Remembering His Sacrifice this Lenten Season

From: http://catholicriddle.blogspot.com/2012/02/welcome-lent.html

I am very much thankful to youtube and the internet because I have all the convenience to look up a lot of things, learn from discussions, practically everything. We are now entering Holy Week and I really love this song I heard somewhere a long time ago and when I attended the Holy Mass last Sunday, it was played and it really made me shed a few drops of tears. Searched for it and downloaded and here's the youtube copy:

No Greater Love

You loved me,

When I was so unlovely,

You sought me

When I was lost;

You showed me

How much You really loved me,

When You bought me

At the highest cost

There’s no greater love than this,

There’s no greater love than this,

That a man would give his life for a friend;

There’s no higher sacrifice

Than a man would give his life,

You have paid

A precious price for me

You chose me,

When I was so unworthy

You cleansed me

With Your own blood;

You clothed me

With righteousness and mercy,

And You crowned me

With Your steadfast love

There’s no greater love than this,

There’s no greater love than this,

That a man would give his life for a friend;

There’s no higher sacrifice

Than a man would give his life,

You have paid

A precious price for me

You have paid

A precious price for me…

I was actually humming this tune when I stepped down from my so called Pandora this evening and realized that God is more than just awesome designing our lives with all His unpredictable gifts and trials and I felt ashamed of myself expecting and guessing a lot of things He wants for me when in fact He just wants me to trust fully His will and His providence. How amazing, I was walking on the busy streets of IT Park this evening pondering a lot of things, searching for a cab but still thinking, yes, there's no greater love than His love for us. No, I can't think of any reason why I had to leave, I can't think of any reason for choosing the status quo either because I can't just depend on my happiness but then, the bottom line: He knows where I'm heading and I may only have a little idea about it, or probably still clueless, it really doesn't matter, while I am the pilot or the captain, He takes charge of everything. Looking up high to the heavens . . . :)

Deactivating and Reactivating Facebook Account

I have been addicted to the internet and social networking sites since I got started with my friendster way back high school years. Then came facebook, multiply, twitter, myspace, linkedin, GooglePlus whichever started first, and now the latest is Pinterest. and I have skype too! I am not totally active in all mentioned sites but I keep and account in each of them except linkedin, with which I am planning to create one just so I can update my whereabouts regarding my profession and other career-related stuff. Two months ago, I thought of imposing some sort of disciplinary measures and deactivated my facebook and pondered on these:

1. It was cool. I was able to divert my attention to other sites with more sense. haha. I was able to study more and focus on other more important things. I get to watch my favorite tv series online and other teen-flick and romantic comedies I have saved in my hard disk for a long time, and I have started blogging again. 
2. Only a few remembered my birthday. Though I was not expecting much from people and even from close friends, it was still amazing reading text messages from friends and colleagues who actually remembered me that day. It was even more overwhelming answering calls from relatives greeting me that day. Without facebook to remind them, that was pretty awesome!
3. I got to seclude myself from annoying updates from people practically having topics with no sense at all. ha! But still, I have an open mind to stat expressing opinions, ideals, concept and the like. I don't know how I'm gonna describe the kind of stat I really really don't want to read, just three words - not my type :D
4. I am not claiming to have detractors but I just don't like people who uses facebook to gossip around so when I came back, removed some and blocked some too. I am not expecting for them to understand, they are entitled to their own reaction/opinion/annoyance as much as I do.
5. I have to reactivate it when one of my superior asked me: "Do you have a facebook account? just in case we'd prefer to communicate with you through fb?" And I was like, "Oh I had it deactivated, I can reactivate it anytime though". Real ouch. So he decided to have it on skype and I kept thinking I have to reactivate my facebook because yeah, it's a lot useful and convenient at times.
6. I'm the only one in the family without facebook then and so I could not relate with all their communication stuff since Papa is working overseas and then most of my relatives, cousins are hooked up in facebook, even my little pamangkins. haha
7. I miss my friends too, those people I usually connect with through facebook, I miss commenting and liking stuff and I miss posting stats and check ins!
8. My timeline got cut. tsk tsk. When I came back, there's a huge blank already, or like a vortex of two months. 

