Don't be afraid. Just have faith.

Every day, I receive a devotional via email. Mostly I breeze through it and click delete. But here's a series from Faith Gateway that I fully loved and thought to share. The reason I love this series is that it causes me to think deeply, and touches me to the core. I forget about religion and obligation and having to offer a sacrifice pleasing to God. What descends upon me is the knowledge that God loves me, and that compels me to reach out to Him, too.

I used to pray to God for absolutely anything and everything. Like a child in a long car ride talking to his parent about all sorts of memories, sights seen along the road, anticipations! I remember Dana on out-of-town trips to Baguio and she would talk almost incessantly! I enjoy those moments, and her openness in speaking her heart to me, and I realize that is how I was with God when I was a younger Christian. What changed? Why did I suddenly stop talking to God about anything?

I suspect it's the many disappointments in life, the many unanswered prayers, many times my heart has been broken. But I realize now, even in those times and about those times, I can talk to God. So here's the devotional...

This is excerpted with permission from Me Too by Jon Weece, copyright Jon Weece. Published by Nelson Books, an imprint of Thomas Nelson.

Ever felt desperate? Ever been in a situation in life when you were totally and completely helpless and you didn’t know what to do or who to turn to?

I have a friend whose son was murdered. The son stood up for a boy who was being picked on by a group of bullies, and the bullies killed him for standing up for the weaker kid. The bullies were from families that were politically well-connected, and no charges were filed against them. It was one of the most difficult funerals I’ve ever had to preach because the room was filled with anger and confusion and pain.

Friends and family members were desperate. They didn’t know what to do with what they were feeling.

“We trust Jesus,” were the words I heard the mom say over and over again. “Only Jesus can help us get through this.”

Jesus was approached by a dad whose daughter was sick and needed help. The dad’s name was Jairus, and like me, he was a preacher.

Jairus came and fell down before Jesus, pleading with him to heal his daughter. “My little daughter is dying,” he said in desperation. “Please come and lay Your hands on her; heal her so she can live” (Mark 5:22 NLT).

I recently walked into the home of a family whose college-age daughter had taken her life. Pain and shock don’t even begin to describe the emotional climate of that moment. It was sheer desperation. One family member hyperventilated and passed out upon receiving the news.

That family didn’t need me. They needed Jesus. They needed a power greater and bigger and stronger than themselves.

That’s why I love this little line in Jairus’s story:

Jesus went with him. — Mark 5:24 NLT

In the same way that Jesus walked with Jairus, He will walk with the family in our church who lost their daughter. He will walk with you too.

It doesn’t matter if Jesus is your first option or your last option; if you want help, Jesus wants to help you.

I keep a picture of a seven-year-old girl with cancer in my prayer journal. The photo won a prestigious award for photography a few years ago. The picture shows her looking in the mirror, and in her reflection she has drawn a head of hair. The radiation and chemo that robbed her of her beautiful hair were replaced by a vivid imagination, and an equally avid hope that her hair would soon return.

I keep it where I can see it because it reminds me that all of us need help. All of us have something in our lives that we wish we could change. All of us have a challenge requiring a power greater than our own. But all too often we’re afraid to ask for help because we’re afraid to admit that we need help.

As Jesus walked with Jairus to his house, some friends of Jairus showed up and let him know that his daughter had died.

“Why bother the teacher anymore?” they said (Mark 5:35 NIV).

Why bother?

Have you ever thought that?

I’m so out of shape, why bother eating right and exercising now? My marriage is so far gone, why bother going to counseling now? I am so far in debt, why bother putting a budget in place now?

Or students, maybe you’re thinking, Why bother staying pure when all my friends are messing around sexually and making fun of me for guarding my virginity?

Why bother?

I have some friends whose two-year-old daughter, Olivia, has an inoperable brain tumor. They were recently told there was nothing medical science could do for her. They sent her home to die. I talked with Olivia’s dad about the decision.

“Her life with Jesus really will be better than her life with us,” he said over the phone. “But that doesn’t make it any easier to accept that we won’t get to see her grow up.”

As a dad, my heart broke when I heard that.

