If you want to win in this life, prepare in private when no one or even few see. So when crunch time comes, you know you’ve won the battle the very moment your impulse developed in private starts moving.

Manny Pacquiao on lessons in life:

This week, we’re talking about Hell. As my wife said, it’s a good topic, no body wants to talk about it, so let’s bring it on. While preparing for my grace group tonight, these thoughts run through my mind.

- We’re all going to die. Oh, yeah, we are. Whatever life altering procedure you do, we’re all going to die.

- There are 2 major views of death. I came from a tradition that says when you die, you sleep (a.k.a the doctrine of “soul sleep”). I changed camp. Most evangelicals believe that when you die, you continue to exist and will either directly go to heaven or hell (a.k.a. the doctrine of “Immortality of the Soul”). I will have a few Adventists on my grace groups, and if this question will be raised, I’m just going to say, “You continue to believe what you know is true, I believe mine, and it’s alright. Because whether the soul sleeps or is awake when you die is not the real issue. The real issue is, what are you doing now that you’re alive so that you’ll know exactly where you’re going in the after life?

- Heaven is real.

- Hell is real. But we don’t want to talk about it. Because we want to live as if it doesn’t exist.

- You won’t see your buddies in hell. You won’t drink beers with them, won’t laugh with them, won’t party with them. In hell, you’re going to be all alone. All by yourself. Nobody to talk to. In utter darkness.

- God doesn’t want us to go to hell. In the first place, hell is created for Satan. But because of our sinfulness and God’s holiness, we’re going there. And if we do, that doesn’t mean God didn’t do anything to save you. He did EVERYTHING you can imagine when he sent Jesus on earth and die a criminal’s death. You just don’t want to do anything with Jesus today. You simply want to do what you want to do with your life. And God will let you. Go. To. Hell.

@ANCALERTS: Update on Donations ABS CBN Sagip Kapamilya: P30.2 million cash and P72 million in goods & service

This is just one of the non-government institutions that received and distributed the cash and in-kind donations. I personally gave through Red Cross. Our church collected and gave to VCF Greenhills.

The president, however, delivered this message. Notice how she stresses the words “… sa DSWD”.

I have the impression that the government wants the funds to go through them and not through the NGO. So, when somebody asks you on how and where to give (as a client of mine from the US just asked me), what will you tell them? Are you going to ask them to send your funds to DSWD? Or will you direct them somewhere else?

Let me give my opinion as a citizen of this country under the administration of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo: I will NEVER ask people to give to DSWD for these reasons:

1. Effectiveness – as shown in the past days after the tragedy, the non-government instritutions – Red Cross, media, the church – they are all way more effective in delivering the services and the good to the shelters than the government. They are more organized and have more volunteers. In fact, it even looked like these institutions are our government these past few days!

2. Corruption – no need to explain here. But I can’t help it, can I just say some more? Remember the “Calamity fund” that’s supposed to be used for — well, as the name implies — calamity? It’s been used up for GMA’s travel abroad. This is a verifiable fact. This issue was discussed over and over even before the Saturday flood. You used up the calamity fund now you want to horde the donations to the government? I just wouldn’t trust my money on corrupt hands. I’d rather give my donations to some place where I’m sure it will be directly given to where it is intended to be.

If you’ll ask me, here’s how you can give.

How about you, will you course your donation through DSWD as the president suggests?

URGENT REPOST from Monica Payumo: IF ANYONE HAS A MOTORIZED RUBBER BOAT it is needed for ongoing rescue operations led by Red Cross Rizal Chapter. They need to go to Cainta and Manggahan, Pasig, Asap! People are reportedly dying in some areas. The water has not gone down at all. Please contact Cielo @ 0918-8824356

I know it’s wrong to impose. But in times of desperation, you just need to.

Here’s my challenge to Willie Revillame and people like him who have means to be used for rescue mission like this. You see, I highly suspect that his advertised generosity towards the needy is just confined in the 4 corners of his TV show. Then a friend of mine commented:

baka pweding may tumawag kay willie r. i remember meron yung speed boats at yate at helicopters na bagong bili at nang mabinyagan.

I’d like to be proven wrong even humiliated for my wrong perception of him. Show us your advertised generosity and love to the needy. Lend your expensive boats to the rescue teams.

Update: A friend of mine Gayle replied back.

nag-donate daw 1M si willie, sabi ni gina lopez sa wowowee kanina

That’s great! Sure, we need all the financial help. I guess I have to qualify, though. This challenge is for him to lend his motorized boat(s) as it is what is needed for the rescue and is very scarce. Not to discount financial donations — very important — but if you have millions, you’ve got to give something that will hurt you to really exercise generosity. I maybe asking too much, but hey, this is my way to help.

