Know Your King

For the past few weeks, we have been studying more about Jesus. From our weekly Bible study, Come Be My Follower, to several consecutive weeks of study articles in Watchtower, and we even had the special issue of Watchtower that focused on Jesus alone, I wonder and I thought, I think we were like being "getting prepared" to get to know the King of God's Kingdom. And that's just makes sense. Just like in human politics, voters need to know their candidates. But here, we don't need a candidate, because there's no other candidate than the ultimate ruler that God appointed, Jesus-Christ.
In our studies, it describes how Christ would be the greatest ruler of all. It just amazes me how his character is so humble and gentle and yet firm and strong. That he even stay away from fame and be glorified publicly by people despite his greatness, and yet he never claimed it. Instead, he gives all the glory to his father, Jehovah. And how it is sooooo opposite of human politicians. Our bible highlights this past weeks is the book of Samuel. And it tells about how the Israelites are wanting to have a human king, a king that can be seen, despite all the miracles that Jehovah showed them, they fall on the snare of "sight". And so God chose Saul, who started as a humble young man, but he was consumed and corrupted by power. Which most human rulers are today. Once they had the power in their hands, they can't control it. They want to control everything instead.
But I want to concentrate on Jesus's personality as a King. His humility, his kindness, his disposition, his wisdom, and his power. But in our studies, it always emphasizes the importance of humility. It's like there is a great need for us to work on. And I agree, I think this is one thing that most people should work on. The snare of pride, the temptation of arrogance of one's success, all came from....whoelse? Satan the Devil. It's all his machinations to put in our imperfect hearts to seek fame, glory, greed and all sorts of covetousness. It's amazing how Jesus choses the lowly-ones as his apostles. Fisherman, farmer, no one really out of highly educated circle so to speak. Not that he's got something against it, but God only wants to prove that the "meek ones" will possess the earth.(Psalms 37:10,11) And meekness means "teachable". But if you're too high-minded, however good you are, if you're not "meek", you're not "teachable"....you're OUT! And look at the world's rulers and their constituents. Most, if not all, are "high-minded", some even to the point of wanting to rule the world, and trying to erase a certain geneology in history (Hitler for example).
I can spend all day talking about Christ, but it all comes down to one thing....Men cannot direct his own steps(Jeremiah 10:23). It has been more than six thousand years when men tried to stand on his own, but to no avail. The issue that Satan raised right from the garden of Eden is now almost finished. His uncanny manuevering over the world has now come to a halt. The time for God's appointed King is fast-approaching. And we are being prepared to get to know our King. We have been praying the "Lord's Prayer" since we were kids, we say, "let your kingdom come, as it is in heaven, also upon the earth". It all makes sense at the end, why do we pray for God's Kingdom anyway?
It's funny when some would say "just accept Christ in your heart!" But the question is, will Christ accept us? It's not for us to invite Christ, it's him who's asking us to follow him. Follow his footsteps. He left a model for us. And it's a great privilege for us to be invited by the Greatest Man who ever lived on earth. So, it's up to us to accept the invitation and be his follower. Are we humble enough to be his follower? Are we humble enough to be meek and teachable so we'd be able to be a citizen on his Kingdom?

