FAIR SUNSHINE

There is a difference between those who criticize and those who do. Between those who merely affirm there is something wrong, and those are broken before God because of the wrong. Between those who attend church and those who worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Scripture says the wicked surround the righteous, therefore wrong judgements abound (Hab 1:4). A lack of urgency for the advancement of the kingdom also falls under wrong judgment. It falls under complacency. It is against the Lord's command to, "occupy" till He comes (Luke 19:13). Church gatherings are important, but not in the sense that many claim it to be. Many of our brethren in dangerous lands cannot gather for peril to their lives, but it doesn't make them less Christian than those who do so freely. Many gather conveniently, but it doesn't make them any more Christian than those who blaspheme God.  Take for instance this: all believers know baptism cannot save, but the way they vehemently argue for i...

Finally after four months of asking for this from the LORD it is finally answered. I was enabled to speak about Christ to this new batch of artists who worked on our latest project of which production ended this past week. They opened up the long proposed bible study and asked if we can hold it soonest before we all part ways. I was only too pleased to oblige them. It was important that I first take the matter to the LORD in prayer; to tell them first to God, before telling them about God. I simply held on in faith that it would be God who would put it in their hearts to ask for it. How happy I was that it was they that indeed asked. An hour before the time, my wife and I took it again to the LORD in prayer. That he would be pleased to allow us to lift up Christ among the hearers, and that he might be glorified above all else. We asked boldly for his name's sake. I dwelt on the grievousness of sin and its fatal implications to all of humanity, the hopeless predicament of rebelliou...

This boiled pork skin is a Filipino delicacy. It's called Chicharon . Sold by mostly elderly people on beaten bicycles for the better part of the scorching day, along with the infamous Balut , for 19 cents. If you would take time to talk with these people, you would learn of amazing stories of their children finishing college on the sheer sweat of the fathers who patiently sold these for years. Tonight was no special night. It has been pouring steadily for almost a week already. After a late dinner on the street at my favorite Pares cart, the rain picked up as I was walking back to work, forcing me to seek shelter at a shed in front of a house. "Tatay" , a Filipino term of endearment and respect for 'father', was there with his wares waiting out the rain as well. He obviously wasn't planning on being stalled here. But God had other things in mind for him. I immediately knew what I needed to do. The fear in me pulling me away as usual. But the bidding w...

I cannot look at another person without thinking to myself, "Oh Lord, I was once like this person, missing out on the greatest honor and privilege of knowing you." And another part of me that gnaws painfully at my soul, "Heaven or Hell..?" I simply cannot go out and see people and not imagine the horrors they will face should they die without a saving relationship with the Lord Jesus. Eternity is too terrible a word when hell is considered as an end. I cannot find it in myself to muster the courage to do what I am supposed to do, render utmost gratitude for the unmerited salvation mercifully granted to me. If winning the lottery boggles the mind, being elect is incomprehensible. What joys are promised. What horrors will I miss. All because of the Father's mercy. When I try to understand how my name is known even before the world was created, it so staggers me that my mind simply shuts down. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot att...