Our Daily Bread:
Posted in Angel 24/7

More Joy in Heaven

I dreaded the idea of attending a memorial service for an old friend. Fred had rejected the need for Jesus in his life, and because of that I was sure he was lost forever.

Yet Fred's many friendships had included followers of Jesus. At the service, as one of those friends spoke of a conversation he had in Fred's last months, my eyes filled with tears.

Fred had asked him, "Do you think I'll go to heaven?" The friend had honestly replied, "No, Fred. I don't think so." As they talked, Fred's wall of resistance began to fall, and he said, "Philip, I believe that what the Bible says is true." After a lifetime of rejecting the free gift of salvation, Fred finally accepted Jesus as his Savior.

With happy tears, I thought about the verse: "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:7). Jesus and the angels were rejoicing with me.

As Fred had requested, we stood and sang, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!" To my friend, those familiar words had become a personal reality.

Let's bring more joy to heaven by spreading the good news: Jesus loves us—this we know! 

He's Always Watching
Posted in Angel 24/7

Marcie (not her real name) had  broken up with her boyfriend, and now he was harassing her. He followed her, stared at her, and intimidated her in subtle ways. She avoided him as much as she could.

One place she could not escape his gaze was at football games, because she was a cheerleader. During one game, he stood at field level right in front of the cheerleading squad and stared at her as she did her routines. Her mom and stepdad, sitting in the stands, saw him there and realized that she was getting more and more afraid.

At a break, she ran into the stands, her eyes filled with panic. “Do you see him over there?” she blurted out. “Yes, I do,” her stepdad said. “I’m watching, and I will not take my eyes off you.” Relieved that he saw what was going on and understood how she was feeling, Marcie calmed down and went back to her station.

One of the wonderful joys of being a believer in Jesus is knowing that our Father in heaven is always watching over us. The promise expressed by David in today’s psalm applies to us wherever we go. Whatever confronts us, the “eyes of the Lord” are on us and His ears “are open to [our] cry” (Ps. 34:15).

We are never out of God’s sight. —David C. Egner

How wonderful to know that He
Who watches from above
Will always keep us sheltered in
His ever-present love.  —King

The Life Raft We Cannot See
Posted in Angel 24/7

by David Pippenger

A man found himself floating down the rapids in a river at the bottom of a canyon, miles from anywhere, in the middle of a wilderness area with his ankle broken in half.

Having been trained on how to get out of the rapids, he determined that he would get to the shore, and he did. Not having been trained in what to do with a broken ankle in the bottom of a canyon...he determined that he would walk out of the canyon and up the steep, rocky path just as he had come down. He did not.

You see, his ankle had the deciding vote, and it had decided that walking up a rocky slope was not in its best interest.

So, in an effort to appease the broken ankle, the man tried to walk using a crutch made from a tree. Which was a brilliant idea...If he had been walking on a smooth sidewalk going downhill for a short distance. But he wasn't. He was next to a river at the bottom of a canyon, miles from anywhere, in the middle of a wilderness area with his ankle broken in half.

So he decided to think of every possible solution and to choose the best one.

From helicopters to climbing teams, he imagined every possible means to get out of the canyon that was miles from anywhere, in the middle of a wilderness area-with his ankle broken in half.

But while he was thinking, a raft came around the corner. Which was interesting, because even though he had tried to think of every possible solution he had never thought of a raft. But that wasn't all. Because in the raft was a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician.

Which was particularly interesting, because the man with the broken ankle didn't know there was such a thing as a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician and he certainly didn't expect one to be on a raft that he hadn't even thought of.

Well, the Wilderness EMT made a splint with duct tape and branches from a tree and put the man in his raft, and later that night they camped at a beautiful spot on the river and ate chicken fajitas and strawberry shortcake. Which was interesting, because the man with the broken ankle thought that he would be eating the dehydrated eggs that he had in his backpack.

Then he realized that a lot of things he hadn't thought of and a lot of things that he had thought of had turned out in ways that he never thought out.

Which is why I am telling you this story. I was the man with the broken ankle. And that day next to the river at the bottom of a canyon, miles from anywhere in the middle of a wilderness area with my ankle broken in half...
I learned that I could not possibly imagine all of the amazing things that were in store for me in my life.

Proust says that we shouldn't look for new vistas, but instead look with fresh eyes. He's right. No matter what life is throwing at us, there us a raft around the corner that we cannot see.

Don't look for it; it cannot be seen. Don't predict when it will appear; it's not on your timetable. Don't doubt that it exists, for doubts will cloud your eyes and cause you to give up before it arrives.

