A Testimony of Completeness

A Testimony of Completeness from the Sixth Saying of Jesus On the Cross (Holy Friday – April 2, 20221) Cambridge dictionary defined completeness as the quality of being whole or perfect and having nothing missing. Meriam-Webster listed synonymous words as faultlessness, flawlessness, fullness, absoluteness, entireness… now, How can I make a testimony of being without fault or without flaws when I felt all this time I am missing something? As we or I limit myself with “I can’t”… “I don’t have”, yet as Christians, the Bible assures us that we are created in His likeness, is perfect and complete. And when we trust God, we lack nothing. Jesus certainly did not accept any incompleteness, whether the need was for food, physical healing, forgiveness, a task to finish or for Jesus to die on the cross. John 19:30 says When Jesus received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. What does the sixth saying mean when Jesus said “It Is Finished”? The sixth statement of Jesus on the cross is an exclamation of completion. What was completed or finished? 1. Jesus Finished the Work that God the Father tasked Him To Do Jesus suffered physically like tasting the sour wine, when at that moment He needed water, still He had to finish the work God the Father had sent Him to finish, that is, to provide salvation for the people. By living His entire life without sin, Jesus was able to become the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. The way of salvation has now been made complete. Just as Jesus, we have tasks to finish assigned to us, be it daily, monthly, yearly or a lifetime. A daily taskto complete may it be an assignment, a quiz, a lesson, the laundry or any household chores. A monthly task of paying bills, complying a report, or passing a test after a month of preparations. A yearly task of doing an annual report, of schooling, of reading a book series. Or a lifetime task, as for a child, where we are tasked to learn and to finish school, whether with or without academic distinction, we are to achieve “a graduate” by holding on to that diploma. As a teenager, we are given tasked to help, to do household chores, to be responsible of what is assigned to us. As a young adult, we are tasked to find a job, to return what and how our parents sacrificed to send us to school. As an adult, we are tasked to look after our elderly, to care to sacrifice just as they did for us. All of us face tasks assigned to us, all we have to do is work hard to finished it, whatever the cost, how hard it is or easy it would seem, in the end we could say, ahh.. it is finished! 2. Jesus Achieved VictoryOver Satan Jesus' death on the cross was the victory over the devil. The suffering of Jesus on the cross has finished the task. The dominion over the earth that man will be handed over to the devil when man sinned is to be won back. The authority of Satan will be vanquished - the victory will be won. When Christ comes back again He will take hold of the victory that He won over the devil on Calvary's cross. In Hebrews 2:18, For because He himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. Jesus as an earthly man achieved victory over the devil several times, so then we can overcome temptation and will be able to help us when are faced with temptation and to go on sinning. When we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and trust in Him we have the victory over Satan and our sins. Claim victory in Jesus name! 3. Jesus Suffering Is Finished The reason that Jesus said, "It is finished" is with regard to His own suffering. Jesus spent over thirty yearsupon the earth living among sinful people, suffering from the wrath of men. Jesus endured the final six hours of that suffering on Calvary’s cross. This was now finished. He would no longer have to suffer physically and emotionally because It is finished! Is it nowhere to be found in the Bible that directly say that Jesus suffered everything that we have suffered? Is it impossible? Human as we are, we are prone to comparing our situations. Like, Jesus was a man, and has not experience what women suffer or Jesus was never physically married, or have been in a sexual relationship. So the pains and sufferings we experienced, we tend to ask why? We are looking for a reason and that we are asking God why, why do we have to experience pain, sadness, loss, defeat, sickness. We are asking God why do we have to suffer or when will these sufferings end. The statement it is finished is still unfinished for a middle-aged individual, referring to living a life on earth. Unless death comes knocking, be it by sickness or sudden death, finishing the course is still far from ending. Still more of suffering, still more of life to enjoy, still more to achieve, still more of life to experience, still more of life to work on for life after and for Christians, still more years of serving God in whatever way we can. How I long for that day that I could say, its over now, I have kept the faith, I have finished the race, but it is still a long way only God knows when indeed “it is finished!” Our completeness is not dependent upon a situation or a person. Recognizing this assures us that we are not incomplete and that having the luxuries in the world does not complete an individual, that there is no immediate need for one special someone to be in our life, and that marriage is not a source of completeness, especially for the young ones wanting to get away with the hard-up life they are having. Every one of us is God’s image, needing no completion, but ever beautiful, rare and complete. We cannot ask for more - or have less! God created us and has completely given us what we all need, only we are to recognize, appreciate and be thankful for it. This testimony of completeness has come to a completion, the act of finishing the task given to me which is to give a testimony. Just like in a basketball game, I am passing a successful forward pass caught in bound by a team mate, that is the next speaker for the final saying of Jesus on the cross.

