Our First Christmas

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
(Isaiah 9:6)

Do you still remember your first Christmas? Most probably, at that time, you don't even know how to spell C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S! Yet, as you grow older, December becomes one of the most anticipated and animated month of your year.

As for us, this year 2007 is our first Christmas as a family! We remember how nine (9) months ago, Hannah was born. By December 7, 2007 our daughter has equaled the time she spent inside Aileen's womb! About 2000 years ago, our Savior was born in a manger minus all the glamour of today's Christmas.

As we stare at our child with all our hopes and dreams for her, we realize that our Lord Jesus Christ was born to die for the world. He who was born in an obscure place became the King who has no place to lay His head on. Yet, He left the world to prepare a place for us in His heavenly kingdom!

Hannah will be spending her first Christmas here in Manila and celebrate her grandmother Lory's birthday on December 27 (my mom's first birthday with Hannah). The following day, Hannah flies over to Cebu for the first time with her first flight for "free" as an infant via Cebu Pacific and spends her first New Year being seen for the first time by many of Aileen's relatives and friends.

Then, Hannah gets the chance to greet for the first time her grandmother Linda, "Happy Birthday" (in sign language) by January 3. Hannah will also witness the birth of her first cousin in Cebu and travel to Bantayan Island also for the first time and enjoy her first sun bathing in the beach! A dozen of firsts for our firstborn child!

We also remember about a year before Hannah was born (March 2006), Aileen and I were in a missions trip to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, seeing the ruins of this tsunami-stricken city. Our tour guide, Ahyar shared that he grew up as a Muslim with no idea of the Christmas story. He inquired from a Christian friend where he can find the story about Christmas.

Ahyar was given the Holy Bible, where he discovered for the first time in his life who the Christ of Christmas was. He eventually became a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. When his father found out that his son became a believer of Christianity, he asked his co-league in the military to come to his house one night with a mission of killing his son Ahyar! If not for his mother's mercy, who asked Ahyar to leave the house through their back door, he might no longer be in the world today.

As we celebrate Christmas this year, let us remember our brothers and sisters in Christ, who dwells in the other side of the globe who are celebrating Christmas in a hostile and life-threatening environment.

May this Christmas be a moment of rededication of our lives to the Christ of Christmas. May the Lord Jesus be the centerpiece of our celebration and may He once again be given the rightful place in us, right there at the center of our hearts! May we also bring Christ back in Christmas as we share the love of Jesus to our friends & loved ones! May you have a Blessed Christmas & a Spirit-filled New Year!

A House with No Boundaries

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)

Is there a place where you can find company owners, office staffs, drivers, carpenters, mute workers and house helpers eat together, sleep together under one roof and study God's Word together? You can find this unique place in "Glorious Morning Construction & Industrial Sales" at Aurora Boulevard, Quezon City, Philippines.

Every Tuesday, right after working hours, at about 5:30pm, everyone in the hardware store is encouraged to go to the back side of the compound and enter the house of Mr. & Mrs. Jun Chang for Bible Study. Everyone gathers in the dining area by 5:45pm as we pray over the buffet dinner served by the company. While eating in the living room, everyone watches cable television from a huge wide screen TV. By 6:30pm, right after washing the dishes, everyone gathers in the living room to listen to God's Word.

We start off the Bible Study with an Ice Breaker question, where everyone shares their stories and experiences. Then we proceed to studying God's Word in Tagalog (Filipino language) and discuss together how to make it relevant in our lives. Even some workers who are mute sit with us & ask other workers to write down the Bible passages in a piece of paper while they open up their Bibles to read them. Currently, we're studying the Book of Romans. The Bible study ends by 7:30pm with one of the workers praying to thank God for what was learned that evening.

Last September 2007, we celebrated our second year anniversary as Glorious Morning Bible Study group. For the past two years, as I taught God's Word to these workers, the Lord made me realize: (1) God's Family is open to all people from all walks of life, (2) God's Word still changes lives when faithfully sown in people's hearts, (3) God's Work can be brought into the lost world through our work environment and (4) God's Name can be glorified when we take off social, racial & economic boundaries for the cause of Christ & His gospel.

One day, people from every nation, tribe, people and language will be gathered in God's kingdom worshiping the King of kings and the Lord of lord. May He use each of us today to go into all ethnic people groups and make disciples for Jesus for His glory and honor!

`07 Wonders of God

"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders You have done. The things You planned for us no one can recount to You; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare." (Psalm 40:5)

Few months ago, Seven (7) new Wonders of the World were shown in many local headlines. Yet, have you ever taken notice of the “seven” (2007) Wonders of God in your life? Well, one of the great blessing of God in my life occurred last June 4-23, 2007 when I was selected as a delegate to the Global Proclamation Academy (GPA) 2007!

