Chasing Dreams

The 30-day Blog Challenge I did in 2009 and 2011 benefited me in ways I never thought possible. It forced me to think, to write, and to put my heart out there. It inspired me to capture moments and to see beauty in ordinary things. It awakened my creativity each day and left me with lots of beautiful memories. And then it allowed me to meet new people and—this I never expected—to encourage and inspire strangers and friends.

While I’m still terrified at the thought of doing Project 365 (which I tried once, but failed), committing myself to a more manageable creative project excites me for all the reasons I mentioned above.

So I’m doing this starting today.

Inspired by Stephanie and Mav’s A Year of Sundays, this new creative project I’m imposing upon myself will run from February 2012 to February 2013. I will take photographs and let you in on how my Saturdays go; you can keep coming back to this post to monitor my progress. Hopefully, as I go about one week after another, I will also be challenged to do something extraordinary out of my Saturdays and make the most out of it.

52 Saturdays starting today, I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I know I will. :)

Going out of town is one of my frustrations lately. Traveling is something I’ve always wanted to do with my husband, but we haven’t done so much travelling since Boracay. I thought having a permanent travel buddy would give me more courage to explore and go places,  but our current schedule is just too loaded. There’s always somewhere to go, tasks to finish, clothes and dishes to wash, and an 8:00-6:00 job to do everyday. By the time we find a free day in a week, we’re too tired already to even consider getting out of the house, lol.

That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to know that for busy people like us, we don’t have to go far to have some rest and recreation after all! Last week, during the Chinese New Year holiday, my husband and I decided to check-in at The Malayan Plaza Hotel at Ortigas Center. His cousin from New York was visiting Manila, so I was secretly happy to have found an excuse to finally try out this hotel.

Swimming in the rooftop pool was pretty much the highlight of the day for my husband and his cousin. The two of them spent the whole afternoon taking laps, enjoying the cool water and the warm afternoon sun.

I took a swim in the pool, too. But mostly I just lounged around and enjoyed my grande Caramel Macchiato. I love love looove that there’s Starbucks right beside the hotel. I watched the two boys,  held on to their towels, and took photos of them, yes, like a Mommy.

When we got back to our suite, a bag of cookies was waiting for us courtesy of the Malayan Plaza crew. I know it’s just a simple thing, but getting something more than what you paid for is always a treat, even if it’s just a bag of snacks.

We spent the rest of the night watching movies, and enjoying the free wifi. Yes friends, Malayan Plaza Hotel has free wifi. THEY HAVE FREE WIFI! In this age and time, a hotel without free wifi should consider closing down, really. I’m glad Malayan Plaza is a wifi zone, you just have to inquire in the front desk and they will generate a user access for you.

Husband wants to go back for the swim.

I want to go back for the quiet.

I think we found our happy place.

1. Living on the roof. God has blessed us with a beautiful home for two, with a spacious rooftop veranda, and an amazing view of the sky. When we’re home, we feel like we’re on top of the world, literally and figuratively. It’s our own little place away from everything. There’s not a lot of buildings around us, so when we open our door in the morning, bright blue skies and puffy white clouds greet us back. In the evenings, we would switch on the twinkle lights, and dance under the stars. I lost track of the number of parties and get-togethers we hosted since we moved in last August. Our home is not big, but I thank God that He’s filling it up with lots of happy memories.

2. Google SkyMap & Betelgeuse. Back when we were laptop-less, the husband and I learned to be more creative with our time. One November evening, we thought of spending the night “out”. Dinner and some stargazing was the agenda of the night, on our very spacious veranda, and the experience was made more awesome with this Google SkyMap android app that my husband downloaded on his phone. (I highly recommend it!)

The highlight of the Google SkyMap experience for me was locating where the stars Betelgeuse and Canis Majoris are, and seeing them in the sky with my bare eyes. In that note, you have to watch Louie Giglio’s How Great is Our God video! It’s 40 minutes long but you should take time to watch it, really.

Betelgeuse, Louie Giglio says, is twice the size, not of the Sun, but of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. He says, if the Earth was the size of a golf ball, Betelgeuse would stand the height of six Empire State Buildings on top of each other. It’s that huuge! Go locate yourself in a golf ball-size earth, and imagine how huge the Betelgeuse star is.

The first time we watched this video in church, I was moved in such a huge way I was crying half-way through until the end. And it’s not only because I was/am a crybaby. It’s that, when you begin to realize how huge this universe is, and how small you are in this vast space, you start to wonder why a huge God who created all of these would even look at tiny little you with so much love. I don’t know about you, but that just blows my mind away.

Now I know where Betelgeuse is in the sky. It’s a mere spec of light from where we are, I know, but everytime I look up, I become filled with so much awe at how ginormous our God is, and how much He loves us.

3. Flying lanterns. On January 13, Friday the 13th, our dear friends, Rovy and Jeni gave us a wish lantern. These girls are the sweetest! It’s a real blessing to be surrounded by such loving and thoughtful people. Whoever said that Friday the 13th means bad luck?

