Rooftops

Just felt this song right now. Listened to it before my bday part at trinoma and was walking around nyc and found myself singing it. Lyrics below. Read into it however you want.

Rooftops By Lost Prophets

When our time is up
When our lives are done
Will we say we've had our fun

Will we make a mark,this time
Will we always say we tried

Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
This is all we got now
Everybody scream your heart out

All the love I've met
I have no regrets
If it all ends now, I'm set

Will we make a mark, this time
will we always say we tried

Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
This is all we got now
Everybody scream your heart out

[Music Break]

Standing on the rooftops
Waiting till the bombs drop
This is all we got now
Scream until your heart stops
Never gonna regret
Watching every sunset
Listen to your heartbeat
All the love that we found

Standing on the rooftops
Waiting till the bombs drop
This is all we got now
Scream until your heart stops
Never gonna regret
Watching every sunset
Listen to your heartbeat
All the love that we found

Scream your heart out
Scream your heart out
Scream your heart out
Scream your..

Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
Standing on the rooftops
Everybody scream your heart out
This is all we got now
Everybody scream your..

Mark's NY Trip

I have this idea, the five of us should go out when I get back and have a pizza time with pictures and stuff so I can tell you all about my trip :-) It'll be fun. Maybe we can do like Sbarro's and Dairy Queen. Let me know what you think.

Chilling like a Hawaiian Beach....

it's freezing cold here, yet I'm just chilling right now and feeling great. God is just so amazing. Hands down - God is just amazing. I'm listening to Jason Mraz's I'm Yours also and just feeling pretty much as 'feel good' as that song is.

So here are just a few things I've learned this past week from listening to people and just gaining wisdom from others and God. I've learned that despite it being hard, you have to stand up for what is right, even when it means telling your friends that they are doing something completely wrong. It was really hard to do it, but I had to. God, thankfully, honored it and we all had a great time together after I confronted them. Seems really KJ to even me, but it had to be done. I mean, we have to stand for GOd, right? No matter waht, no matter where, we cannot check morals or our faith at the door.

I also learned that God has perfect, and I mean perfect timing. Two of my best friends came up from Florida for just a little bit, not really knowing I was even around and asked me if I was in the city. So we got to hang out and really bond again. It honestly was just cool and a bit odd, but still really cool. I mean, I wanted to tell them that it was like nothing has changed, but it did. Mainly for the better. After hanging out, we sat down and praise and worshpped God (I was on the drums and Peter was on the piano) and we had this fun and slightly off key worship time. And then we prayed for each other. Peter shared with me how the Bible says that the man who finds a wife has found a good thing. But what it means is that you're not looking, you stumble upon. It's like if I'm going to go to do God's will for my life, I may find the wife God has meant for me, but that doesn't mean that I leave the path God has laid for me, it means that I keep on going to my destination - whcih is God's plan for my life. What was so cool, and why I'm sharing it, is that Peter told me that he really thought of me when he heard the message at his church and felt compelled to tell me.

God has also been sending support in which has been great. It's not much, but at the same time, it is a lot. It is more than I expected and is coming from people that I did not expect. God just reminds me constantly how He is taking care of us each step of the way and there is no reason why we can't trust Him.

Lastly, I have learned that we should rejoice in God's blessings by doing the happy cow dance :-P I know, right? What's the happy cow dance? It's actually biblical. Malachi 4:2 says, " 2 “But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.^[b] And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture." Tha'ts the happy cow dance 3:-O I'm just totally feeling great and feeling loved and honestly dancing for God in my heart because I just can't contain how awesome He is. God has blessed me so abundantly. He has blessed me with all of you, yes, each and everyone of you, God has blessed me with this trip here, God has blessed me by surrounding me with such wise people, God has given me enough finances so I can focus on serving Him, God has given me my health, especially my health, God has given me a ministry, etc. You don't know, honestly, just how amazing He is.

