Monday, April 30, 2007

The Teacher's Vindication

Being a Sunday school teacher is not a joke. If it seems easy to deal with young kids, well, its certainly not true. Kung may pinakamahirap gawin, yun eh yung turuan ang mga bata. Its actually very critical, 'coz whatever you teach them, then they will adapt and they will think that its right. So if you're giving them misleading facts or knowledge...then, there's a high risk that they will grow up downsidedly.

I teach to kids ages 10-12, and I must say that these were the most inquisitive stage as they really ask every single detail and every single why and how on the things you're talking about. Since we're practically tackling values, Christianity and being Christ-centered individual, a very sensitive care should be given off.

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Last Sunday, I was on my day-off in Sunday teaching. We attended the 7:30AM service. To our surprise, our head pastor have asked that the testimony be shared by the children. Then I saw two of my students getting ready to testify their wacky but sensible stories.

It was Aldie who came first, I was surprised and clueless what will he share about the goodness of God in his life. Being his teacher, I must admit that I don't know if I'm being effective every Sunday sharing and telling them bible and people stories contemplating on the right attitude and Christian values for children and as an individual. Then he started by saying, he had stole 100 pesos before, and he was not contented, so he attempted to stole an even bigger money amounting to 500 pesos, however, he was to get caught so he never pursue. But because of God's grace, he was enlightened to the fact that stealing is bad...through reading the bible and by the influence of his teachers.

The second one to testify was Horace. This kid is not an ordinary boy, he was one of the naughtiest and stubborn in the group. He always tease the other kids or make fun whenever he sees something he thinks as funny. He share the story of how he used to cheat with his school exams. Whenever he would fail in his test, he would take his papers and put a check mark on the wrong answers so his score would pass again. Then he would show it to his mom who's trustful to the boy. For a time, he said he was doing this until his teacher told them that cheating is a no-no.

I felt glad upon hearing them, 'coz it was really unexpected that day. That morning I was feeling low about my teaching, the way the system goes, but then, hope comes again that I can make a difference even if the system is not outstanding. Its just a matter of perseverance and focus on glorifying God through these children. In my heart, I know that I am really thankful at that moment. The feeling of being like a robot who stands in front of those kids every Sunday, talking endlessly, seems melted. What I felt that moment is an urge to do more...to do better...'coz God is helping me make these kids respond. I witnessed God's miracle in a simple way.

Again, I bring the honor, praise and Glory to God...

Monday, April 23, 2007

Unwell

I'm not feeling well today, I really feel that the heat of the weather is filling up my whole body, my throat was coarsy & dry.

Today was another manic Monday, so many stuff to do at work, and when 4 pm hits the clock, my boss told us that there's more to do so we should stay :(

I travel back home using mass transportation, and I felt even worse when I smell the smoke and dust bursted off by the rampaging vehicles.

Too bad, still I couldn't go to bed 'coz I've got to finish preparing my passdown so my workload could be eased.

God help me. Amen.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Surprise Day Off...

Well, this morning was a relief....God must have noticed me...I really felt tired 'coz I haven't got a day-off from teaching in Sunday School since we began re-formatting the class last February. I was teaching children of ages 10-12. Most of the time, I would tell the story related to the topic assigned for that Sunday, then later on, I would bring back the question and analogy of the values and story to our present time. Glad that the children are responding at anyhow.

Today, Avic, the teacher's team leader, brought me the good news that Dess' sister (Dess is my counterpart handling ages 10-12, we are shifting in short) will join us handling the 10-12 group. Thus, she told me to take the day-off next Sunday :)

Its not that I'm complaining or getting tired of serving in the ministry. As a matter of fact, this duty is only a dot compared to what God is doing in my life now. He has been so faithful to me even if I am unfaithful. I just felt that my physical body just don't go in harmony with my spirit at this point, need some time to refresh myself and ponder on how I could improve in my way of teaching and influencing those children to be the person that God wants them to be.

2 Hours with a Friend from Beyond

Just arrived home an hour ago with my 'lil sis from a full packed-2 hour meeting with someone we met just today. She was our friend we got to know from PEX. I thought I was the only one who's shy during first meeting with someone I only knew by the net, somehow, today just proves again that I'm not alone. There are people who's even more shy than me...haha. Perhaps, the emotions that startling most of the not so outgoing people doing their first so-called eyeball is a "strucked moment". Its a feeling like you don't know what to say because the person from the other side of the cable is now in front of you. I felt the same way when I met up with Mira, she's the first friend from the space that i met personally. Our first meeting was not really dull, 'coz I tried to be as friendly and relaxed as possible. Good thing that there's a lot of things we commonly like. Mira is also with us today, and she was amply generous in paying for our EK pass.

Entering the park today was unplanned 'coz we are to go to another commitment by 5PM, and its already 3 o'clock when we arrived there. Somehow, the 2 hours was worth the time 'coz I've seen my sister and the 3 fellows with us enjoying each other.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Apple iPhone to hit the market in June

Teleclick.ca reports that AT&T will be launching iPhone this June 11 in the US. iPhone is the much hyped new mobile phone offerring from the company that gives us iMac and iPod - Apple. This is the first mobile phone to be offered by Apple to the public after their success with iPod.

"iPhone combines three amazing products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone. "
www.apple.com/iphone

Check this out soon...might land in Asian soil too :)



Of Stones: In the heat of summer..

Its almost midway through summer, and as days pass by, temperature is swinging from 30~38 degrees Celsius, and humidity is way way high. My officemates and I went on a lunch out for 3 consecutive days just this week and I couldn't describe if I am getting sick because of the extremely hot temperature outside. Night time makes no difference irregardless of how long you take that cool shower, at the end you'll still feel heat.

This circumstance reveals the adverse effect of man's carelessness to his mother earth. The fact is, whatever destructive actions we do to the environment are irreversible. And whatever man is experiencing today is only a vindication of what the earth had suffered from the irresponsible acts of humankind.