GPA is on its third year now and was born out of a vision & calling of Dr. Ramesh Richard, a faculty of Dallas Seminary & President of Ramesh Richard Evangelism & Church Health (RReach). His passion is to evangelize opinion leaders & strengthen pastoral leaders globally. 26 young pastors, 1 from each country, from 4 different continents were brought together for a once-in-a-lifetime, ministry-defining moment in the historic campus of Dallas Theological Seminary for 3 weeks of intensive pastoral training.

The Lord has uniquely bonded all twenty-six (26) of us & we instantly became friends! Daily, we heard amazing testimonies of God’s mighty works through personal testimonies & ministry highlights. During weekdays, we learned from the likes of Dr. Robert Coleman (author of The Master Plan of Evangelism), Dr. Howard Hendricks (one of the finest professors of Dallas Theological Seminary), Dr. Charles Ryrie (author of the Ryrie Study Bible), Dr. Mark Bailey (President of Dallas Theological Seminary), Dr. Norman Geisler (world renowned Christian apologist) & so much more! During weekends, we stayed with host families, who toured us around Dallas, took us shopping & brought us to their churches.

This Wonder of God in my life is a monument of how great & awesome our God is, who never ceases to reveal His greatness in ways we can never imagine!

Pitstops of Life

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

Formula One Racers face each championship match knowing that somewhere along the race, they are not invincible. Even if they are driving the top of the line race cars, they cannot avoid and would need to go through “Pit Stops”.

When I got back to Manila end of June 2007, coming from about a month long spiritual rejuvenation from the Global Proclamation Academy (GPA) in Dallas, USA, I got myself quickly into the thick of the action of ministry life.

Second week of July 2007, my wife and I brought our lovely daughter for check-up due to cough and colds. Hannah’s doctor diagnosed her with asthma, which brought about a big shock to us as parents. The next two weeks was the toughest time we had as parents. Hannah had fever in the evenings and she would have difficulty breathing. We would wrestle with her so she would take her medicines and even inhale through the nebulizer. There was one specific evening that I watched her in pain that I prayed to the Lord that if it would be possible, let me exchange places with her. Then and only then did I realize how deep God’s love is for us, His children, whenever we face painful circumstances in life.

Aileen and I prayed for our daughter like we never prayed before. We found ourselves even in tears for more than a few instances.

Praise be to God, He answered prayers and healed Hannah from her cough, colds and fever. We are trusting God that her asthma would be completely healed by Him, who alone has total control of everything that happens in and around us.

This Pit Stop in our family life brought us closer as a couple to one another, to our daughter and to our dear Heavenly Father, who deserves all praise for calling us to run the race and to wait upon Him during the Pit Stops of Life!

Miracles of Faith

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:26)

Do miracles still happen today? Oftentimes, miracles are viewed as extra-ordinary events that are beyond the norm. The Bible shows that miracles happen when God acts supernaturally while men believe in what God promises in unexpected circumstances. The Lord Jesus said, "For nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37) Yes, God still performs miracles today! It may be easy for anyone to believe this, but it's not something people expect to happen daily in one’s life. Yet, it can happen to anyone ... like what He did to my family.

When God called me last April 3, 1993 to follow Him as a Full-Time Christian worker, I initially struggled and hesitated. As a Manufacturing Engineering on-the-job trainee in Nestlé Philippines, I was offered a job by the Chief Engineer about a year before I graduated from college. One Nestlé Factory Technical Trainee mentioned to me that thousands upon thousands apply for every single job opening in that company. I told the Lord, "If I follow you, where will I get my finances to provide for my family ... if I'll have a family someday?"

Today, fourteen years after, God blessed me with a family and He has miraculously provided for all our needs … Before Aileen and I got married last April 10, 2005, my mom offered to pay off my wedding expenses. Yet, God spoke to my heart and told me that if I'm already living a life of faith, why can't I trust Him to provide for my wedding? So I humbly told her, "Mom, I won't use that money. I'll trust God to provide for my wedding expenses."

Eventually, we got married in Cebu, went to Bantayan Island for honeymoon, accompanied by family and friends from all over the world and had dinner reception in Manila. Through it all, God miraculously provided!

Two months before we got married, the Lord led Aileen to join me in living a life of faith. She resigned as Chief Occupational Therapist of the Rehabilitation Department of Metropolitan Hospital. Incidentally, the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) awarded Aileen for three straight years as the Best Occupational Therapy (O.T.) Clinical Supervisor among all the hospitals and centers that UST O.T. Interns got their training from.

