Showing posts with label life that is. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life that is. Show all posts

God Owns It All

Yesterday, ageing played another prank on me. In my hurry to leave, I came to church without my bag! As I could recall – I was supposed to go back inside the house after putting my shoes, Bible, discipleship handbook and blazer in the car. But instead, I got in, fixed my things, sat in comfort, confidently closed the car door and left. I literally brought nothing but myself. I felt sick of being forgetful – of all the things to overlook, why the carrier of the most important things I own? I told myself. I would not have found the answer to that until our guest speaker shared to us 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, on which the last part says, “Ye are not your own.”  

By profession, I am trained to take account of other people’s financial matters. Their assets, liabilities and earnings – basically keeping record of their net worth. It’s parallel to how I account mine – paychecks, utility bills, insurance and amortization. Everyone will agree how easy it is for us to claim the right of ownership to these things and how easy it is to forget who the real Owner is. As humans, giving high regard to the things we have (because we worked hard for them) leaves us reluctant about who actually owns them. I was ashamed. At one point, I even thought of going back home just to get my bag. 

In a wider perspective, we tend to be controlled by the things we claim ownership of. It always boils down to possession – it’s ours, it’s mine. Just as how the world caved in on Job’s life – how all his properties were raided and destroyed, how he lost all his children in a wink of an eye, how his whole body was sored with boils, and how his own wife mocked him to curse the Lord so he would finally die – I came to thinking if I’d have gotten any praise left in my heart to offer the Lord from all this kind of sorrow, of losing everything in this life, if I were in his shoes. I can’t imagine!

That bag reminded me that genuine praise comes only when we recognize that God owns it all, and He gives to us out of His own abundance. 
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Thanksgiving: Thorns and the Rose

"For the seasons when joy is the river,
for the seasons when no water flows,
we trust You that You are the Giver
of either the thorns or the rose."


It’s been days since the last time we sang this piece and still the beautiful words ring repeatedly in my heart. We have to admit, our earthly nature finds it easier to consider blessings out from things that only bring us pleasure. It’s hard to swallow the bitter pills in life. It’s hard to accept defeat, disappointments and mischief. While most of our prayers eye for better comfort, the Lord wants to keep us strong in the midst of the storm.    

I lived fourteen months overseas for work. Nine months of which fell in 2014. Less those limited days I was able to grab and spend at home, life alone in the place of strangers defined exactly what I do not want for myself – to be away from the church. Taken out from the pile of burning coals, I felt coldness which I’ve never experienced before. I became just one stranger observing how things go inside a church where I can’t do anything but listen to the preacher, shake hands with people I barely know, softly sing the familiar songs that their choir sing. There I found the perfect picture of being the most passive Christian, in myself. Those were the days when I feared God’s coming back and even my own death. I feared facing the Lord in my most inutile state as a believer. I feared of Him getting much disappointment in me for another wasted time which I should have spent serving him.

Until one day, our prayers were answered. I was sent back home nine months earlier than planned. The thirst was cured. In the plane, I felt God’s comfort as soon as the city vanished after the take off. I can’t withdraw being grateful for the thorns in green pasture that promised me material comfort for a while but with the people I love the most and with the church where I can be someone useful for the Lord, I can gladly say that there’s no place I would rather be. And I can’t be happier enough to be able to spend the year-end thanksgiving with the church so dear to my heart along with the other half which we pray to be soon called our own in God’s time.

After braving the storm, thanking God truly never sounded as sweet as before!
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#4YRS: On Jumping Over the Fence

With all honesty, happiness at work is gradually diminishing nowadays. That power going to the heads of some little gods – picking on employees and making their lives difficult “just because they can” – this alone makes jumping over the fence so desirable. But despite those respectable personalities who left – people filled with both disappointment and courage – why on earth am I still here (as of writing)? For someone who is impatient by nature, highly impulsive and a known-explorer, there must have been a great reason for the 4 years of enduring the unbearable, if that’s the worst term to describe it. Why must deciding to leave seemed heavier than to actually stay?

