The Midnight Hour

In the early 1800s, Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard observed people whose lives consisted of hiding and spying. Rather than walls, they used masks.

Do you not know that there comes a midnight hour when everyone has thrown off his mask? Do you believe that life will always let itself be mocked? Do you think you can slip away a little before midnight to avoid this? Or are you not terrified by it? I have seen men in real life who so long deceived others that at last their true nature could not reveal itself. I have seen men who played hide and seek so long that at last in madness they disgustingly obtruded upon others their secret thoughts which hitherto they had proudly concealed.

He is right. Everyday is Halloween... Underneath the masks are people who are terrified that there will be an unveiling. But it is not so much the eyes of other people that we ought to fear... If the gaze of man awakens fear in us, how much more so the gaze of God. If we feel exposed by people, we will feel devastated before God.

Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, "Who sees us? Who will know?" Isaiah 29:15 TNIV

"From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all humankind..." Psalm 33:13 TNIV

Faithwalk, a christian digest

My Buddies

These are my dogs. I call them my buddies. They are very loyal to me and are always ready to protect me. Every day, they walk me to the gate on my way to work and on every afternoon, they are there already, anticipating my coming home. They show their happiness every time I come home. The big black one is the most loving among these four.

Naming from left to right;
Inday
Kulot
Dodong (a.k.a. Dongkay)
Dogyot

Dog's are famously quoted as "A Man's Best Friend". And it is very true because no matter what, they won't betray their good owner. They give back the love that they get.

God Is Not Time-Bound

"For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." Psalm 90:4 NIV



There are times that we present to God a certain plea, and we want Him to do it on our own time frame. Oftentimes, God did not grant our pleas within our own time frame, and we get disappointed. It's as if we know better than God does. But we fail to realized, God is not time-bound. He knows what is best for us... and He knows the perfect time for us. All we need to do is to have faith in what He is doing in our lives. We tend to get discouraged and stopped asking, or stop believing. Don't do that. God is working in us. There may be delays. But have faith, and know that the delays are for our own good as well.

Answer To Frequent Fare Increase

This is my bicycle. This is my friend. It helps me save money and helps me have a daily exercise, too. It doesn't take so long to get to my office from my boarding house. It only takes me 10-15 minutes.

This is the answer to the frequent fare increase. I always pray to God to keep me safe and away from danger and accident everytime I got on my bicycle. And I'm very thankful that He did.

Running For Nothing

Yesterday's ODB's article was about a runner who joined the Marathon, finished the race, but... found out that the chip-- the device that was put on his shoe to record progress at various timing stations during the race, was not on his shoe anymore. He lost it somewhere.

In the official's record, the runner did not run the race. There would be no record of his participation. Even if he had finished the race in record time, it wouldn't have mattered. Apparently, the poor runner have been traversing 30 miles on foot with nothing to show for it. The folks who organize the race set the rules, and no matter how well someone runs, if the officials says the runner doesn't qualify, that's the way it is.

It is the same way with our lives. Sometimes we are so busy participating some mission works. We wearied ourselves with the church activities. It appears to be we are having a good race doing and participating, but if we don't have the right motives on what we are doing, if we only did it , or join them for some self-centered reason, we are not participating the mission or any church activities. If our motives is not obedience and to glorify God. We may thought we have done so many things, but on heaven's account, we did nothing. And even dreadful if we found out, our name was not on the runner's list.

Life is a race. Let's keep running... but we better make sure that we carry with us the right motives.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us..." Hebrews 12:1 NIV

YOU SAY---GOD SAYS

Free Rice

Almost all humans of the legal age are aware that there are many countries that are starving. We heard about it. We read about it. But what are we really been doing in order to help? To a person of my living status, there's really nothing I can do to help on that, except of prayer. But one should not under-estimate the power of prayer. In fact, it is the most powerful of all, because it is God who holds everything under the earth.

