Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Worldwide Hunger

One day, a friend of mine emailed to me some heartbreaking photos of starving children in Africa. My heart was really moved with compassion as I eagerly watched the malnourished little angels whose faces were truly begging for food. On the later part of the email can be found few notations telling the readers that the award -winning photographer who took the photographs committed suicide several days after taking the pictures. He was severely discouraged and depressed on the scene he witnessed before his very eyes. I emphatized with him believing he might be so devastated upon seeing that pitiful sight that taking his life will be the only resort to escape a very hurting and alarming reality.
Statistics says that there is so much hunger in the world today. According to the United Nation Food Agency, three hundred million children are hungry and eighteen thousand die everyday for want of food. Hunger kills more people than AIDS, malaria, and tubercolosis put together. Although more evident and widespread in parts of Central America and Africa region, I still believe there are also parts in Asia that struggle with famine and starvation.
What I find surprising was the information I've read from a business newspaper that the world process enough food to feed everyone as qouted from the World Hunger Education Service. Let me reiterate - "Enough food to feed everyone." Based from the statistics presented and believing it's true, then how come there is so much hunger in the world?
The answer lies in the unequal distribution of food. In the world's measure of economic progress, economists often rely on larger factors or macroeconomic statistics to measure development. In most countries, there is a disparity between rich and poor. No wonder even economic giants such as the United States is not sparred from the hunger dilemma. As qouted from the site www.thehungerstrike.com, in 1999, a year marked by good economic news, 31 million Americans were food insecure, meaning they were either hungry or unsure of where their next meal would come from. Of these Americans, 12 million were children. Although America's case may not be as worse as those starvation afflicted areas such as Kenya, Somalia, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and many others, still it is an alarming fact that even rich countries are experiencing difficulties to survive.
The world is hungry. And I predict there will be more hunger as days passed given the difficult times. I hope people from all continents will learn to multiply their bread and fish so other people will simply live. I know there are a lot of people out there who were blessed by GOD with a financially abundant life. I was so touched by Oprah Winfrey when they aired their Christmas episode dubbed "Christmas Kindness", wherein they fed and handed personalized gifts to thousands of children, mostly orphans in some remote villages of South Africa. I figured out, if all of us will do our share to help feed the hungry, I'm sure we can help lessen if not totally eradicate this very alarming problem the world is facing. Ponder on this, "If we will live simply, we will let other people, simply live."

When Humans Create Humans

Human cloning is one subject that got my attention. I find it a crazy idea when skeptic scientists believing so much of themselves and what they can technically do started acting and playing like God.

Several years ago, when the first cloned sheep named "Dolly" was first made known to the world, I anticipated that it will only be a predecessor of a more complicated and advanced cloning. True enough, I wasn't surprised then to have read from the newspaper articles on scientists doing scientific attempts to clone humans. To date, I haven't heard of a reported clone human, but it made me laugh when a Korean scientist admitted in public that he falsified research documents claiming to the cloning of human embryo. Hahahaha. How foolish it is for so-called genius scientists to be overshadowed by their intelligence and started feeling superior over the Divine Creator.

One day, I received a text message from an officemate, it reads as follows:
Scientist said, "Lord, we don't need you anymore. We are already as intelligent as you. We know how to create man. See we can clone humans."

So God said, "Really, so let's have a man-making contest. Let's do it the way I did with Adam." The scientist agreed, then he started to pick up some dust.

But God told him, "No, you make your own dust."

Truly the wonders of science has made impossible things possible. But for me, nothing can surpass the wisdom of the One up there who is the ultimate source of wisdom. I can't blame the scientists when they think too much of what they can do. After all, most of them don't believe in God. It made me utter words of thanks that I wasn't endowed with much intelligence like most scientists have, because if I do, I might not feel the need of God.

Imagine a glass full of water. Even if how many times you'll pour water on it, it won't be contained in the glass - it will just overflow. Because there's no more room for additional water to fill in.

The same holds true in these case, when people believes so much of their intellect, knowledge, power and skills, there will be no more room for additional inputs. Teaching them will be a hard task.

It really takes tons of humility to empty oneself. Let us just pray for those people who doesn't feel the need of God in their life to realize that God created humans not just with a brain but with a heart.

That amidst the extraordinary things they can accomplish, still there are mysteries in life that can't be fathom by human mind.

Be Not Like The Doubting Thomas

The gospel of St. John 20:26-31 is one of my favorite Bible verses that accounts the doubting Thomas. A week after Christ death on the cross, His disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!". But despite GOD's awesome presence in their midst, Thomas failed to believe it was the Risen Christ. He asked if He can see and touch Jesus wounds so He will be convinced. Then God said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Many of us act like the doubting Thomas. Like him who asked for a sign to confirm if it was really JESUS whom he is speaking with, often in our prayers we did not content ourselves with enough faith to believe but ask GOD for confirmations through signs. We wanted to make sure. That's why we set conditions. Like Thomas, we wanted to see Jesus wounds. Sign for Thomas is his condition to believe Jesus. Thomas faith is conditional, and so ours.