Let me walk you through how God touched me in bringing my temperaments to Him in prayer:

You prayed for this job and I gave it to you. Bum for nearly three months that time, getting a job offer from a reputable company was an answered prayer, indeed. I may not consider it as a “greener pasture,” though, still it provided my basic needs when I was almost running out of resources. There was not a pot of gold after signing the contract but there were non-monetary benefits which I could count to this day. Reading Genesis 2:15, God reminded me once again that He puts me where I am today and tells me to “work it and keep it” wherever that might be. 

Maximize your skills and expand your talents for Me. While it’s just so electrifying to deliver the hardest punch to outshine the rest, the Lord teaches me in Colossians 3:23 to do it all – not for mere competition to be called the best – but for His praise. Sometimes it feels gratifying to be on the top, to be someone whom others look up to, to be dominant. But this concept not only brings irrational tiredness and plain discontent; it drags me to one dark corner where I can only see my own shadow of egotism. What a shame!

Don’t find your self-worth from prestigious jobs. There were countless times when I fantasize over friends and acquaintances who were able to roam around the world, rub elbows with high-ranking officials, get paid with gold and all leisure possible while doing their job. But do I really need them to claim success? For all I know, I can get those worthless pursuits without bringing home any sign of fulfillment. In this life, I don’t really need much because God has already given me more than enough.

Instead of craving for too much prestige and title, I learned to love what I have and to believe that God listens to my every plea whenever I’m at my wits end. He blessed me with talents and I would love to use them to provide for my family. In no way I can find perfect employment. Rather, I stand still and continue to bloom where the Lord has planted me. Until the space is enough to contain the harvest. Beyond that, maybe there’s no harm anyway in taking the leap when it is really time.
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Impossible: Forgiving Without Forgetting?

How many times have you been into the junction of forgiving and forgetting?

Personally it’s like… countless – as I gauge myself all these years, though, it seemed that forgiving is impossible without forgetting. Well, allow me to limit the idea to myself for this instance. Being wronged by someone I entrusted so much of what I thought was close-to-sisterhood friendship was epically hurting. It was only when I was given the clear picture of the person whom “I only seemed to be for her” that I realized how complacent I became in believing to the unreal. It was painful. I was in denial for sometime too.

When after a while she realized her mistake and offering to make up, I find it so hard to let go of the pain – all because everything still seemed fresh. When I felt to be so done with the person, it’s just seriously hard to go back to how it all was before. Maybe until the stain has completely faded away and until that belief to this so-called friendship is reshaped to its truest sense… maybe after forgetting all this crap, I will be able to cast forgiveness with all my heart. 

Maybe.
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SG Chronicles: What Keeps the Torch Burning

One of the most remarkable words I heard so far, came from the church speaker that Sunday afternoon, and I quote, “You weren’t sent overseas for work alone. God’s not that shallow to put His purpose in you inside that box. You are His child. You are not just an engineer, a nurse, a teacher, a househelp, an accountant. Long before your coming here, you’re already a Christian. You carry God’s name with you. You are no less than ambassadors for Christ.”

That statement alone pierced through my heart. For someone like me who has always been battling homesickness since day one, going to church and fellowshipping with other believers are the most comforting of all. Unlike others, I feared the coming of weekends simply because loneliness at home will kill me again. Sundays are nevertheless revitalizing. Being there in the church really keeps the torch burning. I am strengthened. My homesickness heals little by little. And most of all, it reminds me that no matter how far I am from my home-church, it is the same one God that we are worshipping. The feel of a child running back home to embrace his parents – that’s the perfect description of the overjoyed heart pumping life to me every Sunday.

What I found in Hebrews 10:25, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching,” is something I have not fully understood until I scored a job some 1,400 miles away from home.  
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the odds of dying together in travelling together

I have once known someone whose family strictly defies the idea of travelling together for one reason – avoiding a catastrophe that will rub out the clan all at once. They still would go overseas and out-of-town but have always ensured not catching the same flight.