I've actually had a hard time on one hand, at first, because I found out three of my friends have cancer. But, seeing their joy in God despite that is such an encouragement. They really just love God so much and pour their heart to Him in service and in love and care about others rather than themselves. One of my friends, he's got diabetes and then got cancer of the blood. His mom died about four years ago. Yet, like Job, He is not bitter towards God. He looks to God and knows that He is in control. I remember when his mom was in the hospital, he would sit there beside her bedside, and even if she was pretty much comatose, he would read to her the cards people would send. "Mom," he would say, "Someone sent you this card, and it says..." He's honestly just an amazing guy and I have found myself reminded of the strength in God I should have each day. I've actually been convicted at how I've been living in teh Philippines. Time is short, and I really haven't been doing my best for God. Sense of urgency, as they say. You never know what is going to happen tomorrow, so let God use you today and may His glory be shown.

I know a lot of you are going through hard times now. I've been reading everyone's blogs and even know that a lot of you have finals this coming week (yes, UPers and Messians), and I'm praying for all of you. I'm not just sayign that. God is gonig to be with each and every one of you. I know there are times like now taht its hard seeing what God is doing through these trials. It's easy to ignore it and praise God for the good things, but it is even better to be able to priase God for who He is despite the hardships. It is saying that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away - Blessed be the name of the Lord. It is saying that even if God smites me, i will forever praise His name. Why is that? It is because we worship and follow God not because of what He gives us but because of who he is. Think about that. Do you follow God because of what He gives you or because He is God? The reason it is so important to not follow God because He gives us gifts is because once those blessings stop or the hardship comes, we look to God and say "You're not fair!" We complain and complain because we think God is the one who gvies us gifts and it is only in his gifts that our love for Him lasts. But if we praise and worship God and follow Him because of who He is - we will always be abel to stay strong in our faith because God never changes.

I love all of you and I miss you too. Please come to teh youth camp. I'd love to hang out with each of you there cause I get the feeling that may be the first time I see all of you. For people like Sean who I heard isn't coming, well, I'll just have to go and invade your house during the week before and say hi. But then again, for two of you, you know we'll meet up in Trinoma and probably watch Horton Hears a Who, cause, I mean, our spot is Trinoma and you knwo I don't go there unless you're there ;-) Truly truly, I say this, I love each of you. May God bless you abundantly this week and may you feel His love.

Rocking in NYC

It's been just another day in NYC, but it's been so cool just being here. Again, can't write in detail. May just do it tomorrow early morning as I upload pictures of me and my friends here. It's kind of crazy getting people to write in my notebook along side all the Filipinos, yo. So, heh, its just fun. I'm just in the dorm room hanging out with Luke and Pat playing guitar hero. It's a lot of fun apparently. I need to like buy this thing if I could. Maybe I'll see how much it costs and bring it home. Hmmmm....

Anyway, in non new york friends related news, I bought a 2gb memory stick for my camera. On the highest resolution, it can take 1267 pictures. On the lowest resolution it can take more than 10,000. That's right. 10,000 pictures. Oh yeah, baby, yeah. But anyway, lol, I can't wait to go crazy in the next few days just taking pictures all over the place and of everyone. Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Lol.

So it's just kind of hard to be in retrospective mode right now cause I spent the whole day hanging out with many different old friends. Ah, God's awesome!

But at the same time, I do miss everyone back home. People here ask me about what's going on at Messiah and GCF and I get a bit sad as I tell them about everyone - my daughters, my sisters, my friends, my loved ones, etc. It's like, yeah, I miss all of you!

But right now I'm going to log off. I'll try again tomorrow to write a nice piece and upload pics. Peopel apparently don't like long long entries, lol. But I like writing a LOT. As in I like writing a lot of words, not that I like writing very much. Lol.

Later, guys and girls, I'll see ya on the flipside

On love

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained” - C.S. lewis

Ephesians 5:2-3
2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
3But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.

"Love first and foremost is not a feeling, it is having what is best for the other person in mind to the point that you would give and sacrfice for the benefit of somebody else." - Chip Ingram

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails.

