Home, Church, Work

Saturday was Home Day

My wife sensitively let me sleep in, after the rather exhausting Friday we had. But when I got up we proceeded to take care of some of the junk in the house that we unearthed during renovations. I take joy in throwing things away, just like deleting files on my computer. I hadn’t realized that in just the past two-something years of being married, we’d already accumulated so much junk!

It was fun cleaning up with my wife though. One blessing we have about being married to each other is we seem to have the ability to work well together – we saw it during the wedding planning, on our travels, moving furniture, and now renovating. I think it’s a joy to do things, even difficult work, with people you love. One area we get along with is our ruthlessness with junk, or even not-so-junk. If it wasn’t being used or not about to be used, out it went – given to people who could make better use of it.

It was a great day at home. Getting covered in dust and the consequent terrible allergic reaction was worth it, as our home slowly, but surely, takes shape. See my wife’s blog about it here.

Yesterday was Church Day

I had the privilege to preach at four services – two in Victory Makati and two in Victory Ortigas. The topic was about the next generation and how God has a plan for them that the older generation should believe in. Even while I was speaking about it, I was so encouraged just to see so many men and women there who lived it. In Makati, there was Pastor Julius Fabregas and Pastor Jojo Henson with their families. We’d been family friends since I was around four years old. Their children have been my friends ever since I was a kid. It’s a pleasure growing up with them and entering new seasons.

Victory Ortigas was more of the same thing. In between the 6 and 8 pm services, I had a quick snack with Pastor Noel Landicho, the lead pastor there. He was my favorite theology teacher when I was a kid – combining sarcastic humor and faithful handling of Scripture. To this day, much of the framework I use in studying the Bible comes from those lessons he taught us 14 years ago, every Tuesday night at our classroom in Pasig.

There were many more too – volunteers who mentored us in high school, families who encouraged me when I started in ministry, and young professionals who serve and give faithfully, even while being excellent in their field. And it was such a beautiful picture of what church is. It’s not a building, not only the church services, but the PEOPLE. People who aren’t perfect, people who struggle through life, people who make mistakes, but are united in their belief in Jesus and their relationships with each other. Whether we were singing songs, listening to preachings, eating meals, or watching Pacquiao get cheated – it was a good day with the church.

Today was Work Day

I work in the national office of LifeBox. Today we had to conduct interviews for a number of applicants who want to be full-time campus missionaries. One day I’ll blog more about that process. But for now, it was just great meeting those men and women. They came from different backgrounds, surmounted many obstacles, and counted the cost – but all of them are excited for the next season. I’m thankful for the chance to meet them, and it’s gonna be great getting to know them more in the future as we torture train them.

Then we had a meeting with our office team, slightly reduced because others are on leave getting trained or raising their ministry support team. As usual, the meeting was a blast. Even as we concluded a hectic season of work, we were preparing ourselves for the coming school year and what that entailed for everyone. I was so encouraged when none of them shrank back, but each one stepped up and was excited for the new developments.

While the proverb says, “Many hands make light work,” I’ll want to qualify that. Quantity isn’t enough, but quality makes a big difference. Passionate people, excellent people, and people who can get along with others make for light work.

In summary

This was pretty random and I didn’t have a main point to everything. But even as I read it again, one does seem to emerge. It’s not all about what you do or where you do it. What makes life worth living is who you get to do it with – who you get to walk along with, who you get to build relationship with, who you get to work with.