A Scandalous Royal Entrance

One of the most controversial truths in the Christian faith was that the Savior of the world came not as a mighty warrior but as a humble servant.

For so many years Israel have waited for the Promised Savior who will free God's people from centuries of bondage and slavery. Nations around them took turns in oppressing them and using them in forced labor. They were subjected to shameful state of existence. But all this time they were looking for a way out. They were looking to God for redemption.

Imagine their excitement when the arrival of the Messiah was announced. An angel from heaven appeared. Yehey! Everyone gets excited and expectant. Hooray! It was their moment of glory. Alright! God will at last vanquish their enemies! Yeaah! A mighty warrior is coming! But...

Instead, God Himself will come down and be with us, so goes the announcement. Oh,great! But wait, there's more! He's gonna come in a form of a baby. He is to be born in a forsaken place called Nazareth, and he will lay his head on a manger with animals around him as an entourage because that's a fitting entrance for a coming King! Then the child will grow and be a carpenter for many years and then will take to the streets to do ministry to call the people to repentance. Great plan! Then he will die a shameful, torturous death after being beaten and spat upon and laughed at and nailed on a cross. And that's it!

But many people just couldn't take that. They can't imagine why God would allow himself to be subjected to such shameful and disgraceful turn of events and to be called the "suffering servant". I couldn't understand, but it is because his thoughts are greater than mine. His ways are definitely far better than people. What he did was to demonstrate a life that we should live--with humility and total abandon to God's will.

God defeated the root of our sin--pride and rebellion--by coming down in reckless abandon of himself and total humility. It makes sense. God defeated pride with humility.

Learning from the masters

Me and Kuya James in one of our Cell Groups trips
to Dingalan,, Aurora.

Today I'd like to honor one of my spiritual fathers whose life serves as a blessing to me and to many people. It is such an honor to be discipled and mentored by someone whose selflessness and generosity defies every law of economics; whose love and compassion to people demonstrates the very Gospel he preach; whose commitment and devotion to God's work proves that theology and practice can and must always go together; whose life testimony shows God's power and delight to bless and provide; and whose faithfulness challenges the crowd to go for broke for the King because it is He who owns everything.

I'm always tempted to believe that you were the one who wrote the Book of James--and for what reason, I need only to look at your life examples to be so convinced. Thank you for investing not only in material things that you abundantly have now because of the Lord, but also for investing so much of your resources, time, and life to other people. You have taught us that investing in people and in God's Kingdom is the best investment we can make. Serving the Lord in the ministry is so much worth it because of servants like you.

I am learning a lot from you Kuya. Our coffee sessions every once in a while benefit not only my spiritual but also my emotional and intellectual well-being. I treasure every life lesson you share to me. Cheers to more coffee sessions with you! Happy birthday Tatay James!

*Posted as a Facebook status dated October 5, 2016,

For such a time as this

Today is the day the vision will come to pass. Our campus ministry will simultaneously lunch eight youth fellowship in our university--one for each college. It has been our prayer to reach more students and saturate the campus so that Christ's message will be made known to all. We are taking the Great Commission to another level through this ministry--to go intentional in our strategies in making disciples for Jesus. And we're excited about the greater things God is about to do as we move to "enlarge the place of our tents" as mentioned in Isaiah 54. We've decided to never hold back and aim for more! And praise God because He is answering our prayers and desire to raise up a generation of youth that is passionate for Jesus; and to raise up CLSU as a Christ-Led State University.

What we are about to experience is a greater season of revival, a greater season of expansion and taking possession of God's promise, a greater season of harvest and making Christ known. This is our season, our time. We are grateful because we are living in such a time as this!

I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by the way God responds to prayers. For so long in my journey with the Lord, prayer and seeking God in His word seemed more like routine than affection expressing itself into craving for His presence. There are countless times when my prayer life and devotion appear powerless just because there was still that part of me that wanted to exert control over things in my life, not really embracing the reality that God is supreme and He knows best. In the process of being so naive and reserved, I have limited God in what He can accomplish to me and through me.

