Greatness is Dependence

I was with my grandparents at Vancouver Airport about 6 months ago to fly back to the Philippines. They both have weak legs so we took this shuttle service that will drive us from the check-in area straight to the boarding gate. The ride took about 5 minutes. I was sitting with my grandma at the back and Lolo was sitting with the lady driver in front. In those 5minutes, he discovered that the driver is from Germany, has 2 kids, has a Canadian husband, and has been working in the airport for 5 years and also discovered her work schedule. I looked at them in front and it seemed that they’ve known each other for a long time. My Lolo could make everyone fall in love with him, even in the span of 5 minutes. This was just the most recent time I’ve seen Lolo used his charisma to someone. My uncles and my cousins have more stories of Lolo’s adventure with people. My Lolo has this special ability to create smiles in people’s faces and make anyone feel comfortable. The last talk ...

As I live out my life, more questions are popping out. Basically I'm starting to seek for more and trying to figure out "WHY." Why is life like this? Why do some people have different religions? Why can't there be just one? Why is there war, hunger, pain and corruption? Why do loved ones die unexpectedly? Why do bad things happen to the good people while the wicked people live out their lives in richness? Why do we get heart-broken? Why can't we get what we want? Why am I here? What's the point? The list goes on and on.  I was anxious because of all these questions in my mind. I wanted to give up the journey and just let go. It just doesn't make sense. We've all been in that phase of asking but we can't find the perfect answer.  I claim that God is good and He answers my prayers. I've been praying to God to lead me towards the truth and for Him to reveal Himself to me more and more. I was blessed because He made it clear to me when I he...

I have decided to write letters to people and things I'm thankful for. I realized life is awesome and it would be a great exercise for us to say thank you for all the wonderful blessings we have! Let's all count our blessings because they will tell us that we have a lot of things in our lives to be happy about. I'm first thankful to God for all these different people and things He blessed me with. Optimism starts not within but with Him :) I'm not feeling well right now so I want to address this letter to Health. Dear Mr. Health When I was younger, I often told myself that I wish I'd get sick tomorrow so I won't go to school. I also tell myself, I think I'm gonna be sick on a certain day which I have exams on. Up to now at work I sometimes tell that line, "I think I'll be sick on Monday" I regret saying those lines because being sick sucks. I'd rather be healthy and go through life than stay at home with a towel on my head. I'd ra...

We all know what happened in the Philippines. A typhoon hit last week and it brought devastation to many Filipino families especially in Manila. I realized how worse the situation was when I saw pictures of the Philippines after the typhoon. I saw pictures of broken homes, drowning kids and dead Filipinos. It's dreadful and it broke my heart seeing those pictures. Millions died in this typhoon. Some are still missing and houses are completely destroyed. As I open my Facebook account, I saw lots of people, young and old going out of their ways helping out victims. They made a way to provide help, food, money and just the feeling of being there. It made me feel better because it's in these situations where fellow Filipinos go out of their comfort zones to show love for one another. I'm in Canada right now and I'm blessed to belong to a church that will donate to the victims too. In that way I can help out my brothers and sisters even if I'm not with them physically....

The enemy was right in front of me and ready to be destroyed. My weapon was heavy, it was a stone axe. I gripped it tightly and aimed at my foe. I lifted it up over my head and with great force I slammed it towards my target. To my surprise, I missed… What happened in that split second was considered a miracle… As I try to sound mysterious and poetic, I'm gonna share to you guys an experience that made me realize something big. I have a new job now and it involves throwing broken equipments. I throw worn out microwaves, vacuum cleaners, grills, chairs, tables and all kinds of appliances. To fully utilize the space of the garbage bin that we have, I smash the equipments into pieces with a stone axe before I throw them out. I enjoyed doing it because it's a stress reliever. You could pour out emotions to broken microwaves and smack them. That's awesome. I enjoyed doing it until an incident happened. Last Friday I was about to smash a defective table. So I lifted the stone...

"Here's pardon for transgressions past, It matters not how black their cast; And, O my soul, with wonder view, For sins to come here's pardon too." This is a repost from Charles Spurgeon

I used to work in a popular coffee shop in Canada. I was working from 10pm to 7am. Can you just imagine how tough that is? While everybody is sleeping, you're awake and making coffee. For some reason I can't understand why people drink coffee at 3am. Isn't sleeping being utilized anymore? Anyway, I had that job for almost 7 months. At my last month I decided to quit since I've been having some health issues. Some piece of advice for you guys, when it's time to sleep, just sleep. Health is NOT to compromise for money.   Here's the story. It was 2:30am in the morning and I was brewing some fresh pots of coffee while suddenly my good friend from church entered the store. The whole time working there, all the customers I had were drunkards and party people. I won't ever expect a good friend from church to enter that store just to say hi.  I was delighted to see him. You know that feeling when you're walking in a mall and you suddenly bump into a go...

I just heard a very sad news today. One of the best teachers and mentors in University of Asia and the Pacific passed away. It was shocking because it all happened in a snap. He was alive and kicking one day and then one morning he just didn't wake up. Family, teachers, co workers, students and friends are  mourning for his lost. He was indeed a great man, one of the most successful person I know. Everything happens for a reason. This one is hard to understand. No one can't fathom why he had to leave. As I pray for him and all the people who mourns for him, God enlightened me. What I'll try to say is an encouragement for this moment. I'm seriously downcast for this news. I'm here in Canada and I can't even visit the funeral. So the best I can do is to pray and to say this. He was a very successful businessman. I think he owns 5 popular fast food chains in the Philippines. He has a name in the industry and he is well known. Students would go to him for help a...