We thought of flying lanterns on our wedding but we had to scratch it off the plan because of the risks. But last Friday the 13th, I finally had my little Tangled wish granted. Just one lantern, one wish. That’s all we needed for a perfect night.

If there’s one day, just one day, in your life when you made a decision that changed you forever, when was it?

No, it wasn’t my wedding day, life-changing as it had been. Today I’m thinking of a day that’s quite similar to a wedding, because it also involves a life-long covenant, a bold decision, and a leap of faith.

June 11, 1994. I was 11 years old. I went with my Mom to their office, which also happens to be our church. My Mom works in the church, have I ever mentioned that? My Dad was a Pastor and my Mom partnered with him in that ministry for 33 years. Until now, even after Dad passed away, my Mom still works in SBCC. So I grew up there, attending (later on, teaching) Sunday schools, youth camps, Bible studies, fellowship groups, and tagging along wherever my parents went.

But it was in June 11, 1994 when it all became clear to me that being a Christian is not exactly inheritable. When your parents are Christians, that doesn’t make you one by default. Sure, parents can raise you up in a Christian environment, but their belief does not automatically become your belief. It’s a decision only YOU can make for yourself. And it’s a decision that God will call you to do.

And so I surrendered my life to Jesus that day in 1994. I remember praying with my Mom and shedding lots of tears. I remember understanding for the first time that Jesus Christ suffered and died in the cross because it’s the only way to save us from our sins.

“He loves us that much?”, I remember my 11-year-old self asking my Mom, wiping my tears away. Even until now, whenever I think about God’s goodness, I would find myself saying variations of that very sentence: Really, Lord? You love me that much?

What does an 11 year old girl know about making decisions anyway, you ask. I’m not sure how to answer that question either, being 11 felt too long ago. All I know is, I remember June 11, 1994 vividly, and that day was the start of this amazing ride. And although at times I find myself falling or bruising myself along the way, it’s God’s love for me that kept me going and moving forward in this journey of faith.

My faith story is not like Rica Paralejo‘s or Manny Pacquiao‘s (Go ahead, click those links, watch their stories and be blessed!). Theirs was a drastic decision to turn away from their old lives, while I grew up in church and didn’t have to adjust so much. But the Spirit that changed them is the same that worked in my life, and is continuously working in our lives. Truly, Jesus’ act of love 2,000 years ago, His death on the cross, has the power to redeem us from our self-destructive, sinful nature and give us eternal life.

If only we would let Him.

How? Just believe.

Believe that you need a Saviour, that you need Jesus Christ in your life. Believe that no amount of good works is enough to earn you eternal life, after all, heaven does not have a point system. All sins fall in the same category, and sin comes with a price. As it’s been said in Romans 6:23:

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Not by works, just Jesus.

Believe. Surrender. Accept His gift of eternal life. That’s all it takes.

Is there one day in your life when you made a decision that changed your life forever?

This could be that day.

I love that our church celebrates its anniversary on the first month of the year. Being a daughter of SBCC‘s first Senior Pastor, January has always been like this for me and my family, even after Dad went to be with the Lord. In fact, it almost feels as if my mind was programmed to think that the holiday season goes like this: Christmas, and then New Year, and then Church Anniversary.

That’s how it felt like last Sunday. Like Christmas morning and the dawn of New Year all in one day.

The worship tent was overflowing with both familiar faces and strangers. Seeing new faces in church is a real joy; to me that means our church is growing, and God’s Word is being widely spread in the community. I looked around the church I grew up in, thankful that God kept me here at such a time as this and grateful for the opportunity to witness such growth, such revival.

Listening to the sermon, I wrote on my journal profusely—notes about seeing each situation with eyes of faith; of giving your all and not holding back; of rejoicing about things that are still unseen. It still blows my mind how God knows exactly what I need to hear when I need to hear it. Do you feel that too?

And now, as I read the notes I wrote on my journal last Sunday, this sentence zoomed in on me:

Sometimes, God operates in ways that don’t make sense.

I read it once, twice, thrice. I read it many times over. I thought of the things in my life that don’t make sense to me, enumerating them like a mental checklist—frustrating things, impossible things, unfair things. It’s easy to feel dejected thinking about things that don’t make sense, no? Humans that we are, we long to understand what’s happening, to get a glimpse of what’s going to happen next or when the torture is going to end, to find answers to questions quick.

But it seems that these are God’s best working conditions. He operates in the realm of the impossible, that’s why when life finally reveals what He’s been up to, we often find ourselves surprised, in awe, amazed.

Sampaloc Bible Christian Community is a testament to that.

My life is a testament to that. Last year, most especially.

So if you’re going through something that seems impossible and does not make sense, I say, instead of feeling frustrated, be crazy excited! It only means that God is silently at work, getting you ready for something truly amazing.

This is how I know that 2012 will be even more. mind. blowing. ;)