Random sweetness, yeah?

Someone who will stay up late with you over endless talks in the moonlight. Laugh out loud over inside (and outside) jokes at any given time. Do even the most nonsense things for both a laugh and an adventure. Random texts over smalltime and bigtime kiligables, good mornings, and good nights. Movie marathons, book readings, swimmings. Stories of utmost importance and kakornihan.

This girl has instantly promoted me from being a flowergirl to a maid of honor. I had a great time carrying your trail even though its weight was - I guess - a quarter of mine. Haha, kei, I'm exaggerating. But we all know that it was damn heavy, yeah?

This is weird, but everything seemed to have flashed back when I saw you a while ago. Nyahaha emo :)

Some friends will always and forever hold a dear place in your heart. My dear darling GF, you're amongst them. To infinity and beyond :)

I frakkin' miss you! 

                           

Day 160: Thankful in the Midst of Suffering

The Bible encourages us to always be thankful. That's easy when God answers prayer and delivers us from problems. But it isn't always easy when things go wrong. So how can we remain thankful in the midst of suffering?

We have two choices to make. The first is to praise God in spite of what's going on in our lives. Or another way to say that is, in the midst of our troubles and hardships, we can rejoice over the things that are not wrong in our lives.

The second choice is to ask, "God, what can I learn from this? What do You want to teach me through this so that I may be closer to You and rejoice more fully in Your goodness?" Those are not easy questions, and the answers are often hard to hear.

Sometimes we can only grasp the important lessons in our lives when we go through difficult times. Thank God that the hard times will lead you to better things.

In the midst of suffering, give thanks to God and trust Him to lead you to bigger and better things.

Prayer Starter: God, I'm thankful for Your love and Your presence. Forgive me for grumbling when things go wrong, and remind me of how many things go right in my life. I want to rejoice in You always.

Good morning, post-it.

                              

What greeted me in my desk this morning. Sweet nothings give you every good vibe you need to rev up for another working day. 

Thank God for sending me angels wherever I go. You never fall short of blessing me with good friends.

Thank you, my honey Kai :) You are amongst my sunshine in our daily work ❤

LRT: Life's Rail Transit

Life's rail transit is never a perfectly convenient ride. At times, you have to wait for the coach to arrive amid a sea of impatient people wanting to get inside the train first. At other times, you have to queue with everyone else who eagerly and saddistically make their way out of the crowd to make it to the frontline. There are also some instances when you have to go down the coach and walk beside the railway because the train's engine bugged down - or somebody else jumped off the mezanine for the nth time to take his own life.

Be that as it may, we still choose to ride, because you will lose the joy and satisfaction of having tried riding a transit system that fuels both your humanity and vulnerable soul.

Life's rail transit is a good vehicle to be in, but there are risks that you have to consider once you immerse yourself into the busy transportation.

One of which  - albeit this happens very seldom - is when a train loses its way and gets derailed. The driver might have been too preoccupied that he overlooked the railway he's driving on. Or maybe the train's computer and engine just went on a haywire and paralyzed the entire system. Or it's just fate for train to go out of the way because the passengers aboard need to learn a lesson which only such a tragic incident can teach them.

Riding life's rail transit is exciting, time-saving, fun, and hilarious - yet at the same time, hazardous and deadly.

But as dawn breaks, you wake up, and leave for somewhere else, you still opt for life's transit system, because it's the only way to get by and get there - wherever you wanne be.

Anong plano mo?

When the lights have shut down and all the people have left, there are many things that remain - but only one: MEMORIES.

Memories of people you've talked to, hold hands with, embraced, set your eyes into, laughed with, wept with, shared stories with. At the end of each working day, when all the laughter have subsided and all the jokes have dissipated into thin air, what's left of me - aside from memories - is a query I always ask myself.

Anong plano mo?

I've been in talks with colleague-friends for days now, and all we've been talking about are our present (what's happening, how do we get by, how will we deal with this) and the future (what will we do, what's our next step, what's your plan). The last item have been sending chill to my spine since yesterday.

Anong plano mo?

Yesterday, Jodey muttered, "Bakit ganon, tuwing aalis ka, ang tanong agad sa'yo ng mga tao, anong plano mo? Hindi ba pwedeng wala? Wala lang, gusto mo lang umalis." I told her that questions as such - more often than not - pertain to one's capacity to sustain finances. We work to earn money, we earn money to sustain our needs, we need to sustain our needs to grow. It's a simple logic, yet at the same time, a complex system of thought.

Yet it dawned on me that those questions aren't only asked to those who are leaving. THAT question is also directed to those who are staying.

Anong plano ko?

Clearly, I have plans. I have A PLAN. But I still have to muster courage to explicitly express my intention to take my life to a higher level.

Or maybe, I will be able to do so when I'm prompted by chance.

No more thinking. Just saying.

Monday Backtrack

There are some people 

you wish have just stayed

and have never left. 

That you often find yourself

Seeing how things could have been

With them around

- laughing, playing, weeping.

Or simply,

Just there.

The law of the world on change

is oftentimes cruel

- as it can even break

the bones of thy soul.

Food. And Family.

The weekend that passed could be summed up in two words: Food and Family.

Saturday was well spent with my Makati Feast Media Ministry friends for our planning and team-building. It was a no grand out-of-town, detaching-from-the-world team-building; but it was an awesome, hilarious, productive, and fun session. I am blessed to have been serving with them all. It made me realize - even more - that I have made the right decision to stay in the ministry and not give up.

God doesn't call the qualified; rather, He qualifies the called. Where He sends you, He equips you.

Whenever the going gets tough, God will be there. And when the group succeeds, God will be there. All the glory goes back to Him. As Paul's letter to the Colossians (Col. 1:17) says,  ""He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." 

Food was overflowing. And the way each one treat another, it was a family.

-----

After the Ministry planning, I went straight to Ruthie's home. Rain was pouring hard; I got stranded for quite some time in one of the stores nearby, as well as in her brother's computer shop. Nonetheless, what welcomed me when I stepped in their house warded off any storm in my heart and dried up my damp spirit: the Juanson family and Sy family flashing their best smiles for a photo before dinner.

I haven't seen the couple for about two weeks. I missed them dearly. 

And again, there were lots of food. For me, they are a family.

-----

On Sunday, the Cataps went out to hear mass and dine out for lunch. For a change, we went to Solaire.

No casino, just for lunch. Though I am really curious, so I asked Papa a few questions about how you play there hehe :)

Again, oveflowing food. And family. <3