Don't give up; give in. Give in to the idea that positive events are in your future, even if you can't see them. Give in to the idea that positive events are in your future, even if you can't imagine what they could possibly be.

There's a raft around the corner.

"What are Big Girls Made of?"
Posted in Angel 24/7

by Marge Piercy

The construction of a woman
a woman is not made of flesh
of bone and sinew
belly and breasts, elbows and liver and toe.
She is manufactured like a sports sedan.
She is retooled, refitted and redesigned
every decade.

Cecile had been seduction itself in college.
She wriggled through bars like a satin eel,
her hips and ass promising, her mouth pursed
in the dark red lipstick of desire.

She visited in '68 still wearing skirts
tight to the knees, dark red lipstick,
while I danced through Manhattan in mini skirt,
lipstick pale as apricot milk,
hair loose as a horse's mane. Oh dear,
I thought in my superiority of the moment,
whatever has happened to poor Cecile?
She was out of fashion, out of the game,
disqualified, disdained,
dismembered from the club of desire.

Look at pictures in French fashion
magazines of the 18th century:
century of the ultimate lady
fantasy wrought of silk and corseting.
Paniers bring her hips out three feet
each way, while the waist is pinched
and the belly flattened under wood.
The breasts are stuffed up and out
offered like apples in a bowl.
The tiny foot is encased in a slipper
never meant for walking.
On top is a grandiose headache:
hair like a museum piece, daily
ornamented with ribbons, vases,
grottoes, mountains, frigates in full
sail, balloons, baboons, the fancy
of a hairdresser turned loose.
The hats were rococo wedding cakes
that would dim the Las Vegas strip.
Here is a woman forced into shape
rigid exoskeleton torturing flesh:
a woman made of pain.

How superior we are now: see the modern woman
thin as a blade of scissors.
She runs on a treadmill every morning,
fits herself into machines of weights
and pulleys to heave and grunt,
an image in her mind she can never
approximate, a body of rosy
glass that never wrinkles,
ever grows, never fades. She
sits at the table closing her eyes to food
hungry, always hungry:
a woman made of pain.

A cat or dog approaches another,
they sniff noses. They sniff asses.
They bristle or lick. They fall
in love as often as we do,
as passionately. But they fall
in love or lust with furry flesh,
not hoop skirts or push up bras
rib removal or liposuction.
It is not for male or female dogs
that poodles are clipped
to topiary hedges.

If only we could like each other raw.
If only we could love ourselves
like healthy babies burbling in our arms.
If only we were not programmed and reprogrammed
to need what is sold us.
Why should we want to live inside ads?
Why should we want to scourge our softness
to straight lines like a Mondrian painting?
Why should we punish each other with scorn
as if to have a large ass
were worse than being greedy or mean?

When will women not be compelled
to view their bodies as science projects,
gardens to be weeded,
dogs to be trained?
When will a woman cease
to be made of pain?

"Never-Never"
Posted in Love and other Disasters

by Marge Piercy

Missing is a pain
in everyplace
making a toothache
out of a day.
But to miss something
that never was:
the longest guilt
the regret that comes down
like a fine ash
year after year
is the shadow of what
we did not dare.
All the days that go out
like neglected cigarettes,
the days that dribble away.
How often does love strike?
We turn into ghosts
loitering outside doorways
we imagined entering.
In the lovers' room
the floor creaks,
dust sifts from the ceiling,
the golden bed has been hauled away
by the dealer
in unused dreams

Who Do You Have?
Posted in Angel 24/7

Two are better than one. Ecclesiastes 4:9 NIV

Edward Farrell said, "Listening is rare. There are certain people to whom we feel we can talk because they have such a deep capacity for hearing, not just our words, but hearing us as a person. They enable us to communicate on a level we've never reached before. They enable us to be as we've never been before.

We will never truly know ourselves unless we find people who can listen, who can enable us to emerge, to come out of ourselves, to discover who we are. We cannot discover ourselves by ourselves." Note the words "there are certain people... who enable us to be as we have never been before." Those are the people you need most.

Consider these questions: Who coaches you? What older, wiser, and more experienced person stands on the sidelines of your life and watches with the big picture in mind? A coach doesn't try to run the race for you. No, he sets the standard for the race and makes a judgment on your performance. Who does this for you? Who stretches your mind? Who makes you wince as they expose the many faces of your ignorance; who will not let you get away with Spiritual and intellectual superficiality. Who listens to and encourages your dreams? Dreams are not intellectual propositions that must be proven.