But thankfully, it wasn't the end of my story. God had met me in the middle of my delusions and offered me clarity. If it wasn't for His abounding grace, I might have been a person with no cause to fight for other than to exist and just be gone. It's still mind-blowing--the fact that this God of the universe have left His place in the high heavens not only to pacify the tensions in my heart but to give me an entirely new one.

Since then, I have learned to depend on His grace alone and trust in His love so that even if things appear irrational and utterly absurd, I will be comforted by the truth that this exceeding love will never lead me to a place where I shouldn't be.

And here I am on this place, talking about the goodness of God and looking back at how He revealed Himself through people I have met and will yet meet. Here I am thinking about His wonderful plan for my life, being assured of the promise that faithfulness and obedience have blessings.

I have thus decided that the overarching purpose of my life is to declare Jesus Christ. Nothing more, nothing less.

It will happen!

It was exactly this time last year when we came together as "partners for the gospel" to pray fervently for more breakthroughs in our campus ministry; when we asked the Lord of the heavens to pour out anointing on His people; when we tarried with eager expectation for the Kingdom to come here on earth; and just humble before His mighty presence.

One year ago--and we are beholders of what the Lord has done and about to do in our campus. Truly, God is not only a Promise-giver but a faithful Promise-keeper!

Looking back, it was one of our most exciting year yet! Our weekly Youth Fellowship at the university has been sustained with an average attendance of 500-600 students. Last year, we peaked at 1200 in attendance at our fellowship at the University Oval. And just last February this year, LAYF was awarded the Best Student Activity of a student organization, and our youth group, LASO was declared as the Best Student Organization under Non-college based/campus ministry category. We've seen more cell groups being formed, and more lives being led to Christ. But the best is yet to come. God is truly unstoppable!

This week, we will simultaneously launch eight college youth fellowships inside the CLSU campus. After a year of prayer, planning, and preparation, we are now ready to conquer the land with and for the Lord. Realizing that it's about time to expand and to reach and to saturate, these eight college fellowships will serve as a platform to intentionally make Christ known and His name glorified. We're just excited to see our prayers coming to pass. We're excited to see a passionate generation coming up!

A good friend have asked me one time when I finally decided to leave my work to serve full time in the ministry, "why do you do what you do?" I replied: because it's the only thing I know that's worth doing. I never thought about the magnitude of my answer the moment I said it. It was for me an impulsive and romanticized reply back then. But I clearly see now. I have answered correctly and reasonably. And there's no taking it back.

I have found something that's worth giving my life to.

That grand story of us

Dear Warrior Princess,

It feels rather odd, you know. This idea of you and me finding its way to prose and poetry and all the beautiful words I should be saying to you right now but couldn't because it seemed that the Grand Author has yet to finish this wonderful prologue of our story. He's not in a bit of a rush. And He won't budge in my persistent insistence to just bring us here now and just figure it all out later. He's teaching me a lot about patience in between the waiting and the working. And I'm learning why.

I believe each story has a reason. They were written to inspire, to incite positive emotions (though some don't), to reveal to us something important about our self, to tell us that our life is not just a passing point in history but it contributes to a larger story and impacts other lives. And these stories, when pieced together will make us realize that every plot, every character, every incident, every line leads to a wonderful conclusion. That every detail was there for a reason.

In the stories of our lives, the same is true. The Master story-teller carefully situates every plot and character to bring about a story like no other. He writes our life story with uttermost love and loyalty to us, making sure that we would be experiencing the best possible story there is. And when you know that this Writer does not make mistakes, you can't help but respond with devotion and longing for more of Him.

And the romantic story of US? Well, the prologue is getting better I guess. Let's just both enjoy it for a while. Though sometimes I wish I could take just a glimpse of the table of contents of our love story, but I know it would defeat the purpose of waiting and believing for it. Besides, if we can already figure out the story, the anticipation would dissipate and the excitement would not be there as it should be.

I'm waiting on God, my beloved Warrior Princess. And I just know that when God begins the first chapter of our story together, it's gonna be an exciting and fulfilling journey ahead. We will realize that all the plot twists and rising and falling actions and the detours were meant for us to find each other.

Isn't that a great story? :)

Waiting with great delight,
Your Warrior Prince