Now that I am back, aside from unfriending people I don't want to just follow my daily tasks and whatnot on facebook, I have also hidden some stats and updates from individuals I am not really a fan of. Well, I still consider myself entitled to such privilege of removing anyone I simply don't like, not the person of course, but the attitude she/he has. *smiles*

25 is just a number

Got it from http://uwstopia.nl/blog/2008/01/happy-birthday-to-me

through Google

In a few more days, I am turning 25, quarter-life many would say. Looking back, I can vividly see the past so worth cherishing, and these moments of the year, if I only have the luxury of time, I would have planned ahead to go on a long walk on the beach, alone in the long stretch of fine white sands with the waves gently hammering my bare feet as the sun slowly hides herself to slumber,  while I contemplate on the kind of life I have today and for the past 25 years. That wouldn't do for now, I barely have the time to write this because I still have pending stuff to do just so I can fulfill the requirements for my subjects this semester. Nevertheless, I am celebrating my birthday the traditional way, planning to go to church to attend mass, thank the Lord for all the blessings He showered not only to me but to all the people I love so dearly, for all the answered prayers, for the trials and struggles, for everything that led me to where I am right now.

For my 25th birthday, I am recalling the most important lessons I have learned in my entire existence, with which I am very much thankful, for without them, my  mistakes, errors and lapses would be really insignificant. Warning, these are all based on my experiences, thus my viewpoints does not necessarily reflect your own and I have no intention to mislead you in whatever perception of life you may have.

1. Life is a race. But it really does not matter who you are racing with or against, because the more you race with your own self, the more you are bound to get to your goal. Just like marathon, you run like no one is watching, that the other runners do not exist because you are focused on the song in your iPod, the ticktocks of your timer and the humdrum of your heartbeat. You don't have to base your success in whatever success your colleagues have nor your circle of friends are bragging because once you compare your success to them, you are bound to creating someone who is not you. 
2. Your friends change and you are not supposed to go along with his or her changes just so you would remain friends. Allow changes to happen, accept your friends as they are and if you find their stuff just not right for you, do not, in anyway, comment against it, rather, keep yourself keen and aware that you should not do such things nor apply such concept in your own paradigm.
3. Believe in the power of prayers, so as the power of Catholic and religion-oriented schools. At a very young age, being a toddler then, I learned how to pray piously because not only I was taught by my parents but we always do it in school. I was enrolled in a fundamental baptist school, though most of its pupils were like me, a Roman Catholic, I was exposed to prayers and opening my heart to the Holy Spirit, to Jesus and surrendering to Him everything though I barely knew then what it actually meant but, mind you, it was my stepping stone to building a stronger bond with God. Ever since then, I would always pray before I go to sleep so God will save me from nightmares and as years go by, I eventually learned to say a prayer every morning when I wake up, basically thanking Him for my new life, pray for my families, relatives, friends and even strangers. I read the scriptures from time to time and always, I would learn a lot from it. So to follow the legacy bestowed upon me, I am hoping that someday, I, too would be sending my off-springs to Catholic schools, it matters a lot.
4. You can't hurry love, you just have to wait. LSS from an old song, You can't Hurry Love. If you are looking for the right man, be the right woman. Simple as that, no need to elaborate.
5. Do not regret. You were once happy making that decision. As always heard, you learn with your mistakes, with your choices no matter how silly and stupid it was. 
6. Experience teaches us more than what we learn in school. Theories will always be just theories. You need to work in order to expand your knowledge, in order to apply what you have learned and in order to be more efficient in the real world. 
7. Lastly, for now, always remember the basic moral values, those things we learned at home, we learned from our GMRC (Good Manners and Right Conduct) and from our other religious education subjects. Do not be misled by the modern world. Keep in mind that not all things accepted by the society is good. Not all that shines like gold are gold either. The virtues we learned when we were still kiddos should always be the virtues we have to live by, and live with. Be silly at times but never neglect the essence of being modest and moral at the same time. 

I still have a very long way to go, God's will of course, and I am not even sure if I will be remembering all these stuff I am mentioning right now but with God's guidance, I am certain everything will be just fine.

As I have continued to write this one, my birthday passed already. Got caught up with other matters and I sort of left this blog for a while. I have been changing decisions like a switch turning it on and off almost everyday and I feel like the line bordering my dreams and my comfort is getting thicker. Ouch.

My birthday cake from Figaro by my sister dearest :)