They are the work of visionaries; they are out-of-the-box, frequently awful and occasionally good. These are the folks who, when others laugh and say you're trying to build castles in the air, remind you that God "calls those things which be not, as though they are" (Romans 4:17). These are the people you need!

And the Korean Bug Bites...
Posted in Love and other Disasters

Love Story in Harvard

Yes, me too! I've joined the ranks of Koreanovala fans...although I can only watch dvd compilations on nights when I can't sleep. Hehe. Isn't she pretty?

I swear, kung maglilihi ako siya lagi titignan ko! Ooopss...no spoilers please! I've only seen six episodes because my crazy schedule seems to get crazier by the minute....Hehe. Hi to Ate Me Ann and Kiko!

Think About This
Posted in Angel 24/7

*for cigarette girl*
Posted in Love and other Disasters

   

"Sometimes we love people so much that we have to be numb to it, because if we actually felt how much we loved them.. It would kill us."--Riding in cars with boys

Now its my song...
Posted in Love and other Disasters, My OST

Someday by Nina

Someday you're gonna realize
One day you'll see this through my eyes
By then I won't even be there
I'll be happy somewhere
Even if I cared
I know you don't really see my worth
You think you're the last guy on earth
Well I've got news for you
I know I'm not that strong
But it won't take long
Won't take long

Someday someone's gonna love me
The way I wanted you to need me
Someday someone's gonna take your place
One day I'll forget about you
You'll see, I won't even miss you...
Someday someday

Right now I know you can tell
I'm down and I'm not doing well
But one day these tears they will all run dry
I won't have to cry, sweet goodbye

Someday someone's gonna love me
The way I wanted you to need me
Someday someone's gonna take your place
One day I'll forget about you
You'll see, I won't even miss you...
Someday I know someone's gonna be there...
Someday...

~November 18, 2006 ---I downloaded the song after reading a blog entry about it. Hmmm, okay, so I am not in splinters and bleeding all over the place, but what can I do? I have always liked sad songs... and the likes of these which are simply honest and raw makes me sniffle.

~ May 02, 2007 --it's officially my song...

Sweet November
Posted in Angel 24/7

After five million years, I finally have time to write an update!   Yes, work has been crazy, but it was mostly my choice to go about dispensing my duties in an OC Girl kind of way. So Consuelo is only partly responsible for me going home really late and reporting for work on Sundays---but I'm not sorry I chose that kind of frantic pace.   Me got a raise! whoopppeee!

Monetary compensation aside, I am enjoying the challenge immensely! There's always a new task or puzzle that needs to be figured out. The basic idea is to make the thing work--and sell in the process, which is loads of fun.  For example, our next project is setting up personalized blogs for our subscribers. Only, they don't get to manipulate the settings....they just visit their page to read---because we'll be the ones to constantly fill it with contents.  The beauty of the project is it eliminates having to send email blasts to 41,000 names at a time.  All one needs to do now is check his blog--cool diba?

Hehe! In other matters, I seriously need to resume a regular exercise regimen. Sitting on my ass for 12 hours a day hasn't done me any good. Awww I really, really look like a blimp! Well, a happy and well-compensated blimp but I'm still a blimp.  Hopefully, I can go back on Monday.  There was one big hurdle crossed this weekend, which is the main reason why I am here blogging, believe it or not---I HAVE THE DAY OFF!    This is a far cry from last Saturday's scenario...

Picture me in the hospital, one arm attached to sphygmomanometer, getting my vitals checked and recorded....the other hand on my mobile phone, glued to my ear. It was ringing since 10 am!  I was still on the phone while my Dad, my brother and I were eating lunch at Hap Tian in Manila...and ultimately, I ended up running back to BF Homes at 2 pm and going home by 7.  Then I worked a full shift on Sunday.

But really, things are getting better.  Our department is finally getting the recognition we deserve. And of course, sales are up--and that is always good news for everyone.

As for my family, Dad is done with his prostate treatment....spelling R-E-L-I-E-F for all of us in big bold letters. He seems to be doing well after his hospital trauma over the summer. Actually, he got fed up with hospitals, hehe!  My kid brother on the other hand is about to start serious hospital duty...or I think he started na this morning, I forget! hmmm.  We attended his pinning ceremony at UST this Tuesday, and it was so much fun looking at them all dressed in white.  He gets to assist in deliveries...and God help him, clumsy kid he is, I pray he doesn't drop a newborn in the head! Ayayayay!