Olivia’s dad was tired, so I decided to bother Jesus on his behalf. And here’s why: Jesus ignored their comments and said to Jairus,

Don’t be afraid. Just have faith. — Mark 5:36 NLT

Sometimes we need to follow Jesus’ example and ignore the doubts of those around us. Jesus can do things that no one else can do, but that is hard to believe when pain surrounds us on all sides. It’s also hard to believe because we’re surrounded by other people who can also do amazing things.

Jesus walked into the bedroom of a little girl who was dead and did something that no one else in the course of human history has ever been able to do.

Holding her hand, he said to her, ‘Talitha koum,’ which means ‘Little girl, get up!’ And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around!” — Mark 5:41-42 NLT

Raising someone from the dead defies all explanation. Jesus is in a category all to Himself, and that’s exactly why we need to bother Him. It’s why we need to tap Him on the shoulder and ask for help. It’s why we need to put our faith in Him.

Faith is used as a noun 243 times in the New Testament. Faith is used as a verb 243 times in the New Testament. What does that tell us? It tells us that faith is equally about what we believe and what we do with what we believe.

If what I believe about Jesus doesn’t translate into how I live, then what’s the point? Belief has to affect behavior for it to be faith. Jairus believed Jesus could heal his daughter, so he asked Jesus to heal his daughter. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain by trusting Jesus to do what no one else can do.

My good friend Jud has practiced medicine for more than thirty years, and he said the legal definition for death is the cessation of all brain function, which is irreversible.

The key word is irreversible. What makes everything that we consider impossible to be possible with Jesus is his ability to reverse the irreversible.

And I haven’t mentioned it yet, but on the way to raise this twelve-year-old girl from the dead, Jesus healed a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. One woman’s blood stopped, but another woman’s bleeding wouldn’t stop. One was rich and one was poor. One had everything to lose and the other had nothing to lose. What Mark is trying to help us see by comparing and contrasting these two women is that Jesus doesn’t discriminate. Educated or uneducated, rich or poor, young or old, male or female — all Jesus sees when He looks at us is our need, and what He wants us to see when we look at Him is His ability to meet that need.

Jesus can do what no one else can do.

Augustine once said, “Miracles are not in contradiction to nature. They are only in contradiction with what we know of nature.” Jesus not only created the natural world we live in. He also controls it.

In the natural world, people want to limit conversations to facts. The fact is this little girl was dead. But another equally valid fact is that Jesus raised her from the dead. He also raised Himself from the dead.

So what do we do with Jesus? Seriously, what do we do with someone like Jesus who seems to be a self-contained source of unlimited power?

I think there’s only one thing to do.

Trust Him.

I remember praying for my dad to be healed from cancer, and I remember the moment he died. My oldest brother said, “God answered our prayers.” Though I wanted to keep my dad around, I knew the greater miracle wasn’t the fact that God could heal him of cancer, but that God could raise him from the dead.

So I’m doing what I did before my dad died.

I’m trusting Jesus.

One of the reasons I trust Jesus is because of what he did for the little girl after he raised her from the dead:

He told them to give her something to eat. — Mark 5:43 NLT

Being dead will make you hungry.

What this little detail in the narrative tells me is that Jesus really cared about her. Her growling stomach mattered as much to Him as her beating heart. And when everyone tried to direct all the attention toward Jesus, He immediately redirected it toward the little girl. I’m drawn to His humility as much as I am His power, and it makes me trust Him and love Him even more.

If you’ve reached a point of desperation in your life, can I encourage you to trust Jesus? If you feel as though you’re facing something that is impossible to get past, can I encourage you to trust Jesus? If you’ve said “Why bother?” in recent weeks, can I encourage you to trust Jesus enough to bother Him?

Tap Him on the shoulder and ask for help.

It does sound like myth

We all love myths. Mythology has always been a very important part of a culture or society. The stories we tell ourselves become the truths we live by. I believe in the power of myths.

But when we talk about the Bible, we uphold it as the Word of God. Being so, do we elevate its narratives above other socio-cultural myths? Is it historically factual? Scientific? Many stronger minds than mine like archaeologists and historians have proven the veracity of the Holy Bible. And yet…

When it comes to the story of the Great Flood, I go, hm… For one, it is not unique. Other cultures have myths about a worldwide cataclysmic flood that wiped out living things, except for a man and his family. Is the Hebrew version of this myth Noah?

