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Obviously, I did not learn from the lessons my life had given me in the past. I was sick the first week of 2018. All the bad effects of acid reflux tormented me. Too much caffeine. Back in July of 2014 I already wrote a blog on the painful results of having too much coffee and soda. I should have learned that. But no - the second half of 2017, I was drinking coffee 3 times a day and coke at least once.
This year began miserably for me. So I decided to immediately stop my caffeine intake. But that resulted in withdrawal symptoms - anxiety, cold sweat, uneasiness, etc. To alleviate that I had to have a caffeinated drink - just enough to remove all that excruciating feelings. I also decided to consult our doctor who recommended I go through some clinical tests.
The echo cardiogram went smoothly. However, the abdominal ultrasound was a bit problematic. It appeared that the technician was having trouble analyzing the results. So I was asked to return to the clinic. It was the chief radiologist himself who did the ultrasound. He, too, was puzzled. There seemed to be a non-solid "mass" in my abdomen. He told me not to worry about it inasmuch as it was asymptomatic anyway. When I told him I was diagnosed with bladder diverticulitis back in 2013 he said it still shows in the ultrasound and that it probably was the cause of the "mass".
I once again consulted my regular doctor and showed her the results of my clinical tests. After reviewing them, she recommended a CTscan to determine whether the "mass" in my abdomen would cause me some problems or not. She also mentioned the possibility of a surgery (should the "mass" be detrimental to my health) and to fix my enlarged prostate, and remove the tiny stones in my gall bladder. Most of which are due to old age, she said.
That got me a bit worried. However, as we were ending our session, she said something that gave me hope and peace of mind. She said in so many words, "I noticed that you are sad but know that you don't own your body. God does. He is in control of your life. Your body is like God's house - it is up to Him if He wants to renovate it, clean it or fix it. He will take care of you." Those words really pierced my soul because at the start of the year, I have already resolved to put my complete faith and trust in God. To be the kind of person that he wants me to be. My life is indeed in His hands.
It's New Year's eve. For most this is the time for reflections on the year that is about to end and formulating resolutions for the coming one. 2012, for me, had been a good year so allow me to focus more on 2013.
So what will be my plans for next year? I'd like to make it simple and I hope you too will consider these "resolutions" as well.
27 He (Jesus) answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” - Luke 10:27
I believe these two commands are the perfect resolutions anyone can make. Let's break it down to understand these words better:
"Love the Lord your God". Sounds easy, right? I mean how can we not love God, especially knowing how much He loves us. He cares for us so much, He died a most painful, agonizing death so that we won't have to. Knowing also that He is there for us not just 24/7 but every second of our lives. How can we not love Someone like that? And yet….
Not everybody loves God, not with the kind of love He desires from us. There are four aspects to this kind of love:
1. "with all your heart" - these are our emotions. For many this is the kind of love they know. This is the overflowing feeling that makes us want to be with the object of our affections every single moment. But for a lot of people, emotions come and go depending on the situation or the prevailing mood. God wants us to love Him even when we feel down or beset with problems. As a matter of fact that is the best time to show Him our love because He is our Comfort and Peace.
2. "with all your soul" - these are our spiritual sides. The special connection we have with God. Some people only get spiritual on certain days of the week - often on Sundays when they go to church. The rest of the week they return to their carnality (the opposite of spirituality) concerned with the mundane affairs of their world. Our souls should always be connected to God and be constantly in love with Him.
3. "with all your strength" - these are the physical aspects. How do we physically love Someone who is not physically present? By obeying His laws. By getting on our knees and praying to Him. By worshiping Him in song, in giving, and through helping others.
4. "with all your mind" - these are our intellects. For many this is not easy. For them God is merely a concept. For others God is out there in the heavens detached from human activity. But our God is none of these. He became human and experienced all that we experienced - and more. He knew what we go through as we live our lives here on earth. Loving Him intellectually is knowing all these, all that He had done for us, of being aware not only of His existence, but of His presence in our lives.
Finally, the second command tells us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Loving ourselves is already a given. We are born that way - seeking glory for ourselves, wanting the best for ourselves. But God tells us to love others the same way. He asks us to humble ourselves and put others first.
Tough resolutions, aren't they? But think of the rewards we will reap if we follow these commands. Once we start loving God above all, at all times, we will have unspeakable joy and peace beyond understanding. Loving others will become much easier, too.
I am determined to accomplish these resolutions not just for 2013 but for as long as I am here on earth.
A blessed new year to you, my dear friends.
The recent event that happened in our lives caught us by surprise. We realized we had been complacent and we paid dearly for that. We became anxious, scared, traumatized and wondered deep in our hearts if God was punishing us.
So we prayed and read our Bible and came upon the story of Job. Here was a righteous man, blameless in the sight of God and yet he suffered such a great loss - his wealth, his children and his health. And yet he still said, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken, Blessed be the name of the Lord". Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God (Job 1:21b-22). He also declared, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:10b)
Those words gave us comfort and the following Sunday, we were further encouraged by the sermon of our Pastor as he exhorted us to stand strong in the midst of troubles.
Looking back at what happened that early morning more than a week ago, we realized we had so much to be thankful for: we were not harmed, and not everything was taken from our home.
