awakened and startled by the sharp pounding of nails, immediately followed
by the cry of a man's voice that is foreign to my ears. Never have I heard a
desperate cry project with such pain from a throat like this. I instantly
followed the cry, running to the source of such agony, running desperately to
see what was going on, anticipating…I don't know what I was anticipating…but
I was…And I wish I never had seen this in my life. That very moment I expected
to be awakened from some sort of terrible dream…or should I say
nightmare…Yet I wasn't! And I was still there I was still there…the naked
body still there in front of me…hanging dreadfully on a cross. Blood dripping
from his wrists and feet, three nails, pounded into his flesh and bone, mount
the body like a painting on a wall. I was still there…a crown of thorns
protruded from his skull, inflicting pain that can never be described or
experienced, each thorn beating hideously on his flesh. I was still there
watching the crowds mock this man, spit and slander this man. I saw bruises all
over his body…I was taken back..Suddenly something came over me…I saw a
vision…I was somewhere else… I see the same mob that was at the foot of the
cross, (but I couldn't make out the faces)… beating this man with rods and
sticks. Smashing him over the head over and over and over again..relentlessly
beating his body. I see a line forming as this man was blind-folded receiving
blow after blow from the fist of the people…along with words that can pierce
the deepest part of a man. Words of mockery and hate, malice and slander….The
vision takes me to another scene…this time the man is tied up with his back
exposed…and a man with a whip, that has a iron ball with iron shards
protruding the circumference, in his hands. I see the man with the whip pull
back and thrust forward making direct contact to the exposed mans back. As the
iron ball digs into his flesh…he pulls back and scourges the mans skin, the
iron ball takes with him pieces of the mans flesh leaving his back even more
exposed….he repeats this act 38 more times with the same hate and fury in
every scourging….this man's skin is mutilated beyond belief…if he were to
survive, his life would never be the same again…that is…if he were to
survive….. Suddenly I'm back at the foot of the cross…The vision so intense,
left my heart pounding and sweat beading at my forehead….What is going on
here? So many questions linger in my mind…Who is this man? What did He do to
deserve this treatment? Why such pain and torture?…this was unheard of in all
of history. Could I actually be witness to the most gruesome and cruel death in
the History of mankind. In the midst of my contemplation I was startled by a
yell…It was the man on the cross…the words were slow and weak..yet strangely
powerful..his words touched the deepest part of my soul and echo in the halls of
my mind till this day…With all the energy left in his exhausted body, the main
took a shallow breath and said the words that I would never forget in my entire
existence…"Father forgive them…for they know not what they do'….I fell to
the floor and still expected to wake up from this terrible nightmare…but I was
still there….and so was this man…As he gave up his spirit I heard him
faintly cry…"It is finished"….It is finished? what was finished?….Then I
woke up … But I knew that was not just some dream or nightmare….I knew that
what I saw really happened…suddenly I realized who that man was….Then with a
dark realization the faces of the crowds began to come into focus…I realized
It was me…and people I knew…I saw myself beat this man with my fist….I saw
myself spit in the face of the silent lamb. I saw myself nailing him to that
very cross…I saw yself put the crown of thorns on his head I saw myself murder
this innocent man!At the smae moment I realized what he meant by it is
finished….It was finished…the sacrifice for my sin was finished…the
replacement for my scourging was finished..the substitution of the nail pounded
flesh was finished…That crown should have been worn by me…but He put it
on…That should have been me hanging on that cross..but he hung in my stead. I
should have been the one scourged 40 times minus one….but he took the
scourging for me…It was finished…I would never have to go through what he
went through…It was finished…I was forgiven…I was healed This man was my
savior…Now He is my Lord….

"It is finished"