I was having a long talk with Evan yesterday about love and relationships in the cafeteria of The King's College. There's just a lot of stuff we said to each other and instead of just posting a list of "this is waht I did in NYC and Sacramento", I've decided to just write out some insights we had.

Many Christian men, I believe, struggle with what it means to love someone special. Why? Because the world keeps telling us all these things on THIS IS HOW YOU LOVE. But is it God's way? Most of us really try to figure this one out. What went through my mind are the quotes and verses above. One important and cool thing to remember is this: someone can plant the seed, someone can water the seed, but it is God who causes it to grow. In other wrods, I can do all the things I want to to win her heart, but it is God who will cause the relationship to happen, it is God who will allow this to go beyond friendship or not. It is God's will if the plant will grow or die. So that's the first thing - God must be in it. Mahar was talking to me before I left and said that when he gets into a relationship with someone, he doesn't want to "fall in love", but to "stand in love". He wants to fight for it, to say that I CHOOSE TO LOVE YOU. It is a choice, not just a feeling.

I guess the reason why I got convicted is that I knew all of this but failed to really live it out. Being all the way here in NYC right now made me realy get a chance to evaluate what is going on in my heart, where am I spiritually, and where am I in my relationships with people. Love isn't about gettign something for yourself. I remember in the movie, Something About Mary, Ted said that all those guys don't really love her, they just like the way she makes them feel. Love isn't like that. Love is desiring and giving the ultimate best for the person, even if it means sacrifices. Jesus died for Judas Iscariot too.

I think one of the biggest struggles I have, that a lot of you know about, is the passage of 1 Corinthians 13. It says Love is patient. I'm patient, no problem there. Love is kind. NO problem. It does not envy. OKay, you see, that is a serious struggle I have and I think most guys have - just getting jealous so easily to the point that sometimes we don't even know what is going on. But as you go down the list, it is not self seeking, it does not boast, etc etc. Failure after failure. Do we know what love is? Do we live it out? Do I live it out? It seems we dwell too much on the patient and kind part, but not the other sections. The one that really hit me the hardest was the part where it says that Love keeps no record of wrongs. That is so hard to do. How do you not remember those wrongs? It is not forgetting, it is choosing not to remember, as Rajsh told me once. It is choosing to not take out a list and say "You have done all these things to me, and it is about time you make it up." None of us would want anyone that we loved to do that, to say "Hey, ehre's a list of all the hurtful things you've done to me over the past eight months". It's just sad. Active forgiveness, actively not thinking of yourself. Love alwasy trusts. Always TRUSTS. ALWAYS HOPES.

Evan and I ended up talking for around an hour about this over a good pizza. But hwo do we, as Christian men, love as Christ loves the church? That is the command, isn't it? The church is the bride, the groom is Christ. There are so many seminars that happen in church on how to be a Christian wife. But how do you be a Christian husband? Christian boyfriend? How did Christ love the church? God doesn't love us because of what we can do for Him. He dosn't love us because we make him feel warm and fuzzy. And he definitely doesn't love us because we are a "trophy". Praise God his love is unconditional. How do we do that when we are pursuing someone? How do we make it be about loving unconditionally and actively choose to make this person's life better without falling into teh traps that the world has laid out? The world says "You deserve something back." Come on. We have to not fall into those traps, we have to be sexually pure, we have to desire to not seek it for ourselves. If she says no, then that means that it is God's best, that means that it is for her best. and if it is for her best, we should be okay wtih it because, after all, we want her to have the best.

How do you not keep a record of wrongs? Just think of that. Let that sink in.

For all you girls reading, just understand, this is something that guys actually go through. We want to give you our best, we want to be the best person we can for you, but we are fallen creatures too. We struggle, we sin, we can be selfish and be very very stupid at times. But we try. There is this obscure ideal of what the Christian man should be and it gets fogged up by the smoke and the crap of the world.

