One Thing

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.  There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." Luke 10:41-42

What is the ONE THING? 

I guess we can come up with different answers, but I think it is having a relationship with Jesus. That is how to be a Mary in a Martha world. Martha's world is full of deadlines, an avalanche of email, a never ending series of to-dos and want-to-dos. The world of today is maddeningly kinetic, a breeding ground of distraction, and it's hard to find the time to nurture our most important relationship. 

Commandment number ONE is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul and strength, with everything in us! That's the ONE thing, that's number ONE! 

Lord, I want that ONE thing! Help me to slow down and savor Your love for me! Help me to sit at Your feet and learn from You!

Stormie Omartian said, "If we don't deliberately build our lives around these ‘garden walks’ with the Lord, the world will rapidly and relentlessly fill our hours with other commitments." St. Ignatius said that we should begin our prayer by pausing, becoming aware, of the love in the gaze of Jesus upon us. 

Learn From Me

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and LEARN from me... And you will find rest for yourselves..." Matthew 11:28-30

Sometimes I picture God shaking His head in frustration. He has already given us His 'instruction manual', how to live so that we will have peace in the midst of confusion, joy undeterred by sadness and pain, wholeness and strength in the face of circumstances around us trying to destroy what we have. Jesus says LEARN from me. Listen to me, follow me. Instead we want to do it, "My way!"

Imagine if we didn't know how to drive and we bought a really nice car and didn't read the manual that the manufacturers carefully put together so that the car would run at its optimum. Could we get far using it? Through trial and error?

That's what we do with our lives when we don't read our instruction manual, the Bible! I think when we get to Heaven and see our Creator face to face and talk to Him, we're going to say, "If only I took You more seriously! It would have saved me a lot of pain and frustration!"

Like a Child

“You have hidden these things from the wise...and revealed them to the childlike." Matthew 11:25

Richard Dawkins, the infamous militant atheist biologist, was on a BBC radio show once with the Rev. Giles Fraser, former canon chancellor of St. Paul's Cathedral in England. Dawkins had just claimed that people in Britain who identified themselves as Christian were not Christian at all, because according to a survey conducted by their group, they could not even name the first book of the New Testament! Reverend Fraser then countered with the question: “Could you give me the full title of The Origin of the Species?”

Dawkins hesitated and mumbled, "On the Origin of Species…Uh…With, oh, God, On the Origin of Species. Um…There is a sub-title with respect to the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.” Would his answer indicate that Dawkins was not a real evolution-believing atheist? 

Sometimes we can be too wise for our own good. Jesus said in Matthew 18:3, “I tell you the truth, unless you repent and change, and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Strong words. Wise people have tried to prove that God does not exist, but they can’t answer where moral law comes from if there is no God. 

Little children instinctively trust adults, and we, like little children, like lambs, should trust our Shepherd. Like little children, we should be full of hope and expectation. We should bask in our Father’s all powerful love. Instead of always being bothered and stressed, we should recover our capacity to be fully in the present, to experience the gifts God gives us. Like little kids who are enthusiastic and lack guile, we should not be afraid of creating or making or starting something new. Atheists may try to destroy, but little children like to build. Lord, may we never be cynical or angry. There is so much for us to discover and learn if we open our hearts to You, like a little child! 

Listen To God

“Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will repay you.” Exodus 2:9

The Pharaoh’s daughter was instrumental in saving Moses who became the great deliverer of the Hebrew nation. When she noticed the basket floating in the water, and opened it, she saw the crying baby boy inside with eyes of compassion. 

Many of us have eyes of compassion for those who are hurting but do we go further and act on it? 

I was listening to the great grand-daughter of Smith Wigglesworth, one of the giants of our faith. He was just a simple man, a plumber, who did not know how to read or write until his wife taught him, but he ushered in a revival during his time that reached many corners of the world. Although he was extremely busy travelling everywhere, he never forgot to teach his children and grandchildren about the Lord. 

When his great grand-daughter Lillian was about 4 years old, more than 70 years ago, her dad who was also a pastor in the Congo, brought his whole family to a village that had never heard about Jesus. He wanted to bring them the Good News. When they reached there, they asked where they could sleep for the night. The villagers pointed to a 4-pole, open hut in the middle and they set up their camp beds there. A storm erupted and Alice and Harold Berry, Lillian’s parents, started rebuking the storm, but the thunder and lightning continued throughout the night. When the sun came out in the morning, the men of the village approached. 

