Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Why Do We Build More Walls Rather Than Bridges

WALLS & BRIDGES 
Greg B. Fernandez Jr

Isaac Newton writes, "We build too many walls, not enough bridges"!

Why do we build too many walls instead of bridges? We do, because it is easier and cheaper to build walls than bridges. We build walls to protect our privacy, but we build bridges that exposes our vulnerability. We build walls to keep dangers out; we build bridges to invite dangers in. We build walls to protect and separate people; we build bridges to welcome them for relationship. We build walls to mark boundaries; we build bridges to join chasms. We build walls to keep others out of our lives; we build bridges to reach out and invite others in.

Walls separate properties; bridges connect and join entities. A wall creates distance while a bridge connects it. A wall keeps the familiar in; a bridge reaches out to the unknown. A wall closes door of opportunity while a bridge opens it. Walls stop us from progression; bridges lead us to our destination! Wall suggests the impossibility; bridges move us into our destiny.

What walls you must tear down and what bridge you must build? What walls have you built around yourself that are keeping you from reaching out? What bridge you must build to connect the gap between you and others?

Let us build enough bridges instead of walls! Let us build the bridge of love across the sea of hate and prejudice. Let us knock down the wall of racism and build the bridge of tolerance across religious and racial differences. Let's build the bridge of compassion across the rivers of discrimination. Let us tear down the walls of apathy and build bridges of sympathy.

Let the wall that separates us tumble down and the bridge of love joins us to save the impending doom of human existence! Let us build bridges for Christ across cultures of disconnect. 

Let me speak yet of another bridge; the only bridge that connects the lostness of humanity to the realm of deity. Without this bridge, there is no hope for the human race. Because of sin, the creature is separated from the creator and a vast chasm existed between human and the holy God.  Human tried to build bridges of religion and good works to reach God but their effort have fallen short. The futility of human's effort necessitates God's act of love. In His love and mercy, to restore humanity back to Himself, God provided Jesus Christ, the only bridge for the lost human race to find its way back to the Almighty. This only bridge that leads to eternal bliss, can we now get across. Across the sea of damnation, Jesus is the only bridge of salvation! Have you cross that bridge yet? 

Monday, September 28, 2015

How Much Do you Love Jesus?


Believers and non-believers alike love Jesus because of His unconditional love to everyone regardless of their status and condition. He loves the poor, the sinners, and the outcasts in society. He hangs out with drunkards, prostitutes and tax collectors. Everyone loves Him except the religious folks. In today's society, those who claimed they like Jesus because of His welcoming attitude to all will have a problem when it comes to His teaching on radical discipleship. 

Many people like Jesus because He loves everyone unconditionally. But I wonder if the same people will take His teaching on discipleship seriously. Do you still love Jesus including his teaching on being His followers? Although Jesus loves everyone, He made His terms of discipleship very costly and that is self-denial and the carrying one's cross.   I bet many people only like Jesus because of His love and attitude towards people but they are not willing to follow deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him.

At what extend are you willing to give up and deny yourself because you are a follower of Jesus? If you love Him because you think Jesus approves your sinful lifestyle, you are mistaken. Jesus told the woman caught on adultery, "neither will I condemn you," go and continue your life of sin. Did Jesus say that? The first part of the statement is, the last one is not. He said, "Go and sin no more!" You are loved, forgiven and not condemned but leave your life of sin! 

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Fly Away Towards the Dreams You've Left so Very Far Behind

I can't believe God uses secular songs to reinforce a message not just songs with Christian lyrics. Yesterday, I was listening to the song Skyline Pigeon by Elton John. This morning while washing the dishes I was listening to the song again. The third time I played, it hit me. The song became real and has a personal meaning to my life. This phrase hit me hard!"Fly away..towards the dreams you've left so very far behind."




I realized, I have left many dreams so very far behind and I must fly away and take them back. I was in a prison cell of my own fears and self in a long, long time. "I want to hear the pealing bells of distant churches sing. But most of all please free me, from this aching metal ring, and open out this cage towards the sun. For just a Skyline Pigeon, dreaming of the open waiting for the day. He can spread his wings. And fly away again!"

I wish I could fly like the pigeon in the song towards the dreams I've left so very far behind. I know I can't fly back, but I can fly forward towards the future!

I realized, of course, that the song just reinforced the messages I have been listening to the entire week about vision, pursuing your passion and purpose. I pray God will help me to pursue HIM most of all and then to pursue the why HE brought me here on earth. If God created me just to take me to heaven without any purpose why I came into being, then why God created me in the first place? I know the final destination is heaven, but what on earth am I here for is equally important. 