Think of Christ. Just think how did he pursue us. He didn't passively pursue. He was active. He came to us, he didn't wait for us to go to him. Each day, Christ is pursuing people, letting them know how much He loves them. Christ doesn't say "that's it, forget it, you can go to hell" if we spit on him, reject him, not show love back, just take all the benefits, etc. Jesus keeps on pursuing us until he has our hearts. When Jesus was on the cross, it was painful. Love hurt. And yet what did Jesus say? Seriously, it's been said so many times, but let those words sink in...

"Forgive them for they know not what they do."

And for the more musical types, think of how it was put in All For Love

"All for love a Savior prayed

Abba, father, have your way

Though they know not what they do

let the cross draw man to you"

So there is my entire list of ramblings. I gave this sermon, remember, last wednesday, and ti was about being open, being real, and talking about struggles and to tell you the truth, this is one reason I really look up to Yuna cause she is so open on her blog. She really lets you know waht si going on. And i want to be like that. I want friends to know what I am gonig through, what I am learning, what God can say through me.

So how can we truly love? It can only be done with Christ, because our fleshly and sinful nature will rule our lives if we don't let Christ rule in us.

I'll be putting up pics slowly. Haven't gotten pictures wtih my friends here yet cause we were just having too much of a deep conversation to stop and take a picture.

Love you all and God bless! HUG!

I'm Yours

Three weeks...

So here we go! Let's do this thing! In exactly 12 hours, I will be in the air flying. Right now, I'm just going to relax and not really do anything. Something I've been thinking about a lot today, mainly due to a message I gave yesterday, is how many blessings God gives each day and how easy it is to ignore it as a blessing. For example, at this very moment, I am chatting with Strong and AC. AC is so happy cause she got a job! Do you know how cool that is? I'm so happy for her. And Strong and I are making some crazy summer plans. :-) Hahahahaaaa. I'm thinking of getting a group together, go to my uncle's house where he has a big pool and a huge entertainment system where we could all go swimming and watch a movie. But who will I invite? Ugh. I'll have three weeks to think about it anyway, not to mention ask for permission. Lol. But my cousin just got married, so it's not like there will really be anyone in the house. It's a fun idea.
I'm going to be gone for awhile, so I hope to upload pics and blog a lot, but I don't really know if that will happen a lot. I'll try. I want to keep all of you updated on what's goign to happen. I'm going to be going on a tornado of a schedule. I'm going to be with my kuya and ate, and then i'm gonig to be with friends like every day, dinner and morning. I'm goign to be trying to raise support and hopefully do a LOT of prayer. I've been donig good spiritually, but I feel like a snake that needs to shed its skin. I need to grow out of this old self and mature some more. I don't know if that the imagery you all wanted, but it makes sense to all those animal lovers out there.
I honestly cannot wait to see a few of my friends in teh states. I cna't wait to see my friend Jason. He is like the coolest guy ever! He's texan to the core, like real southern gentlemen. We would hang out like all the time every Sunday and eat at the Chat n Chew. We would usually have macaroni and cheese or a chicken fried steak. :-) Ah...see, here in teh PHilippines, I'm a kuya. Over there, I'm like the bunso. It's a big shift of mentality. Lol. But also in the states, tehre are those friends that i'm the big brother to, like he girls from the house of truth. They said they are planning a big dinner for me when I get there :-) It'll be fun.
Anyway, what else? You know what I like about flying? It's this time where you are stuck in a chair for hours upon hours and it's just YOU and God. No one else. Not to mention that there are clouds outside the window. Lol. I love this one song by Juliana Theory called Top of the World. It is just a great song about being on top of the world...not to mention that its cool seeing clouds when you hear it. But the song is actualy about this girl who gives this guy this paper that says "you can take me anywhere" implying that she is willing to follow him anywhere. Now this is such a cool idea cause for me, I must go where God calls me. So whoever I end up with, sana, she'll be like that and say "you can take me anywhere" so that we don't get split up due to jobs or whatever. It's sad when jobs do that to couples. anyway, i have to go. will continue my random thoughts later. I'm just upset that my ipod is messing up and not transferring files like ti should.

