Break the barrier.

Just because you see people doing the same foolish thing, it doesn't mean that you have to follow.

Today, I learned to break the barrier. Barrier, according to the dictionary, is any condition that makes it difficult to make progress or to achieve an objective. This can pertain to different things, such as fear, et al., which we usually encounter when we have a certain goal or dream. Why is breaking the barrier important? Allow me to have a case in point.

Romans 5:19 (New International Version)

¹⁹For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

If we want the people around us to be righteous, just as we claim ourselves, we have to display the right attitude and actions, which we want others to follow. If we don't want the people to be corrupt, then, logically, we have to show the people how a person that is not corrupt works. Even in small things or actions, we have to let everyone, the conscious or the unconscious people, know our advocacy through actions.

Perhaps sometimes, fear, or the like, hinders us from doing such good things. But we should stand firm and break the barrier that hinders us from achieving our goal. We have to break that mindset (barrier) that small acts of kindness won't help in achieving peace in this world. We have to break our fears and express our sincerest emotions. Stop being a copycat. The Creator gave you your mind for you to be able to think and make decisions on your own, decisions which are subject to circumstances or approval. But now's time to break those barriers. Now's the time to stand on your own feet.

Remember this:

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. -N. Mandela 

You fight for freedom and democracy and want it, yet, you abuse it. Don't be a barrier. 

Fast lane.

Romans 2:21-24 (New International Version)

²¹you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²²You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? ²⁴As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

 A fast entry: Let us be true to our words, and actions. Bantay-bantay, as in watch out-watch out.

By the way, I now have my planner. Can't upload the pics from my phone right now, I forgot my USB cord.

It was character that got us out of bed, COMMITMENT that moved us into action, and discipline that enabled us to follow through. - Zig Ziglar

Security.

"It's not enough to finish the race yourself. To be successful, you must take somebody with you across the finish line." - John Maxwell

The saddest thing perhaps is winning alone.

No, I am not writing these things because I won something. I just realized, some of us are so obsessed to get a trophy that we often neglect the people around us. We neglect the relationships, which actually helped us reach the place where we're standing right now. It's good to envision something, to envision success. But when we become so focused in achieving this, our environment then becomes so obscure that we develop our own "blindspots". After a time and after regaining consciousness, the world has actually turned away from you. The key here? Don't put much trust in yourself, egotistical creature. Slow down and find a good company.

But hey, to whom do you share your success with? Your failures? Your hopes? Your dreams? Winning alone is indeed the saddest thing. People may leave you, because of their eagerness to finish the race first. Or because of mere jealousy. But He is just up there, waiting for you. He is there, willing to run with you. In Him is the only place that is secure. He doesn't need a perfect person. He needs someone, someone like you.

 ⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

 - 1 Samuel 16:7

Cold and Foggy Afternoon

After our exam in FST 147 - Principles of Product and Process Development, we noticed that the ground in front our college, CSM, was covered with fog. Everyone then shouted "Korea", all dreaming that we're in Korea and experiencing the "foggy feeling" and the when-you-speak-the-fog-comes-out-from-your-mouth-feeling. We took some evidences, thinking also that we'd capture some orbs around. Unfortunately, we were not able to find one.

We made our way to the Admin building by means of walking, and even the Kanluran road was filled with fog. We even heard someone talking, "Fog siya pero baho'g aso." (It's really fog, but it smells like smoke.) When we reached the Admin building, Carla and I waited for our cell members to come, while my other classmates went ahead to the C5 building to prepare for their Navigators Nite. Sadly, they were not able to come since they had to do something, so we decided to attend the Nav Nite. It was a good decision, I must say, since it made me go back to this verse:

2 Corinthians 5:17 (New International Version)

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Where did I meet this verse? Encounter. Ooh, my mind was gradually filled with the memories that I had during the retreat. I am a new creation. I am a new creation. And I think that I should implant that verse on all corners of my brain. I always commit mistakes, sins, etc even if I have already encountered God. But you know what? Thanks to my daily reading of the Bible, God told me this:

1 Samuel 12:20 (New International Version)

 ²⁰ "Do not be afraid," Samuel replied. "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.

Most of us, after committing sins, rather that confessing and repenting, we hide ourselves from Him. Some of of us don't want to commit their lives to Him thinking that committing sin is inevitable. Yes, it's inevitable, but hey, should we allow this fact to stop us? This is where our faith should come in. Despite everything, everything, every difficult circumstance, we move forward. We know that God is beside us if we repent and confess our sins. It's inevitable but the God's love is unfailing. Remember the word unfailing.

As for me, aside from the verses above, I wouldn't want to forget this verse:

Acts 20:24 (New International Version)

²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

P.S. Stick to people who can increase your faith. Thanks friends, thanks Super Hammers, thanks BCC family, thank you.

