Re: The Wife

Being the writer that I am, I guess it would be inevitable to write a little letter for you – well, the things that you will love/not love about me. I guess we probably brushed by each other already, or I haven’t met you…yet. I’m really excited and praying for it, and I hope we can go on dates and stuff, y’know, get to know each other.

Here it is:

• I kind of like being outside, I mean, taking little hikes by the mountainside or by the beach, having campfires, sleeping under the stars, meh, stuff like that. I love nature, thus I prefer the outdoors.
•  Social gatherings and excessive people drain me.  Sorry. I’m introverted, and if people overwhelm me, I suddenly slip out of sight and find a quiet place to zone out. And sometimes, I get anxious. Please understand me.
• Bacon and eggs for breakfast are my love language. Yup, that’s it.
• I want to serve Jesus with you as a team. I want to serve you, and I want to serve the least of these with you. A day doing prison ministry, feeding the homeless, and serving the least of these with you is a lot better than a thousand dates in the most royal places.
• If we’re not doing anything, we’ll read a book. We’ll spend hours in the library reading books, sharing comfortable silences with each other. Well, books are quite the company, dear. Well, we can watch movies and play video games too. (I pity my boring life.)
• I’m a writing freak. I mean not those who write eye-catching articles and stuff – I write about anything, anywhere, and anytime. You’d probably be my subject, and plus you’d be featured in romance, tragedy, fantasy, fiction, and most especially the nonfiction things I write about.
• Understand that I’d be away 80% of the time. I do research, love, and I know it’s lonely for the both us. And you’ll always see me working in the dead of the night, but I promise to balance work time and “us” time. Family > work.
• I’m weird. Not common weird, but ultra hyper jengga bajillion kind of weird. The things I do are quite metaphysical and hard to understand (I know, sorry.)
• I am quite slim, but I eat like a thousand hungry horses. You’d probably eat an extra rice or two, but you’ll see me eating twice or thrice that amount.
• Being the man that I am, I cry. Sometimes depression and anxiety kicks me in the shins, and I worry and get desperate. Sorry, love, understand my flaw, and I kind of want you to be there – an ear to listen to, a shoulder to lean on, a partner to depend upon.
• I spend money on books and my little hobbies. I like video games and the science-y stuff. (-100 points?)
• PIZZA. THE BIG ONES WITH MEAT AND BACON, IF POSSIBLE.
• I’ll try my best to please you and make you feel loved and respected. Little doodles on Post-its on the fridge, 2 cups of coffee in the morning, stuff like that. I’m not sweetest, cheesiest person you’ll meet, but I’m treating you with the love and respect you deserve.
• Expect conversations. Not always about politics and stuff, but I like the exchange of thoughts between me and another human being. And trust me, it will get weird.
• I want to be your best friend, and vice versa. I want to know and understand all the parts of you – the weird one, the sensitive one, the cranky one, everything. I’d love for you to understand every facet of me, so we can understand everything about each other better.
• Lastly, I’m never giving up on us. I won’t. We’ll work things out, and I will go the extra mile. I’m clingy, I’m persuasive, I’m tenacious, and certainly I’m not letting our marriage break like that. No.

I’m not expecting a perfect life with you; rather I’m kind of excited to take on the ups, downs, and upside-down twists and turns of life with you. We’re a team on this, and we’re doing this together.

Whale Sharks – The WH’s

Distribution map for Rhincodon typus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I love sharks! As a kid I grew up reading books about the sea, and I had this book about sharks that featured a hammerhead shark’s anatomy – which appealed to my inner shark. So today’s post will be quite new and AWESOME!

Whale sharks belong to the family Rhincodontidae, with the specific name being Rhincodon typus. They are marine animals that live on the tropical to warm temperate coastal with depths that are oceanic, meaning they live at the depths of 0 to 700 meters.  Whale sharks are the largest animals ever – with maximum mature adult sizes of 12m, even ranging to 18m (59 feet).  They roam the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific seas to migrate, feed, and find a mate.

R.typus has exceptionally large mouth and virtually terminal. Gill rakers are also large, eyes lateral. Aforementioned are plankton feeders; with teeth reduced but with numerous tooth rows.

Whale sharks are classified VU under IUCN 3.1, with the status “Threatened”. Some are being killed for food, and juvenile whale sharks are being sold as illegal trade in black markets. Due to their common habit of filter feeding at or near the ocean’s surface, often for hours at a time, whale sharks are susceptible to propeller strikes and collisions with boat hulls. Observations at feeding aggregation sites, such as off Isla Mujeres in the Gulf of Mexico, demonstrated numerous sharks with propeller wounds on their back, and others with partially amputated dorsal and tail fins.

Whale sharks are awesome, yet we must not exploit them or hunt them to the point of extinction. Same with all other organisms, as we live in one biosphere together. Be rightful stewards, as it is a precious gift.

English: Size comparison of Carcharodon carcharias (Great White Shark, 6m), Rhincodon typus (Whale Shark, 12m) and conservative/maximum estimates of the largest known adult size of Carcharodon megalodon (16-20m), with a human Homo sapiens. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What Would Jesus Want You to Do?