See. I have no doubt that a Flood could occur. It’s the animals that got me into a confusion. A pair of every specie? There’s not one specie of snakes. There’s thousands! Same with spiders, and wild cats. And talk about dog breeds! How did Noah travel to the North Pole to save the polar bears, and then to the South Pole for the penguins? It is just too fantastical for me.

Let me apply my imagination. The ark is huge. But it has to have some limitation to the load it could carry. Could it be that after the Flood God let evolution happen, so that from a number of species (experts estimate 45,000 animals) that could fit a boat, we now have countless throughout the earth? Even now biologists are discovering new species of insects and mammals. Could they have been represented in the Ark, too?

And Noah! Why bring alone pesky rats, dirty cockroaches, and termites! You had that chance to keep the Bubonic plague from wiping out Europe…if you didn’t let Mr and Mrs Rat on the boat! And roaches! How I hate roaches!

Now, nothing is impossible with God. He could have caused the animals all over the world to converge and meet Noah where he was…a sort of fauna parade. Maybe He did allow the number of species to exponentially grow as the animals stepped off the ark to refill the earth. But then, there’s mention of a raven and a dove in the Ark. Does that mean these animals never evolved after thousands of years?

But one thing washes away all these doubts of mine until they recede to nothingness: Jesus’ attitude towards the Flood. He mentions the flood and Noah as actual an historical event and person. He should know. He was there. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh.

Jesus is an eyewitness to the Flood, and being Himself God and Creator, must’ve taken care of Noah, his family, and all the land animals and birds. Jesus could stop storms. He must be able to cause heavy rains and floods, too.

Sometimes the details of life flood us and overwhelm us. Years ago, an ex-landlady refused to give back our deposit to the apartment we once rented, not until she has spent it all on remodelling. She is greedy. I do not enjoy talking to her to ask for the money back and what’s fair.

But in a thousand years in eternity, will it matter that I got what’s fair in this? Or that I relied on my ever-Present Jesus in this situation and behaved as would please Him? I set my priorities straight now: I’d rather worship Jesus than fight tooth and nail for five thousand pesos.

In the Hebrew myth of Creation

In the Hebrew myth of Creation, the God Elohim creates everything in six days. He creates everything with the power of His Word. He speaks, "Let there be.." and things come into being.

Yet in spite of Elohim’s limitless power, He took six days to complete all of Creation. The whole Universe could have come into being just on the first day of the Beginning. But that was not how God created.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was brooding over the face of the waters."

We creatives have much to learn from God Elohim. Even though He could have created everything perfectly in one go, He didn’t. He practiced temperance. So much so in fact, that His first attempt at earth was without form and an empty waste. The Perfect God is not perfectionist, nor stringent on His creativity.

Then He took the rest of the six days of the week building up on that base of formlessness and waste. And from all that chaos, He created the wild beauty of Creation.

As creatives, we must follow God’s lead. We must be willing to simply start creating. We must not demand that our first attempt at art be a masterpiece, or exceptionally good, or assured of favorable reception. We must be willing to churn out "waste" and build our art on that.

One way to do this is to wake up earlier than usual, and in that foggy state of mind between sleepy-headedness and wakefulness, just pick up a pen and write. Write about everything and anything that goes through your mind. Write through that formlessness and waste. Write it all down. This is the practice taught by Dorothea Brande in her book Becoming A Writer. Do this practice every day and you will become more creative.

Isaiah 45:18 says, "For thus says the LORD–Who created the heavens, God Himself, Who formed the earth and made it, Who established it and did not create it to be a worthless waste; He formed it to be inhabited–"I AM the LORD, and there is no one else."

God had a purpose for the base of waste. He wanted to make the earth habitable and teeming with life. So, it’s okay to have a purpose to work toward for your art. You want to breathe life into it. You want it to teem with vitality. You begin humbly, and keep working at it with God’s help.

One more thing we must remember from God Elohim. "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:11).

So work on your craft every day, but make sure you take a break once a week. Make that your Sabbath day, and scheduled an artist date with God instead.