Eighteen

On The Verge

When several years has gone by
The feeling of giving up is nearby
When the feeling of emptiness is always there
Messing around daily making life hard to bear
When the thought that nobody is there to care
The feeling of being alone is beyond compare
When thoughts of having someone
Is haunting for quite some time
When life would have been easier
With somebody to wipe away a tear
When who you are with is sensitive enough
Who would tap your shoulder and be tough
When who is with you is a comfort in life
The load of burden is out of strife
When bitterness and anger reside in this heart
Somebody someday will break it apart
When thoughts of being sick and tired of this life
Stabbing this heart hard with a knife
When nights through the years has gone by
That no more tears is left to dry
When you can no longer find a reason to smile
Because you have been crying for quite a while
When all you have been asking is what is your purpose is life?
And why do we have problems in life?
When answers to these questions abound
But you never found it around
When sanity hangs by a thread
Wishing life is over is a dread
When going away is a relief
Don't give up on this belief
When on the verge of letting go
God's loving grace has always been there years ago!

An Empty Tomb

AN EMPTY TOMB

As christians, we are called Easter people.  Easter is a Christian church festival that celebrates the return of Jesus Christ to life following His death. (Merriam Dictionary). This day commemorates the resurrection of Christ from death, with the proof that the tomb where He lay was empty!  What does an empty tomb mean? Based on the scriptures it tells us:

1.          Don’t Be Afraid.  Human as we are, we fear a lot of things that surround us.  Some of it we are able to overcome, some of it we dread. 

a.         Health – as we grow older or as we lack rest from our daily activities, we face problems in our health.  This fears some of us, as it may cause us expenses, broken relations or even death.

b.        Wounded soul – as individuals, we are prone to sins.  We sometimes fail to reconnect to God and thus cause us wander away from the comforting hand of God.

c.        Emptiness – when we have nothing, maybe money, time, relationship, successes, we may feel we have no value at all in life.

d.        Life’s situation – where we are, and who we’re with is a situation in life we are afraid of.  We may want to escape from reality, because we feel burdened and we cannot deal with it.

2.       Believe He is Not Here – Like Jesus, who was ressurrected from the grave, God will be able to let us out of the tomb of hopelessness, self-centerdness, sinfulness, sickness and our worries. Believe that Jesus did not remain in the tomb so what besets us will not be here.

3.       Go and Tell – Jesus Christ’s resurrection reminds us to share His goodness, His power and victory over death to others!  (with points from HEC’s minister’s sermon – Pastor Nimrod Morales)

In life, we may feel empty, that is, having nothing or the feeling of no value to others or we feel we are valued for just a simple reason and we are buried with problems in life’s  situation that we are in.  Just remember, an empty tomb is Jesus’ triumph over all trials, just so with Christ we will be resuurected from the tomb of problems in life.  Believe and Share.

The CROSS

The cross may be a noun, a verb, a person, a symbolism or whatever we describe it, is a relevant symbol this Holy Week.  As defined, a cross is a long piece of wood with a shorter piece across it near the top that people were once fastened to and left to die as a form of punishment, the cross on which Jesus Christ died.(Merriam Dictionary)

The cross is not just an object, it may mean something to us in a lot of ways:

Pain.  The cross we bear everyday of our lives be it physical, emotional, mental or spiritual is pain.  Whether we experienced a fatigued body from work, overworked mind of thinking or worrying, or spiritually pained of sin. Pain is a prominent cross to bear – a heart ache, a loss, a feeling of being alone and left out. But pain with a purpose is heartwarming. Jesus Christ suffered a lot of pain, but He continued to carry the cross to save us all from sins. Our responsibilities may sometimes seem to be a cross of pain for us, but that is a pain with a purpose.

