Drawing Charade and A Piece of Cake

It doesn't really take much to make my day. God has blessed me with a lot of stuff (a computer, money, a ministry, a keyboard, a good job, a laptop, a webcam, a master's degree, etc.) and yet little things still make me smile.

Today as I was online, my kid cousin Ryan invited me to play Picture This! which is an online game kind of like Win, Lose, or Draw. It was really fun drawing the thing the word described and also having to guess what he was drawing on his turn. We played it over our Yahoo accounts using meebo.com, and here is a screenshot of what it looks like:


Also, I was chatting with a friend and she said that she was baking a banana cake. Too bad I couldn't eat it, so she sent me a picture instead. I can't have my cake and eat it, too. This time, I have it.



All this happened at a time when I usually get sleepy on Saturdays and take a nap. But stepping out of your comfort zone to communicate and be a blessing to others is more rewarding.

"The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself. " - Proverbs 11:25

Christmas 2007

Christmas time, the season to be jolly, when people really make that effort to go the extra mile for another. Celebrating Christmas this year has been very animated for me. Seems like another season of 24. 12:00:01...12:00:02...12:00:03...12:00:04. Everything is rush, rush, rush. Of course I'm exagerrating. But it seems that as I grow older, I feel more of a sense of taking responsibility on how things run. That's when I get tired. Still, it was fun.

December 8, 2007
The following takes place between 7:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: Matt, Ryan 1, Ryan 2, Ramises, Domels, RJ, Jollibee man.

Produced by DS

It was finally here, the Level 2 exam. The company president and I have been working on an incentive for programmers to prove their skills in order to increase their paygrade. The finale -- an 8-hour coding exam proctored by yours truly.

We called Jollibee and ordered lunch to be delivered to us. I made a mistake by ordering chicken for Matt who had a sore in his mouth. I said to bring change for 500 pesos. They missed that part. The Jollibee man didn't bring any change and had to go back and get some.

The exam went well, over-all.


04:20:01...04:20:02...04:20:03...04:20:04...


The following takes place between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M. (sound effect)
Cast: Pastor Mark, RJ, Chela, Pam, Leilah, other young people.
Produced by PM


The youth department at church did ask me to play the electric drums and lead some worship songs for their Christmas party. It started at 4:00 PM, so I had to be there around 5:00 P.M.

Play the drums, lead worship with the guitar. I was able to do that by God's grace.

I met a friend I haven't seen in a while -- Melford. It was good to seen him again.

Then I had to run. I still need to pick up my jeep from the shop. I had it cleaned and groomed since I was selling it.

05:59:57...05:59:58...05:59:59...06:00:00...

The following takes place between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: RJ, Art, jeepney drivers
Produced by Art

Ok, I've been waiting in front of U.P. and still no jeep can take me to the shop. I had to take a ride to SM City and just walk from there. The walk was about 100 meters to get to the shop.

As I looked at my jeep..WOW! It looks good. The chassis has been cleaned and painted, and the engine has been washed. There was even leftover paint to improve the front part. God is awesome!

(My face doesn't appear on camera)

I went back to the church to prepare for the next day's Sunday service.

06:59:57...06:59:58...06:59:59...07:00:00...


The following takes place between 7:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: RJ, Pastor Mark, worship team
Produced by RJ

I went back to the church to prepare for our Sunday service for the next day. Being a worship leader, practice was very important to a music team.

We had some of the youth jam with us as well. It was fun playing music with new faces. It all just seemed fresh.

07:59:57...07:59:58...07:59:59...08:00:00...

(Maybe my face can appear on camera now)



December 16, 2007

The following takes place between 10:00 A.M. and 04:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: Calvary Chapel of Iloilo plus guests
Produced by PM and RJ

Ok, my first time to actually teach on a Sunday service is here. We had to move the service to the nearby gym to accommodate plenty of people.



I played the electric drums for the worship team. We formed a special group just for that Sunday. After all, it was a Christmas service.



