Planting Seeds in Manila

On July 9th, with our two children en-towed we finally departed for the Philippines.  Our trip is serving a double purpose.  My wife is visiting her aging parents and we also thought we can do some work for the Lord in bringing more people to Christ and live up to our obligation of the Great Commission.  Thanks to the great folks at World Missionary Press we packed several hundreds tracts in the three main languages of the Philippines---Tagalog, Cebuano and Illonggo.  When we got to Manila I did not know how to get the first part of the work done.  I prayed in my heart for guidance and God answered my prayers in the form of my wife's young niece, Cherry Ann.

As we were unpacking our luggage Ann-Ann, as she is affectionately known, saw the tracts and asked my wife what they were.  She was surprised to know that I was very religious---which in fact I am not.  I'd like to consider myself more spiritual than religious, but that was beside the point. I took the opportunity to ask her if she would be willing to help me pass out the tracts and she happily obliged.  But first we had to come up with a plan.  The plan was that as my wife stayed in the hotel taking care of our two children, Ann-Ann and I would walk the streets of Manila and give the bible tracts to the people.  I was told to keep quiet, and let her do all the talking.  My task was to walk right next to her and keep watch for signs of trouble. What transpired was eye-opening.

Our first distribution was on the 10th.  We took 25 samples and walked about two blocks.  Ann-Ann was a natural.  With her kind voice she asked the people in the street if they wanted to read what she was passing out.  We ran out of the 25 booklets in less than a five minutes!  I could not believe how fast the people willingly took the tracts. Some people even called us from across the street wanting to see what we were passing out.

On the 13th of July we would try it again.  This time we would try to pass all of the remaining Tagalog tracts. Again I was a bit nervous because I did not know how the overall population would react.  Now, I need to clarify that Manila is a very large city that has many homeless people living in the streets.  The things I got to see where totally heartbreaking.  I saw mothers sleeping on the streets with their babies---one child had no eye.  I will never forget this. Others are living in cardboard boxes.  While others are living in their cars.  All the while gray water is running in streams along the city curbs.  The sights and smells are very vivid to say the least.  There are also many ran shacked buildings  were the homeless have taken up residence.  And mind you, this is in a major metropolitan city.

On our second day, we started slow.  In the beginning, the first few people we approached did not want to take the booklets.  But as soon as we crossed the street, people started to take them again.  One by one people readily accepted the word of God.  Many of the people said thank you.  Others that were sitting by the curb, quickly leafed through them wanting to read about how God could help them.  One man that was sitting read the title of the booklet and shouted out to us in Tagalog "Thank you for saving me!"  Another woman that was going to work and stopped to buy a street snack, took a booklet from Ann-Ann, read what it was and turned around to ask me for another one!  As they spoke I asked Ann-Ann to translated for me what they were saying. What did I realized in this venture?  That people are hungry for the word of God. People are looking for hope.  Who else can give them that hope?  Jesus Christ no one else.  On July 14th we are slated to go to General Santos---the heart of Mindanao.  Once we get to this city we will once again distribute more booklets to the people.  Once we start and finish our short term mission I will post how it went.  Please pray for us, the safety our family and that we are successful in sharing the word of God.

Tim Tebow: Standing Up for Christ!

Tim Tebow, Public Domain, United States Army

Tim Tebow is doing something that most Christians are afraid to do---to publicly stand up for God. When Tebow was born I was entering high school. 24 years later...God has created a phenom no one was expecting. Tebow's life story is quite amazing...his mother got sick while pregnant in the Philippines and she refused to abort him. Years later God has shown how he rewards the faithful. Every time he does something amazing on the football field, Tebow kneels down with one knee and prays. He is not afraid of being ridicule or criticized. He has said to public outlets that his expression of faith is part of his way of life. His "Tebowing' is going global. I pray that God may continue to use this young man for his glory and that he may protect his steps wherever he goes. This old geezer is being inspired by a new modern day hero. Thank you for teaching me not to be ashamed. I pray to God that I too can find the courage to stand up for God.

You Too Can Experienced Powerful Prayer

Public Domain "Jesus praying to God the Father in Gethsemane," Heinrich Hofmann, 1890.

On Sunday July 31, we finally took Moody Church’s offer to walk down to the pulpit and ask one of the prayer partners to pray for us. As a family we were going through a lot of uncertainty: I was due for bilateral hernia surgery, had problems at work, and my wife’s childhood friend back in the Philippines had lupus. My wife was very worried about her friend. She was expecting the worst. When faced with these kinds of dilemmas you can’t take it anymore and want some kind of divine intervention. So I asked my wife if we could go down after the service to have one of the prayer partners to pray for us.

So we walked down the aisle and I asked a sister who was in casual conversation with another brother that we needed prayer. She couldn't pray for us at that moment so she asked someone else, who was also engaged in casual conversation and we were told to wait.  Seeing my discouragement my wife asked me to wait. She looked around and saw a young man, in casual attire, doing prayer with others. After we waited for our turn my wife asked him if he could pray for us. Bob, who was his name did not hesitate. As we bowed down our heads for prayer and he started to pray it felt that he was right on target with each request. (And at the end of his prayer I told him that.) We thanked him for his graciousness and we all departed feeling a little bit better.