Happy Hearts Day, and a note on doubt

And now here creeps in doubt.

Why would an all-powerful, all-knowing God let innocent mankind be tempted and not step in? I mean, why didn’t he keep the serpent far away? When God banished the rebel angels, why did He let them choose earth as their temporary base? There’s more than one planet in this solar system, and infinitely more in the entire Universe, why let the devil inside the Paradise Garden?

Doubt # 2: why didn’t God intervene when Cain murdered Abel? I thought Abel found favor in his sight? He had all the power to protect Abel, but God didn’t. In fact, all God had was a piece of advice to Cain, who was at that moment psychotically losing his mind. God said, "Sin crouches at your door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it." Question, could not Cain use some help from God in mastering encroaching sin? How about me? When sin crouches on my door, can I count on God for help?

This finally opens the dam of many doubts I have. Why I find it hard to completely trust God. A close friend of mine was raped by her own father. Another girl I know was raped by seven men in her own home. I, too, was victim of sexual abuse when I was 15, and when I told my then discipler about it, he perpetuated the crime by sexually molesting me.

That shadow makes it hard for me to trust God. I sing, "Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with thee…" but think, yeah, but you allowed bad things to happen to my friends and me. It happened in the past. What makes me so sure it won’t happen again?

Truth is, God does not condemn doubt. In fact, I think He invites it. He allows for it, by His infinite grace. He says, "Don’t let it eat you. Don’t bottle it up. Talk to me. Let it out."

Enoch walked in habitual fellowship with God, so reports the writer Genesis 5:22 and 24. There is something about the walking there that is equated with fellowship with God. In fact, it’s almost enviable.

So when the doubts arise, it’s time to do a walkie-talkie. You take a walk and talk to God as you do. You tell him everything and anything that’s in your heart. And you listen for his reply. He won’t always give the answer to the hard questions. But you can count on one sure thing: His companionship. After all, Jesus did promise never ever to leave us.

So put your most comfortable shoes on, slap on some sunblock, and take a walk with God. You might lose weight (both emotional burden and physical pounds) in the process.

A different kind of flood

I sometimes wonder how the world looked like to Noah and company as they stepped/crawled/flew off the ark. Everything was fresh and new. And silent, broken by their voices and feet and hooves and paws. No mankind making things complicated with unbridled wickedness. Noah, his family, and the animals literally got a fresh start.

Sometimes that is all I ask for: a fresh start. A reset button. A new beginning. And while a second worldwide flood would be downright cataclysmic if it were to happen today, it is unlikely. God promised there’ll be no more flooding. "I will establish My covenant or pledge with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood; neither shall there ever again be a flood to destroy the earth and make it corrupt" (Genesis 9:11).

I am thankful of that promise, and of God’s temperance. With all the evil going on in the world right now, God is practicing divine self-restraint from annihilating all of us. And Jesus has died and risen again. Jesus has satisfied God’s justice forever.

And yet I long for that fresh start. Christians believe that Jesus will return to earth and rule as everlasting King, and then everything will be made beautiful and perfect. There will be no more sin or evil. A reset button that comes with a perk: everything is rebooted and remade to God’s perfect specifications.

But until then, I ask God for a specific kind of flood. I ask God daily to flood my heart with his love and presence, and make my heart new and fresh every morning. That is a kind of flood I welcome from the King.

"Father, you are King over the flood… I will be still and know you are God."

In September 2014 I had the wonderful privilege of joining the CCF NxtGen Outreach Team headed by Teachers Ruth, Bobbie, Morris, JC, and Bujoh in going to satellite churches in the Philippines to talk about Orange Strategy and Curriculum.

My task was to talk about doing Large Group Orange style, and my partner was Bujoh. As part of the plan, we would simulate a 30-minute LG presentation of an Orange script. For that, we chose the October 12 lesson: responsibility means you can be trusted with what is expected of you.

The skit was rather simple. LG host#1 welcomes the kids, explains the rules of LG, and opens with prayer. Then LG host#2 comes on and says the head of the ministry has assigned him to watch over a plant while he’s away. Unfortunately, LG host#2 does not show he is responsible enough, and the plant dies. The LG storyteller then comes along and talks about responsibility using the Garden of Eden story as an example. This is presented in comic punchlines, punctuated by a jumping praise and worship song, and is actually very fun to do.