Guilt. The cross we carry when we keep on sinning. We ask God for forgiveness and yet again we keep on coming back to our old self, with a lot of weight on our hearts and minds for what we have done to others and to God.

Agony. The cross of distress that we may be feeling for the need of help when troubled by daily cares, a difficult situation of not having enough of what we needed, a desperate need of somebody to bear the cross with. Jesus was helped while carrying His cross, a brief relief from agony. That is what we want in life when we are in agony, someone who will carry the cross for us.

Joy.  The cross we bear daily may be a source of happiness to someone, a blessing. Although it may seem absurd to be glad with bearing a cross, but who knows others were looking at how you handled the crosses in your life – with patience, contentment and praises to God.  Joy, that despite of all the problems in life, God is always there to carry our burdens with us.

Hope. The sacrifices we bear as we carry the cross everyday brings hope, a desire with anticipation of a better life, that pain will go away, guilt will end, agony will be over and joy will be obtained. Hope springs eternal. The cross of hope will lead us to our eternal home.

Whatever cross we bear today, believe that we can carry it through! Our crosses, our burdens were lifted at Calvary’s cross…

A Perfect Father

Father's Day: a less celebrated event than Mother's Day, I suppose.  But because our church will be celebrating it this Sunday, I was tasked to give a tribute to fathers.  So I wrote a poem to share to the web before I deliver it on the pulpit... 

A perfect father that is what we imagine to have

Somebody who will give all that we want in life

A person with strength just like Samson imbibe

One who can resist the charm of Pharaoh’s wife.

Just like what we learn in school since our childhood days

Our father should be the pillar of strength through all the years

The example of love, care and inspiration in despair

Someone in this world beyond compare.

A perfect father should bring out the best in his child

Willing to make a colorful robe to show he is proud

Can raise a king out his humble and simple life

A wise father who knows his own child’s strife.

Situations may change our view of a perfect father

When he may not agree to what we are after

Those times we feel that he is not there to care

Since he is not around when we feel  the scare.

The longing to be asked what’s going on in our lives

Is as important as watching the basketball game live

The tap on the shoulder, the noisy talk over dinner

Is the time for us to get closer to every family member.

Someone who is proud of his wife, is a perfect father to have

Who exudes loyalty, support, respect, care and love

We may not expect our father to be perfect in our entire life

But we are sure, there is a perfect father  in heaven above.

Yohoo!!

                           You who saw my cries at night, while others had seen me laugh
                           You who heard my every prayer, while they saw me murmur  
                           You who lie in bed with me, while others are with somebody
                           You who I can hug on so tight, while others failed to do so
                           
                           You who bear witness to every tear I shed through the years
                           You who bear my murmur of giving up
                           You who bear my snore of tiredness
                           You who bear my gasps of pain
                           You who bear witness to my weaknesses
                           You who bear with me...

          Everyone has that endearment to something, be it a toy, pillow or anything.  That something that you can't leave behind, that something that makes your sleep or travel incomplete, that something that gives glee to any situation.
          My niece, Daphne, has her "baby green" for years as her companion  (ehem..given by me in her infancy years) .  
          Mine is Beary, my furry bedtime buddy..(thanks bro Eric for letting me meet him)
     

                                                        my you, my who...yohooo!!!
     

SOF hurdles distance and heat: Plants Trees!

      Despite the heat of the late morning sun and the long walk to the hilly planting area, 130 Iloilo NHS-School Of the Future students and 13 teachers were able to plant 1200 seedlings of kansulog (common name: bagalunga) trees within the two areas of Sitio Sambag, Barangay Dagami, Maasin Iloilo last August 8, 2014, Friday.