Story of my birthday

So my birthday was pretty much exciting and tiring at the same time. I woke up very early in the morning Monday and spent the first few hours with God. It had been a hard past two days spiritually as I have shared with some of you. I partially feel God is preparing me for my sermon I'm giving this Wednesday (tomorrow). But anyway, happy things first and then we can go into lamenting. Anyway, I got a nice surprise gift and song from the Connect people :-) The call center ministry is soooooooo sweet. Didn't expect that at all. Rajsh gave me a card with the deepest tagalog I have ever seen. And the others gave me a card that is covered with notes. So it is now tucked inside the notebook that I'm going to read in April :-( i want to read it now!!!!! Ayah!
Then I took my GREG discipleship group out to Hot Loops in the morning. It was a good meeting. Everyone came! Bart, Harry, Ayvan, Luigi, and Gio. It was great. I loved it. We had doughnuts and talked and joked and laughed. it was just an all around great meeting and we even got to discuss stuff about God. Sayang it didn't get too deep, but it was good too.
Later, I got back to my cubicle and Khat was there with a cake to surprise me! She's soooooooo sweet! I just loved the surprise cause I did not see it coming at all. We had a nice time together too.
Then I got this phone call from Ea and she told me that there is a surprise for the twins so I need to go down. In the back of my mind, I was like, this is a surprise for me too. I just know it! So i go down and everyone in the lobby sings for me. And Dawn came and gave me a big hug! Thank you, sis. I needed that. And then it turned out that there was ANOTHER surprise and happy birthday in the canteen talaga for all three of us. It was sweet! Bart did it all daw. Thanks, Bart! Again, I don't normally get surprised. So thanks to all of you. Joanie and Onah and a few others gave me a gift. :-) I think it may be some of my only gifts I have received for my bday.
Micah got me a figurine of Superman Prime :-) It's going to be added to my Green Lantern collection on my desk. Come by to see it.
Oh yeah, I got like a million texts from everyone. And then I got like a million emails from teh states. And then when I was pretty much expecting that the day was over, I got a nice surprise email from Abbey. She waited till the last possible minute in the day so that she could be the last one to wish me happy bday :-)
Over all, it was a blast! I was so tired, though, by the end of it. Oh yeah, Ate Chiki called me also, which was nice. I like getting phone calls.
So thank you everyone for making my 23rd birthday special and reminding me that the Bink 182 song isn't right about peopel who are 23 :-P For those too young to remember, um, look it up. Anyway, love you all so much and hoep I hear from you even when I'm in the states! Thanks!

HUGS ALL AROUND

Happy Birthday Mark

This is gonig to be updated tonight. But anyway, I'm just having an awesome day so far! And I already got a big surprise :-) Thank you so much. Mwahugs!

Happy Birthday Mark

This is gonig to be updated tonight. But anyway, I'm just having an awesome day so far! And I already got a big surprise :-) Thank you so much. Mwahugs!

"You look sad"

It's funny how some people yesterday could tell that I was feeling sad and others had no clue. I guess I'm better at hiding it around others. Or I just go through ups and downs throughout the day. One thing is for sure, if anyone says "Mark, how are you?" I can't actually hide it and say "I'm okay". People can usually tell. Guess it's good that i'm a terrible person at keeping secrets. Quick thanks to Ginger, Yuna, Abbey, Luke, and Nicah who could tell that I wasn't feeling myself at all and talked to me about it. Ginger said to me, "But you're not really okay" after I said I was okay. Yuna just sat beide me and put her arm around me. Abbey was nice and blunt about it and said "You look so sad." Luke and Nicah said, "You don't sound okay," ater I said "I'm okay."
Anyway, the point is this, I feel a bit better this morning. Not great, just better. Sad, but better. Was it the coffee last night? Can't be, cause I drank it at 4pm. Whatever it was, I just had a crazy night. Ugh. How do I even describe it? Anyway, I texted a bunch of people to pray for me, so thank you all for praying. I still feel confused. But sana I can figure out what I'm going to do. Please pray for me. Thanks!

