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!

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.

Intercede, day 1

This year's theme for CCF's prayer week is "Intercede" and you may wish to look at the devotional booklet here.

For the first day, the passage focus was Colossians 1:9-14, where Paul prayed for the Christians in Colossae. He had an amazing list of prayer requests for them, primarily that they grow in the knowledge of God.

Sometimes you wonder at the boldness Paul had in prayer, and where it came from. Or, that you feel that your prayers don't go through the roof above your head. I've had that for a year and a half, so I know how that feels. I've tried just sitting, and even creative visualization types of prayers, and affirmations, anything to get the prayer mojo back. I remember as a younger Christian I would pray with the certainty that a loving Father listened to me. What has changed?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I still have a loving Father who listens to me intently.

I just needed to be reminded. Verses 13 and 14, if anything, shows us our position in Jesus, and that gives us boldness in prayer and intercession. "The Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption through His blood, which means the forgiveness of our sins."

So, during my dark times when I sinfully rebelled, it was the Father who brought me to Himself through Jesus. It was Jesus' blood that gave me access. I feel full of gratitude for God.

If you're feeling the same and ready to intercede for other Christians, may I redirect you to www.be-a-voice.net and www.persecution.com. This way you can pray for the persecuted Christians and their persecutors.