According to UN statistics 850 million people worldwide suffer from hunger. They are
underweight and do not get enough to eat. Another 2 billion people suffer from malnutrition
caused by lack of vitamins A, C or B3 or minerals such as iodine and zinc.

The UN Millennium Goals signed by the nations of the world in 2000 has as its first
goal to reduce the number of people suffering from hunger by 50% to around 400 million
by 2015. While some countries such as China and Brazil are likely to reach this goal
for their people, worldwide the number of people suffering from acute malnutrition
increases by 4 million. The number in Africa is now 210 million and India has 220 million
suffering from hunger.

I am going to introduce to you a game. This is not an ordinary game. This game enables you to help UN World Food Program to give away free rice to that countries. Click on the "Free Rice".
Countries that are suffering famine:
* Sudan
*Somalia
*Africa Region
*Afghanistan
*Guinea
*Sierra Leon
*Angola
*North Korea (Asia)
*Colombia (Latin America)

Is It Fine To Help The Mother Dog In Their Delivering Puppies?

They say that we are not supposed to help the mama dog in delivering their puppies? That they don't feel comfortable having anybody around while delivering. Some say it would take the delivery longer than it ought to be when somebody is around. But I have proved it wrong through my own experience. Our labrador-mix mama dog gave me the sign that she needed me in delivering her puppies. Just why I said that? The night that she felt that she was due soon, she really went through hardship just to be able to come upstairs and stay right in front of our door.

We noticed that she was restless then. She look like she was about to poop. Then we understood that it was her time. We were just silently observing her moves. We left her to herself. About an hour after, we checked her. We found two puppies lying on the floor. They look dead. At once, I decided to help her. I tore off the placenta, cleared the nostrils to be able to breath, wipe the puppies off with a clean cloth and place the puppy on top of the mama dog's tummy for warming.

We are so happy and inspired that all seven of them were alive and healthy. And three months after, we have to give away five of them. It was a sad moment for us, but we are only room boarders. We are not supposed to have a dog. But our landlord is kind enough to allow us to have two.
And by the way, It is their birthday today. October 15th. There are only six in the pictures because the other one was not around by that time. He was somewhere with his mama. :)

(The picture didn't turn out the way I want it. :( ) I had somebody scan it, and it turn out to be like that. How should I fix this? Anybody who had encountered this, please tell me what to do.
Thanks in advance for any input.

SMILE

Smile Is A Sign Of......

A smile is a sign of love
A smile is a sign of care
A smile tells how much to others
You are important and also dear

A smile is a sign of cheer
A smile is a sign of trust
A smile shows how you can
Be happy even in hard crust

A smile is a sign of joy
A smile is a sign of hope
A smile teaches you how you can
Remove the clouds of mope

For nothing but only a smile
Takes away your pain and trial
And pick your trouble's pile
And let you smile, smile and smile.

Seema Chowdhury


Undeniably, we all feel good inside if somebody smile at us. Somehow, it has power to heal the bad day. According to a research, Smiles are generally accepted as a universal facial expression of happiness or joy. We get instincts about which smiles are more genuine, are more felt than others, and which are more forced and more politely construed.

Smile is the very first thing that our parents were very proud of us in doing so. Smile is the silent communication we can express to somebody we like or agree to. And do you know that even dogs smile, too? Oh yes, they do. Our dog would smile everytime I stay lazily around them. They were obviously very happy with that.

Sukkoth

On this day, October 13th...

In Jerusalem, five days after the celebration of Yom Kippur, they celebrate a feast called "Sukkoth" it is called the "Feast of Tabernacle". It is also called "Feast of Booths". This is observed by the Jews. It begins in the sunset of October 13th up to sunset of October 21st.

The word "sukkot" in Hebrew means plural of "sukkah" which means "booth" or "hut". During this holiday, they build a temporary hut or booth in which they will eat their meals. They are not supposed to do anything other than to eat and to relax or sleep for the entire holiday.