Got To Believe In MAGIC

Okay, alright, pardon me but I gotta do this. This is like my blog post last year. About the Orlando Magic team. The difference is....I have more confidence in them now than before. Why? Simply because the team is much stronger. With a fab five starters consists of Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Rashard Lewis, Matt Barnes and the Daytona native Vince Carter. Plus, the bench players whom play like starters, namely Mikael Pietrus, JJ Redick, Ryan Anderson, Marcin Gortat, Brandon Bass, Jason Williams, Anthony Johnson. Like last year, when Cavaliers, even though they are the number one team in terms of wins, had a hard time playing against the Magic. Magic has the deepest bench in NBA. Give all the credit to general manager Otis Smith for trading in a very good line up.
The first round with a sweep against the Bobcats and now facing the Hawks for the second round. You would think that the Hawks has more weapons compared to Bobcats(Al Horford, Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford). But the humiliating defeat in the first game is really something. Hawks struggled the whole game and was defeated by 43 points. Another first in NBA history since 1958. But they should not be over confident since the Hawks will go back with a vengeance. And so, the second game came. But despite the more improved game of Hawks, Magic still got it for 14 points ahead.
There are too many highlights in the game, not to mention Dwight sat on the bench mostly during the first round for foul trouble. But in the second round, Dwight dominates the game, avoiding foul trouble, he really makes a difference on the floor. Team mates Jameer's stellar performance, Sweet Lew's(Rashard Lewis) 3-pointer dagger, Matt Barnes's offensive rebounds and tough defense, and Vince Carter's last-minute plays.
During the whole regular season and up to play-offs, hearing more and more of Lebron is sickening. His injured elbow is probably the most famous elbow in history of mankind. Awarded the MVP award without being 1st in any of the categories. He is 2nd only to Kevin Durant in scores, then the rest, blocks, assist, field goal percentage, they all belong to Dwight Howard. And yet, the Queen James is still the MVP. No doubt, he's a good player but I can't see why they keep on promoting him, they didn't even made it to the finals and he doesn't even have a ring! He throws tantrums, a poor sport and treats a towel boy like a crap. Oh well...
My point in this post is Magic should have the respect from media. Even coaches from other teams agree. NBA veteran coach Larry Brown can't think of words why they lost to Magic in a 4-0 sweep. He just said that this team is so good. And that they cannot match up. He recognized Dwight as MVP and doesn't have to score. Doc Rivers once said to his Boston Celtics team when the team said they are greater than Magic, Doc Rivers said " No, you're not. They just beat you up 3 times in a row!" And now, Hawks's Mike Woodson comments after the 2nd loss to Magic, "It takes a perfect game to beat this team."
Though Magic has their ups and downs, but so far, they are playing excellent, the bottomline is....you just GOT TO BELIEVE IN MAGIC.

Sneak Peek at The Whalens

We were suppose to have a family shoot at the park last March 21st, Sunday. But heavy rains came in the afternoon. And nobody knew that it's gonna rain that day. I am pretty much updated with the weather as far as I am is concerned. But anyways, the Whalens still invited us for dinner. It was like 5 o'clock in the afternoon when the rain stopped and the sun finally came out. So, I thought I will just take snap shots of the kids. We had a wonderful turkey dinner and a nice association. We will re-sked the photoshoot at the park again.

Acceptance

When people experience troubles, grief, or any kind of disappointment, for most part, acceptance is the hardest part. Most friends will say "move on" and that's true. But moving on is hard when you haven't accepted the truth. It's not easy realizing the truth...specially when it hurts. Time heals wounds is what they say. And I guess that's the best cure.
I was amazed when I see a lot of tv commercials here in the United States advertising different kinds of Depression pills, which I am not used to from where I came from. So, that means deppression is common in this country. And to think that this is a rich country. But regardless of where we live, depression is something that's becoming common. Economy, job loss, delinquent kids and adults alike, prejudice, sickness, death and the list goes on. I am glad that because of the truth I learned from God's word, the Bible, I knew that all of these was caused by Satan. He's the one behind all of these. And very soon, this will all come to past.
But because we are only human, sometimes things overwhelms us. We're not perfect, we are not superheroes with superhuman powers. We have to fight this battle.
It's been almost 8 months since my mother died. But I still have recurring dreams of her. Even though I could say that I have accepted her death, the sadness still haunts me. Probably I just missed her. Probably I haven't fully accepted the truth that i have no parents anymore. I was only 8 when my father died. Good thing I had my mother for a long time. But I admit that I still cannot comprehend that my parents are gone.
Then I have an old friend, a childhood friend, or say my childhood sweetheart. He left when I was 12 and we did not see each other since. All this time, I never forgot him. And occasionally I was wondering what had happened to him and such. All I know is that he married an american lawyer. Then I got hold of his sister just a few weeks ago. I was so excited that finally I could get news from him and maybe catch up with him. But I was surprised when she said that he died only last December. He died in a car accident. And what surprises me most is that he died in Manila(He's based in US), and I was in Manila during that time. We were both on a vacation in Manila! But I have no idea that he's there and he passed away. I would even pass by the funeral home where he lies all that time i'm in Manila!
It shocked me. Not that I am longing for him and all that, but to think that we are so close and just a thought of catching up with good old friends is what I've been longing to. Then, i'd find out that he's gone. All i see is his pictures that his sister sent me. She even told me that he's been so depressed too and had a bad marriage that's why he went back to Manila and considering of staying there for good, with his siblings.
These are just some of the things that sometimes hard to accept. we can easily say, "that's life". But sometimes moving on is hard when you still cannot accept the truth. But for my part, i'd say i have moved on. I only have lapses of sadness from time to time, missing loved ones and such. Plus, my uncle also died recently.
For my childhood friend, I want to dedicate this blog for him too. although we had a brief time together, I want to thank him. And although it's just a "puppy love", i want to thank him. He's the first man who ever said "i love you" to me and even gave me a gold necklace with his name etched on it. He's the first one who wrote me love letters. He's the first one who gave me flowers and chocolates. He's the first man who cared for me. He's the first man who made me feel special. I guess it's true, "first love may die, but you won't forget it"....

