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| Hernaez: Rerouted life changed forever! |
Greetings!
Do you sometimes wonder about your level of obedience? You approach the topic sincerely and very logically: "God loves me unconditionally. I believe that with all my heart. I also believe that there isn't anything I can do to make Him love me more or anything that I can do to make Him love me less. What part does my obedience play in His plan for my life when I believe in His unconditional love for me?"
Do you remember the story of Naaman (II Kings 5)? He was highly respected, he was a mighty warrior, he was the commander of King Aram's army, he was a great man in the sight of his master and . . . he was a leper. Nothing had ever come into Naaman's life that he could not handle. Until now.
Naaman's wife had a little Israeli slave girl who loved enough (I don't know who she loved, but she could not remain silent) to suggest that her master, Naaman, go see a prophet, Elijah. "He could cure him of his leprosy," she said. A suggestion from a mere child? A slave? Yes. When we get desperate, we grab at the slightest hint of hope. So Naaman went to Israel and sought out Elijah. The prophet didn't even do the mighty hero the honor of coming to the door: "Gehazi, answer the door, please." Naaman was infuriated! "Who does he think he is? Does he know who I am? Who I represent?" And when the servant Gehazi gave him Elijah's instructions, telling him to go and dip seven times in the muddy Jordan River, Naaman was even more frustrated. Unthinkable! "They have beautiful rivers back in Syria . Why should I humiliate myself by bathing in this mud hole? I will not!"
But there was one man in Naaman's group who dared to approach the arrogant warrior; was it love that drove him? "Oh, please, Sir! You are here. Why not at least try what the prophet has told you to do? What do you have to lose?" I wonder how much courage that took if his heart was thumping and how sweaty his palms were. "All right, all right! I'll try it, but it is utterly and absolutely ridiculous. Ridiculous!"
Searching the prophet out and telling him the problem was not enough. Hearing the prophet's instructions was painful - it hurt his pride to think of doing something so demeaning. Naaman did not believe, but he was desperate. He did not understand the prophet's remedy, but he was hurting. He merely humbled himself and obeyed, that's all. He obeyed and that obedience brought healing. His life was rerouted - changed forever!
And you and I? We must allow God to be our God - we must submit to Him before we can submit to His plan for our life, before we can be all that
He has planned for us to be. Obedience paves the way for His way - the only way. |
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| Cudal: Spiritual networking on Facebook |
Internet habitués are exposed to so many social networks, the emerging favorite of so many of my friends and relatives is Facebook (FB). I am a “facebooker” and I have more than 600 “friends” since I started my wall a year ago.
My search for what Facebook is all about revealed this information: Facebook was founded in February 2004. It is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family, and co-workers. There are more than 400 million active users, 50% of whom log on to Facebook in any given day. The average user has 130 friends and people spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
Definitely, I am one of the many active users. I found so many long lost friends, former classmates, students and colleagues with just a click of a mouse. Most of my FB friends send inspiring messages and provide interesting information about themselves and their concerns. I communicate with my children through FB and we often share a good laugh over some recent experiences.
If I want to know what is going on in my church and with Pastor J.T. Kim, our caring and enthusiastic pastor, I just visit his wall. You can connect with any of your friends any time and share with them what you are thinking about.
FB has given me an opportunity to read the insights of an old friend back home in the Philippines on different spiritual and intellectual issues – from the meaning of the resurrection to church leadership, and from fasting to advocacy.
I was “facebooking” one early morning when a request to confirm Manny as a friend appeared on my screen. I immediately looked at his wall to find out who he is. I found out that he is married to Grace, one of the young professionals whom I met almost thirty years ago. Then later he asked if he could share with me his Sunday Meditation. I responded “yes” with curiosity. What I received in less than ten seconds a Bible Study Power Point Presentation on Zechariah 12 and Psalms 63.
There I was early dawn reading and meditating on God’s Word sent by a total stranger from the Philippines! It was an awesome experience. Manny and Grace are now my Facebook friends. The last e-mail I received from them says: “Praise God! Our getting connected on FB and e-mail is not an accident. It is destined by the Lord! Praise God for allowing us to use the internet to proclaim His glory. Grace and I live a very simple life as members of the Secular Franciscan Order. She was the one who made me closer to the Lord! I would have been long dead spiritually without her. She did not convert me. It was her gentle example that I was touched by the hand of the Lord. Grace and I will now include you in our daily prayers for your intentions. Despite all the awards, honors and affirmation by people we are detached from these because only to God belongs all the glory and power. We saw many of our friends rise and fall after they forgot the true source of their gifts. We really have to pray for our leaders to be used by God to help His people. May the Sunday reflections deepen more our relationship with Him. Best regards, Manny and Grace.” |
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| Danny Hernaez: Love and faithfulness |
Greetings!
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3-4)
Sounds like a slogan. You've probably read, recited, or sung those words at some time or the other. But what do they mean? I am not talking about a dictionary definition, but what do they mean in the life of a real person! What does it look like to actually live these words? What do these words look like with skin on?
We don't have to go far to find the answer. The eighth book of the Bible, Ruth, tells us a beautiful love story that powerfully shows us what it means to "let love and faithfulness never leave you." And the heroine of the story is a Moabite woman. The people of Moab were hated by true Israelites. So for her to even make the Good Book was amazing. For her to be the star of a book in the Bible is testimony to God's grace and His love for all peoples and of Ruth's "love and faithfulness."
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| Aurora Cudal: Thoughts on Black History Month |
The first time I came to America as a tourist in 1971, my cousin put me in a tourist bus in Washington, D.C. to enjoy the sights while she went to work. She said, “Manang, I can’t keep you company. But that should not stop you from enjoying your visit. There are so many places to see, enjoy yourself.”
She gave me some money and took me to the tourist bus station. As I boarded the bus, the burly white man at the steering wheel discourteously said, “Sit at the back!” Why should I sit at the back when there is a space here in front, I wondered. The driver insisted that I sit at the back of the bus. I was getting uncomfortable when a black woman who was seated at the back called me and said with a smile, “Come here, sit beside me, the view is much better here and I can be your tourist guide.” The woman was so courteous and friendly. I sat beside her and she really made my day.
I never knew what racism was all about, but that was my introduction to racism in America. You are judged by the color of your skin or by the way you talk. When I am in a less comfortable black and white social situation, I close my eyes and hum in my heart the song I learned from Sunday school.
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| Danny Hernaez: Tolerance and diversity |
Greetings!
To hear most people tell it these days, the ultimate virtue is tolerance. So we are instructed to criticize nothing, to affirm all points of view as equally legitimate, to teach our children there is no absolute moral truth, and to realize that all religious paths lead to the same God. No matter how you dress this animal in politics, education, or religion, it is still a monster!
Tolerance, diversity, pluralism, multiculturalism - all are perfectly good words for very good ideas. But we have allowed them to be taken over in the modern vocabulary to mask not so much a lack of conviction but the very strong conviction that nothing distinctly Christian is tolerable in the public square.
Case in point: Brit Hume's recent comment about Tiger Woods. On "Fox News Sunday" for January 3, Chris Wallace asked his panelists to predict the biggest sports story for the coming year.
"Tiger Woods will recover as a golfer," said Hume. "Whether he can recover as a person I think is a very open question, and it's a tragic situation for him. I think he's lost his family; it's not clear to me if he'll be able to have a relationship with his children. But the Tiger Woods that emerges once the news value dies out of this scandal - the extent to which he can recover seems to me to depend on his faith. He's said to be a Buddhist; I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.'"
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