Weird Dream about Ferdinand Marcos Secret Burial Place

  
On August 7, early morning, I dreamed a dream that I met Dr. Ben Carson. In my dream, I prophesied in front of him that he would be the next president of the US. Then I told him "to email me when he's on the throne", meaning when he is in office. Last month, I made the photo of Dr. Carson my Facebook cover photo. 
Yesterday morning, I had another vivid and weird dream. Last night, I posted this dream on Facebook and asked for interpretation. Some people liked it, but no one said a thing. I decided to blog about this to document what I saw. 
In my dream, I was in a remote grassland beside a house made of cogon grass. My first cousin, Franco told me to help him dig up a pit to bury his deceased wife. But I didn't see the dead body of his wife and we were only two in that place. With shovels, we started digging the ground. My cousin told me not to make the burial pit wider because someone was recently buried next to the pit we are digging. As we dig, we exhumed two huge full plastic bags. One plastic bag in color white stinks so bad. we couldn't tell whether it's a dead body or just a garbage. We tossed it over aside. The other large plastic bag in black color is full of empty blue and beautiful bottles (lots of them). I said we can recycle those bottles. We set the plastic bag aside. My cousin left and I was left alone digging. All of a sudden, I discovered a large burial pit with water like a swimming pool and found myself standing at the edge of a 9x9 SQM burial pit. The coffin that looks like either glass or a transparent plastic lies at the other end of this pit. Suddenly it hit me; the man in the coffin was Ferdinand E. Marcos, the late president of the Philippines. I could see half of his body (waist to head ) in white barong tagalog, even if the coffin was at the other end of the pit, about 9 meters away from where I stood. The pit was filled up with water and a white plastic was placed underneath to hold the water from draining. I punctured the plastic on one side of the grave and the water gushed out. Then I realized, maybe they are trying to preserve the body with this water, so I tried to cover the whole I just puncture.
(There was a flashback in my memory while I stood there. President Marcos died recently in a foreign land and so they brought his body back home in a coffin by plane. People thought all along, the cadaver was in the Philippines but in reality the coffin was empty because his son secretly buried his father's body in the grave we just unearthed. We don't know the reason why the body was buried in secret by his son. Luckily, we found the secret burial pit.)
Back to my senses. When I uncovered the burial, without saying a word, I motioned my hand to call my cousin and show him what I have just found. But he disappeared suddenly, so I went down the hill to look for him. I found him being tied up by a bad guy. My cousin kicked the bad guy and got loosed. The bad guy tried to get me but I fought and wasn't hurt. I went back to burial pit, and there's a man in blue uniform that looks like an Indian. I don't remember what we talked about. The people told me that there are lots of silver coins and also bills worth a million dollars buried with the body. The people say we should keep the money. I told them we shouldn't. (Note: I'm glad even in my dream I am a person of integrity)
In my dream, the scene was suddenly changed. The burial we just discovered became known to many. But don't know what happened to the body. I found myself telling to others that we should take a video to document what we have found. Then I began to talk to some people and say, "how were the people able to bring an empty coffin back home in the plane without being someone noticing that it's empty. " I began to act out and said, "So the people were carrying the coffin like this pretending there's body but it's actually empty? Is the son of the late president really that powerful that people are afraid to tell the truth about the empty coffin? How could the coffin exit the airport without being discovered? " 

Then another scene appeared. The discovery of the body is already being broadcasted in the TV news by the abs-cbn. The reporter said, "We are keeping the identity of those who found the body confidential for safety and security of their children and family!". While watching the news, I said, that's good. Then I woke up!

At about 3:30 this morning, I looked at my status if someone commented on my dream. Nothing! I went to my newsfeed and as I was scrolling down, I saw this photo. I was shocked! (Don't read the words written in this image, just look at the lying body.)
This is the one I saw in my dream, except I didn't see the red sash ribbon. I wasn't particularly interested what's written and being advocated in this photo, I was glued to the lying body itself and what I saw in my dream. Honestly, prior to this, I haven't seen any photo of the late President's corpse inside a glass coffin. I heard about it years ago, but haven't seen any picture.

Then it hit me. My dream about Marcos being buried secretly somewhere does not make sense because his cadaver is encased in a glass coffin and lies in a mausoleum in Batac Ilocos Norte. I kept thinking about it and what my dream meant. Because I still couldn't go back to sleep, I goggled "Marcos in a glass coffin." Immediately, the photo of Imelda beside the glass coffin of Marcos appeared.  Then I read what the Wikipedia say about Marcos. I went straight down to the topic Mausoleum from Past to Present. The last sentence of the last paragraph was shocking to me. It reads, "The family's mortician confirmed that the corpse is real, although people suspect it is a wax replica, and the real body was secretly buried in ground." 

Wow! That's the first time I read something like that. Really? I was speechless. Not that I believe this suspicion, but could it be that my dream about his body being buried secretly in the ground is true? Why would I ever dream something like this? I wasn't thinking about him, nor I was reading lately about this. 


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