While At The Waiting Area

A cock crows. Another answers back. It doesn't take long before another crow is heard. The crowing goes on and on, like music to my thoughts, to my prayers.

Waiting is a test. It is a test of patience, of endurance, of trust, of perseverance, of faith. By waiting and enduring, many have been victorious and have seen their promises fulfilled. The Bible is full of those men and women. By waiting, many have grown impatient, doubted and added trouble to their years. We've seen it with Sarah, the mother of all nations. She and Abraham thought they could help God fulfill His promise to them, instead of trusting Him and being still.

The morning prayer of our Muslim countrymen have now started as the roosters' chorus have gone quiet. The wails and the chant-like music carries through the whole area.

Hanging Tough and Still

My daughter has done some hanging on.
Tough. Still.

The airplane drones above. The birds tweet and chatter around. A friend snores beside. Silence is elusive. 

Somebody's TV is blaring somewhere among the neighboring houses. A motorcycle roars out there. Dogs bark. Silence dims.

In contrast, my heart wants to be silent. It doesn't want to speak out loud what it doesn't want to hear. Where is the invitation? Where is the signal to push up? Until when do I have to wait? To hang around?

I have strained. Fought. Clamored. Pushed. Now there seemed to be no pushing. Just a hanging somewhere. Nowhere.

7 Things I Must Teach My Children

There are so many teaching propaganda going on around us whether we fail to teach or do teach our children. And whether we teach them or not, our children learn or catch them.

Recently, I was surprised to hear my little Angelika talk to me in Filipino when I called her for lunch.   She said, "Kain tayo!" Having been in Manila for almost a couple of weeks now, I thought she caught that line from her playmates, my friend's daughter and her little cousins. Later I found out that there is a TV commercial playing  everyday with that same line. 

A Time to Teach

"To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under the heaven."
(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

One of our 'class' time...

There is a time for everything. And for today, it is a time to write about the time to teach, particularly our very own kids.

I have been a teacher for many years, teaching children in language and Bible schools and time came when the time spent teaching other people's children competed with the time spent teaching my own children. It was a tough time for me. I couldn't bear thinking that I was teaching other people's children daily, while not knowing exactly whether my children are being taught. I'm not talking simply about them learning their ABC's or numbers, but when I refer to teaching I'm mostly talking about the perpetual heritage that we, as parents, pass on to our children--- life skills, core values, character.