Whenever we present this simulation in front of fellow lifeshapers in the CCF outreaches, we ask them–to complete the ambiance of the LG presentation–to behave as if they’re the Sunday school kids of their level. Every single time they are happily game with this.

I play LG host#2 and at one point in the skit, when I return with the dead plant, I insert a bit of ad lib. I say some version of: "Will you pray for halaman so God can bring it back to life? Do you believe God can bring halaman back to life?"

Now what I say here is not a judgment, but an observation. In the few outreaches I’ve been part of where this was the lesson we simulated, the response by my fellow lifeshapers to my ad lib above was a less than enthusiastic yes. In fact, it felt patronizing, or merely obliging. "Do you believe God can make halaman alive and green again?" I ask. "Yeah… sure…" is their reply.

Granted, these adult lifeshapers are watching a make-believe skit on stage, and seeing a dead branch in my hand as prop. Will God really bring back that stick to life, just because we asked? How now, this is just a skit! Why pray for something you know is irrelevant, and frankly, may be impossible? Pray for a dead branch? Ya, ya, of course, God can do anything. But He wouldn’t spring for a wooden stick, would He?

I get it. I get all these adult rationalizations. And yeah, after all, all I’m holding in my hand is a prop.

But speaking from experience as a lifeshaper, whenever I am in front of level B kids (Naphthali, Asher, Gad), and I ad lib some version of the above question. For example, "Will you please pray for Pepperoni Cheesy so they’ll become a better band? Do you believe God can do anything?" The answers I get from kids is always a highly vibrant and enthusiastic "YES!"

Sixty to eighty 4- to 6-year-olds triumphantly expressing their faith in the God who has power over everything. In the God they put their absolute faith in. In the God whom they know hears them every time they open their mouths to pray. To them, God has no trouble bringing a dead plant back to life. Didn’t God once cause Aaron’s rod to grow flowers?

Sometimes really, whenever I host Large Group, I know I’m not just a teacher, but also the one being taught. I see in this kids what Jesus meant to have childlike faith in Him.

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Caffeine concoctions

I love milk tea so I decided, since we have green tea at home plus a quart of soy milk, to mix `em together and see what that tastes like. Well, rather thin, actually. Failure with the experiment. It didn’t have the body of full cream milk. Maybe that’s what it needed.

So, still looking for some caffeine concoction to satisfy my palette and my sagging brain, I went to the next-door sari-sari to buy White Coffee. White coffee is everywhere nowadays. I don’t know how it began. You buy them in pre-mixed sachets and simply pour the whole thing into your steaming cup of hot water, and within 30 seconds you have white coffee, not too sugary, not too creamy, not too strong. Just splendid. Will gave non-coffee drinkers (such as myself) a bit of a nervous knee or a palpitation, but easier to wash down with water. White Coffee!

The first time I tried white coffee in a sachet was in CCF La Union. I loved it. I woke up that morning with a terrible case of allergic rhinitis. I took my usual medication for it: Marsthine. Only marsthine turns my brain to mush. Sluggy mush. So I thought I’d take it with coffee. Because the Orange seminar was to be held the whole day that day in CCF La Union, they had hundreds of coffee sachets for the participants. I got one, ripped it open, poured it into a styro cup, and that’s how I got my first taste of white coffee.

Back home, I asked Veck to buy me three sachets of white coffee the next time she’s in the market. Then, Dana had this Ovaltine in sachets, too, which she liked for a few days then stopped drinking. So I thought, hm… White Coffee, plus Ovaltine, and yeah. Try it. It’s good. Much better than green tea and soy milk. This one’s good.

So we were at the sari-sari store, Dana and I, and I wanted to buy white coffee and Ovaltine sachets, when suddenly the rain pours. I mean it really pours like it’s nobody’s business. And because the sari-sari was just next door, I didn’t think to bring an umbrella. We were stranded. I tried to shield Dana best as I could from the rain with my body. Then I had an idea.

I whispered to her, “How would you like to see Jesus’ power, Dana?”

She said, “I already prayed to stop the rain.”