Four species of plants are celebrated with Sukkoth, etrog (citron), lulav (date palm), myrtle and willow. On the last day of Sukkoth, the yearly cycle of reading the Torah starts in festive surroundings.

Children's Sunday School

This is the Children's Sunday School in Naga, Cebu. Philippines. This is under Door of Hope Ministry, Living Word Christian Ministries, Phils.. We, the workers, are volunteers on doing this work. We teach them praise and worship songs. We educate some of them. We teach them how to pray and we also give them free meals. Contributions and donations from individuals are very welcome. This we do to the Glory of God.

How To Improve Voice Quality

They say Filipino loves to sing. Well, it is undeniably, true. It is Filipino's favorite past time next to eating. (he-he-he) You can justify it if you know me. Where there are parties, there are videokes, karaokes and the latest one, magic sing. Singing made the party going and added more fun. It is some kind of bonding to the friends and even to the family.

I love the moment when my family, including my Uncles and Aunties, gather around living room for videoke. Even my grandmother would sing, too. Greenfields is her favorite song. I have an Uncle that would cry while singing. Each of us has our own styles. Everyone anticipated with excitement for the turn of the microphone.

I gather (from anywhere) some tips on how to add some quality factor to our voice:

*Try to record your voice and listen to it with a friend. They can tell you how different your voice sounds.
*Work on your diaphragmatic breathing. It brings strength in your voice
*Breath control exercises. Breath within your stomach without moving your shoulder.
*On the day of performances, avoid eating milk based products and chocolate. These items will coat your throat, resulting in a less than pleasant sound for you.
*Start singing regularly
*Join a choir
*Make sure you have a good hearing, too
*Strain your voice gradually beyond it's capability

I like the reality show Pinoy Dream Academy. I learned some from them, too. It's very educational, too.

CROC

One of my favorite pasttime is watching movie. After lunch break yesterday, my officemates and I were watching a movie while waiting for the time resume back to work. We decided on to CROC. It was a good movie from RH Entertainment. Starred by Michael Madsen (Croc Hawkins), Peter Tuinistra (Jack McQuade) and Sherry Phungprasert (Evelyn Namwong)

The movie was about a large man-eating crocodile terrorizes tourists and locals near Krabi, in Thailand. Michael Madsen plays a hunter stalking the immense reptile, while sub-plots include a rivalry between a foreigner, who owns a crocodile-farm, and a Thai man who plays a part in framing the foreigner for the crocodile's rampage.

The genre of the movie is thriller. Directed by Stewart Raffill and Written by Ken Solarz. The movie was released in UK on month of September last year.

You should watch it and feel the thrill yourself. ( Warning: This is not advisable to watch for those who have baby in the house. )

First Thing In The Morning

This is my devotional set. A notebook with christian worship songs in it, Our Daily Bread devotional reading materials, and my e-bible, NIV (product of Franklin). I do my devotional moment first thing in the morning. This is acknowledging that we need God to lead us the day ahead. Doing this have strengthened me.

How Is Your Day?

It is a lazy day today. I don't feel good while on work now. I feel like I have fever. Must be the weather? Or am I lacking some life in my living lately?

Consider Job in the old times. He has everything then. In fact, he was way ahead too great from anybody else in terms of possessions and a happy family. All of a sudden, God took it away from him (for a purpose).

Obviously, it is really difficult to go on living with a life like that, but we have the options. Whether to complain, grumble and be indifferent toward everything around us, especially to God. Or to humbly yield on to His working in our lives along with the claim of faith that what God is doing in our lives is for our own good. And that what is ahead of that is a promise of good life. We may don't seem to understand what God is trying to make out of our present circumstances, but like a clay potter, He is moulding us in His hands. Notice this, if the "Potter" sees some imperfections in the clay He is moulding, He have to crushed it and work on it all over again.

What is our choice? Be stubborn? Or be submissive? If you think you are enjoying the "remoulding" God is doing in your life, keep being stubborn. If you think that the "moulding" process is uncomfortable, then, for your own sake, be submissive, so that the "Potter" won't have to "remould" you again. It is surely a painful process.