Reposted: How to Commit Social Suicide Online and "Foursquare"

Whew, time really flies fast! Just when millions of people have converted, i.e. Friendster to Facebok, now, the world has invented a way to terminate your social networking-madness. Link is available!

How to Commit Social Suicide Online

By Sophia Yan

Need to disappear from Facebook or Twitter? Now you can scrub yourself from the Internet with the Web. 2.0 Suicide Machine, a nifty online application that purges your online presence from these all-consuming social networks. Since its Dec. 19 launch, the Suicide Machine has assisted nearly 900 virtual deaths, severing more than 61,300 friendships on Facebook and removing some 233,400 tweets from Twitter.

Once you hand over your log-in details and click "commit," the program will delete each bit of info one-by-one — Twitter tweets, MySpace contacts, Facebook friends, LinkedIn Connections — much like users could do manually. What remains is a brittle cyber-skeleton: a profile with no data. Users seem to love it. Testimonials range from joyous farewells ("Good bye, cruel world!") to good-riddance denouements ("Thank you microblogging. You are, in fact, totally useless"). The Suicide Machine is so popular that thousands are "waiting in line" for their cyber-offing. "Our server is so busy handling the requests," says co-creator Walter Langelaar.

But be warned: as in life, resurrection is impossible. After you "commit," your web doppelganger croaks for good. When it does, you'll receive a cyber-memorial on the site. RIP, 2.0. We'll miss you.

What appeals to many of the site's boosters is the simplicity of the exit. When trying to close an online a

ccount, users are often asked to fill out a questionnaire. More importantly, your information and connections aren't erased; they're just unpublished. By deleting all your data, the site argues, your private information is also snuffed out on website servers.

Not everyone thinks the proposition is so cool. The uptick in social suicides has put Facebook in a tizzy. In an email to the Suicide Machine's founders, Facebook demanded "you cease this activity immediately," citing a violation of users' privacy. The Suicide Machine's founders — Langelaar, 32, Gordan Savicic, 30 and Danya Vasiliev, 31 — disagree, arguing users voluntarily hand over their log-in details. Though Facebook blocked the Suicide Machine from accessing the site earlier this month, the Machine's creators, and suicides are continuing. "Compared to the more than 350 million users [on Facebook], we think deleting a few hundred is not very impressive," says Langelaar. "But they picked up on it as a potential threat." LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter have not yet publicly responded.

Langelaar, who is based in Rotterdam, and Vasiliev, who works in Berlin, first met in 2002 during their undergraduate studies. The pair met Savicic while in art school in the Netherlands in 2007. They describe their work as "geek chic." The Suicide Machine isn't the first collaborative new media project for the trio, who also operate media lab Moddr and are members of the Rotterdam-based artist collective Worm. Inspiration for the Web 2.0-suicide idea took root when Worm threw a 2008 New Year's Eve party themed "Web 2.0 Suicide Night." Recalls Langelaar: "The idea was that everybody would be nice and analog."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1954631,00.html#ixzz0d3KlFmSK

And talk about social-networking madness, there's a new thing that I'll guess hit the Philippines sometime maybe after 48 years. Foursquare.com! 

Foursquare's Twist on Facebook: A Reward for Checking In

By Dan Fletcher

Tweeting was the breakout Web term for 2009. The early favorite for 2010? Checking in.

That's the basis of Foursquare, the gorilla in a new wave of location-based social-networking sites. While sites like Facebook and Twitter are interested in what you're doing, Foursquare is more interested in where you're doing it — and using different ways to reward you for checking in.

Launched in March, Foursquare turns city maps into game boards. Members use text messages or applications for iPhones or Android phones to post when they are at a location like a bar or a restaurant. As incentive to share, your current location shows up on the Foursquare map to help you meet up with friends. Check in enough times from a coffee shop, for example, and you're dubbed its mayor. Give a shout-out from your gym 10 times in a month, and you might get a badge that dubs you a "Gym Rat." That gaming component is the site's secret sauce — one that pushed it past 150,000 users before the end of 2009.

Co-founder Dennis Crowley says Foursquare counts on users' becoming protective of their little territories. Foursquare is birthed from Crowley's previous effort, a now defunct site called Dodgeball that was bought by Google in 2005 but stuggled to expand beyond a few thousand users. Dodgeball had the map part but lacked the game, and when Crowley left Google in 2007, he tried to figure out how to make his next effort more fun. "Once we started resurrecting Dodgeball, we thought adding game mechanics might make it something really interesting," Crowley says. "And it really took off and became sticky with a lot of users.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1952980,00.html#ixzz0d3NTsjCA

After what's been written above, I guess the new way to spell technology is f-a-s-t. I wonder how's  everything gonna be after 5 years. Superb, but exciting. =]

Out of Stifled Annoyance

1 Samuel 4:6-8

Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, "What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?" When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, ⁷ the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into the camp," they said. "We're in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert.