“Let’s pray again together. Let’s say, ‘Jesus, please stop the rain.'”

“Jesus, please stop the rain,” Dana said out loud. The rain didn’t stop.

“Pray again,” I encouraged.

“Jesus, please stop the rain.” It continued to pour.

I prayed, silently, “God, please, show my daughter you have authority over the weather. I want Jesus to be her Hero. Please do this.”

I turned to Dana. “One more time.”

“Jesus, please stop–” and it did. In that instant, it did.

Dana was laughing all the way home, declaring, “Jesus has magic! Jesus has power! I saw it! I saw it!”

So, there’s a concoction better than white coffee and Ovaltine after all. It’s prayer + faith + desire to bring glory to Jesus. Booyah!

I think one horrible mistake the church has become is to turn itself into a chic society of spiritual conformity. What do I mean?

In this world of postmodern existentialism, where “What works for you works for you and what works for me works for me” is the mentality, and the politically correct response is to tolerate other people’s behaviors and beliefs, Christians are called to stand apart.

Christians do that by behaving, well, as “Christian” as they could, however they define what that is. No one wants to be conformed to the world. The Apostle Paul warned against that. Now what is a Christian anyway? And how are we supposed to behave? That’s the question the 21st century church needs to tackle.

And so we turn the other cheek while we clench our fist behind our backs. We critique the pastor in the guise of spiritual wisdom from above: “He doesn’t see… The pastor has a blind side…” and in the meantime we cheat our neighbors in our convoluted sense of justice. We put on perfume every Sunday and meet our dgroups and conform to outward behaviors. We don’t curse, swear, smoke, drink; and we shun those who do. We do our best to obey the “each other” commands.

“Pray for each other” becomes Please pray for John and Mary. I heard from Jesse their marriage is not following God’s design lately and I am just so concerned…

“Love each other” becomes Oh, the Lord sent me word that family is priority because that’s how Christians are — and so the struggling for sanity single mother forgoes any plans to complete her bachelor’s degree because she won’t be a good Mom.

“Give to each other” becomes I gave millions to this church building and so I deserve at least a good parking slot and 5-star pampering from ushers.

We avoid what might corrupt our good characters: LGBT, smokers, drug addicts, drunkards… and instead attend Bible studies where we learn that the Holy One when he worked the earth hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers and social outcasts. We take to Facebook and Twitter and post verse after verse after verse. That feels so good.

I was guilty of such conformity mentality. In my all-too-human need to belong, to be part of the crowd, to be accepted, I tried my best to swallow my opinions, to bite my tongue, to be dutiful, to practice spiritual disciplines. And then I wonder, “How come there’s no passion? No joy? No life?” Dangerous questions… so nobody asks it in chic conformity fellowships.

And if even you hint at these conditions they have the remedy for you: Sala, Ravi, this or that conference, this or that devotional, booklet, manual, program, conference. See, the Joneses practice all these principles. Aren’t they so Christian? Let’s conform to them.

And the soul has checked out. The heart no longer responds. Nothing in the inner man resonates with David or Jeremiah or Zacchaeus or Habakkuk. No soul to cry out to the Lord. No heart that pines for him.

Where is the church that the broken find solace in? Where is the church where we can bury our face in our hands and cry out, “O God, have mercy upon me, a sinner?” Job said he would face God in court. Habakkuk said he won’t budge from the watchtower until he meets with God. Jacob won’t let go and wrestle until dawn and clings. He clings. I wonder if they can feel welcome in the 21st century megachurch? O wait… you have to leave. Parking’s full, please park elsewhere, the next service is about to begin. Please pour your heart out in your dgroup instead, thank you, there’s a café outside, enjoy!

I have seen this all wrong. I have made this mistake. I have fallen. I was too focused on sounding, appearing, behaving a Christian as defined by other Christians that I have forgotten to ask the real question: what is a Christian? Who can really say but the Holy Spirit who are really His?

All it took to be a Christian is God’s grace. We drank from grace’s fount for dear life when we found it. Then walked away from it and tried to conform to remain a Christian. It’s like we have no need for grace anymore, just public approval.

