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Three significant events that took place the past few days...

August 27, Friday - Night LIFE

We've just entered a new season in Night LIFE as we are trying to incorporate new things in our youth event. Last Friday was the second time that we ended the word by singing a worship song and it was the first time that we were led by a full-band worship team. We sang the song "You Are God" and "You'll Come." God's presence was there. You see, praise and worship is something new to the students who attend our event so we're on that stage of trying figure out what will work best for them. At the end of the day, whatever format we may come up with, our goal still is to minister. So far, worshiping God after hearing the word works for Night LIFE.


We also invited Ptr. Joseph Bonifacio to speak an encouraging word for us last Friday. He talked about being thirsty for God. It was powerful. After the word, we had our usual "Coffee Talk." It has been a trend in Night LIFE where we don't just only listen to the word but we also take time to share among our groups what we learned. This is my personal favorite because it gives us an opportunity to check our hearts, to think and apply the lessons to our personal situations in life. This is the time where the word gets more personal.


August 28-29, Saturday and Sunday - Campus Victory Weekend


Three girls from Miriam College attended Victory Weekend last Saturday and Sunday. It was refreshing for me and life changing for the three girls. Seeing people die of their old self and living a new life in Christ never gets old. Indeed, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I am excited to see what God can do in and through them. I am also blessed by their heart to reach out to their friends and classmates. I believe that God will use them to shake our campus and I am in faith that they will do greater things than what I've done when I was their age.


August 31, Tuesday - SJE's LSS: Life's Successes and Struggles Event


This is the second time that LifeBox was invited by a student organization to give a talk inside Miriam College. The first one was when David Bonifacio gave a talk on "Value" to Marketing students. This time, Joey Molina gave an inspirational talk to the Entrepreneur students. We didn't stop by just giving a talk but we also encouraged the students to continue on learning from each other by joining a Life Group or more popularly known to Miriam students as Chill. Around 170 students attended the event and a lot of them signed up for Chill. This is a major major breakthrough and I am believing that God will open more doors of opportunities.


These back-to-back-to-back events leave me with no words to express how great God is moving in my campus. He loves the youth so much, isn't He? And this is just but a tiny piece of the bigger picture. I believe as we continue to sow seeds in the hearts of the young generation, we will see a great harvest that will not only change our generation but will also make an impact even to the generation after us. Let us not stop preaching the Gospel and discipling the youth! :)

"Do not let anyone look down on you because you are YOUNG. But set an example to the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity" - 1 Timothy 4:12 NIV

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9 NIV

DAY 20 08.31.10 11:28pm

I Doubted Meg

I remember the first time Meg attended Youth Service with me. It wasn't actually part of the initial plan but when she learned that some of my friends and I are attending Youth Service, she said she wanted to come too. I remember that day so vividly.

I didn't actually know or even expect that from that day on, a life will be transformed. I didn't invite her at first because I was reluctant that she might not like Youth Service. I didn't reach out to her because I was reluctant she might not be interested. I was reluctant because she seemed like the type who wouldn't bother listening to me when I talk about God. I was reluctant God might not move. But it was all a mistake. I doubted her. I doubted God.

It is a humbling experience to see how God can transform a person's life. It is a humbling experience to see Meg grow in her relationship with God. Every time I see her, I am being reminded that I cannot change a person's heart. Only God can. And that we shouldn't base who we should reach out to on the way people look, on their character, their situation, their problems or even their past because the truth is, no matter what our backgrounds look like, everyone needs God, everyone needs to know Jesus. He died on the cross not for good people or rich ones, but for sinners - meaning everyone of us. So we shouldn't exclude anyone.

Meg gave her life to Christ in that Youth Service. Today her life is a living testimony. She radically turned away from her old life, choosing not to defile herself and not to let the culture define her identity. She is a faithful Victory group leader. She has a heart to reach out to our campus. She is a great writer, an upcoming worship leader, a follower of Jesus, a woman after God's own heart. And as we graduate this school year, I know that she will leave a legacy in our campus.

We will never know what God can do in a person's life. I will be forever amazed.

"But God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8

DAY 15 08.26.10 2:29pm

Seeing Growth

One of the girls in my small group texted me this evening with questions about what she read in the book of Genesis. Yesterday she gladly told me that she finally was able to buy a new Bible.

Seeing a person with a heart and eagerness to know His word more is such a privilege. Nothing compares to the joy of seeing your disciple grow. It pays all the hard times. :) I was encouraged to continue on sowing seeds. Surely our labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

"You know what? It is hard. Maybe this is why Paul encourages doing the "work" of evangelism. It is work, and a hard work at that. You put your heart out there. You offer grace and acceptance and love to people far from God. You make the phone calls. You extend the hand of friendship. You pick up the phone in the middle of the night. And at the end of the day, you just feel like you've been ripped to shreds. But somehow you hang in there, determined to keep sowing seed. Sure you may be a fool, but you're a special kind of fool. You're the fool who still believes that a tiny green sprout will one day rise up from the dirt.

Someday, friends, there comes a harvest. Someday there is a payoff. Someday sinners become saints. And between now and then, we get to keep spreading the message. We get to keep playing the roles we are meant to play. We get to keep planting seeds, trusting that God will bring the increase. Because in due time - oh, the increase that he brings!"

- Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room

DAY 4 08.15.10 11:27pm

Day One

I will never be a student forever. This was the reality that hit me days ago. Sometimes I'm too consumed of the fact that I'm a student that it makes me feel like I'll be one forever. It's not that I don't anticipate graduation but isn't it that it's too surreal to think that come March I'll be then forever free from the trap of my uniform?

And so yeah, let's make my last two hundred and thirty one days of honoring God and making disciples as a student count starting now. :)

I'll hope you'll join me until the end of March. :D

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." - 1 Timothy 4:12

DAY 1 08.12.2010 10:49pm