Jolted awake

So i woke up this morning at 5am, tossed and turned some more and decided to spend time with God on a certain matter that I literally woke up in a cold sweat about.

I decided to read several passages, and God reminded me that I should always go to Him in prayer about everything,do not be anxious and all that. So I read through several chapters of the Bible as/after I prayed. And God showed me two passages. one is where he said that the Holy Spirit shall speak for you (context wise, it's about defending the faith), which reminded me that God can speak for me, it's not me. But what I found really interesting is three passages that just came in a row. Jesus did three miracles: he healed a lame person, he brought Matthew into his Disciples from being a tax collector, and he brought a dead girl back to life. Matthew's calling definitely reminded me that if God calls, we follow. No matter what, don't ask questions still and all that. But what's crazy about these three incidents which happen sequentially is that timing was just off. (it's in Matthew, btw).

look at this: Jesus healed the paralyzed guy after he had to leave the cemetery because the pig farmers told him to leave. He 'wasn't supposed to be there. I can just imagine the disciples saying to Jesus, "Hey, come on, don't be healing people now. We just got kicked out of a village. you might get us kicked out again and - oh, great, now you just made the pharisees angry". Then with Matthew, Matthew was in a tax collector's booth when he was called. It meant that it's probably the middle of the day, he's still working, and Jesus just calls him. he didn't wait till it was the end of the day as Matthew was closing up shop. Then we fast forward to when Jesus brings the girl back to life. The girl was dead! If it was us, we would have gone there BEFORE she died and healed her. So, the point is this, after spending roughly an hour praying and reading the Bible, God reminded me that His timing is perfect and our timing may not be according to His will. His timing may seem foolish to us, but it is actually wise. We know that if any of hte above incidents didn't happen that way, God may not have been glorified the way He would have.

I don't know, I'm honestly just rambling now. But it's scary when you wake up with something heavy on your mind and you just can't breathe and want to cry at the same time. This hasn't happened to me in a long time. Guess big life altering decisions do that to you, right? Lol. So now what? I don't know. We'll see. I just follow God cause He is the one who shows the way and I need to trust that His way is best and nto complain that I'm spending another "40 years" in the desert by taking the "long route".

Birthday Day 1

I'll upload pics later, um, probably Monday itself. But anyway, today was AM-MARK-AZING!!!!! It was by far one of my best birthdays with friends ever. Abbey, Abi, Beej, Karen, Jonathan, and Sean and I all hung out at A Veneto's Pizzeria in Trinoma for like a good two or three hours. It was sooooooooo much fun. We ate, we talked, we laughed. It all started with Sean and Karen giving me a birthday gift (which is something I totally didn't expect). It was a comic! Now giving me a comic that I don't already own is a tall order. I commend you guys for doing that, for finding an awesome comic I don't already own and giving it to me. Loved it! I love how Karen, Sean, and I just read comics for like the first twenty minutes waiting for everyone else. Do you know how cool that is?
And then, I got a phone call from Jonathan, which was funny cause he was supposed to be hitching a ride with Beej and Abi. But then just as I was talking to him, the two of them walked in. Apparently, he didn't ride with them. Lol. OH well. And then I got a text from Abbey sayign she was lost, so I had to give her directions to the restaurant. But soon we were all together and enjoying pizza and Jon got pasta. And we also had these cheese potato puffs which tasted yummy. Sean prayed for us (which I forgot and actually asked Abi to pray again, talk about embarassing :-P). But ayway, we had a great conversation while eating and Abi made a friend. She was reading a comic and this little girl at the table beside us began reading with her. It was soooooooooo cute :-)
So we just all talked and then when we were done eating, Jonathan played a game with us called "If Mark was a superhero, who would he be?" And it knid of didn't really get as funny as we wanted it to :-P But then we shifted and did 6 degrees to whoever. It's basically connecting one actor to another actor. And we all took the challenge. We connected Sarah Jessica Parker to Jude Law; and later did Jessica Alba and someone. But then we eventually got stuck with Matthew McCaunahey(sp?) and Kiera Knightly. We found a way, it just was way longer than 6 steps.
Then we played this game where we all wrote down teh most sabaw questions and put them in a hat. It was great! We got so many really really funny answers. Loved it. I'll post the questions tomorrow, maybe.
After that, we all said our good byes, took pics, and then went home. It was sooooooooo much fun! Love all you guys! Thanks for making my bday special!
Then I went to Mcdo and hung out with Dawn and Nicole and Luigi and Khat. It was fun. We ate and talked and had a little wind down time to the fun and exciting day. Yeah...Definitely a wonderful day. Again, love you all and God bless! May tomorrow be just as exciting.