What else? hmmm. Haha! Okay, I won't kill everyone with the suspense. Yup teachoy tweena, happy happy joy-joy pa po!  There are difficult days and there are more difficult days...but we get by, so far...amid a lot of frustrated text messages and phone calls.  Pardon the cussing, but distance is really a  

All in all, November is sweet...and I'm sure God has plans to further sweeten the pot in the next few weeks. I just know it, and I'm trusting that feeling. I mean come on, I've lived by faith during the darkest days of my life, and now that things are bright and rosy, I think I'd keep on living that way.

Thanks to all of you who keep passing by and reading even when there are no decent updates in this page...to the friends who tag and check on me if i'm still in one piece.....mwah! Love ya all and God Bless!

Until next time, this is your angel...logging off for now.

Angel's LSS: Iris by Goo Goo Dolls
24/7 Reading List: The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks
Silverscreen Pick: Love Story in Harvard Episode 8 na ako!
Differential Diagnosis: OC pa rin, kahit day off!

Gifts Without Guilt
Posted in Angel 24/7

*for Anna Karenin...*hugs*hugs* miss ya sis!

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights. —James 1:17

He told her not to worry about the extravagance and said, “God is, after all, the God who made us heirs with Him and co-heirs with Christ. The God who gave Eve to Adam. The Father who loves to give good gifts to His children. Heaven is the ultimate of this . . . but I also think that He has given us gifts to be enjoyed—and a time to enjoy them. And this time, for you, is now. Don’t worry—sacrifice is waiting for you aplenty when you get home.” We can benefit from his response.

As Kara was able then to enjoy the retreat, we too, as God’s children, can let ourselves enjoy without guilt the good things He sends our way (1 Tim. 6:17). We, in turn, can use those good gifts to bless others. —David C. Egner

*omm shakti*
Posted in Love and other Disasters

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen. --Reinhold Niebuhr

From a Whisper to a Scream
Posted in Love and other Disasters

Cristina Yang: As doctors, we know everybody's secrets. Their medical histories. Sexual histories. Confidential information that is as essential to a surgeon as a ten-blade, and every bit as dangerous. We keep secrets, we have to, but not all secrets can be kept. In some ways, betrayal is inevitable. When our bodies betray us, surgery is often the key to recovery. When we betray each other, the path to recovery is less clear. We do whatever it takes to rebuild the trust that was lost. And then there are some wounds, some betrayals…that are so deep, so profound that there is no way to repair what was lost. And when that happens, there's nothing left to do but wait.

There's much to be said about the 9th episode of Grey's Anatomy. For one, it had Christina Yang doing the voice over.  Second, I saw the cool as a cucumber Preston Burke and doe-eyed George lose their tempers. Third, a vicious Callie attacks Meredith; and Preston closes his door (literally and figuratively) on Christina's face.

I've been watching more and more DVD's lately....other favorites are Supernatural, House, Heroes, CSI and Smallville.  Next on my agenda is a Sex and the City marathon....supposedly scheduled for this long weekend, but plans miscarried. 

Anyway, the phrase from a whisper to a scream does sum up how the past few days of my life has felt. Emotional tension has just piled up from all over, I guess, that a big blow out or series of meltdowns was inevitable.

Work--after doing so well in the last 12 weeks, our department was once again under fire. It began with small sets of criticisms that shouldn't really bother us, I suppose, but with everyone so tired and pressured from consecutive late-nights, we just about snapped. Still on top of our wish list is the alien abduction of one of our foreign ass ociates.

Beng, Ruel and I have also come up with very creative methods of torture just to vent off steam. hehe!

Hmm. I also learned that even LDRs get their fair share of tiffs. Maybe its more in our case than the usual, but I would account that to an extended adjustment phase. Even well-meaning jokes become a touchy topic when delivered the wrong way, or at the wrong time. Well, okay, the person missed the punch line because he was several hundred kilometers away. Teehee! But the process itself was painful, stressful and draining. From a whisper to a scream. Even I lost it for a while. The only good thing was being far enough to take a "time out" and count until my nostrils were no longer flared and I wasn't biting my lip to keep myself from crying.

After that of course, you talk through it, talk about it and come up with a compromise....if and when you can. And then you breathe a sigh of relief, thankful that the bubble hadn't burst.

More good news. We're opening up an English Review Center in Makati in a week or so. Big move for Miel and Rudolph, but one I fully support and commend. So there. Me gonna be sharing a business with people I trust and enjoy being with. We'll be offering TOEFL and IELTS reviews as well as one-on-one tutorials.  I promise to post more details once everything's final and set up.

Wish us luck and help us pray.Now if only the webbies' detractors would shut up...that would bring balance to the force....AMEN!

Angel's LSS: Tuliro by Sponge Cola
Silverscreen Pick: CSI Las Vegas S07E09
Differential Diagnosis: thoughtful