These people are afraid of what you're carrying. If you become afraid of them  (unknowingly, you're both afraid of each other), then you'll end up losing them.

Remember a magnet.

You know that negative poles don't attract each other. They repel. How can you "pull" that person to His kingdom if you have the same "charge" with that person? Be positive so that you'll be able to attract negative ones.You're blessed if that person already has that desire to be with Him.

Remember polarity. 

Like dissolves like; polar substances dissolve polar substances.With human strength, it may be easy to win them but both negligence and complacency are still not an option.

To everyone who believes, be bold. For in boldness will we be able to become resistant strains. Even their gods bow to our God, 1 Samuel 5:4 "But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained." Be strong. Do not be afraid.

I remembered this, "Maayo na lang ng Diosnon kesa sa Demonyohon."

Bato-bato sa langit ang tamaan mag-repent.

Protect yourself. Get a Bible and read a chapter daily.

Blogger plus Messages to some of my friends. Check mo if kasali ka.

Done refurbishing my blogger site! Whew.  Check it out.

Anyhow, sa mga Facebook friends (since gi-synch nako akong FB and Blogger long time ago):

Ate Bek, 6,467.00 sa amo ni Tatay.

Kuya Butch, unsa jud specifically akong i-search atong vid regarding transformation? Taas man diay ang tong kay Miles Monroe na vid. Hehe.

Ya Tads, Tay Ken, and Ya Arnie, di nako mabasa inyong notes.

Janie vieve, Charm, and Carla, and lain tao na nag-grad sa SOL2 and Post-Enc kanina, congrats. =]

FoodTech a.k.a. Theta-Phi, i-update pud ko ninyo sa everything pag makita ta sa real life situtations. Haha. Ayaw pud mo ug post ug data sa FB kay unfair.

Sa mga naay photos nako, please ayaw i-upload tong pangit ko. Haha.

Justin Beltran, to my cell members, and to my other friends, if sa FB ko nimo/ninyo gina-contact, di ko mag-access sa FB. Pero tuloy gihapon atong open cell (yey!) every Wed. =]

Everyone, you can reach me through my site. You can post your comments there even if di kayo members.

Follow my other accounts (e.g. Twitter, Plurk, Multiply, etc), especially this site. God be with you. =]  

8 Things A Good Man Should Do/Be.

January 16, 2009

 

For a thousand times, I have heard of comments from rejected girls, those who suffered from poor relationships, and other sad stories, that good and nice men no longer exist in this world. After hearing these comments, I always cease my egotistical side that wants to defend man's race to avoid further misconception. I would not deny the fact that there exists bad and nasty men who ruin manhood since I know also many guys who are, still, naturally bad and nasty. But generally, I would beg to disagree with these girls since I know many guys who are naturally good and nice. One of them is Boaz.

"Boaz was a very wealthy man who lived in Bethlehem. When Naomi returned to Bethlehem with her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth, Ruth went into the fields of Boaz to glean. Boaz learned that Ruth's deceased husband was a distant relative of his. 

He acted kindly towards Ruth and instructed his farm workers to leave extra sheaves of barley for her to gather. Ruth had another relative of her late husband who was closer than Boaz.
 

By law, the other relative was obligated to marry Ruth, as stated in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. Boaz confronted the other relative with this law, and after the relative refused to marry Ruth, Boaz agreed to marry Ruth, and to buy the estate of Ruth's deceased husband.
 

After they got married, Ruth had a son named Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who became the father of David. Boaz and Ruth became the great-grandparents of King David.
 

Boaz means "strength." The story of Boaz is found in the Book of Ruth."

Though Boaz is already a nonexistent in this world, men, in this generation, should be like Boaz. Beforehand, I was so focused on Ruth's character that I neglected the essence of Boaz' character. But God revealed to me more than what I asked for. I've outlined below the revelations that I received after reading the three chapters (not only for men but also for women):

1. Don't give false hopes, especially to women. Know your limitations. Protect the women.

 Ruth 3:12-13

"¹² Although it is true that I am a family guardian, there is another who is more closely related than I. ¹³ Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your family guardian, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning."

We give false hopes. We lie just to let the people around us feel okay. But when the moment comes that they claim our promises to them, we avoid them. Or, even if we can't provide the thing we've promised to the people around us, still we commit. This is a clear premise of giving of false hopes. Stories end up that those people become hurt. This is not a character of a good man.

When Boaz said the statement above, he was sure of everything. He was sure of his words. He did not say these things just to uplift the soul of Ruth, but because he was sure that he'd fulfill his words. He also knew his limitations. He was honest to Ruth that he couldn't accept Ruth immediately because of certain technical reasons. If you read the three chapters, you would notice that Boaz was really concerned with Ruth's welfare. He protected Ruth from hurt.