"If you were a washing machine, how will you be happy? “Have you ever thought of that? It's silly but really, if you were a washing machine how will you be happy? The answer is simple. You'd be happy if you wash some clothes. Why? Because that's what you're supposed to do. If you were a washing machine and you tried to make some coffee, you'll end up being stressed out and crazy because that's not what you're designed to do.  So, how will we be happy?  As human beings, we'll be happy if we're being humans. We'll be happy if we're doing what were supposed to do. First of all, what are we supposed to do? What's our purpose? Knowing our purpose is very important because it will direct our lives. If a person chooses having fun as his purpose, then he'll be investing most of his time on partying. If I choose getting rich as my purpose, then I'll spend most of my time earning money or doing business, no matter the cost ma...

Words aren't always required To tell you how I feel Electrifying, awesome, amazing You take my breath away I beg you please Whatever you're doing, never cease I'm falling and falling Now we have a lifetime to spend It was you all along, it finally came I'll always praise our Maker He blessed me with you The woman beyond my dreams

My parent’s love song is “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You” by George Benson. My dad usually plays the song in the car when he drives mama home. My romantic dad hits play as soon mama sits beside him. Smooth moves. “Nothing’s gonna change my love for you” is one of the sweetest love songs ever written. The message is simple yet overwhelming. The song is amazing and if you haven’t heard of it, the chorus goes like this: Nothing's gonna change my love for you You oughta know by now how much I love you One thing you can be sure of I'll never ask for more than your love Nothing's gonna change my love for you You oughta know by now how much I love you The world may change my whole life through But nothing's gonna change my love for you I don’t know about you but if my girl sings me this song I would go “awwwwwww” It’s a remarkable love song. This song was released 1984. Too bad they don’t make music like this anymore. It’s noticeab...

I have decided to write letters to people and things I'm thankful for. I realized life is awesome and it would be a great exercise for us to say thank you for all the wonderful blessings we have! Let's all count our blessings because they will tell us that we have a lot of things in our lives to be happy about. I'm first thankful to God for all these different people and things He blessed me with. Optimism starts not within but with Him :) This is my first letter and this is addressed to the creator of Skype. Dear Mr. Skype, I just want to thank you for being a great blessing. Your invention is wonderful! I think you should know this, I'm in Canada right now and I love being here. I've been here for almost a year and it has been a blast. So many developments have been happening in my life since day one. I came from the Philippines and many loved ones are still there especially my girlfriend, Andrea. Mr. Skype, I'm thankful for your invention because I ...

I worked for some time in a coffee shop. On my first day behind the cash register, my boss just told me to do two things, “say thank you and SMILE” I’m good in following orders so that’s what I did throughout my shift. At the end of my shift my boss told me that people felt good because of my smile! According to them it was warm and welcoming. Since then I would always smile when faced with a customer. To smile is the simplest yet amazing thing you could do. Actually it’s one of the best things you could do for people as well. Smiling at them will make them feel good. It could make a stranger's day. It’s free and it feels good. What are your reasons to smile? I’ve come up with a list on reasons for me to smile right now. Knowing that my favorite hero “Wolverine” is Canadian Knowing that the movie “The Avengers” is almost out Knowing that I’ll be reunited with my family again Knowing that I have awesome friends all around the planet Just thinking of how wo...

Before, when I go to malls with my friends and see a spectacular woman then see that she’s with a guy who cannot be labeled as spectacular, we’d usually say “Bro! love is blind!” and laugh out loud. It’s wrong for us to judge and I know we should never make fun of couples. Is there such thing as love is blind? Well for me it’s not. The couple explained earlier was an example of falling in love with the real person inside and not just with mere appearance. But I do believe this; some are blinded because of what they think love is. Here are list of examples that I witnessed in people: When you’re in a relationship and your network of friends become smaller because your mentality is the “YOU AND ME ONLY” mentality. I know couples that would strictly not allow one another to hang out with other friends because they’re jealous of one of the guys or girls. Then the network would be smaller and at the end you’ll be alone. I have a classmate and we were having an exam. I asked him...

NEW YEAR's RESOLUTIONS Let’s talk about New Year resolutions.  People always make RESOLUTIONS every new New Year symbolizing their desire to be better, to change, or to break a habit. One famous resolution I know is the “I WILL LOSE WEIGHT” resolution. We think of exercising, dieting, eating healthy... BUT somehow we forget or lose determination after a week, don't we? HOW WAS YOUR 2011? Raise your hand up if your 2011 was full of challenges and trials! Emotionally, Financially, Spiritually, Mentally, Physically... I’m raising mine. Everyone should -- we've all experienced some kind of difficulty/pain/bitterness/anger/hatred/discouragement during the past year.. These past experiences may be the VERY REASONS why you've come up with your own NEW YEAR's RESOLUTION. Others may have their "DO's and DONT's" list, Others may have their own BUCKET LIST, and  whatever list of things to make 2012 all diffe...