“We want to serve your God!” they said. “How do you know who our God is?!” Harold asked in surprise. “Your God is the God who can save our children from the lions. We put you where the lions sleep every night. Sometimes our children forget and go outside our homes and the lions eat our children. Your God sent a storm and the lions did not come! Your God protected your children. We want to know your God!” The whole village came to know Jesus. 

When we see others with the eyes of compassion, we can never imagine what God will do to help us, and what can happen if we listen to God, and follow His guidance. 

Go and Do Likewise

“Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:37

Sometimes there is much discussion about faith and good works. In Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan, clearly Jesus highlights how important it is to do good. A man fell victim to robbers and is left half dead on the road. Both a priest and a Levite, an assistant to a priest, crossed to the other side of the road when they saw the wounded man. 

A man who was a Samaritan, sometimes described as half Jew and half Gentile, usually scorned by Jews, chose to stop and help. He poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. He carried the man up his animal and took him to an inn, giving the innkeeper money to take care of him. He even said he would give more on his way back if the innkeeper spent more than the two silver coins. 

I am trying to remember when I went out of my way to help someone. Instead I remember freezing when a lady fainted. A friend ran to help and I continued staring. A very bad example! But I offer the good example of my brother-in-law who stopped his car to help some nuns walking in the pouring rain carrying something heavy. It turned out they were serving in a prison ministry and bringing a pot of arroz caldo to feed the inmates. 

I am sure there are many opportunities to be a Good Samaritan in our daily life. Sometimes we choose to look the other way, too preoccupied with our busyness. Sometimes, like me, we let others take the burden. Then there are those days we choose to be Jesus to others. Lord, may there be more days when I choose to be Your hands, Your feet, to have Your heart of compassion.

Do Not Be Afraid

"Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs on your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Matthew 10:29-31

This a good assurance especially after Jesus said in the same instance, “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Whatever you said in darkness will be heard in the light, and what you whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.” 

I can’t help but think of how prevalent false news is spread on social media. Reputations of good people are being destroyed, and the bad deeds of some are being praised and made to look like it is the best thing that ever happened to our country. I am sure we cannot imagine the evil being done behind closed doors, not only in political arenas, but in the Church, in schools, offices, on the computer, even sometimes in our own homes. 

We need to always be wary because we have an ancient enemy out to destroy each and every one of us. He wants to destroy our country, our political institutions, our churches, our work places, our schools, our marriages, our families, our children, our faith. It seems to me like the world is getting more and more rotten to the core. This is because the enemy is wily and is slowly getting us to compromise with culture, and destroying our absolute values by replacing them with relative values. 

That’s why it is assuring that Jesus said even the hairs of our head are counted. That means every second of every day, God knows what’s happening to us, because our hair is always falling off and there are new ones growing! Even while the enemy is plotting all the time to destroy us, to make us quarrel with our spouse, or to introduce our children to pornography or digital cocaine, God is there. Even while global history is in God’s hands, our personal history is also in God’s almighty hands. We only need to turn to Him, to read His Word which is sharper than any two-edged sword that will reveal to us even our secret sins. If we repent, and intercede for one another, for our Church and our poor country, our God is faithful to hear us and heal us.

Do Not Be Afraid

“...do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say.” Matthew 10:19

God has supplied what I need to say, to answer, or to write, many times in my life. But I’ve never been put in a situation like Shony Alex Braun, where what he needed to do could result in his life being taken away from him. 

At age 13, this Romanian-born Hungarian Jewish boy was forcibly taken to Auschwitz with his parents and brother Zoltan in 1944. After he was moved to Dachau, the Commandant of the camp wanted to hear classical music played and he instructed the Kapo to look for volunteers who played the violin. They would be given bread in exchange. It so happened that Shony was a proficient violinist. He volunteered along with an old classical violinist and another younger man. 

First the old man played but the commandant was not pleased and at a signal, the Kapo split the old man’s head with a lead pipe and brain matter and blood scattered all over. It was the young man’s turn next but he shook so badly, he could not play at all. The lead pipe came out again. When the Commandant turned to Shony, the young boy prayed desperately, and asked God, “How does anything start?” Shony recounted that when the Kapo was two steps from him, suddenly his left and right hand started to move in perfect harmony.  He played Strauss’ Blue Danube even if he had never played the piece before. The commandant started to beat with the rhythm of the music. “God’s hands were on my violin. It’s the only way,” Shony testified later. “God gave me the song. I tell you, it was God!” We can read this story in his autobiography, “My Heart is a Violin”. 

We too can trust God that He will not only give us the words when we need it, but He will provide what we need when we need it. 

Let us stand on God’s promises: 

Philippians 4:19: "And my God will meet all our needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." 