 

2. Don't be predator. Don't expect someone to stumble.

Ruth 2:15-16

"¹⁵ As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, "Let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimand her. ¹⁶ Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her."

When we know that a person is weak in a certain field, yet that person tries to overcome this weakness, we, on the other hand, expect that person to fail. Instead of encouraging that person or helping him or her, just like what Boaz did to Ruth, we are like predators, preying on someone. Instead of helping that person build his or her good character, we put snares on his or her path. A good man, logically, helps other people to be good.

3. Be patient.

Ruth 3:18

¹⁸ Then Naomi said, "Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today."

Boaz patiently settled the affairs, though it would be strenuous and would take a long time. Most of us, instead of focusing on our objectives, i.e. help other people, we end up stopping and turning our backs after encountering difficulties. Impatience is not a character of a good man, for a food only becomes good after being heated on a long but proper time.

4. Be kind and helpful to everyone.

Ruth 2:14

¹⁴ At mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar." 

Boaz knew that Ruth was tired and already hungry. According to Mark Twain, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the and the blind can see”. Kindness is always heartfelt and knows no person, no boundary, and no fault. It should be given to everyone, whether to your enemy or to your friend. This the true kindness that a good man bears or does. Kindness is not even a response to what your physical eyes have seen, but what your heart wants to do.

5. Don't care about your reputation or social status. Be selfless.

Ruth 4:6

  ⁶ At this, the family guardian said, "Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it."

Firefighters are selfless persons. We should be proud that there are still existing firefighters in the world, willing to risk their lives just to save someone. The family guardian above, on the other hand, is nothing but a selfish person. He was obsessed with his status that instead of helping his own relative, he felt that his status was endangered and thus neglecting the needs of his relative. Sometimes, we do the same thing that the family guardian did. We are like him. We are so afraid to lose something, we are so afraid to feel hurt, we are so afraid to be in shame, that we neglect the urgent needs of our loved ones or even the welfare of this nation. Wake up. If you consider yourself as good, then be selfless. If not, then go somewhere else and don't infect others.

6. Know God.

Ruth 3:13

"But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it."

In this statement, it can be clearly perceived that Boaz knows God and that he considers God as his God. With God, you know that you need to move forward, be good in a situation, no matter how difficult it may seem. A good man, knows God, the root of goodness.

If you want to be good, then remove your sandal. Ruth 4:7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.). Let the old times of hurting other people, especially women be gone. See every woman as Ruth. Love them, take care of them, preserve them. To everyone, ladies and gentlemen, offer your life for a very good reason; seek eternity, seek Him. 

Confessions of a Facebook Addict.

According to Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, there are five levels of basic needs and these five levels are displayed in the diagram below:

All of us would agree that the needs pointed out by Maslow are indeed needs, and failure to meet one of these needs would lead to an undesired result. But now that I've temporarily cut myself off from Facebook, am I now suffering this undesired result?

Facebook-ing is a legal way of connecting to people, and thus satisfies our social needs. But when the moment comes that we find ourselves in front of the monitor, still Facebooking, despite the fact that we haven't satisfied our physiological needs and even the self-actualization needs, then there must be something wrong with us. Addiction. And there are two key elements that constitute the working definition of addiction (Henderson, 2000): 

1. loss of control over the use of substance or a thing, and 

2. continued use despite negative consequences 

The first thing that I check whenever I open my Firefox is my Facebook account. Is that addiction? Socially constructed meaning of addiction might agree that the said activity is, yes, accountable to addiction. But the loss of control stuff is quite graspable and even the "continued use despite negative consequences." Last year, I did not well in my lab reports or other scholarly activities because of my addiction to Facebook. I didn't have control. Even in my relationship to God was affected since the time that I should be spending with God, went instead to my new god, Facebook. And yes, despite the negative consequences, I still excessively used Facebook.

To clear things out, I'm not saying that Facebook is the root of all evil. No, it isn't. You can do a lot of good things in Facebook such as posting you laboratory data or just checking out some friends. But when self-discipline loses itself from you, then that is evil. Self-discipline is a hard thing especially for those people who weren't brought up by their parents with genuine displine. It's difficult to discipline yourself especially when you've already felt that sense of happiness. Facebook makes me happy. But the negative consequences of my addiction to Facebook make me ill, in all aspects of my life.

Being a Facebook addict is difficult. I already miss stalking, posting interesting and uninteresting statuses,ut nope, I haven't thrown any pillow. Right now, perhaps I am suffering from post-something (I forgot the term, it's similar to what you feel after you've cut yourself off from smoking, though I haven't really tried smoking) and that's why I'm writing all these things. I am about to encounter a relapse. Relapse is inevitable. But I will stand firm, enduring what I've previously assured to my King.

Just want to share my devo:

Acts 3:16

"By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see."