Two months after we got married, God called Aileen to study in the International School of Theology (ISOT-Asia) and take the Partners in Ministry (PIM) program, which was designed to train Pastor's wife. I raised funds for her tuition but nobody responded. By faith, Aileen enrolled and praise be to God, a classmate unexpectedly but miraculously supported her entire tuition fee all throughout her two years of classes until her graduation six months ago!

When Aileen found out that she's pregnant sometime in July of 2006, we asked a Christian doctor to refer us to an OB-GYNE. We just walked in the doctor's clinic and amazingly, Aileen's Christian OB never charged her any fees all throughout her check-ups! Eventually, Hannah was born six months ago at St. Luke's Medical Center, which is one of the prime and expensive hospitals in the country. Miraculously, Aileen's OB once again offered her services for free! To top it all, Hannah's Christian Pediatrician likewise did not ask for any doctor's fee! May the Lord bless their generous heart!

As a church planter and missionary pastor of Christian Agape Fellowship (CAFÉ) for the past five years, I did not receive nor accept any support or salary from the church. CAFÉ is composed predominantly of college students and fresh graduates. The Lord gave me the strength and faith to trust Him to provide for me. Miraculously, God provides in magnificent and wonderful ways I can't imagine!

Many more stories can be narrated but one theme is crystal clear ... "A Life of Faith is supernaturally miraculous!" We dedicate our lives and miracles to God and hope that all glory be given to Him, who is the author and finisher of our faith! May you likewise grow in your faith in Him and experience the miracles that He freely bestows upon those who deeply trusts Him and daily live on the promises of His Word!

Earth Shakers

Do we love our Planet Earth? Nobody among us wants to see our world reach completely deterioration and decapitation. Therefore, we need to rise up and save our world!

Yet, we should not just be consumed in saving the physical planet but focus more on the root cause of those polluting our world! Sad to say, most often, we “Earthlings” ourselves are to be blamed for destroying the earth with our distorted values!

CAFÉ introduces …

EARTH SHAKERS

“Shake the Earth. Make a Difference.”

Vision: We, Earth Shakers, are a New Breed of Youth that makes a long and lasting impact in our Society for Jesus.

Mission: We exist as a movement of Values Formation, Character Transformation & National Reformation.

Earth Shakers was successfully launched with 40 delegates through the F.F.F. Camp (Fresh Air, Freeze with Friends & Free of Stress) at the Caliraya Re-creation Center in Lumban, Laguna last October 26-27, 2007.

The results of the F.F.F. Camp are as follows:

* 12 Prayed to receive Jesus as Lord & Savior.

* 22 Recommitted their Lives to Jesus Christ.

* 14 wanted to continue to be part of a Care Group.

* 21 wanted to know more about Jesus Christ.

May all glory and honor be given to our Lord Jesus Christ!

A Glimpse of the Harvestfield

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Romans 10:14)

Stories of great Christian Missionaries (Hudson Taylor, William Carrey, Jim Elliot, etc.) are usually archived in many libraries of Bible Schools and Seminaries. Wouldn't it be nice to meet one of them today face to face? I had one encounter last month.

Bro. Kynsai and I became friends and co-workers when he was a student at the International School of Theology - Asia (ISOT) from 1998 to 2000. He assisted me in the Youth Ministry when I was Youth Pastor of Quezon City Evangelical Church. We were also part of an Iron-Sharpening Group or discipleship group in ISOT and even went to Nepal together for Professional Internship.

Right after his graduation from ISOT, he launched out as a missionary among the Tibetan Buddhists. He labored hard for a number of years, learning the Tibetan language, translating one of the gospels and some discipleship materials into Tibet language and reaching the lost, eagerly waiting for his first fruit of the harvest field.


After almost five (5) years, seeing no single person turn to Christ, he and his wife planned to pack up their belongings, leave the place and move to another mission field. Yet, something miraculous and unexpected happened! A Tibetan Buddhist monk who travelled from his country, crossing the Himalayan mountains by foot, came to him telling him that he read his translations about Christianity and would like to know more about Jesus!

Amazingly, after a number of years of discipleship with Bro. Kynsai, this monk decided to believe in Jesus and even committed to be a servant of Jesus for life! His decision to follow Jesus was not an easy route cause he received a letter from his religious leader encouraging him to return to their faith. His parents, family members and close friends have forsaken him and even some have threatened to kill him because of his decision to follow Jesus.

Last September 9-12, 2007, Bro. Kynsai came to Manila to visit friends. My family and I had the opportunity to meet him and his disciple. We heard their stories first hand and our hearts were so blessed to see that God still actively works, sometimes in marvelous ways, to bring the harvest into His kingdom!