      The tree planting activity of the SOF BioPhyChem club was finalized after meeting with Mr. Apolinario Corbal, Forrester 1 of DENR-PENRO, Iloilo last July 24, 2014.  To survey the area, Ma'am Luz and I set an appointment for a site visit in Maasin last August 7, 2014 together with Nerissa and Mr. Jessie Cequina of DENR.

    Last year, the SOF planted 500 seedlings along Radial Road in Leganes and poster making on the theme "SOF cares for the environment".  The club also spearheaded the "Life-saving seminar during emergency cases" with the Iloilo NHS Medics.  This year, along with the tree planting activity, is the poster making contest for each section in the SOF with the theme:  Handog Punla ng Kabataan Para sa Kinabukasan".  

         The tree planting activity kicked off with an orientation and the long walk started towards the tree planting sites.

 

     

        The tree planting activity was supported by Mayor Mariano Malones Sr, and SB member (and SOF AdHoC officer) Dr. Innocencia Velasco by tapping the Philippine National Police headed by Officer Benedicto Masculino.  PO President fo Dagami Association for WaterShed Protection (DAWP), Mr. Romeo Capilitan facilitated the availability of kansulog seedlings.  Two local folks (for two sites) helped us in preparing holes for planting and during the tree planting Mr. Hernani Montefrio and Mr. Jose Lagunday monitored the correct planting of seedlings.

      The Club is trying to make tree planting an annual activity in compliance with Executive Order No. 26, section 3.1- "All students shall be individually required to plant a minimum of 10 seedlings per year.."  and  acting on one of the visions of the School Of the Future "To be Stewards of the Environment". With this activity, students, teachers, parents and the community will be aware to care for the environment and our government.

Blessings

Paul says that as Christians we can rejoice even in tough times because we have hope and because we know that God is working in our lives.- Rick Warren, God's Power To Change Your Life

One tough time passed by but still etched in my memory, Typhoon Frank and the immense flood in June 21, 2008.  That time when we were surprised by fast-rising, raging flood water devouring the first floor of our house.  That time when fear, sadness and helplessness clothed the entire household and Iloilo as well.  That time when many people thought its the end of the world, as they say 666: F is the 6th letter of the alphabet, it happened in the 6th month of the year and devastated Region 6!

Quite unreasonable to recall that happening, but yesterday as heavy rains poured and the sky was dim, I was actually thinking of Frank! Classes were suspended due to flooding in school and sadly when I got home, flood welcomed me! Now I have time to write since classes were still suspended today.

Even with the water-surrounded environment in our demolished house, I have hope of a better environment surrounded with care.  Last night, my boss/my friend,/my sister in faith offered a room for me and my family, a warm welcome, a sincere concern and that I am grateful.  Indeed God is good! A blessing...

God will not permit any troubles to come upon us, unless He has a specific plan by which great blessing can come out of the difficulty. - Peter Marshall 

SEVEN

      Seven. It is not only a number found on the jersey of popular good-looking football star, nor refers to titles in tennis or boxing, nor refers to the number of trophies or championships, nor the movie title starred by the highest paid actor but seven refers to a lot of things especially in numerology.  Whenever you read seven, it does not always literally mean seven things or seven occurrences.  It is symbolic of a completion or the perfect picture of things.  In the Bible, the number seven appears 600 times! (www.examiner.com)

      Yesterday, the Highway Evangelical Church with the Believers' Fellowship had the Seven Last Words of Jesus on the Cross to recall and re-learn its importance on every christian's life.

         The Assurance of God's Pardon

 In Luke 23:34, the first saying  "Father, Forgive Them.." 

         Personally reminds me of my father, the one I run to to get little something when he comes home, the lap I sat on to when I was younger, the one who treated me as his favorite.  Our earthly father provides us with what we need and forgives us when we do wrong.  Our Heavenly Father is more than that!

          Pastor Dan encouraged me to let myself into prayer for revival, for renewal of the father and daughter connection.  I'm assured that the heavenly father will pardon me of all my sins.

         The Personal Word of Immediate Pardon

In Luke 23:43, the second saying "Today, You Shall be with Me in Paradise"

         I remember my kindergarten days when I wanted my hair curled, immediately my mother called on our neighbor and started the job done. How much more our God, in His assurance of giving and forgiving if we only ask it from Him.