Three years ago, when I am seriously seeking my state-of-life discernment, I remembered praying to GOD that if He wanted me to become a priest, He will allow me to dream of heaven. Heaven for me is my condition of faith. No wonder I did not enter the seminary. My faith is not enough to believe GOD unconditionally. I have prematurely set a condition to believe my GOD whose love for me is unconditional. I did not realize that true faith is a commitment to believe to a Personal Saviour.

I loved it when St. Teresa of Avila prayed for GOD to give her the faith to believe and not signs to confirm her prayers. In our human desperation to see outright answers to our pleas, we failed to meditate that God answers our prayers in three ways - yes, no, and wait. God sometimes easily grants the desire of our hearts, sometimes He sent a vague reply of not granting our prayers. And sometimes, He answers it with delays and wants us to wait on his appointed time.

As Christians, may we all learn from the pious Saint. From now on, let us pray for the gift of faith to believe GOD's ways in answering our prayers rather than asking signs to confirm GOD'S answers to our petitions

Evading Temptations

Our journey towards following and imitating Christ in our everyday life is a never-ending struggle between our choice of good or evil. Christian life will always be full of tests and trials making our faith hard to keep. Much to that can be attributed to the alluring and tempting offers of the modern world . The world has offered much wordly values that sometimes we are tempted to trade off our moral and spiritual beliefs . Things that are taboo such as premarital sex, same-sex marriages, abortion, etc. are increasing gaining widespread acceptance and slowly becoming part of social norms. The world is selling sex like a prime commodity. And sadly, teenagers are struggling to keep pure because to have sex is to be "in" and "cool". Standing up for Jesus seems a difficult choice than blending in. The world has offered distorted and decaying standards that if we let it that way, no wonder our children will soon compromise their faith just to go with the flow. No doubt, we find it a hard endeavor to be holy in an unholy world.

I am not saying I am a holy person and was never been tempted all my life. Nobody is exempted from temptations. Not even Jesus. I was tempted twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. Like most people, I struggled in my faith because resisting the devil and standing up for Jesus seemed a difficult decision to make. I failed a lot in my Christian walk.

Three years ago, I came to understand how unmature my faith was. When I was still in college, I went to confession as often as I can and expressed before GOD (through the priest) my desire not to offend Him again. But I guessed at that time, I did not have a clear understanding of what I am doing because after confession, I committed the same mistakes again and again. It has become a cycle of habit. There is no real resolution to sin no more. I am just wasting my time. And worst, I am abusing God's mercy.

After all the temptations that I've gone through, I've learned to be sensitive to temptations. Although sometimes I failed in my resistance to evil, one good aftermath is I found the way to combat the devouring lure of the evil. I've learned that THE BEST WAY TO FIGHT TEMPATIONS IS FLIGHT. Stay away from people, occassions or places that will lead you to sin. FLY AWAY in other words.

Second, you have to equip yourself with a lot of prayer to combat temptations. You should not believe you can do it alone. Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 14:38 ,"Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Fighting tempation is not our battle - its a battle between God and the Devil. It's a battle within that you cannot handle without God's mighty help. But the good news is - Jesus already won the battle when He died on the cross. Remind yourself often that victory is yours and defeat is for the Devil.

Third, Jesus showed us how to respond when temptation comes. In the Bible, He was tempted in every way yet He did not sin. The devil offered Him everything yet He was so strong that not even any of these tempting offers could move Him.

May we all learn from JESUS Himself.

Let us fix our eyes on HIM and learn to emulate from His example. Let us continue fixing our eyes on JESUS because when we do, there will be no space for the devil. As written in the Bible, "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you."

We Can't Have All

Everytime my wife, YhanYhan vocally expresses her disappointments on me and frustrations hits her so badly, I am clever in saying, "Life is like that. We can't have it all."

Unable to accept my justification and in a furious mind, she would say, " Bakit, ano bang meron ka?". I would laugh and say, " I am rich - rich in goodness!"

Well, my wife maybe right in some way, because I don't exactly knew what I have. But that doesn't bothered me at all because I know she's just joking everytime she says that. I am confident of her great love for me and I know where my place is in her heart. But everytime we had that same confrontation, I am led to the realization that people usually wanted to have all in life. And that includes my wife, me and you.

To be honest, I borrowed that words from former President Cory Aquino. When press people interviewed Cory Aquino on the issue of Kris Aquino's controversial break up with former live-in parter Joey Ma rquez, she smiled and said she advised her daugther to move on with her life and believe that despite being blessed in almost everything, failure in her relationship is part of life's trials because "she can't have all in life".

That hits me in the head. There is wisdom and inspiration from the words that she uttered. Truly, life here on earth is a never ending quest for meaning and happiness that not even material things can fill. Material things may give us joy, true, but not lasting joy and genuine happiness. No wonder why drugs addicts always crave for their addictions.

I wasnt' surprised then, when I watched on the Oprah Winfrey show a doll-looking woman who had undergone twenty-six plastic surgeries in her life but still uncontended with what she looks like. If you have read the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, you will surely understand what I am saying. "Our life has God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill" wrote Blaise Pascal.

