After 10 Million Years...

Finally...a time to update my blog.

The past month has been a busy and eventful one. First, I resigned from my job. God has finally allowed me to take a rest, and the "three-month training" in USAID is over. I am amazed at how God does not waste every single experience one goes through. Everything - be it good or bad, big or small - is a preparation for something greater and better. I have seen the past few weeks how He worked in my life. God answers prayers quickly and indeed, in a way one can never imagine or fully fathom. I guess, it is God's way of leading us to go and worship Him with all our being.

I'm having a hard time writing something coherent. Really...I do not know where to start. Much as I do want to write about every single thing he allowed me to experience and realise, perhaps it would be enough to come up with a rundown of things I am very thankful for.

1) Two weeks ago I joined the first Feetworks Camp. It a 3-day event organised to share the Gospel to streetchildren. - www.feetworks.org. I did not expect that God would allow me to serve Him in this camp. When a friend emailed about this, I was still with USAID then. Obviously, I did not have the time. But because it was truly His will for me to be in it, God allowed certain things to happen which led to my resignation. I did not have to think twice about resigning because God clearly spoke to me of it. Thankfully, the camp was also moved to another week, thus allowing me to go. Plus, my mom, who does not normally allow me to join things like this, just said yes when I asked permission. She even provided the financial means to go there.

The kids in the camp were a huge blessing. I was deeply encouraged by what I saw - at a tender age, they hungered for God. They were willing to learn. They were willing to trust and obey us, the staff and counselors. Most of all, they loved us. It was not us who accepted them, but them who accepted us into their hearts and lives. Two of the older girls I am still in touch with.

The Feetworks Team from Korea was a source of inspiration and encouragement. I saw in them the kind of faith that I wanted to have - one that moves you to take action, despite their simplicity. Their passion for children is just so contagious, more so is the fact that this passion stems from the same faith and hope in God. From them, I learned that to make a difference means to take initiative - to be active and not passive; to pray and be available/dispensable for God; most of all, they led me to realise that working for the Lord is not an obligation but a privilege. To be chosen as His instrument is for me a fulfillment of a dream. I especially enjoyed the time of fellowship while making paper boats and paper cranes and preparing other materials for the art and crafts activity.

There is also joy in knowing that you are part of God's big spiritual family. I experienced this more profoundly through the Filipino staff - the team of pastors and counselors whom I was able to individually fellowship with. Their testimony and friendship taught me that God's family cuts across any boundaries. Their genuineness spoke volumes about the kind of brotherhood/sisterhood Christians should have among themselves. I am encouraged by their example, inspired by their joy and their commitment to serve the weakest, to give my life to Jesus' cause. I look forward to working with them again on a follow-up camp,and even for other initiatives that God will inspire us to do.

2) Feetworks paved the way for another ministry for children. Through the same friend who informed me about the camp, I fortuitously became part of a meeting meant to set up an orphanage ministry. The meeting ended and I found myself part of the core group. It was God's will, definitely. The Little Children's Home Ministry is in it's organising process, but in the few times we met, I have experienced, as with the camp, the kind of fellowship that arises from a common desire to serve underprivileged/rejected children. I look forward to what is yet to come.

In a meeting with the Gundersons, the American missionaries who manage the orphanage, it dawned on me that this ministry is more than just sparing time to visit children in the Home; instead, it is a commitment to truly give ourselves away to the children, the staff, the missionaries, the future adoptive parents, and everyone else who will be involved just as Jesus chose to give Himself to humankind. It is, as it has always been put, a "dying to oneself" - forgetting one's centrality and choosing instead to put the needs of other people ahead of ones own. God also taught me yesterday that this ministry is about building relationships and entering - or more appropriately, going deeper into the world that is different from mine/ours.

As I was pondering upon what the Gundersons shared last night, I realised that fellowship will come about as I get into a real person-to-person relationship with each one. Know their history, explore their memory. Maybe when I enter their world and carry their memories, and I let them enter my world and offer them my own memories, each time I leave the place, I will head home a newer, better person. As they give me their memories, I in turn desire and pray that I would give them the same hope that is alive in my heart.

Among many other things, this is what I look forward to - not to teach, but to be taught; to empty myself so that I can take in more of God's grace. And to see that miracle of love that shines in the eyes of those transformed by the love of God.

I'm definitely excited.



Philippians 4:8 - Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable, right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about these things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Colossians 1:6 - This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God's wonderful grace.