I was able to teach the Sunday message on Matthew 1. I entitled it "God With Us". I never realized what it was like to teach behind a pulpit until I experienced it for myself. Pastor Mark urged the people to receive the gift of salvation through faith in Christ. God is good. He moved through that service and people received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.



We had lunch after the service and also some Christmas presentations. Some of us stayed to clean up afterwards. Then we prayed together and blessed the Lord.

I went to SM City afterwards.

03:59:57...03:59:58...03:59:59...04:00:00...

(Camera shows me driving the jeep)


December 22, 2007

The following takes place between 1:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: JK, May, former ROTC buddies, guests
Produced by: JK and May

Jerome, my long-time friend, gets married to his girlfriend of almost ten years. I was able to come to their wedding and it was a wonderful celebration to be able to share in their joy. I was also able to attend the reception, but I wasn't able to stay through the end of it since I still had to go to our company's Christmas party.

04:59:57...04:59:58...04:59:59...05:00:00...


The following takes place between 5:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: ESS
Produced by: M2

I made it pretty early to the Christmas party. Registration was still open. The party hasn't started, and there was time to chit-chat, prepare the sound system, and get the program ready. Whoops, we forgot to record the song for our dance number. God is gracious, and we were able to find a copy of the song from the sound guy. I tried to breakdance on this one. I hope someone made a video of that so at least I can see if my moves looked good. I won a pair of sunglasses in one of the raffle draws. This kind really hugs your face and sticks. The following photo has been edited.



For the gift-giving, I received a pen with a laser light and a flash light. Now this reminds me of a light saber. Thanks to Russel.



Many of my co-workers went out for a night in the city. I didn't go but instead I went straight home.
09:59:57...09:59:58...09:59:59...10:00:00...


December 25, 2007

The following takes place between 12:00 A.M. and 1:00 A.M. (sound effect)

Cast: Family
Produced by: Dadi-lo




Christmas eve is here. The time of the year all of us Tagalogs are waiting for. We celebrate the traditional Noche Buena where we have dinner at 12:00 A.M.



At our house, I read the Scripture in Luke 2, where it talks about the shepherds seeing the angels announce the birth of Christ. We sang Christmas songs and had dinner together as a family.



We also opened gifts afterwards. I got some pretty neat stuff this Christmas.




The following takes place between 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M. (sound effect)

Cast: Family
Produced by: Dadi-lo

This is Christmas day and we celebrate it with our extended family every year. It was also a birthday celebration for my niece since she was born on December 21. She already had a party in Manila, but we wanted to celebrate it here as well.


I woke up late, and I realized that the dogs have no more dog food left. I went to the store to buy some. The jeepney service was unusually slow since it's Christmas day. I missed my niece's blowing of the candle but it's a good thing we had it on video.

We had lunch together with my relatives and we opened more gifts. My aunt gave me baby stuff by wrapping mistake. It was hilarious.



My niece is quite a dancer. We had a fun time as a family.

Baggages

During our recent trip to Cebu for the pastors and workers' conference, going back to Iloilo was a learning experience for me. As we went to the pier to get aboard the ship going to Iloilo, security had to inspect all our things for deadly weapons. As I was passing through the metal detector, it kept beeping on me! The guard won't let me pass through until there was no more beep. So I had to remove my cellphone...then my coins and keys...lastly, my belt that had a metal buckle. Finally, the detector went silent after I removed all the metal objects attached to me. The lesson: Don't carry too much metal on my next trip.

Sometimes in our walk with the Lord we carry too much extra baggage. This can come in different forms like bad habits, bitterness, or anxiety. But it can also come in good packaging such as activities that don't really help us stay focused on God's call upon our lives. Sometimes good things become the enemies of the best things that God has for us. Let's seek the Lord for His perfect will for our lives and lay down anything that can hinder us from running our race. - RJ Alobba

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” - Hebrews 12:1