Thank You Partners

I wish to thank all those who responded to my call for children's clothes and good pair of shoes for poor and needy children in the poor villages in the Philippines. The responses are more than our expectation. Many gave men and women apparels also. I hope there are large feet sizes among the men for the pairs of men shoes, particularly the bare foot preachers.

There are thousands of poor people living in poor villages called barangays in the Philippines. These people are much exploited by the rich and politically favored who live in the cities where commerce and industries, schools, and hospitals are, particularly the cities in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao in the Southern Philipines. These are more developed. The youth who yearn for education and better opportunities for economic improvement flock to the cities. Because they lack education and skills they fall victims to recruiters of unskilled labor. Some go back to where they come from frustrated and defeated.

The poor has no face. But they have souls. They have minds. Many are receptive and deeply desirous to change. They need good motivations and making available to them opportunities for skills training in labor and industry. They are good workers, fast learners, and honest.

The clothes and pairs of shoes that we share with them will be received with gratefulness and appreciation. We can help provide and make available to them training in skills, literacy, health, government, and faith in God. These have more lasting results and benefits than the handouts. They help develop and instill personal integrity and worth and independence.

You have done well in partnering with me in this ministry. You can also help in funding the costs of handling and shipping.

You can send your fund contribution to PayPal in the account of apple_jun with a note "add me to your list of partners to your project."

You Are Your Brothers' Keeper

When I asked a few individuals to donate used clothes, used pair of shoes for children and adults, my wife and I went to thrift stores buying children clothes for the poor children in Mandaue City and also in Dumaguete City. These are hard times and people are not prone to give away things of great value. We washed the clothes we bought and neatly laid them away in a box for delivery to the Philippines.

Then in December I spent a night in the hospital after the heart surgeon implanted a stent in my artery. A week after I left the hospital my wife suddenly feel very weak and nauseated. We brought her to Sentara Bayside Hospital . She spent one week for observation on her heart. The heart doctor recommended a heart pacer to regulate her heartbeat. On the day she was supposed to be released her heart doctor decided to have her transferred to the Sentara Heart Center . An Indian cardiologist implanted a stent in the blocked artery in her heart. The stent allows free flow of blood to her heart. God is Good. He preserved both our lives for more service in His kingdom through the Church.

Then more clothes in big bags and boxes came and are still coming. Today we sent three large boxes of clothes for the children in Cebu City and Mandaue City and two large boxes of clothes for the poor children in two impoverished barangays (villages) in Danajon Bank, Bohol and Junob in Dumaguete City. There are still three or four boxes of used clothings and pairs of shoes still to be packed and shipped.

This ministry to the poor needs your involvement, financial support, and prayers. Jesus said that the poor shall always be with us. Anywhere in the world the poor are crying for help and deliverance. Hunger, diseases, hopelessness, exploitations, superstitions, and bad government stalk the poor every moment of their miserable lives.

Meaningful helps and services to the poor must recognize the factors which respect to their personhood. The helps extended to them should develop their talents, teach them basic skills and the development of their minds to underdstand basic virtues and morality. A great Chinese leader is quoted as teaching "give a man a fish and he will keep on asking for more . But teach him to fish and he shall always have fish to eat."

What do you have to give? - children's books, children's clothes, medicines, foodstuffs, etc .
Jesus Christ said "...anything you did to my people here, you also did it for me."
(Matthew 25:46)

Celebration of Life

Celebrate Jesus celebrate,

Celebrate Jesus celebrate
He is risen,
He is risen
And He lives forever more
He is risen
He is risen
Come on and celebrate
The resurrection of the LORD!

The strain of the song keeps coming back to me. The song is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ But this is the Christmas holiday season. What is the connection between the nativity and resurrection? All humans come inrto the world by being born and leave through death.

I was born on January 6, 1929. On January 4, 2004 at about six-thirty in the morning I died. I had a cardiac arrest. It was Sunday. I lost consciousness. When I opened my eyes at about six o'clock in the evening I was in the recovery room of Sentara Heart Center. Somebody went to call my wife. She came in with a glow on her face. She said she has not ceased praying and interceding to God to give me back my life. God is good. He heard her prayers. He restores my soul. Hallellujah! I am alive.

January 4 is my second birth. January 6 is my natal birth. God has given me a taste of the resurrection life. What a birthday gift! How can I celebrate this life in a very meaningful way? What is it to celebrate the resurrection life of the LORD Jesus? LORD show me! I reflected, pondered, and meditated.

How do we live the resurrection life? The Holy Bible tells us that if we are in Christ we are new creation. The old life of sin has died. The life we now live in the flesh we live by the life of Jesus Christ who died for us. The Holy Bible tells us that we are sweet perfumes to the world. We are the leaven, the salt, and light of the world. The Christian, Jesus said, is in the world but not of the world. He belongs to the Kingdom of God. Our daily prayers continue to affirm our hope "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

This is the essence of the resurrection life. It is the practice of the life of Christ daily.

Shine for ME

Times are when the days of merriment suddenly turns dismal. The sun suddenly hides himself behind darkening clouds. What went wrong? A word innocently spoken and received as a threat and malicious? An act perceive as evilly motivated? A body language negatively seen as an affront? How can these negative receptions of language - spoken or acted -be avoided or at least minimized?

It is always wise to know as much the background and experiences of a person we are in conversation with. We may not know much about the person but little we know of him helps us to be careful and wise in our communication with him.

Jesus Christ said that we have to give an account to God cor every word idly spoken. It is truly a Godly gift to be an effective communicator. It is a gift too to be able to change a tense situaton with a word fitly chosen and spoken. It restores the sunshine to an otherwise gloomy atmosphere.

On the other hand the receptor of a spoken word must also listen carefully to get the true and exact intent of a speaker's word. It takes a lot of humility, patience, and maturity to be a good conversationalist.

Let me share a short fellowship song I learned in my younger years.
"If you're a smiling Christian you will outshine the sun,
You will outshine the sun, you will outshine the sun
And walk the golden streets on high."

Here is another smile song
Smile, smile, smile, smile the whole day through.
Someone will catch a smile from you and she will keep
on smiling too. Smile, smile, smile, smile the whole day through.