1. RED CROSS – The best and easiest way (in my opinion, since this is the most accessible) is via text donations to Red Cross. You can load up your number then send your donations either 25, 50, 100 or 300.

text RED<space>AMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4483 (Smart)

(images grabbed from Jannette Toral)

It is also confirmed that they have a Paypal account that you can send funds to: give@redcross.org.ph

2. Victory Christian Fellowship – I heard that they are turning their Ortigas center as a hub for accepting donations. It’s on the 4th floor of Robinson’s Galleria

3. ABS-CBN -  BANCO de Oro account number 56300-20111 account name: ABS-CBN Foundation Incorporation

4. GMA – GMA Kapuso Foundation accepting donations of food, clothes & water pls call 9317013, 9284299 9289351. Website here

5. Gawad Kalinga – Donations for Gawad Kalinga may be brought 2 Cervini Ateneo or GK CENTER profriends

6. World Vision – Worldvision Foundation is accepting donations/volunteers to pack relief goods in QC.For donations, BPI:USD acct #4254-0050-08.

7. Ateneo – Ateneo now accepting donations at Cervini Hall. contact 09176312423 and 09177035357

8. Senators Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas – Tulong Bayan hot lines for donations and volunteers are 09086579998, 9137122, 9136254, and 9133306. Drop-off points are at Expo Centro in Cubao in Quezon City and White Space at 2314 Pasong Tamo Extension in Makati,” according to a text of a staff from Aquino’s office.

* * *

The ceramics teacher announced he was dividing his class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right graded solely on its quality.

His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would weigh the work of the “quantity” group: 50 pounds of pots rated an A, 40 pounds a B, and so on. Those being graded on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot – albeit a perfect one – to get an A.

Well, come grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity!

It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work – and learning from their mistakes – the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

* * *

One famous leader once said, “Comitting a mistake is wisdom. Not learning from it is stupidity”. Are you hiding and trying to perfect something before you go out in the open? Or are you in the open committing mistakes and learning from it?

Want to see my dad when he was 33 years old? There you have it on the right side.

No, not really.

That’s me. ;-) But if you know my dad, you’ll agree that I looked just like him — only younger.

I was browsing over at Gayle’s photo page looking for shots for the new Grace Place website when I came across this picture. I thought I saw my dad!

I suddenly missed him. Especially that my car’s power steering has been needing the fluid for 2 weeks now and I can’t find where the heck is that hole where I place the fluid. Gah. Stupid.

My dad, he’s a genius. In a lot of things. In cars, in music — sings very well, in the farm, knows animals. One really cool guy. I wish I can be just a portion of what he is in terms of handling pressures in life.

This picture is in honor of my dad, who will be here in Manila on Friday to fix my car.

Oh, and yes, I also love my mom. ;D When everything settles in, she’s be the first to benefit from it. Ma, you know what I mean.

Dudes, let’s honor our parents. Heaven will fall down, but they will still remain standing for you. No wonder, the Bible says ““Honor your father and your mother so that you will live a long time in the land that the Lord your God is going to give you.”

A couple of  twit from @guitarchic caught my attention. She mentioned about following and sending a Twitter message to Ashton Kutcher.  I was winding down from a tiring coding day, so it kind of got me interested and searched for Ashton @aplusk.

His profile: 500,000++ followers! Now, if you have half a million people following you on Twitter, you can do a lot of things with it. And so I found out that he did.

I’m not a showbiz-type of guy, but I know he and Demi Moore, the “Ghost” girl, are a couple. And so I tried to read back his Twitter page. I found out that he was planning something for Demi with his Twitter friends.

Waiting for my wife to wake up half way across the world so I can tell her good morning. (that tells us that Demi is in another country right now)

can you all help me make her morning? At 7:45am pst that 1hr 25 min from now send @mrskutcher a “good morning, I love U” tweet. (He unveiled the plan. Demi is in Europe. At an exact time, all his twitter buddies will great @mrskutcher — that’s Demi — good morning. Imagine the fllood!)

what if we crashed twitter with love That would be awsome!

the countdown is on 1 hour till the love wave hits. sending love to @mrskutcher at 7:45 pst

45 min until the love wave. Lets make it a love tsunami! send @mrskutcher a little love at 7:45 pst 10:45 est

the anticipation is killing me. she is gonna love this. 7:45 is when she sends the girls 2 school. this will make her day 30 min to go.

help me make wifeys day in 15 min drop a little love note to @mrskutcher it will be best if we have the tweet ready and just hit send

(ok, the people are now waiting for 7:45 to come, ready with their Twits for @mrskutcher)

…8 min just a little “good morning we love you ” or “missed you while you were sleeping” will will be perfect

5 min prepare your tweets for the love wave!!!

I’m calling her now to make sure she is watching

BOOM! The flood of good morning greetings came! 3600 messages in less than 7 minutes according to Ashton. While Demi was talking to him, she’s looking at her Twitter feed.

Demi Moore was speechless — or at least she can tweet about it.

I am feeling the love bomb and think I might explode! At least with a few tears of overwhelming joy. I love and miss you!

Awwww!

* * *

This illustrates how social networking bridges the gap between celebrities and fans, between people across the world, between generations. So, the basic question Twitter answers “What are you doing right now?” can actually produce a wide range of other stuff, eh! From business promotions to vanity to being romantic — oh I love my generation!

