Letting Go

"Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

- John 6:68-69

As you follow the Lord, have you ever had to let go of someone? Perhaps not in proximity, just inwardly. I had to do it again. God was speaking to me for a few weeks now, to let go of my intentions for someone, someone special. Yes, you've guessed it. I was in love. Was. But now God just wants me to be in love with Jesus only, for now at least.

Letting go of someone or something may be difficult. Abraham was asked to offer his son Isaac on the altar. John the Baptist had to let go of a potential ministry in priesthood to become the voice in the desert who would prepare the way of the Lord. Jesus Himself laid down His life on the cross to pay the price for our sins.

Following in Jesus' footsteps means realizing that He is not cold or distant to our struggles. It also means that we're trusting Him, and could say together with Jesus, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as You will." Not our will, but God's will be done.

When we give God a blank piece of paper, He draws something wonderful on that paper. He is the master craftsman, and we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. That blank piece of paper is our lives. I'm excited at what God's gonna do in my life. I've given Him my paper. Have you given Him yours? He says He knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us (Jer. 29:11).

We may feel crucified whenever we surrender to the Lord, but the crucified life is also the resurrected life. God's Spirit and power that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in us (Rom. 8:11).

To close this post, I want to quote one of Jeremy Camp's songs entitled "Letting Go", from his album "Restored" (which I highly recommend):

Letting go of the things I hold so dear
Letting go of all my pain and all my fears
Holding on to the things I deem so strong
Holding on even though my faith has been built so long
Holding on to the things I deem so strong
Holding on, holding on to what I know
I'm letting go

Chrysalis

The butterfly -- yes, we can talk about this now. Butterflies are fascinating creatures in that they emerge from a worm-like creature to a beautiful flying insect.

As we go through life, changes happen constantly. New seasons, new friends, new jobs, new churches, new ministries, new babies, new cars, and many more. Changes happen.

I personally struggle with discomfort in seasons of change. But on occasions like this, it is good to remember that the most uncomfortable stage in a butterfly's life is the pupal stage. The butterfly at this stage is called a Chrysalis. To illustrate, here's another picture from Wikipedia:



Max Lucado's Hermie illustrates very well the parallel of Christian character development to that of a Chrysalis. When God is working in our lives, we get impatient at times when all we do is eat leaves everyday, so to speak. The daily life is getting a little bit too boring for us and we start looking for new thrills. But the lesson here is to trust God and rest in Him, since He is going to give us a heart like His. This is Christlikeness, the true gem of Christian character and spiritual maturity.

Considering the story of Hermie, as well as any other butterfly, there is that stage in the cocoon when the Chrysalis struggles to get out. This is a critical stage. If you try to help out a Chrysalis, you'll kill it. And if we try to help God in this stage of struggle in our Christian walk, we might not be receiving all that God has for us. Let's not get into the arm of man -- the power of the flesh, but allow the Holy Spirit to mold us into Christlikeness. This can mean a new season in our lives -- something fresh that God is preparing. The transition can be painful.

I remember a struggle I had in the past when I was finishing my master's degree. I got very comfortable with the lifestyle of a distance education student, and it was time to end that season of my life. God's time for me to step into a new season was at hand. God did move. He helped me get out of that wilderness into a new season in my life, but I had to let Him do it. I had to pray and trust God everyday, and listen to His instructions for that day. God guided me every step of the way, and it wasn't even at just one place. I had to travel a lot.

Here I am in my new cocoon. I sense that God is getting ready to do something new in my life again. Whether it be a molding of my character, changes in my schedule, or any other change, it will be for my growth. And if God is doing the same work in you, praise Him for that. You're about to fly. In the words of Heimlich the caterpillar in A Bug's Life, "I will become a beeeeautiful butterfly!" Unlike Heimlich though, we would really be able to fly. =)

Learning to Fly

I'm a Filipino, so here is a picture of a Philippine eagle from Wikipedia:



"As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
So the LORD alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him."

- Deuteronomy 32:11-12

It is in times where we are uncomfortable that God trains us for the tasks ahead. An illustration of this is the way a mother eagle trains its young to fly. The eagle's nest is built on a very high place, up on the rocks and mountains. The mother eagle hovers over the nest and allows the eaglet to watch it in action. As the eaglet is fed and nurtured, it slowly grows bigger day by day. Now the nest is made up of prickly thorns pointing inward. As the eaglet grows bigger, it starts to bump into the thorns and gets poked by them. It gives the eaglet that feeling of wanting to get out of the nest.

After that, the mother eagle will take the eaglet and throw it off the nest, plunging down in terminal velocity only to catch it right before it hits the ground and places it back on the nest. The eaglet, scared from being so close to death, sits on the nest only to be thrown again. The mother eagle catches it again. The mother eagle does this over and over.

Until one day, the eaglet gets so sick and tired and angry at this cycle that in rage, it starts flapping its wings as it experiences free fall. And guess what, it discovers one thing -- it can fly!


Recently I've been in uncomfortable situations. This has been going on now for about a year, but I'd like to focus on the recent days.

I've been asked to substitute for my pastor who went out of town for a pastors' conference, to teach the midweek Bible study. This was something I had never done before, and it was a stretch. As I was preparing for that, my mom was also out of town and I had to watch over my grandma from time to time, and make sure the dogs are fed. I taught on Acts 27 - "Sailing Through A Storm".


After this, I was able to relax by attending a beach retreat with my churchmates the day before and on, a holiday. Little did I realize that all the travel, swimming, and just basically the whole trip wore me out.

































I also changed my ATM PIN which was required of us in the company, on the same holiday as well. I went back to my work the following day only to find out that the ATMs have been reset and I had to change the PIN again the next day.








I also had to say goodbye to an old friend (although it's never really goodbye among us Christians, we will be together for eternity), and that was sad. She's going to law school, but not here. I'm gonna miss her a lot.








As the week was coming to a close, I could finally rest, or so I thought. My church was getting ready to move out of our old facility into a new place.


This Sunday afternoon, we from the church helped out with moving our stuff (lots of it). I usually take naps on Sunday afternoons, but this was not one of those times. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to help.





























I had to go to work the following day and as I'm writing this, I will be at work in a few hours. My chance to write this is now, since I only had 5.5 hours of sleep and I can't sleep right now. It's 4:17 A.M. now.


So, as I'm experiencing free fall, time to spread my wings...

(Next time we can talk about the butterfly.)