         The Call to Care for Human Welfare

The third saying in John 19:26, "Woman, Behold Your Son..."

        Human as we are, it is innate in us to have that fatherly or motherly feeling to care for others, whether it is a friend, a relative, a neighbor, even more a family member. God has given as parables in the Bible to emulate the call to share and to care. Be a blessing to others today, helping or sharing or giving does not make us poor after all, it makes us richer in love and joy.

        Listening to The Voice of the Abandoned

In Matthew 27:46, the fourth saying "My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?"

      This is the time when Jesus is in real human form, the agony of being left out, abandoned, forsaken.  There comes a time in our life when we're so low and heavy with burden, we ask God "Why?".  Again, the assurance is God knows we can carry it through.

       Responding  to God's Deepest Longing

The fifth saying in John 19:28. "I Thirst"

       Physically, the longing for water or something to drink. I have read that drinking 2 glasses of water upon waking up in the morning can help cure diseases and "moisturize" you all day.  On that cross, when Jesus said that, he has no water to drink, but bitter sop as bitter as our sins and He just take it in to take us up with Him, soon!   

      Emotionally, the longing for love.  Everyone longs to love and to be loved.  As said, it's the sweetest feeling of comfort and care and having to someone share with all the joys, the sorrows, the pains, the burdens and the bills!

      Spiritually, the longing to a broken fellowship.  Love bonds people and hopefully, that first love which is desiring to serve, longing to hear and with intense enthusiasm can hold on until the last breath. Let me recall, a story one missionary told us, if one is starting to have fellowship, words are so sweet. Like when one is on a relationship, the terms of endearment is " sweetheart", when married it becomes. "sweet" and when the relationship/fellowship got longer it becomes "sht"! True indeed, when we first received Jesus, we are so in love that fellowship is so sweet and on regular basis of communicating to God and fellow christians and as we age, we slowly let go of that enthusiasm.  God is longing for our service to him and to others as Christians.

         Finishing God's Mission To Us

The sixth sixth saying, "It Is Finished" found in John 19:30

        Part of being a parent is to take care of the needs of a child, that is to feed them and send them to school.  Some parents don't realize their ultimate task! But our heavenly father, finished His task on the cross and that we are thankful.  And I'm thankful as well to my parents who did well in raising us up and our extended father(my Uncle Veroy, who finished his mission to carry us through our pretty hard-uplife before he personally went on with his new mission!)

     Moment of Entrusting and CommitmentThe Seventh saying "Father, Into Your Hand..."  Luke 23:48

       As Good Friday ended, let's reflect on what God and His Son Jesus Christ has done to our lives and also our parents.  God showed the Greatest Love Of All, by sending His Son to be one of us, to feel our need, to suffer with us and forgive.  Our parents has showed their love to us and sooner it's our turn to commit to repay what they have done.  

SEVEN ultimately means fulfillment of a prophecy, the completion of the whole picture of Jesus born a to a virgin.  Seven constitutes a cycle, God loved us, so we should love him with all our hearts and be seen in our lives as we serve God in our family and to everybody.

Old Times

         Our family has survived almost 4 decades of distant past, with God's grace, and still be surviving in the future years.