"... I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression and smile" Job 9:27

Kitchen Showroom

This is the Kitchen Showroom of JY All Boards. It is located at A. S. Fortuna, Banilad, Mandaue City. Philippines. We sell melamine boards, mouldings, kitchen cabinet and kitchen accessories. This is where I work for almost three years now . Part of my job is to entertain customers. I asked them what they want and I gave them ideas that they may like.



And this is my workplace. My table and computer for drafting. I make drafts for the measurement of their desired designs of kitchens and I then give my drawings to the kitchen makers.

Anybody who are planning to install a beautiful kitchen, you can contact me by leaving a message on my comments space.

All About You

When the music fades and all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring something that's of worth
That would bless Your heart

I'll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself
It's not what you have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

I'm coming back to the heart of worship
'Cause it's all about You
All about You, Jesus
I'm sorry, Lord for the things I've made
When it's all about You
All about You, Jesus

King of endless worth, no one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor, all I have is Yours
Every single breath


This is a song we used to sing during our Praise and Worship. I like this song very much. It connects my heart to the King of kings. And it reminds me that our life that we are living, it is all about Him.

International Frugal Fun Day

Every first Saturday in October, some place celebrated the "Frugal Fun Day".

If you dig deeply, you will find resources that describe this day as "International" Frugal Fun Day, and "National" Frugal Fun Day. However, we found no documentation supporting the International or National tags. We did find plenty of reference to the intent of this day.... to have fun "on the cheap".

The word "frugal" in www.dictionary.com means; economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful; entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty.

Frugal Fun Day is a day to enjoy fun activities that are free (or very inexpensive). If you use your imagination, the ideas are endless. Go on a bike or walking hike. The Fall leaves are on display. Have a picnic in the park, or your back yard. Invite some friends or neighbors over for a garage party and dance. Go fly a kite. Pull out the those old board games or puzzles that you have stored in the basement. Play cards with some friends.

Here's wishing you a very Happy Frugal Fun Day.

Origin of Frugal Fun Day:

This special day was created by Shel Horowitz, author of The Penny-Pinching Hedonist: How to Live Like Royalty with a Peasant's Pocketbook. We strongly suspect Frugal Fun Day was created, in part, to promote the book. Regardless of the reason for creating this day, we see nothing wrong with having a little inexpensive fun.

Look Who's Blogging?

A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world. Blogging is growing in society. It is a fad. To some it is a craze. It is widespreading internationally.

The word "blog" is a short term for the word "web log". It is an online journal. It is the activity of creating and maintaining a blog (which is a special kind of web site) or several blogs by making posts and uploading images and so on.

Personally, I enjoy blogging. It makes me active mentally and enables me to share what i learn and what I feel. Blogging is fun!

Happy Blogging!

"Patience Is A Virtue"

We often heard; "Patience is a virtue." And it's true that most of us hate the waiting period. We get irritated standing on a long line to pay for some grocery. We get mad when somebody is not following their timeline. We get pissed off when somebody we had agreed to meet in a certain place and at certain time didn't show on time.

Any mother can tell you that waiting to give birth is an experience that builds patience. But pity the poor mother elephant. It takes about 22 months for an unborn elephant to mature to birth! the shark known as the spiny dogfish has a pregnancy duration of 22-24 months. And at elevation above 4,600 feet, the Alpine salamander endures a gestational period of up to 38 months!

Farmers waited and toiled hard, just to be able to support his family.

Abraham was told by God that his descendants would be like the sands on the seashore. He waited, and he was a hundred year old when his first son was born. Laban worked fourteen years for Rachel to become his wife.And there are many more others in the bible history that has a wonderful story about waiting.

Waiting for God's promise to be fulfilled is part of trusting Him. No matter how long the delay. we must wait for Him. As the book of Hebrews said; "Let us hold fast the confession our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)