just some lyrics to a song...

Boston and St. John's
Great Big Sea

Girl, don't tell me that it's morning
Can we keep the curtains drawn
I haven't given you fair warning
But our ship, she sails at dawn

[Chorus]
It's true I must be going but I swear I won't be long
There isn't that much ocean between Boston and St. John's
I'm a rover and I'm bound to sail away
I'm a rover can you love me anyway?

And if some suitor comes approaching
Will you let him through your door
And what if I return half broken
Will you still want me anymore?

[Chorus]
It's true I must be going but I swear I won't be long
There isn't that much ocean between Boston and St. John's
I'm a rover and I'm bound to sail away
I'm a rover can you love me anyway?

[Bridge]
Close your eyes and dream
Tell me what you see
Tell me what you want
Just tell me that you'll wait for me

It's true I must be going but I swear I won't be long
There isn't that much ocean between Boston and St. John's
I'm a rover and I'm bound to sail away
I'm a rover can you love me anyway?

So....

It seems like the witnessing will have to be postponed till tomorrow. Ugh. Hate it when I'm so pumped up to do something and then it just sort of falls through. Maybe God is still preparing them and tomorrow is goign to be the day that they will be ready to hear the gospel. Oh well. Sayang. No, it's not. God's timing. God is the one in ultimate control, and maybe, just maybe, He needs it to be tomorrow and not today. Weird, huh?
I was just thinking today of how much fun it will be in the airport in Portland. I have a 6 hour layover. 6 hours in one airport! I'm thinking I'll go walk around and hang out at random gates and find people who are bored and share the gospel with them. Now that would be cool!
Anyway, today is going to be a busy day. I have to meet up wtih someone who needs to talk to me at 2pm today, then I'm going to come back to messiah, then go to megamall and have the IDs printed, then I'm going to probably come back to the office and hopefully find the Bible so that I can go and witness tonight. Although it is harder to witness at night.
See, here's the thing, there are more and more customers during the day. But if I go and talk to them in the morning, I'll be able to witness to them because they usually have no customers going to them whatsoever so tthat I can truly truly just talk to them. God knows why I woke up today late, God knows why I had such terrible back aches this mornign that I had to hang around for another hour at the house. Like I said, tomorrow is another day.

A day out

It seems I'm blogging a lot more now than normal. Lol. Isn't this the second post of the day? Anyway, I had a nice adventure getting to Mcdo Katipunan for my first time. The LRT is NICE. I like it. No wonder all the Ateneans and UPers say they prefer it over the MRT. But then again, they forget that the MRT was around five years na before the LRT opened up. So that's why there's a drastic difference.
In other news, it was fun hanging out with TIm V, Jonathan, and Saki. It was good guy bonding time. We were supposed to watch a movie on the computer, but Media Player was being stupid. So we just talked na lang about CD-R King and cross dressing people, etc. It was nice.
So over all, it was a good day once again. I just failed to eat dinner tonight :-P So, yeah. I'll probably try to sleep well tonight and please pray as I try to witness to someone tomorrow. It's always a new experience every time. Basta, what matters is that the gospel is preached, di ba? Sana they accept Christ na din cause I really got compassion today towards this person, like, i didn't want them to go to hell. I really want to genuinely share with them, so sana, I can. So lots of prayer needed. Will tell you about it tomorrow :-)
So that's all I have to say tonight. Hey, to all those who haven't written in my notebook, please do soon cause it'll be weird getting it signed. So please please come and sign it as soon as you can :-)

i dont' know what to do...