       Here is a photo of us, four siblings, in a place we considered our own.  (Credits to my brother Eric for restoring this photo).  
      As I take a look at the photo, I remembered how simple and happy as a child our life has been, living in a 2-story wooden house, with pandan serving as our gate, the carabao grass our lawn, with trees everywhere and several banana plants around. The wide grassland around us served as our playground, with games such as hide and seek, baseball, pitiw, luksong tinik, habulan, football, basketball, we played guns out of banana stalk or wooden guns with aratilis as pellets, we played bahay-bahayan with my brother older Alvin building our house made of banana or gabi leaves, we climb trees and even the swamp as our swimming pool.
        A lot of childhood memories were etched in my mind in our house: my fly-out- the-window experience, my 6-stitches wound on my right leg, my brother's open wound on the skull, my brothers' fishing expeditions, my younger brother and my lakwatsa around the neighborhood, my older brother's booming basketball career and our nightly view of WWE matches via our neighbor's television (few houses away from us).  
       Until Diversion Road (Benigno Aquino Highway) was constructed, which also served as our free-willy-slide-down-the-hill game and wall climbing facility near the river bank.
       Cuartero-Diversion Road is where we grow up physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually at Highway Evangelical Church.  Our church has permanently moved a block away from its original location and since the expansion of the highway is on-going, we are also moving!   Whether in a low-cost relocation site or a high-cost town house, we are leaving our house in the next few weeks!
       Just like old times, we will survive and make meaningful memories as we move on, (just like my sister and her family and my younger brother and his family), with God's goodness.  Memories or making memories may not be always joyful, some are sorrowful and burdensome, but still we carry on, just like old times!

       

       

Firstborn

         The term first born primarily refers to as the eldest, the first in the family.  Secondly, it refers to the rights and authority of a person.   In the Old Testament times, the firstborn receives a double inheritance and one who would inherit his father's role as head of the family.  So expectations are high for a firstborn to be male.

        Every family expects a firstborn- whether it is the first child of a couple or the first grandchild, niece  or nephew, a cousin or  a god child.  In the bible, Cain was the first born of human kind.  Like every family we were expecting a firstborn in our household-the first grandchild, the first niece or nephew.  

         At the start of the new millennium, our household was expecting a firstborn.  But it is neither a daughter nor a son but a blessing: a fraternal twin of a boy and girl (separated by nearly 2 weeks of conception).  It was March 29, 2001, when two first born came into our family: AM and PM.

Growing Up Years:
       The joy of having kids at home is rewarding, de-stressing and inspiring.  Taking care of the twins is a shared obligation by my brother and his wife, my mother, my (then, unmarried) sister and mine.

         Raising a child as they say is even more difficult task than child-bearing.  Not only you deal with their needs but also their tantrums.  The joyful part, you get to discover their likes, their talents, their skills which you got to support  to hone them.

The 3-day 13th Birthday Celebration
         As Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you...".  So, "the end to childhood celebration" started with a prayer meeting at home where Tricia and Aldrex  invited classmates to come over.  After dinner was the "dance in the front yard" party.  The second day (Saturday of March 29, 2014) was shop- with-mama- time where "buy me this "and buy me that" happened.  Sunday is always family day, where singing, playing, dining, shopping(groceries) and they  got to lead the Children's Sunday Worship.

The Conclusion:
        To end this narrative of mine, let me give 3 wishes on this your Birthday:
         
1.  Since you were the first born in the family, I have given you importance, given you both my time, my talents, my strength, my finances, my dreams...  My wish is for you to value the people around you and cling on to your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ("So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.- Psalms 90:12")

2.  Don't give up on that "heart of a child".  Be cheerful, be playful, be forgiving and loving..

3.   Continue on your dreams and work on it.  The people who cared for you since you were born will always be there to support you! And cling on to this assurance in the Bible "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." - Jeremiah 29:11-12

Lastly...
      If I could account the times since your birth, i t would take me days to finish this...but to summarize, you were expected, you were welcomed and you were loved by all of us in the family!

First Hand

     The story, news and updates on Yolanda's wrath is unending especially in the severely hit Tacloban but relief goods have not reached the farthest barangays in the those areas.  Like Leyte, Samar, Cebu and Capiz, the Northern part of Iloilo is already tired of waiting.  They are in dire need of food, medicines, materials for shelter and clothing.

           The news, the photos can somehow touch you to help, be it cash donations,  share goods, repack goods, include in prayers or personally deliver.  

THE NEED TO HELP

           The Iloilo National High School has been the drop point of donations from all over Iloilo for accepting, re-packing and delivering goods to Northern Iloilo.  INHS-School Of the Future students also shared a day of their baon for the victims and gave goods, such as noodles, canned goods, coffee, chocolate drink, rice, bottled water and clothing.  SOF teachers give in  money to purchase biscuits, With that unselfish act by these students (and teachers), I myself would like to deliver goods to the farthest part of Iloilo, Carles. The suggestion came from my Tita (a local of Isla Gigantes) that the residents have not receive any help only helicopters on aerial survey and news men to monitor the island.  People from the Islands not only are hungry but have lost their homes and motorboats or rowboats as well.  