It’s a matter of the heart. And here’s my challenge to myself. The next time I read the New Testament, I won’t see those commands as laws to fulfill. Instead they are where I can scrub my heart until its real, down there. “Be self-controlled, be honorable, be upright…” all these must be a heart issue, not an outward conformity mold. After all, Jesus did not turn away that man who said, “I do believe! Help my unbelief.”

Maybe the father still runs to embrace his wasteful and disobedient son, even in 2016. Maybe even after 2000 years, that dad in Luke 15:20 still waits patiently for his return, arms ready to welcome his son back.

Parenting lesson from Job

Job had ten children who loved to party. And these parties last for days! There's lots of eating and drinking!

Job 1:5 says, "And when the days of their feasting were over, Job sent for them to purify and hallow them, and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, 'It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed or disowned God in their hearts.' Thus did Job at all such times."

For one thing, Job didn't keep his children from meeting each other during their birthdays and having some fun. So, he wasn't so strict. And we all know how Job's children ended up. They all died in a weather tragedy. Seriously, though, let's be like Job.

There's also this modern notion nowadays that I've read about and I found, myself, a bit attractive. It's not imposing your religious beliefs on your children, but allowing them to get to know God on their own. Remember, religion kills. It's a relationship with God that we need.

Dana and I were strolling one night at Barasoain, where there is a Santo Nino Museum. There were electric candles and flowers and lots of people taking selfies with the saints. Dana said, "Look, baby boy dolls!" It occurred to me that she did not have any Catholic influence, no superstition at all that these little statues held power to bless your business or keep away the aswang.

But it may also mean she's free to choose not to believe God. In truth, she is, really, free to choose God or not. But what I learn from Job is that as Dana's dad, I can pray for her, asking God to purify and hallow her. The burnt offerings part has been taken cared of for eternity by the Messiah's death on the cross. So I can continue to pray to God for Dana, always lifting her up to our Holy Daddy, praying that she chooses Jesus out of her own volition.

Light saber

Last week Pastor Peter implored us to prevail in prayer. This Sunday Dr Ravi illumined who we pray to, our relationship to this God, and what He's done for us. Using 2 Corinthians 20, he showed us three sentences to pray: God, are you not...? Did you not...? Will you not...? Jehoshaphat gave us a pattern of praying in the midst of trouble.

Flashback. Many years ago... Tito Ed and Tita Monica, a pastor and teacher couple, told us not to give in to Dana's every request for a new toy. They taught us that it can be a teaching opportunity. If she really wants a specific toy, we are to tell her to pray for it--and delay buying it. Pray, pray, pray, so when the toy is finally given, she learns it came from Jesus, and Him alone.

2015. A lot of our friends were aghast to find out we've not seen a single Star Wars movie, but none moreso than Teacher Janice who sought immediately to remedy this atrocious oversight! She sent her DVDs to us, episodes 1 to 6, so we'd be up to speed of light (see what I did there?) by the time episode 7 comes to the theatres.

Dana enjoyed Star Wars so much. She'd begged me and Veck continually to buy her one of those cheap plastic light sabers that proliferated in the bangketas of Malolos. Telling her about the poor quality by which those toy swords were made couldn't dissuade my six-year-old. So we fell back to "If you really want it, ask Jesus."

And Jesus hears our prayers, and answers at the perfect time so we see His great love for us. Earlier at Kids' Church, Teacher Janice gave Dana a belated Christmas gift. You all know what it is, of course. And so did Dana as soon as Teach Janice handed her that gift-wrapped present. "Do you know what's in it?" we asked.

"A light saber," was her reply. That we received it during this sermon series about prayer has God's fingerprints all over it. (Love Your humor, Holy Daddy!)

"How do you know it's a light saber?"

"Because I've been praying for it."

To hear Teacher Janice tell it, she said she felt the strong impression from God that the saber is the perfect gift for Dana. "Wouldn't a kikay gift be a better choice?" she wondered, but listened to God's prompting nonetheless. Janice, too, was in for a treat when she learned her gift was exactly what Dana had been praying for for a while.

Pastor Peter said God answers little requests and big requests. That we must keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. Thinking about it, with the Infinite God we have, no request is too small or too big for Him. His power and love knows no limits.