It's just one of those days, I guess. Yesterday was an all around great day. Today, it started off great. Had my quiet time, got to put some exercising in, and even got to help someone out. I have a potential person I might be witnessing to soon. So in short - things should be good. I just, don't know. Everything seems off. I feel that the day is, it's liekt he calm before the storm, or as Abbey put it last night in conversation - the breath before the plunge. I like the swimming metaphor, it captures it better. Like I said before, I feel like Peter staring at teh water. Holding my breath. Will my feet go in the water or will I stand? I don't know. II feel like I'm holding my breath - waiting. Wating. Waiting. Can't move forward, can't move back. It's like when I was a young kid, back when cellphones were non existent, and I'd have to wait to meet up with someone. Just had to stand there and wait. Can't leave cause they might come, and can't stay cause they might be confused on the meeting spot. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting for what? For who? For when? *throws paper on teh floor* I just, don't know anymore.
What to do, you know? Just sit here? Wish I had someone to talk to right now. I might just spend time in prayer.
There is so much to get done today and I've done nothing! I'm trying to get things started, tryign to get my brain going, but nothing is happening. Maybe time in quiet and peace is what I need. Maybe I'm taking this blessing as a bad thing? Maybe God wants me to sit down and just be by myself with no work with just Him. Sigh. I'll try it. Let's give this time alone a shot. Sigh.

A challenge

Do not eat physically until you have fed yourself spiritually.

Hungry for God...

Hungry
hungry I come to You
for I know You satisfy
I am empty
but I know Your love does not run dry
so I wait for You
so I wait for You

chorus
I'm falling on my knees
offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for

broken I run to You
for Your arms are open wide
I am weary but I know Your touch restores my life
so I'll wait for You
so I'll wait for You

I'm falling on my knees
offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for
Oh, I'm falling on my knees
offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for

and I wait for you
and I wait for you
and I wait for you
and I wait

I'm falling on my knees
offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for
Oh, I'm falling on my knees
offering all of me
Jesus, You're all this heart is living for

hungry I come to you,
for I know You satisfy

So, yeah, this song came to my mind as I was sitting at the wedding. Someone was singing a song and it reminded me of this old worship song. I love it because it reminds me of how we should really be hungering and starving after God. But what I like most about it is that it says that we go to God and wait fro him when we are hungry, broken, etc.
I just really am at this weird stage where I find myself starving for God and at the same time trying to figure out how to fill it. I tried something new for my quiet time: I continued reading leviticus. It's been about a week since I read, but I learned a lot from Chapter 2. It's cool. It's about the Grain Offerings. I mean, you read this and you see how important it is that there is no leaven in the bread. It's like God really wants the grain offering, the sacrifice, to be pure. It shouldn't have fluff or this other stuff, it should be straight pure offering. I mean, peopel back then could say "God, stop being so legalistic. What matters is that I'm giving you an offering!" Just like today, "Di ba, I'm serving you na, isn't that what matters?" But what matters is obedience and really offering with your heart. It's obedience God wants, and not just the act, but it is in the act that we can see you heart. I don't know. Just thoughts. I mean, come on! Leviticus is the LAW, it is probably one of the most important parts of the Bible especially to the Jewish commuity back then and today. How can us Christians ignore it and say that "it is not applicable today"?
So, P. Eug said tongiht, "How do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?" once you know that, you do it.
I'm going to go to UP tomorrow, I think. I need to support Jonathan. Let's hoep I don't get lost. I mean, UP is big. But then again I've walked all over Manhattan without getting lost. So, yeah. I should be fine. I've survived the ghettos of NYC, this is nothing. Besides, I'm flying soon. I can survive by myself. Lol.

Mark out!