The season of summer blockbusters have already begun. I’ve already taken in 3 so far, X2: X-Men United (well, that was more a pre-summer blockbuster), The Matrix: Reloaded, and most recently (as recent as last night actually) The Pirates of the Caribbean. Let me just say that POTC was a lot of fun! It has some good action sequences, funny lines, sweet, romantic storyline, and a nice twist towards the end. The overall storyline was a little weak, but it works. I didn’t really know what to expect about this movie, but what I certainly didn’t expect at all was the comedy aspect of it. And Johnny Depp’s character, Captain Jack Sparrow, had me in stitches! The worst and the best pirate I’ve ever seen. LOL He said in an interview that he fashioned his character to Keith Richards, guitarist for the Rolling Stones. I totally see some elements of Keith in “Captain Jack”. LOL Some scenes in the movie had the audience laughing because they were taken from the ride (of the same name) at Disneyland! Oh, not-too-shabby was Orlando Bloom (aren’t you surprised?! LOL), he was swashbuckling and swoon-worthy, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of him during the movie. LOL He and Johnny had great rapport on-screen which added to the appeal of the movie. I like Kiera too, she held her own as virtually the only woman in the movie (well, save for the pirate-girl), she looked great with Orlando, much as I don’t like to admit it..hehe j/k. Anyway, I keep thinking that she looked familiar, even when I saw her in the movie “Bend It Like Beckham“. Now, I know where I’ve seen her before. She played Padme, Queen Amidala’s maid-servant and decoy, in both Star Wars Episodes 1 & 2. Oh, and the guy who plays the Commodore in “Pirates…”, is the guy who plays Steve on one of my fave brit-coms called “Coupling“.

Anyway, if you’re looking for something fun and entertaining to watch, go see “Pirates…“.

Other summer movies I want to see:

1. Johnny English – oh man, Mr. Bean! How can I not see this movie?! Rowan Atkinson always cracks me up!

2. Bad Boys 2 – c’mon! You think I’d miss this one? LOL

3. Terminator 3 – Rise of the Machines – I’ve heard mixed reviews about this movie.

4. Tomb Raider 2

5. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

I received an e-mail today from one of my closest Toronto friends, Ken, announcing that he got engaged this week! *sigh* Congratulations Ken and Grace! I’m very excited for them. It’s about time! Took them a while too. LOL Now, 2 of my closest friends from my TO circle of friends are engaged to be married, and they got engaged only a few months apart from each other! First it was my bestfriend Rizza, who got engaged sometime in March and now Ken! Hmm…I wonder who’s next? LOL I’m running out of single friends! Yikes! LOL

Hot-diggity! Just found out that the original members of one of my favorite bands (probably my most favorite now!) Level 42 are working on a new album to be released probably sometime this year! Yayness! Yes, they were huge in the ’80s but they’re such great musicians, (each of them are) that to me, their music transcends decades. When I listen to their music, I just don’t listen to the overall sound, but I listen to each instrument, each note, how they mesh together. The best thing about their music is the bass guitar and the person who plays it, Mark King. Simply put, he’s an amazing musician.

Well, this weekend was quite refreshing. Didn’t work on Saturday so the whole family went to one of my aunts’ house again and had lunch and watched DVDs and played video games, basically just hung out.

Sunday was church day of course. Had a good day of worship and studying of the Word, although I can’t quite recall what exactly we talked about last Sunday during Sunday School and the morning message, but I’m sure I have it on my notes. LOL After church, IH (In Harmony) and our families went to get some Pho’ (Vietnamese soup) for lunch (yum!) and then we headed over to downtown L.A. (along with Babie) for Grace Redemption Church’s 1st service at their new facility, where IH sang. I had a blessed time and I was actually surprised to find myself speaking on behalf of the rest of the group and introducing our songs (I never volunteer for that! We usually let Ate Joyce do all the talking), but for some reason, the Holy Spirit moved me to speak and talk about the songs that we were singing! It was quite exciting for me! We sang “Jesus Is” and “Drawing Me Closer” both by Point of Grace. It also marked the first time IH sang together in a very long time, probably in about 6 months (or even longer!). I hope that it’s sort of a “starting over” not just for me, but for all 4 of us. Pray for the 4 of us and this ministry that God has blessed us with, that we will grow in wisdom and knowledge of our Lord Jesus and really get to know Him and desire for Him, so that the joy that we experience in Christ will be evident in our singing. Peej, thanks for praying for us, and for everyone else who did. I really appreciate it.

I feel like this week God is really teaching me to be patient and to rely on Him in everything, even the little things like my finances. In the past I have not been very good with my money and I tend to spend more than I have. Ever since I got laid off from my old job, He’s taught me to really learn the value of a dollar and how far it can stretch out, and this week was exceptionally trying, but by God’s grace I am learning. I know that I am now reaping the consequences of my irresponsibility back then (when I was in college and even just a couple of years ago). Talk about being refined in the fire, and the whole financial issue is just a smidgeon of what I’ve gone through in the past few years (e.g. my dad’s passing, not being able to go back to school, and losing my job). But despite all of that, and actually a result of that, blessings started flowing, unexpected blessings. “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will grant the desires of your heart.“