THE RESPONSE TO THE NEED

         Early morning of November 17, 2013,  we (I, my aunt, 2 cousins and 4 of my students) rented a van to load 15 sacks of clothing, few boxes and sacks of goods (from the second floor of FJ building) to get us to Estancia wharf.  The loading and uloading of goods from a 2-motor engine to a smaller motorboat to get us to Sitio Danao-danao in Barangay Gabi, Isla Gigantes is tiring, but when we saw people gathering around us as we prepare for distribution is so overwhelming, we even forgot we have not taken our lunch!

THE MEDIA HYPE

      "They say" you put yourself in danger going to these affected areas, truckloads of relief goods have police/army escorts to go with them since recipients are like ravening wolves when they saw aid coming.  We came with goods together with our escort, our God and his army of angels! What a joy to see cooperative residents patiently waiting for their name to be called and be given goods we brought.  They say some of then ate coconuts for breakfast, lunch or dinner for a week of waiting for help.  

THE FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE

       I have heard stories of fellow teachers, friends, students of the their dreadful experience on Yolanda's wrath but to personally see what has happened is so sad.  You will see children along the road waiting for passerby to throw or drop coins to them, you will see signage "HELP, we need food and medicine" and even "Mapalad ka Napoles...", you will see damages to homes, trees and schools.   

       My cousins and Aunt drop by check on my Aunt in Ajuy.  She relates tearfully what she experienced during the typhoon, alone and scared. Crying as we travel to Sara up to Estancia, the more damages revealed in our sights. 2 hours of land travel is over and another 2 hours of water travel is waiting, waiting to unravel more of Yolanda's wrath!

        This first-hand experience of giving goods is so heart-warming.  As we hand in 1 pack of food and 2 packs of clothing, residents of Sitio Danao-danao responded with glee, the thank you, the handshake, the smiles are so memorable!

        

THE CHALLENGE

        The call for help is still up, you can still help! May it be in kind, cash or whisper a pray, the victims of Yolanda's wrath need that! The need to help and share is always there, go share your blessings and be blessed!

     

       

        

Teacher

    A teacher - one who talk a lot in the four corners of the classroom, one who let you do the talking, one who gives you a lot of burdens or demands, one who inspires you to be better, one who notices your faults, one who can be your mother, your friend...

  Whatever a teacher is to you, you will always remember a teacher. What you have learned and what you have become.

  As a teacher I would like to share an output written by a student in her chemistry journal just this first grading period (and expecting more in the next grading periods and the next years):

"Do you ever wonder what's the role of chemistry in our daily life? Why do we need to study it? What is there in chemistry that doesn't contain any other subject matters? Is chemistry really that important? We actually use or apply chemistry in our daily life, we just didn't recognized it. Like observing the people around you. That's part of a scientific method. Or burning a plastic. That's a chemical change. Breathing is also chemistry. All problems have answers and solutions. Believe it or not, it is simply chemistry.

Like us, chemistry had its own past. Aristotle became the most influential of the Greek philosophers, and he proposed that there were also four fundamental properties mainly hotness, coldness, dryness and wetness. From the beginning of the Christian Era to the 17th and 18th centuries was the period of chemistry known as Alchemy. It is the science concerned with transmutation of one element into another. Until the latter part of the 18th century, chemistry didn't evolve. Antoine Laurant ea Voisier was considered the father of modern chemistry. In the middle of the nineteenth century, only about sixty elements were known. The first periodic table was published by Dmitri Mendeleev.