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?  And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,  I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’  Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-46

LifeBox UST!

Yep, LifeBox UST is big alright. They’re the coolest, closely-knit, sweetest guys I have ever met! It’s great to be a part of this family who loves Jesus and loves people. Go USTe!

The Discipline of Peril

“And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.” (Matthew 24:4-6)

Our Lord talks so much about peril and disaster, and we deliberately shut our eyes and hearts and minds to it, and then when these things come, if we think at all, we are at our wit’s end; we do not know what to make of them.

“But I have said these things to you, that when the hour come you may remember that I told them to you” (John 16:4). This question is on the lips of people today: Is war of the Devil or of God? It is of neither. It if of man, though God and the Devil are behind it. War is a conflict of wills, either in individuals or in nations, and just now there is a terrific conflict of wills in nation. If I cannot make my will by diplomacy bear on other people, then the last resort is war, and always will be until Jesus Christ brings in his kingdom.

“Wars and tumults…must first take place” (Luke 21:9). Our Lord insists in the inevitableness of peril. Right through his talks with his disciples, without panic and without passion and without fear, he says: “You must lay account with this sort of thing, with war, with spite, with hatredm with jealousy, with despisings, and with death. I have told you these things, that when they happen, you may remember that I told you of them, and not be scared.”

Have we realized that the worst must happen? And yet Jesus says, “When you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified” (Luke 21:9). We are not only hearing of wars and commotions; they are right here enough. It is not imagination; it is not newspaper reports; the thing is here; there is no getting away from it. War, such as the history of the world has never known, has now begun.

Jesus Christ did not say, “You will understand why war has come,” but “Do not be terrified; do not be put in a panic.” It is astonishing how we ignore what Jesus Christ tells us. He says that the nations will end in war and bloodshed and havoc; we ignore what he says, and when war does come we lose faith in God, we lose our wits and exhibit panic.

The basis of panic is always cowardice.

(Taken from Christian Disciplines, Volume 1 by Oswald Chambers)

I Kissed Dating Goodbye…And Said Hello To Fear. (Guest post)

You don’t know it yet, but the cute church girl that you’ve been crushing on likes you back. And who can blame her? You’re a handsome beast. After months and months of starring at her during Sunday service, you finally muster up the courage to walk up to her. You become friends and you show that you’re interested in her. You muster up the courage to ask her out on a date. And just like that, she rejects you.

She liked you too. She liked you a lot. But she just didn’t know if you were…the one yet.

There’s something really wrong with this idea. Within the christian community, singles aren’t really given the right idea about dating. We often go to church and eventually hear about how the pastor and his wife got together. Whether they met at church or at the beach like Brian and Bobbie Houston: Hillsong Pastors. But other than how they met and how they got married afterwards, we know little to nothing about dating as a believer.

Sure, we have our christian books. We have books like, I kissed dating goodbye, and Hello courtship. But are books like that really necessary? To be honest, a lot of those christian books are pretty much crap. They aren’t based on biblical values and booksellers just want money.

As a christian gal, I cannot tell you how many girl friends of mine have told me they liked a guy. He’s typically super handsome. He loves Jesus. He’s a joy to be around. Blah. Blah. Blah. And then they end the whole point of their conversation with, “I don’t know Stephanie. I mean, I really like him. I just don’t know if I should date him. I know he likes me. And I can’t stop thinking about how much he loves Jesus and stuff. But I don’t know if God wants me to be in a relationship with this person.”

Ladies, let me just tell you something. If a guy likes you and you like him back, that’s not a sin. And guess what? God’s not asking you to get married and divorced with the cutie looking at you during church service in just getting to know him better. If a guy wants to take you out to dinner then hallelujah. Thank you Jesus. You’re a young person. You should be dating.

And by dating, I don’t mean worldly dating. As in, hook ups and what not. By dating I mean, let him take you out for dinner and get to know each other. And if you like him, great. And if you don’t, you don’t really owe him anything because it’s just a date.

Don’t live in this fear and over-spiritualize your love life. Be your age! Go out on a date! Just don’t be stupid about it and don’t get crazy about it.

(For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. – 2nd Timothy 1:7)

And guys, if you like a girl don’t be stupid about it. Girls don’t like games. Girls don’t like to be led on and you not do anything about it. If you like her, grow some courage and ask her out. She’s not a mind reader. And neither are you. But if you really trust God, you’ll be ok with whatever happens when you do ask her out; whether she says yes to a date or no.

A girl wants a guy that will fight to be with her. She wants a freakin courageous lion that has the courage to ask her out. None of that sissie crap that is beating around the bush. That’s just bullcrap. And pretty immature and childish. Not to mention selfuih. Let me just tell you that right now. You muster up that courage because guess what? If you can’t tell a beautiful lady how you feel about her and that you want to go on a date with her, then you have no business wanting that girl to possibly be your girlfriend. 

 (This month’s Guest Post is from my friend, Stephanie. She writes awesome stuff at her Tumblelog, http://godandthemusic.tumblr.com)
Post link here.