I have learned to stuck in my mind that as long as I am here on Earth, life will not be complete and the search for true happiness and contentment will never end. Because I know that true happiness can only be attain once I will be united with my Creator in heaven. God is the reason why we are here and so in Him alone will we find the fullness of life.

Life will be less hassle and stress free if we all think that way. If we all remember that we are just stewards of the life that GOD loaned to us. That we can't have all that we wish for. I love that line from Bro. Bo Sanches book that states," Contentment is not getting what we want, but wanting what we already have." God has given us almost all to enjoy life, yet it's hard for us to content ourselves with what we have.

Let us ponder that life can only be made complete by the One who created it on the first place.

The Courage To Try

"Try and try until you succeed" may sound an overused cliche among many but not for me. "Never be afraid to try" has become one of my life's guiding principles.

As a young student, I remembered being forced by my teachers to join school competition of all kinds. Name it - I've joined it. From quiz bowls, to oratorical contests and other gab competitions, essay contest and school paper writing tilt , poster making contest to cooking contests- except a school beauty contest, of course. hehehe. The most memorable one was a inter-school Nutrition Quiz Bee where I bagged the top prize. It was memorable because it was the first time I've joined a competition and I won. That experience compeled me to join more school contests even if I know i had slim chance of winning. After years of trying and trying, here's some thoughts i wish to impart:

1. WHEN YOU TRY, YOU'LL DISCOVER MORE OF YOURSELF. Believe me, you'll unearth your potentials and discover your strengths when you give yourself a try. You'll never know you can climb a mountain unless you take a courageous start. I've discovered I can actually write when I tried to post some blogs. I am surprised when friends told me I had a gift in writing and had the potential of becoming a writer someday. After hearing that positive comments, I decided to pursue my dream of becoming an inspirational writer.

You'll also discover your weakness and learn to set your limits or boundaries. After joining several oratorical contest and not excelling at all, I've learned that I cannot be a good public speaker. I trembled in front of a crowd. That public speaking is not my cup of tea.

2. TRYING HELPS YOU BUILD THAT COMPETITIVE SPIRIT. My friends often question me where on earth did I get that drive to compete. Little did they know that I got that competitive spirit not from the lessons taught in the four corners of the classroom but from the competitions I joined through the years. It's a compeling drive accumulated not just an overnight.

3. IT CAN HELP YOU BECOME A POSITIVE-MINDED PERSON. My optimism as a person was brought upon by my several experiences of losing and failing. In my several years of existence, I can proudly say I failed several times. I remembered crying before God when I did not top the NSAT test in my batch when I was in high school. After all, my teachers expected me to be the topnotcher. I failed in my goal of graduating college with honors when I got a below 2.5 grade in Physics. But that doesn'st stop me from finishing college with flying colors. I invested on the subjects I performed well and truly I excelled. My being not good in Physics does not mean I am a failure as a person. I had other assets or skills devoid of those good in numerical skills. We all have different forte.

I BELIEVE LIFE IS ALL ABOUT TRYING.

I believe it is a try when we first send our application letter to our prospective employers. I call it a try when we send a love letter to a crush with a heart hoping for a positive response. And it's obviously giving marriage a try when we said that "I do's" during a matrimonial ceremony. When a father tried his luck by going abroad, he is giving himself a try to gain greener pasture in a foreign land. Businessmen take risk when they try a new business venture.

Whatever state of life we are into, wether we like it or not, everyday we are all trap with life-changing decisions to make. And everytime we make decisions, we are giving ourselves a try.

Why?

Because we aren't certain of the consequences of our decisions and so we try.

Winding up,legendary basketball star Michael Jordan beautifully states, "We should not be afraid to try. I can accept failing but I can't accept not trying."

God's Balancing Act

Have you ever thought what would happen if God created all people rich and powerful?

If everybody has equal footing in terms of net worth, possessions, power and influence?

Surely the world will stumble.

There will be total chaos. War will be a never-ending activity among nations. Peace will never exist. For sure, there will be no poverty, but people in the world will not survive. Simply because nobody will be doing the we-thought-ordinary-but-equally-important work that servants, farmers, street cleaner, fishermen and other ordinary people do and contribute to society.
Perhaps God in His wisdom must be thinking this scenario when He created the world. That's why He allowed different people to have different backgrounds and stature, different interest and different way of life. People from different walks of life had varied standard of happiness and different array of problems. Look closely at the people around you and you'll fully understand what I mean.

Some people are blessed in some areas deficient to others. Some families are financially rich but poor in terms of relationships. The parents are separated, children not in good terms with their parents, kids are drug addicts, kids don't do well in school and many other relationship deficiencies. Some might be enjoying the comforts of living in a nice home but can't enjoy life simplest pleasures. Others might be poor in monetary measure but bursting with happiness and contentment in their relationships.

GOD surely knows how to balance people's lives. At the end of the equation of life, we might be deprived of some things but looking closely we are blessed in some areas of our lives. We are equal, not maybe in the standard of the world,but in God's eyes, we are.