Solving how many meters are there in one kilometer is also a part of chemistry. You use the DAM Conversion. You can also convert grams to kilograms, liters to milliliter and hours to seconds. If you have a fever, you can also convert your temperature. Try converting celsius into fahrenheit. Even though you're sick you can still apply the concept of chemistry. Mole Conversion, now that's another kind of conversion. You use the Avogadro's Number (6.02 × 1023) made by the Italian chemist, Amadeo Avogadro. Atoms are the smallest particle of an element. Inside an atom, you can find the nucleus. Inside the nucleus there is a proton and a neutron. The electrons are circling around the nucleus. Each with it's own charge, proton has a positive one, electrons have negative while the neutron has none. To be honest, in all of our lessons, I find the mole conversion hard.

The human eye observes changes in matter, but how to identify what type of change the matter underwent? Changes in matter occur every day. There are two types of ways how matter changes. First the Physical Change, like cutting a sheet of paper. It would still be paper however it would be a different shape. And second is the Chemical Change like burning the paper to ashes. You can't return ashes to paper, right? Matter is known to exist in three states; solid, liquid and gas. Solids have molecules that are near each other, that's why it has a definite shape and volume. The molecules of a liquid are not that far from each other but it only takes the shape of the container. While the molecules of gas are far away from each other. That's the reason why gas has no definite volume or shape.

Chemistry is a big part of our lives. You will find chemistry in our daily food. Your body is made up of chemical compounds. The emotions you feel like love, jealousy, envy, infatuation and infidelity all share a basis in chemistry. Everything in our world is made of chemicals. Now tell me, is chemistry not important?"

"Danielle cecilia Sulit"

and this one

http://chemistryandus.blogspot.com/2013/08/mole-conversion.html

 

Dealing with Numbers

     Numbers, whether we like or not, significant or not, important or not, we deal with it 24/7.

     Numbers are significant in sports to keep track of the standings, statistics, etc..The winning streak of an NBA team, the current standing of a favorite PBA team, the win-loss record of the sought after UFC fighter, the grand slams of the current top 5 in ATP ranking, the number of goals of the famous striker, numbers are important.

      Everyday as I go to school, in order to time in, we need numbers, withdrawing salary from ATM's personal identification numbers are needed.  Most of  Identification Cards in my wallet are coded with numbers.  Recently, as we are making school forms, LRN (Learners' Reference Number) are needed to be  included.  We just can't get away with numbers!  Call it crazy, scary or witty, numbers can say it all.

     Today, as I listen to 7 speakers of the 7 Last Words of Jesus on the cross, numbers still lodged in my head that one the speakers mentioned and I think is noteworthy.  Jesus Christ our redeemer, said 7 important words, hanged on 1 cross with 3 nails and 1 goal: that is to save us all!  Thank you,  Lord, for dying on the cross for the redemption of our sins! To God Be The Glory!

      .

Re:search

                                                             The image of  triumph!
                              Credits to my brother, for being a gracious, our guide, our photographer.


    After 3 regional contests, 1 division and 1 national level,  hopefully next school year researchers will repeat that which SOF SY 2012-2013 have been through.

    It's almost summer break, thinking already of travel, island hopping and burning my skin to the heat of the sun, but researches  is burning my gray matter already.  One advisee came to me and said we're starting to make a national-worth-research paper, hopefully we can come up with that!  But the saying "You can't teach what you don't have" is quite demeaning, got to search and re-search with my students so that I could re-search myself in this enjoyable summer break.  Refreshing waters, here I come!

 

Wednesday training: Vilanova back, Adriano cleared

Wednesday training: Vilanova back, Adriano cleared

Worries in Chemistry, a x-overs fanfic - FanFiction.Net

Here's a short story submitted to me

Worries in Chemistry, a x-overs fanfic - FanFiction.Net

and this one

http://beachemistry.blogspot.com/

now I can post, yesterday I can't log in...

Azkals: National Pride Explosion

Azkals: National Pride Explosion

Sandwich Generation

        Sandwich, a filling between two bread.  Generation, a gap  between ages.

        An individual at home with children and old is in a sandwich generation, where one takes care of the children and aging parents.  Sadly, if the scenario if that individual is a single parent.
     
       How can an individual manage such situation? Waking up early and sleep late at night to cater to younger generation's needs and deal with aging/ailing parents.

      There's a hand that controls the filling, our God!