when the Lord is your strength

"The Sovereign LORD is my strength!"

Habacuc 3:19, New Living Translation, 2007

Our visiting minister shared a nice testament about last week's topic at church.

Back in '96, he was en route to Pangil, Laguna to visit our church there when the jeep he was riding was stopped by the NPA, a leftist group in the Philippines. The group was divided by gender and the women were left behind; he, along with other men, were taken to a far-flung place, near Quezon (he supposed). They were made to line-up and their hands were tied.

A man beside him asked, "Aren't you afraid?"

He responded, "If this is what God wills, then I am ready." The man next to him moved away, thinking he was crazy.

He was drawn away from the men, alone and separated. He was brought to the leader, who asked him, "Aren't you (our minister's name)? Don't you know me?"

Our minister answered, "No."

The leader said, "I was your classmate!" Our minister laughed at this point in the storytelling and joked to us that he hadn't recognized his classmate because the latter was now sporting long hair.

The NPA leader asked our minister, "What are you doing here?"

He answered, "I was on my way to visit our church in Pangil."

The NPA leader went on to interrogate our minister about his views and position regarding the government. Our minister calmly answered, mindful of his words. Once, the NPA leader asked, "Why do you think the government is like this?" referring to alleged rampant corruption. Our minister replied, "Because man follows his own rules and not God's."

At one point in their conversation, I am not sure of the chronology, our minister said to the NPA leader, "I just went here because I have a task to perform in our church. Please let me see to it and after it's done, I will come back."

In the end, the NPA leader had our minister escorted by two men with suspicious looking bayongs (locally produced weaved baskets) from the site and instructed him to "never look back or sideways, just go forward."

As our minister lived to tell the story, you can safely assume that everything is well. And he goes on to share a story proving that the Lord is indeed a reservoir of strength.

PS. Sadly, it was not the same for his fellow kidnapped victims; days later, corpses were found by the roadside near the place where our minister suspected they were taken to.

saturday post: standing by our words

Today's topic was a continuation of last week's topic, but going into details as laid out in Psalms 15:4-5. To answer David's question, "Who can enter God's sanctuary?" there are four characteristics a person must have:

1. One who honors God and rejects what is evil 
2. One who honors and stands by his word and promise 
3. One who does not take advantage of others in loans (usurious)
4. One who does not bribe innocents 

The first one is pretty all-encompassing, and I hope I do not belittle it by saying so. But in today's sermon, I was most affected by the second characteristic.

Because I hate the thought of people not liking me, I fall into the trap of saying things I don't necessarily mean just to please other people. Sometimes, I tell myself, "Well, the intent was there. I just can't (or didn't) follow through." It is a trap--sometimes I don't make good on the promise and let other people down. Sometimes, I don't really agree with what they say but find myself agreeing nonetheless and say otherwise to other people.

It's something I have yet to get a handle of; yet another struggle against hypocrisy. I am trying to say what I want to say and commit on what I really intend to accomplish. Of course, sometimes I still say or do the wrong things. Sometimes I also hurt people. So yes, I'm trying to figure out the balancing act. And as of press time, there's no clear result or solution to that struggle.

Wish me luck!

saturday post: the dwelling and our lives

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary? 

Psalm 15:1 (New International Version)

A major primetime news show featured a local priest announcing support for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's bid for a congressional seat in Lubao, Pampanga during mass. And I wondered if the priest didn't feel his skin crawl while he made that pronouncement; mine did. Seated next to strategically placed impoverished children, the President calmly accepted--dare I say, with a beatific smile on her face--the priest's support.

I found it, quite frankly, hypocritical on both of their accounts and an upfront disgrace to God and His dwelling, the church; primarily on the part of the President, whom I can only assume is pretending to be pious and faithful because if she were, then the Philippines would be in a very different situation today.

Before this becomes a full-out rant against our government, I'd like to take pause and examine the situation. With all my prejudice against hypocrites and calling them out, I don't want someone else to point a finger at me and say, "Look who's talking."

In some cases for some people, their lives are divided in two parts: inside the church, outside the church. Inside the church, they act all holy and self-contained, but outside, they are the total opposite. Yes, some cases and some people. For example, me.

At one point in my life, I stopped and looked at myself and didn't like the hypocrite I saw. I didn't like the fact that Saturday was reserved for respectful behavior among the elders, brothers and sisters, but beyond it, there were no holds barred: Drink. Gossip and talk bad about people behind their backs. Forget to pray at night. Get mad at others and let them have it. Curse. It was even more troubling for me because sometimes I was tasked to perform the sermon; and there is nothing more heavy on the conscience than a sinful heart standing at the pulpit.

The psalm of David asks, "Who may dwell in the Lord's sanctuary," and I knew the person I was was not, but I hope and pray, the person I am trying to become is. Because not going to church is not an option to me, I sought and am continually seeking to improve my life by letting God seep into my life outside of church. My goal is to erase the divide between myself in church and myself outside of church; that wherever I am, I am one person, and that I dwell in God in the same way that I have faith that with Him, the Holy Spirit dwells in me. My goal is to have integrity in life rooted in God.

I do not claim to have reached these goals. In fact, I might've slipped last night--but not as much as I have slipped and fallen before. For reasons I cannot explain, I feel that even when I cannot help myself, God helps me.

I sympathize with other believers who are struggling with the issue of oneness of life, those people who have sat in church and wondered, "How can I face the Lord after what I did yesterday?" The question is not designed to make us avoid the Lord, but to face up to reality and make the necessary changes.

I pray that we will all be worthy to enter God's dwelling, and that we ourselves are worthy dwellings of God by living righteous lives inside and more importantly, outside of church.

saturday post: Proverbs 12:12

"...the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit," as written in the King James Bible.

In the sharing segment of our service today, my mom recounted an experience with one of our customers: This customer would directly deposit her payment to our bank account and just text my mom about it. My mom noted that sometimes this customer would overpay, so she'd inform the customer of the mistake to set the record straight (literally too, because my mom oversees the accounting). So when a sales agent approached our customer to convince her to switch from our business to his (piracy!), our customer fortunately refused. I hope it is safe to assume that she thinks we conduct our business honestly, without an eye to taking advantage of her.

Sometimes it's hard to believe that good things do come to good people. It's a different world we live in today; a world that believes getting ahead of others is key, and that nice guys usually, if not always, finish last. Not much of a motivation for good-doers. But God knows better; and for Him to have sacrificed His only Son, He cannot NOT take care of those who look up to Him. Knock, Jesus said, and the door will be answered.

And I guess, it also matters by how we define "good things," the things we judge are desirable and aspire to possess. If we think that wealth--having bazillions of money, mansions or multiple houses, closetsfull of clothes and accessories--defines good things, then maybe we don't have it because God does not desire us to have this. People who will stop at nothing to amass wealth are not characteristically godly; they're greedy. I think that the way we define that "fruit" also shows what kind of people we are.

So it's also a challenge to people who aspire to be closer to God to evaluate what exactly they're striving for. Do we want a mansion? Or do we want a home? In spite of what the world says or believes in, God will give us what we deserve. Evil will beget evil, and as Proverbs 12:12 says, the root of the righteous will yield fruit.