I’ve been thinking about this lately:

1. What if the church is just like a social club? As long as you pay your yearly or monthly dues, as long as you can keep up with other members of the club, as long as you can have some funny stories to tell after the meeting, you’re all good. They won’t care about what you do after each “sosyalan” meetings. The moment you ride your car home, you’re all alone. They won’t bother what you do after you leave the hall. Just call them if you need connections later on — you’ve got to do that, because they will do that to you, too.  Gamitan lang ang laban sa mga social club.

2. What if the church is like a barkadahan, a clique? Your friends are with you when everything is cool. If things get rough, they leave. Some, of course, will stay with you. True friends are such. But they don’t care about your future, they care about the fun of the present. This is where you will hear them say, “Pare, kung saan ka masaya, susuportahan ka namin“. That sounds comforting. But in reality, they may well be driving you off the cliff. But they don’t care. Anyway, if driving off the cliff is where you’re happy at, they’ll support you. That’s what friends are for, right?

3. What if the church is a fraternity? You do something good — or hard — to enter the exclusive group. So once you’re in, you’re in. And you’re a brother. They will support you whatever you do. Good, bad. Everything, just do it. Not only that they are supporting you, they will even go with you. So whether it’s community service or a plot to kill a member of another fraternity, they will join you. That’s their definition of brotherhood.

* * *

Case in point: if say, for the sake of illustration, I have a church-mate whom I love so much, and I know that he’s heading to the cliff — that what he’s doing will hurt him, his love ones, other people’s love ones, how should I treat him? Should I treat him like a social club member? “Oh, well, I don’t care what you do after you leave the Sunday service. You’re giving your offerings, and we need you as a member. You help the organization. So, do whatever you want to do”.

Or a barkada? “Brad, kung saan ka masaya, susuportahan kita. Yan ang gusto mo eh. Basta nandito lang kami sa tabi mo pag kailangan mo kami“.

Or a frat member? “Brad, sige, gawin mo. Gusto mo samahan ka pa namin eh. Wag mo isipin kung sino masasaktan mo. Basta pag trip mo, gawin mo!”

Is a church a social club, a clique, or a fraternity? Or neither.

* * *

Two words that describe what should happen in a church: grace and intollerance.

We are called to love anyone — warts and all. We should accept everyone who needs love, patience and mercy. In the first place, a church is a hospital field with wounded individuals. It should not become a social club of holier-than-thou religious pharisees. If anyone sins, let the church show grace and mercy and love.

BUT…

The church should also show intolerance to known sins. God hates sin. He is angry at sin. In fact, sin is the reason why Jesus died on the cross. If God is intolerant to sin, the church, as a God-honoring institution, should act the same way.

While we love every sinner, we should not tolerate sins. In fact, we should rebuke all forms of sins.

Unfortunately, along the way, correcting an individual will lead into hoops:

* The “you don’t have the right” hoop. This is where a church is different from a social club or a clique. When one decides to be part of a local church, they become his spiritual partners. And as partners, it is their right to help you go through your spiritual issues. It is their right to guide you. To correct you. To show you how Jesus can help you overcome your sin. You too, have the right: and that is the right to refuse. On the other hand, your refusal to be under correction can lead the church to act and provide disciplinary actions.

* The “why would a sinner like you correct me?” hoop . This is very common. I was asked one time. How should you respond whenever someone who is being rebuked would say “You yourself have committed mistakes like this, how can you afford to rebuke me?” Here’s a fact: nobody is blameless. Nobody is sinless. Nobody is perfect. But that doesn’t mean everyone is disqualified to lovingly correct another member of the church because he himself is a sinner. If the rebuke is based on the Word of God, everyone, whatever past he has, if done with the purpose other than to humiliate the person, can correct anyone who has been outwardly sinning.

* The “don’t judge me” hoop. “Don’t judge so you won’t be judged” has been used out of context over and over again. It’s a whole new topic, but to explain in short, everyone can pass judgment if he thinks the judgment is based on the Bible. If the Bible is clear, then go ahead and declare it in front of the sinning individual.

* * *

A church is a family. It’s the type of family that never ends. It’s the only relationship that will exist throughout eternity. It is very important for us to realize that being in a church family is a gift and a responsibility. We’re not a social club where you won’t care about your fellow member’s sinful acts. We’re not a clique where you will not care and say nothing about your friend’s sins just because he is “happy” for what he is doing, when you know that it will lead him to death. Neither it is like a fraternity that will even tolerate the sin!

A church will say something, do something, and stop something — because of love. Sometimes, correction will hurt. Sometimes, it will try to destroy so it can rebuild. The Bible says, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love” (Prov. 27:5) If the church rebukes a sinner, it is because of love. It is because she desires restoration. The goal is to bring back that lost relationship with God broken by the bonds of sin. If reconcillation is the heart of God, this should be the heart of the church. And if restoration means pain and suffering, it will be done just so a better, more vibrant relationship with God can be restored.

We’re hoping for the very first Olympic gold. But if we can’t win against those with similar genes, how can we win against taller and faster races?