Matthew 6:33: 

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." 

2 Corinthians 9:8: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work." 

God Intended It for Good

“It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you.” Genesis 45:5

The convoluted story of Joseph, who rose from being sold as a slave to the second most powerful man in Egypt, shows how God’s plans can be amazing and wonderful. “You intended to harm me,” Joseph told his guilty brothers, “but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20) 

Many people cannot understand why God who is so powerful and good does not always intervene when there is pain and suffering. Richard Dawkins, the famous atheist, insists in his belief that we live in a universe of blind physical forces, that some people get hurt, others get lucky, and we won’t find any rime or reason, or any justice. He attests that the universe we observe has precisely the properties we expect, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, “nothing but blind pitiless indifference, DNA neither knows nor cares, DNA just is, we all dance to its music.”

On the contrary, as Christians, we believe that God is good and powerful, that we can trust Him. He has not remained distant from human suffering but He became a part of it as He hung on the cross. And just as He used Joseph’s travails to save many lives, He uses the evil in the world, the cancers, the natural disasters, the famines and wars, to bring the maximum number of people freely into His Kingdom to find salvation and eternal life. As William Lane Craig said, “God has morally sufficient reasons for permitting the evil in the world.”

To Deliver Them from Death

Yesterday I was playing around with shrink plastic, drawing designs, then coloring them in on the plastic, before baking them in a toaster oven. I liked watching the plastic curl up and flatten and shrink to about 1/4 its original size. Some of my work got super small! I put them beside the drawing to have a guide just how small! 

These are from my brother’s drawings. 

I will have to make bigger drawings! 

“See, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him, upon those who hope for his kindness, To deliver them from death…” Psalm 33:18-19

I was listening to Heidi Baker preach, she always has such fantastic stories. Heidi has been a missionary in Mozambique, one of the poorest countries in the world, since 1995. At first they worked with orphans and abandoned street kids and eventually moved on to found Bible schools, medical clinics, primary schools, well drilling, evangelistic and healing outreaches in many remote villages of Mozambique. 

She told this story in the Prayer and Presence Conference 2022. She shared that she was one of the translators in a prayer meeting in Africa. The small, old lady testifying was speaking in Makonde, a language spoken by an ethnic group in southeast Tanzania and Northern Mozambique. Someone else would translate to Portuguese and Heidi would translate to English. 

The old lady started out by saying, “My husband died and I was super happy about that. I’m rejoicing!” So Heidi as the third translator verified if that was what the old lady was really saying and it was! She thought why was this testimony not screened? She was cringing inside. Meanwhile the old lady went on, “I hated him! I hated him! He beat me! But I came in here last week, someone hugged me so I thought I should pray for my dead husband, so he got up and here he is. Lead him to Jesus now!” Pandemonium. The old lady was a brand new believer, and did not know anything, did not even know that this was a big miracle. They all prayed for the husband who said in a loud voice, “I will never beat her again!” 

God met the old lady’s simple faith and answered her prayer. She wasn’t this awesome anointed lover of God, just someone who believed in the power of Jesus, that He can deliver from the power of death. God did it and it’s a testimony for people around the world that God can do anything for anyone. Jesus, help me to grow my faith! 

The Harvest is Abundant

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Matthew 9:38

We used to sell a figurine in our shops with the words, “Work for the Lord— the pay isn't much but the retirement plan is out of this world." My sister overheard a lady tell her child, “I gave this to your dad and it changed his life." Apparently the father had been a workaholic and the family hardly saw him. After he received the figurine, he devoted more time to his family and to God. My sister thought that it was amazing that one figurine with a truthful message could change somebody’s life. After all, we have SO MANY inspirational figurines, posters, and assorted merchandise! Isn’t it  awesome to think of how many people we’ve encouraged in the 57 years we’ve been in business?

Yes the harvest is abundant, and many more "laborers" are needed. God uses many ways to bring in the harvest. We may say we don't have the gifts necessary, but Jesus' apostles were the most unlikely bunch. He chose them not for what they were but for what He could make of them! At the start, they usually wanted to send the crowds away. They thought children were a nuisance. Jesus had to teach them for 3 years, and even that was not enough. He had to die so He could send a helper, the Holy Spirit, so they could become brave, wise and willing to give up their lives to be “laborers in the vineyard", and “fishers of men".

There is a book written in 1773 by a then 22 year old Tom Boston with a funny name, “The Art of Man Fishing". He wrote that the net of the gospel is woven from the PROMISES of the gospel. I think if we want to be effective fishers of men, we need to know the promises of the God, we need to believe and claim the promises, so that we can tell others with conviction that all Jesus said is true!

