The realities of death

Death is real, if you still haven’t noticed.

Yesterday, our dearest hangout place, Glorietta, exploded. A bomb ruined the place. People are hurt. Some died. And if that happened the day later — making that Saturday, same time at around 1:30 pm, we could have been one of those who are affected. “Kids-at-work” located at the 3rd floor of Glorietta 2 is where Johann, my 3 year old kid frequents during weekends. Joy and I enjoyed window shopping along those clothing stores in that area. So, yes, if the terrorists decided to postpone the plan for another day, we could have been one of those who are hurt… or dead.

Two things running through my mind right now:

1. You’ve got to be ready to die anytime, any day. Even how hard it is to accept, that’s a fact. Bomb or no bomb, we can die anytime. You may be healthy today, you can be shot dead by some hot headed motorists tomorrow. You feel well today — then you receive a call from your doctor about the results of your physical exam, and it is devastating. So, yes, “life is like a mist”, apostle James said.

The real question is, are you ready to die anytime, any day? If not, how can you prepare yourself to the afterlife? Do you know where you are going? If not, what are you doing to know?

2. Live life to the full. Enjoy your time with your family everyday of your life. Don’t be afraid of the future, do what you have to do today. Stop doing the things that’s hurting you and straighten your life for good. It’s hard, I know. With your own strength, that is. You need help. Jesus, the one who came so that you can “have life and live it to the full” (John 10:10), can help you. He is, in fact, the missing piece.

Update from my Multiply.com blog: To the victims of Glorietta tragedy 

Research: “30 Days to Live”

February of next year, Grace Place in Makati will start a message series entitled “30 Days to Live”. The basic premise of the series: How will you live your life if you know that you have only 30 days to live.

To prepare for this message series, we are researching and looking for possibility of interviewing on camera 2 to 3 followers of Jesus who are terminally ill. Yung parang may taning na.

Here’s where you can help us. If you know of a person who :

* is a believer of Jesus.
* terminally ill, probably s/he has cancer or any other similar disease.
* has a positive perspective on life despite his/her situation
* preferably living within Mega Manila (Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal). We may not be able to travel further than that. But if his/her story is really inspiring, we will try to consider traveling further.
* preferably not older than 49 .
* most especially, willing to share his/her story on how his perspective in life changed because of the life threatening disease.

You don’t have to convince them. Just give us a tip — who this person is, way to contact (ie, cell phone, land line, who to contact initially). We will be the one to talk to them and share with them the vision of the interview. We are hoping that they will agree to be interviewed after we explain the tremendous impact their story can create to the lives of people.

You can email me :

arnold.gamboa [at] graceplace.ph

Your contribution to this project is greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance.

Week round-up

* Grace Place starts a new passionate series called “Prayer Can Change Your Life“.

* Steve Murrell shares a great analogy on how understanding your sinfulness affects the way you respond to God’s grace.

* I thought we should put Jesus first in our lives? Steven Furtick says, no. We should put Jesus on the center of our life instead.

* Perry Noble‘s New Spring Church launched a new website called ParentsAreClueless.com to coincide with their new series on parenting. If you are a parent, you’ll agree with me that we are clueless most of the times, don’t we?

* I’ve started a Pinoy Paypal users group. If you are a Paypal user or plan to use it in the future, join us as we try to shoot down possible problems that we can encounter.