Playing, playing....with PS.

Just had photoshop CS3 installed in our laptop and I am currently learning to use it. I need it. If I wanted to do photography as a side job. So here's some experiments I did....

Well, I Guess They Haven't Lost That Magic!

Sorry guys, I gotta do this. It was a real heart-thumping game between Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics last night at the Amway Arena in Orlando. After the loss of Magic over Celtics last Dec.25, and at home, plus the fact that Boston is a real tough team, who would thought that Orlando will have the victory? From the very start of the game, Celtics already leads 9 points ahead for only a couple of minutes. It has gotten worse when the lead came up to 16 at the 2nd half. Magic fans feeling hopeless, including me and my husband, it makes me wanna throw-up, seriously. We thought that when Jameer Nelson was able to make those 10 consecutive points in the first quarter, that they'd be able to atleast keep up. But the Celtics simply can't stop. 3 points everywhere from almost every member of the team. Ray Allen, Rasheed Wallace, Eddie House, oh my, I thought they had it all!
Then the 4th quarter, Magic made a big come back. With all those big and important guys of Celtics in foul trouble (4 each)...Magic took that advantage. We were even surprised to see Howard and Gortat play together! I guess that's Stan Van Gundy's strategy...to intimidate the Celtics bullies. Well, it works excellent. The use of the "twin towers" works very good.
I feel bad for Vince Carter. He's a great player but since he's been injured left and right, he has not been himself. He's been playing poorly. I even get upset and wondering why Van Gundy keeps on using him. I love Vince but he needs a break! He's just simply in a bad shape and needs enough rest to recover.
But what made us so excited is when Dwight's getting good shots, Gortat is doing a good job, JJ Redick put that 3-point dagger that tied the score in the last 15 seconds. Then the last 14.1 seconds is where the decision will be made. The original play was Redick will pass the ball to Carter and Carter will make the shot. But because of the strong defense of Celtics to Carter, Redick made the smart decision of passing the ball to Rashard Lewis who was just standing in the corner, and when he saw that Redick and Carter is being hustled by Pierce and Allen, he ran towards Redick and get the ball realizing that the time is running out. So, for the last 5 seconds, sweet Lew drive the ball to the basket and made 2 points leaving Celtics 1.3 seconds left to try to tie the score, hopefully. On the other hand I thought that maybe Van Gundy plays reverse psychology with the Celtics. Probably Celtics think that Carter will get the ball and so they guarded him strictly leaving Rashard open. In NBA, never under estimate the 1 second. A second can still make a lot of difference. And so Rondo passed the ball to Wallace for a catch and shoot play. Wallace, never get the chance to aim, missed the 3 point shot that sealed Magic to victory! Whew! What a game!!!!
In every game or sports, the mind plays the big part. it's all about strategy. I even thought that Garnett should have fouled Lewis and even he made the free throw shots, this will still give them atleast 3 or 4 seconds left and can tie the game for an overtime!
Oh well, that's smart playing I'd say...it's a real exciting game.
Congrats to Magic. So, I guess, they haven't lost that magic!

Back Home Moments

Some of the photos of friends and family during our vacation in the Philippines from Dec 1 to Jan.12.