Courage, Daughter

"If only I can touch His cloak." Matthew 9:21

Jesus was always walking and I have no doubt that there were many more occasions that people tried to touch the tassels on His cloak. In the 9th chapter of Matthew, a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years came up behind him. Although she was trying to be inconspicuous, Jesus turned around, saw her, and said, "Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you." And she was healed.

Love heals. Love combined with faith always heals. One thing I like about Facebook is we are given many opportunities to pray for each other. We may live in different continents, but we can reach out to each other in prayer. When someone asks for prayer, I try to pray right then and there. And the wonderful thing is, I have seen answers to prayer proclaimed on Facebook as well. Jesus' cloak covers both the one who prays and the one who receives prayer. We are One in His healing Spirit. 

Let us not be afraid to reach out across the miles to pray for one another. I know it takes courage to pray. We are always hesitant because of our uncertainty if God is listening to us or not. We do not want to go out on a limb. We are so careful with our words. Sometimes our minds cannot wrap around the enormity of what we are asking that we ask for so little from a big God. But everyday, miracles happen. I’ve received two miracle healings from God and I am not afraid to ask for another. I don’t think God has a quota for each person. And He certainly won’t say, “That’s enough. You’ve said 5 prayers today. I’m not going to listen to any more pleadings!” We can just go about our day, the whole day, just talking to our Father, and asking Him for small and big things. 

When we do that, I know we are able to touch His cloak in love and healing. 

Thank You Father for Your amazing grace and mercy! Thank You for wrapping us in Your love and healing! 

Rejoice

“Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:20

We have a tendency to be proud when we do a good job, or do something for the Lord. The disciples of Jesus were the same. After they were successful in the task Jesus gave them, they came back rejoicing and boasted, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!” Jesus cautioned them, “Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” 

Once I gave a sharing about our business and how God is the One responsible for our success. The listeners were women who were involved in sexual trafficking and I emphasized that we are all unique with God given talents and gifts. I gave the example of my mom who started our business 57 years ago with no capital, but well equipped with common sense, the willingness to work hard, and prayers. The organizers were very grateful and I would have been quite “puffed up with pride”, if I did not receive a reminder from the Lord many many years ago. 

That time, I had just given a talk to students about our business, and I was just like the disciples boasting to God about my good works. Suddenly, He showed me the Bible verse in Luke 17:9, “And does the master thank the servant for doing what he was told to do? Of course not.”

Help us, Father, to see the opportunities You give us to do what You want us to do and to be grateful to do what we should to build Your Kingdom! 

How to Grow in the Spirit

“No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.” Matthew 9:16-17

My mom liked the challenge of recycling old clothes. She used to buy from the ukay ukay. Then she would take the used dress apart and make a dress in a new design, but like the verse says, she did not mix old cloth with new. 

Same with putting new wine into old wineskins. In Jesus’ time, wine was put into goat, or ox leather skins. They still use this in Spain and in the East. New wine had to be put into new wine skins, as it would swell with fermentation and burst the wine skins if it was old and stretched already. Like all Jesus' teachings, He meant many things. How about the new wine being the gift of the Holy Spirit to us? If our hearts are like the old wine skins, hard, inflexible, judgmental, the Holy Spirit can't live in us! 

I believe God's Word is always new, ever fresh, eternally alive and exciting. However it does not always appear that way, does it? That is because it is put into OLD WINESKINS! We can't do the same old, same old. I believe that we all need to find fresh new ways of understanding, listening, obeying, teaching, loving. That is the only way we will grow in His Spirit. 

Follow Me

“Follow me.” Matthew 9:9

Some days I think oh, I’m doing well, I’m not such a big sinner. Other days, I see my heart and mind the way God sees it, and I know He is disappointed in the filth and selfishness. The last time I got my x-ray results, it showed that my aorta is tortuous and calcified. I have a concrete picture of what the prophet Jeremiah said in chapter 17, verse 9: “More tortuous than anything is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it?” 

When Jesus saw Matthew, the tax collector, he saw a sinner as well. Matthew’s heart was tortuous with greed, and who knows what else. Other Jews saw him as a traitor who collaborated with a foreign power the same way some of our leaders are giving away our seas, our lands, the livelihood of our people and the future of our children. It seemed to the Jews there was no hope for this tax collector. But Jesus saw him differently. He said, “Follow me,” and Matthew followed and the rest is history. 

Even if my heart is tortuous, Jesus knows there is hope. He sees my future and says, “Follow me anyway.”

