Progression

First day of classes. He saw this woman beautiful as she is in his eyes. He then said to himself that she is the woman for her.

First day of classes. She sought for a man she could admire. As months went by, she noticed this man of intelligence and good looks.

Eros love. Love based on physical traits. Love untested by hardship. Romantic feeling. “I love you because it feels good and it makes me happy loving you.”

Review days. They met again. They texted each other. They went out with other friends. They attended bible studies. They went to church together.

Philos love. Love based on friendship between two people. Love based on “give-and-take”, where two people benefit each other in a mutual way. One partner is still concerned with what he/she  can take but at the same time is also concerned with his/her partner’s benefit and therefore gives back in return.

Professional life and until today. They accepted each other as they are. They learned to give without expecting something in return. They trusted each other completely. They forgave, forgot and restored. They stayed together even in the midst of persecutions, problems and hardships. They celebrated together. They acknowledged God to be between them. Though they were apart from each other today, they were made near by God Himself. God sustained them and gave grace to continually love as He commanded us to love.

Agape. Demonstrated by God Himself. Unconditional love. Selfless love. Patient. Kind. Does not envy. Does not boast. Not proud. Not rude. Not self-seeking. Not easily angered. Keeps no record of wrongs. Does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. Always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Never fails.

Crying out loud

Pouring out my heart

In despair, in anguish

Hoping for You to hear

And open the windows of heaven

If there had been any hindrances

Sins of the past, failures of the present

Lord forgive me and restore me

Let me be an empty vessel

After pouring myself out

Fill me up

I entrust You my life

I lean on You

I hope in You

Crying out loud

Again from my heart

I need you Lord!

How should I start?

I don’t know if I can make it

A poem for my beloved

But here it goes…

Until now, I’m amazed

Of how we’ve been like this

But I have no regrets

Of falling for you always

Thank you for your love

Which endured until now

Through times I resist it out loud

And even hate you for that

Where could I be right now

If I have not been with you

Maybe I’m still wandering

Of who could love me too

Just want to share with you

A word that’s so true

Songs of Solomon chapter three

A part of verse 4a and b

“When I found the one my heart loves

I held him and would not let him go.”

I’m missing you…

“Ay punta na dine.” This is what he would say every time I’ll tell him how I miss him. That would be his answer as his heart says how he misses me too, that he wants us to be together again. But this is the will of God.

Before he left, we are actually sweet, we seldom argue about things. When you saw us quarreling, that should really be a serious matter. We know how to handle the relationship, maybe because we are both Christians. We’ve surpassed many and difficult situations. But still the Lord is looking for something. Just as we are so inlove with each other, we are also dependent upon each other, or should I say I am very dependent upon him. He, on the other hand, doesn’t have the sense of commitment to God’s ministry before. He has been called to minister, yet he is always ignoring and not heeding the call. He’s been contented with what we have, where we are and how we are. But God is not. God knows He has to deal something in us separately. He has to change something in me and in him individually. God wants Himself to be glorified in us and in our relationship. That’s why we are very thankful for what He’s doing to us right now although this has shed a lot of our tears.

During the first months that we’re not together, I always cry. I’m used to being with him wherever I go and whatever I do. But God has even used that for my father to allow my 2 brothers to go with me to the church. It makes my father sad every time he’ll saw me crying so he told my brothers to go with me because he knows that I’ll surely cry because Richel is always with me at the church. So until now, every time I go home to the province and go to church on a Sunday, they are with me. Praise God! I believe that would be the door for my brothers to really know and accept Jesus as their Lord and personal Savior.

God has even allowed me to handle a small group. He has used me in so many ways which I think may not be possible if He didn’t let us separate for a while because I’ve been so dependent upon him that when he feels like not going to a ministry, I will not go also. But now God has put in his heart the love and compassion for His people, the grace to obey His call, the devotion and commitment to the work of the Lord and the passion for His word and presence. He has encouraged and taught many through the revelations God has given him. He has encouraged his friends and loved ones with the faith and life he has right now. As one of his favorite verses says in Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. He is now trying to live as Christ has lived.

God is really good in our lives. I can see that God has enabled him and equipped him to lead me and our future family and to lead the people God has entrusted him. This situation may be a cave for both of us just like with David, but God does some of His best work in caves. The cave is where God resurrects dead things. (John Ortberg) God has changed us for his glory during this time that we’re apart. Our prayer is that He may continually use us and this relationship to mold others and give glory to His name. We are also waiting for the time that God will allow us together again, the new us, to give better glory to His name and work together in His vineyard.

We’ll get through this…

“We’ll get through this…” These are the words that always come out of our mouth every time we’re faced with a difficult situation.

These words were first heard from me last May 2007, one of the tough times that we’ve been through that would strengthen or destroy the relationship that we had just started. It was for him to continue to fight and for me to encourage and support him in the fight. It was hard for him but it was really hard for me as well. But when he heard those words from me, there comes a relief that everything would be okay and would back to normal. Maybe he’ll think that it is I who encouraged both of us but it’s actually him who started to make the move and help me to utter those words. It was when I am to leave him because I feel like I am the one wounded in this situation, that he told me he loves me and wants to be with me so I just have to hope in this relationship, trust in him and help him with this one, that he can’t do this alone, that he needs me. Although it would take a lot of pains and sufferings, we have to hold on, hope, trust and persevere and that took us to another level. Love will really see us through. Love that hopes, trusts and persevere. Love that is from God.