I am very happy to testify that my surgery went better than expected, we have a new network leader at work which looks like it is for the best, because after introducing her self to the staff she said “I know God sent me here, “ and my wife found out that her friend did not have lupus!! For me the last one was hard to believe, because my wife was very sure her friend had lupus and because all of the telltale symptoms of lupus wer there, and her original tests by different doctors revealed she had lupus. But when she went to her final test--it came back negative! It totally blew me away.

I am so grateful to God for intervening in our lives. We can face tomorrow with greater hope that he is within the sound of our voice. I am also thankful for Bob, who was there at the right place and the right time to pray for us.

Coming Home

By Juan Fernandez

I have come home. No. I’m not referring to coming back home from the Philippines after a two months hiatus. I am referring to finally finding my ‘spiritual home‘. Today was my first time visiting The Moody Church in Chicago. I did not think that I was going to like it. But I did. After so many years of searching for a place of worship coming to Moody felt just right.

Appropriately Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer’s message was based on Acts-27-28, which described how Paul and his followers survived a very tumultuous storm in the sea. Dr. Lutzer stated that in our own lives we will always face storms that toss us around, from side to side, up and down. I felt that his message was speaking to me.

For many years I had been in a boat, roaming the sea aimlessly. Always enduring, suffering pain and anguish through many storms of my life. I traveled to many cities in the US, even other countries like Mexico and the Philippines, trying to find a place of worship I could call my own. Yet, I did not know that God always wanted me to come back home--to Chicago. The first time I saw The Moody Church was when I was 14 years old and I came to see Gremlins the movie, in the now closed Village Theater.

As I got older I would drive by this same neighborhood when going downtown. In 2004 my dream came true, I was part of a major art exhibit in the Chicago Historical Museum. Amazingly, four years earlier I attended the exhibit of my all time favorite artist, Norman Rockwell.

The Chicago History Museum as Moody Church casts a shadow

When I came to the Norman Rockwell exhibit there was Moody Church, just across the street. I remember gazing at the church building as I entered and left the museum. I cannot imagine how different my life would have been had I paid attention. Everything would have been so very different.

This is the bus ride that took me to the door steps of the Moody Church

But still I am so very happy. Overjoyed at the future prospects. I thank God for bringing me home…

“….Precious Lord, I love Your name, when I look back from whence I came;
Sometimes stumbling, sometimes falling, sometimes alone.
Friends and loved ones I love so dear---many are gone, but still I’m here.
Take my hand, precious Lord, and lead me on.”
---Thomas A. Dorsey

Exercise with True Results

Manila Skyline

I cannot believe I now weigh 155 lbs. When I first started this blog I documented that at 5' 7", I weighed in excess of 165lbs. That was back in the Spring. However much of my workout was done inside our apartment because the weather was terrible until last week, when it started to get warm. My basic "every-other-day" workout routine consisted of 300 steps, 100 sit-ups, 100 jumping jacks and 100 push-ups. A few times I was too lazy to even exercise. So last week I jogged 15 minutes everyday along the lake. What has been startling for me is that although I did exercise with my stepper, push-ups, and sit-ups, I really did not push myself. I'm happy with the results thus far. I'll maintain my weight at the point when I loose most of my "lovehandles".

On another note, we may be heading out to the Philippines some time soon. I hear that there are some new missionary outposts helping the natives. If I'm close enough to them I will visit and take some pics and report back.

God is Bigger

Oh, no! The swine flu is starting to be called a pandemic. Hundreds of people have been infected, dozens have died and Mexico City has been completely shut down. The media has a nice way of scaring people don’t they? We know that these things must occur because the Bible said they would over 2,000 years ago. But we do not need to run in fear thinking that we are going to die. When I went to visit my fiancée the SARS epidemic was hitting Asia. No threat of a deadly virus was going to stop me from visiting my true love. I wore a mask to be cautious from California all the way to the Philippines. I did so because I did not know what else I could do. Years later I have found out that there is an answer for these pestilences. It is too obvious not to have noticed them. The Black Plague that swept across Europe killed millions of people. But not all of them died. There were millions of people that did not die.

Having good health is based on the measures we take to take care of ourselves. It does not surprise me that this swine flu started in Mexico City. Mexico City has the worst pollution of any other city in the planet. Pollution destroys the body’s ability to defend itself against deadly strains of viruses. Many medical doctors will say that there is no cure for these viruses. They say that virus cannot be killed. Below is a list of herbal supplements that have been reported to kill viruses and they are all natural. I’ve used many of them myself. Another thing that we should consider is that Jesus Christ, God, is bigger than any doctor, media conglomerate, the government and disease. He loves us so much that I believe in earnest that he has given us everything we need to fight sickness. Take precautions as needed and continue to worship our Lord and Savior.

Oregano Oil

Olive leaf extract

Cinnamon

Organic virgin coconut oil

Echinacea

Hypericum Mysorense and Hypericum Hookeranum
(don’t know what this is yet, but it was discovered in India)