Believe!

“Do not be unbelieving but believe.” John 20:27

I like to say I am on a faith journey, a pilgrim journey. I may not be walking far with a staff and meager rations like the pilgrims who trudged the Camino de Santiago for weeks and occasionally months, to reach the magnificent Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. Nonetheless, I see myself as a pilgrim and stranger on the earth (Hebrews 11:13), on my way to the Kingdom that will never be destroyed. 

All of us are pilgrims, whether we acknowledge it or not. Like St. Thomas, whose Feast Day we celebrate today, we go through many stages in our pilgrimage. At times, St. Thomas was bold like when he declared, “Let us also go to die with Him!” (John 11:16) bravely wanting to follow Jesus even when Jesus’ life was being threatened. That is not usually what we remember when we think of St. Thomas. He is usually known as doubting Thomas because he declared adamantly after Jesus died, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in His hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into His side, I will not believe!” 

When I have to deal with my lack of faith at times, I resort to the father’s prayer in Mark 9:24, “I believe, help my unbelief!” And Jesus will help us because, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” (Mark 9:23)

Do Not Be Afraid

"What's the matter, Hagar? Don't be afraid..." Genesis 21:17

Hagar was the servant of Abraham's wife, Sarah. Sarah had no children, and was impatient even if God repeatedly told Abraham that he would have a son. She took matters into her own hands and offered Hagar to Abraham. "Take Hagar my maid and sleep with her that I can have children through her." We can see how weak Abraham is here, much like Adam. Instead of standing on God's promise and obeying Him, he followed Sarah. That certainly made a mess of things, which continues up to this day, what with Christians and Muslims always at odds! 

Hagar treated Sarah with contempt when she became pregnant, and she ran away when Sarah punished her. In Genesis 16, God assured Hagar, "I will greatly multiply your descendants, so that they will be too many to count. Name your son Ishmael... he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him." In Genesis 21, when both Ishmael and Isaac were a little older, Sarah noticed that Ishmael was mocking Isaac. Hagar and Ishmael were sent away with just a little food and water. Naturally Hagar got very depressed as she wandered in the wilderness and became anxious that her son Ishmael might die of hunger and thirst. Again God spoke words of reassurance. 

Even if we can say that Ishmael was not in God's plan for Abraham, and was actually the fruit of Sarah's ill- conceived schemes, God took care of him as he grew up (Genesis 21:20). Sometimes we take a wrong turn, make mistakes, or wrong decisions. We can be assured that God will continue to take care of us. "What's the matter?" He asks us, "Do not be afraid, I see and hear you." 

Lord, during the times I make my own plans, and fail to listen and obey, thank You for not giving up on me. Guide me back to the right path, help me to reconnect with You and obey,  so You can bless me with Your goodness. 

With God at the Helm

“Lord, save us!  We are perishing!” Matthew 8:25

My father loved to sail, even when he was 90 years old. He taught my husband Luigi to sail and they went off on many adventures together. Once they went off on a trip to Taal because there was a regatta. The wind was very rough, and as my daddy was getting on in age, Luigi went off by himself first. On his return he found my father waiting for him, all kitted out in his life vest. Obviously he wanted to go out even if the weather was so bad. Picture a small sailboat being swamped by the waves. The wind was terrifyingly strong. Luigi was  anxious because he knew he would have to take care of my dad if they capsized. But my dad? He was exhilarated. He was in his element. The strong winds and mighty waves excited him. Little did they know the experienced fishermen on the shore were looking out for them, knowing the wind was so strong. They got back safely to the relief of Luigi, the fishermen and onlookers.

Life can be like a ride on a boat. Sometimes it’s an easy, relaxing ride. Sometimes it is fraught with peril. Like during the pandemic. We didn’t really know how to navigate, because we had never passed that way before. Who would have imagined it would last so long? Too many people got sick, lost loved ones, closed their business or became depressed. 

When my father knew he was nearing the end of his life, he talked to his grandchildren. He had built a boat in his backyard, and he had planned to go fishing in Simo Banks off the coast of Batangas. He showed them the map where Simo Banks is (so far!), and gave them instructions. Isabe, my niece, was very receptive and daddy was so happy she said she would go. Even with a map, and navigational tools, it was not easy to get there, and there was no guarantee they’ll catch any fish even with a fish finder! The thing is, with or without a map, this journey called life is uncertain. But we can also be like my dad, excited about the twists and turns that God allows to happen. Challenged by new adventures, looking forward to what the future brings, and certain that with God at the helm, everything will be all right.