Life is all about LOVE. The entirety of our life is built on love. It is the vital checkpoint of everything, even for our faith. Without LOVE we are nothing.  However, it is not enough that we know these things for until we have established in ourselves the true ultimate source of love and its true meaning then we will not be able to experience it and share it with others.

First, we know the misconceptions about LOVE.

• Love is always soft

• You must be an enemy of my enemies

• Learning to Love unselfishly is an easy task

• Love is a feeling

• All I need is to love God

• Love is passive

Then we define true love.

“Love is the high esteem which God has for His human children and the high regard which they, in turn, should have for Him and other people.”

The ultimate source of love is God. In fact His very nature is love (1 John 4:8). His love is explained by the majesty of His creation and is better revealed when He chose to go down to the works of His hands, dwell among and  in it and DIE for it. The Bible tells that there is no greater love than this, when someone lay down his life for his friends.

Christ sacrificing His life for the redemption of humanity is regarded the most beautiful demonstration of love in the history. God’s love is the kind of love we should look up to:

God’s love is demonstrated thru Jesus. “But He has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin with the sacrifice of Himself. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrifice once to take away the sins of many; and He will appear the second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him” -Hebrews 9:26-28.

God’s love is Everlasting. “The Lord appeared unto us in the past saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness” – Jeremiah 31:3.

God’s love is Sacrificial. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16.

God’s love is Unconditional. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” – Romans 5:8.

God’s love is Steadfast. “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of his love.” -John 13:1.

If you are having a hard time to love then think about the One who has loved you first, think about JESUS! Yes, it may not be that easy but by the grace of Him who has showed LOVE in its fullest it would become possible.

When God Made You

Newsong feat. Nathalie Grant

(Guys)

Its always been a mystery to me, 
How two hearts can come together, 
And love can last forever. 
But now that I have found you I believe, 
That a miracle has come when God sends the perfect one. 
So gone are all my questions about why, 
And i’ve never been so sure of anything in my life

~chorus~

Oh I wonder what God was thinking,when he created you.
I wonder if He knew everything I would need, 
Because he made all my dreams come true. 
When God made you, He must have been thinking about me.

(Girls)

Ooo ooo,I promise that wherever you may go, wherever life may lead you, 
With all my heart I’ll be there too. 
And from this moment on I want you to know, 
I’ll let nothing come between us, and I will love the ones you love. 
(guy):So gone are all my questions about why (girl echoes):about why

Duet:Oh I wonder what God was thinking when he created you, 
I wonder if He knew everythin I would need, 
Because He made all my dreams come true. 
When God made you He must’ve been thinking about me.

Bridge

He made the sun He made the moon, 
To harmonize a perfect tune, 
One can’t do without the other they just have to be together. 
And that is how I know its true, 
Your for me and i’m for you and my world 
Just cant be right without you in my life

Chorus

(guy) He must have heard every prayer I’ve been praying (girl echo) 
I’ve been praying (both)He must’ve knew everything I would need

When God made you, He must’ve been thinking about me.

How beautiful you are, my darling!

Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves. (Songs of Songs 1:15)

God has been faithful and watchful over my life. He knows exactly what I need. Not only that, He appoints exactly the best persons that complement my personality for me to do whatever He has called me to do. And one of the best persons I am referring here is my girlfriend, Ms. Lorie Genn Castillo. She is a lover who accepted me for who I am regardless of my flaws and failures in life. Moreover, she is a bestfriend who has been supportive all through out. And best of all, she is a sister in faith who does not only understand my calling but is willing to be yoked with me and is willing to participate in it for she knows that it is also the will of God in her life.

SoS 6:9a – My dove, my perfect one… It does not mean that she is flawless nor does it mean that she doesn’t commit mistakes. It is just she knew how to rise up everytime she committed something wrong. She knows how to appropriate the grace of God for her to maintain a close contact with God. And I am blessed by how she made her entire life to be centered on a reverent fear of God. And that is seemingly perfect in my sight – for a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised (Prov 31:30).

SoS 6:9b – [She] is unique… Well, as for me, she is very different. She is very beautiful inside and out. She has her own ways of how to make other people smile. She speaks with wisdom and she is full of faithful instructions. She has a very long patience; her kindness is very remarkable, her humble heart is worth imitating; and her gentleness and simplicity captivates many hearts. That is why she can leave enduring memories, which I believe, will always be remembered forever. For me, she is worth far more than rubies (Prov 31:10b).

SoS 6:9c – [She is] the only daughter of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her… She is the eldest and the only daughter among four siblings. She is a Papa’s girl. She is a very sweet daughter to her parents and an example to her brothers. Being the eldest, she became aware of the responsibilities she has to partake for the welfare of her family. In all of these things, she didn’t learn how to complain and just continued whatever she has to do for her family’s sake. She knows how to watch over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness (Prov 31:27).

SoS 6:9d – The maidens saw her and call her blessed, the queens and the concubines praised her. This is why many people, including me, are blessed by the kind of lifestyle she is enduring. Many people can testify to that. And in this very day, our 32^nd monthsary (as how many people call it) I just want to return to her all the favor she has done in my life – and that is for her to know that I am really grateful to God that He gave someone like her to me. I just pray that God will continue to give you the reward you have earned and let your works bring you praise (Prov 31:31). In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Jim Brickman
The Gift lyrics