When life throws a curve ball...so what! so we missed one hit. But the game is not over yet. That curve ball didn't result in a strike out. Instead of moping and wanting to remain on the bench, our Heavenly Coach wants us to go back to the field and keep on swinging. Knowing that this Heavenly Coach has never lost a game should give us the energy and the strength to continue playing the game of life.
Softly at first. A gentle pitter-patter that caused the leaves to nod softly. A cool breeze whispered silently bringing a welcome freshness to the humid air. I breathed deeply and my thoughts wandered into my distant past. Even when I was a little boy I always loved the rain. For me it symbolized a cleansing that my soul despaired for.
My reminiscing was interrupted by flashes of lightning as if a thousand paparazzis were taking pictures of some heavenly celebrity. This was followed by a deafening applause of rolling thunder. The trickling raindrops then became a torrent that poured like buckets from the gray skies. I closed my eyes and smiled as I listened to the pluvial roar which strangely enough played like a grand orchestral music to my ears. Thoughts of my troubled past slowly faded like mist in a dawning day.
'trained and then 'tstopped. The sun gloriously emerged from the dark skies. I was reminded of God's constant love and total forgiveness. I felt renewed.
On a whim, Cynthia and I went to Subic Bay in Zambales. To go birding. It was during this one-and-a-half day trip that we experienced God's goodness upon us. Several times!
Days before we left I was already checking online the various hotels in Subic. A friend recommended Bayfront and when I looked at their website I discovered that the cheapest room rate was $68.75. Yes, they quoted in dollars! Finding that just a bit too steep for our budget, I didn't go any further and told Cynthia about my findings. Wednesday night when we found out that Cynthia's daughter, Jenn, and her family are going to a resort in Olongapo (which is just next door to Subic), we decided to go through with our planned trip as well. Cynthia called the Bayfront Hotel and asked if there were any rooms available for Thursday. The lady at the other end of the line confirmed that there was and that she would reserve one for us. She even waived the usual 10% deposit requirement. Just call when you're on your way here she said sweetly.
We arrived at Subic at around 8 am - too early for our scheduled check-in - so we birded around the area first, occasionally interrupted by pouring rain. Although check-in time at Bayfront is 2 pm, the ladies at the front desk admitted us at 1 pm and we only paid the equivalent of about $58. Free buffet breakfast for two was even included, we were informed. That was certainly unexpected!
In going around the birding sites, I ran over a small metal coil that stuck into my left rear tire. I did not want to pull it out for fear that it might have punctured the tire and therefore result in a flat. We were in the middle of a forest road then. Later on as we were back in town, I drove into a Goodyear shop and had my tire checked. The coil was pulled out and thank God there was no puncture! And what's even better was that we didn't have to pay a single centavo!
As we were returning to the hotel, I changed lanes when I discovered that the lane I was in was required to turn left - which would take us in the wrong direction. As I crossed the intersection I was waved down by the local police. We've been warned by friends that they are very strict in enforcing traffic laws here - so much unlike the chaos in Metro Manila's streets. We explained to the officer that we were just visiting from Manila and that we are on our way to our hotel, interjected, of course with profuse apologies. The kind officer let us go with only a stern warning and a reminder to put our seatbelts on. Once again, we thanked God for intervening!
The following day, we were out birding early in the morning. We were still trying to find the Nabasan trail where, along with some birder friends, we birded last November. After several tries, we still couldn't locate it. I parked the car on the side of the road figuring out what to do next when an SUV zoomed by, made a sudden stop and reversed to where we were. The gentleman who was driving the car asked if we have any problems. We explained that we are birdwatchers and we were trying to photograph birds in that area. He said that there is a better place where birds are even more plentiful. We asked him to show the place to us and we will follow his car. Not more than 500 meters down the road he stopped and pointed to a deserted trail on our left. We waved thanks and goodbye to our benefactor. As soon as we entered the road we realized we are at Nabasan trail! Then Cynthia told me something that made me praise God even more. She said that while we were parked on the side of the road figuring out our next move, she prayed that God send us an "angel" to show us the place we wanted to go to. And sure enough, He did!
Since it rained off and on the whole morning, we did not see a lot of birds, although we heard a good number of them. On our way out of the trail, we flushed a male Tarictic Hornbill from a tree by the road. But it flew off to some place far and inaccessible. That frustrated us a little bit because Cynthia also saw one yesterday but wasn't able to take a photo of it. Now as we entered the small village of Cubi Point, I saw a huge bird perched on a limb overlooking the street. "Crow" was my wife's response when I pointed it to her. Quite certain that it was not a crow, I stopped the car, took out my binoculars and looked at the bird. It was, just as I suspected, a female Tarictic Hornbill. For about an hour, we observed, took pictures (even a video) of this God-sent creature as it calmly preened itself and waited for the sun to emerge from the now diminishing gray clouds.
The serenity of the image before us brought to my mind all the good things that the Lord has done for us, not just on this trip, but in every aspect of our life together. I hugged Cynthia and whispered, "Gott mit uns!"
"Got mittens?" she replied curiously.
"It's German for 'God's with us'", I told her smilingly.
She smiled back knowing how true that statement was.
For photos and the video of the tarictic, please see our other blog at http://ornithographer.blogspot.com/