Well, it sounded ridiculous to me especially that I’ve been fully oriented about how life’s final appointment is handled by God. I never regarded much of the idea until the shooting down of another ill-fated Malaysian Airline flight MH17 where three Filipinos were identified in the incident; adding the Indonesian father would count it a family fatality and another clan of five hailing from Melbourne perished.

Reading news after news, I am almost convinced to see the odds of such mischief. Although my family have yet to travel together in complete headcount, I am thinking it through if trying to avoid getting on board together as a family next time is to euphemize distrust or losing faith in God. After all, death comes wherever and whenever as appointed (Hebrews 9:27); we can't just avoid it.

hat i'e out-of-town but ensured
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Obmutescence



When there happens a trauma, it will take a long while trying to bring back things to normalcy. There is always pain in getting started and that’s what feared me to endeavor things that will give everyone peace of mind. I did get what they said I deserved without going over the same nightmare again. The feeling was lighter and the happiness snatched from me long before was dramatically returned in pieces.

I don’t have it altogether just yet but still there’s this yearning to be positive in becoming the person that God has purposed me to be – believing first before praying to see, obeying first before collecting complains, and putting myself first at the very shoe of the people involved before asking them to understand me. I have flown miles after another just to be who I am today, and so I can’t be any prouder that after facing these fears, I was rewarded with a humbling solace, to this stillness and beyond.
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fermata

The day she called doom has come. Caught in great astonishment, inarticulacy consumed her. Total cluelessness on this ordeal rendered her inoperative for sixty vague seconds! After struggling against the moment of disbelief, she could do nothing but breathe loads of air to keep her at least psychologically alive. It took her several minutes to integrate each piece of concern she has in mind.

Beating the challenge passed on to her, she discovered the significance of stealing a big pause in life. It may not be the best option now, but it certainly is the last way out.

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what I want for my funeral


Death comes in a great surprise. This might sound a little odd, or some might even consider this crazy but I have specific things in mind when my time of leaving this world arrives. Unlike what happened to my friend who just passed away without such interment preparations, I want everything in order on my funeral.
  • I want my body lain in a not-so-expensive but decent memorial chapel nearest to my place
  • I will have to rest there for a maximum of 3 days
  • I want the sketch made by my friend to be used as blow-up photo at the top of my casket
  • I want to wear the dress I used on my sister’s wedding, the knee high A-cut dirty white dress
  • Let me wear socks instead of shoes, I don’t need those anyway
  • I don’t want to look pale so perhaps the makeup artist can put a little blush on my face, and lipstick too
  • I want my titanium eyeglasses on as I lay there inside
  • I will be happy to hear the choir sing on my funeral wake
  • I want the songs When Answers Not Enough, Settled at the Cross, Trust His Heart and Home At Last
  • I don’t want people to spend too much for flower arrangements and all
  • Instead I will appreciate them getting New Testament Bibles for the visitors (like souvenirs)
  • No one is allowed to play cards on my wake, respect my family please!
  • I don’t want black motif so I’ll let people wear basket colors on my entombment
  • I would request not being visited by my ex-boyfriend (s) on my funeral wake
  • They can go see me at my tomb after the burial instead, if they so want
  • My headstone epitaph should write, "Dai Ning Li (October 29, 19XX - _____ ) The writer now goes home to the Author of life."
All the above are what I want for my funeral. I will die neither rich nor influential but just let me leave the above list as my last will and testament.
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you didn't love her

You didn’t love her.
You just didn’t want to be alone.
Or maybe, maybe she was good for your ego. Or maybe she made you feel better about your miserable life, but you didn’t love her, because you don’t destroy the person that you love. 

Grey's Anatomy's Callie Torres, M.D.
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when you grow old



Have you ever thought about who’s gonna take care of you when you grow old?


In many case, and even in one of my occasional and (somewhat) selfish points of view, people do find this as a valuable reason for having children. I think about this more often when I see old women on footbridges and underpass alone and begging for alms, but I don’t have a good solution for that now. I almost had a husband and missed that chance again to have my own baby before I leave my 20’s. My family—sisters and cousins—shall sooner or later have a life of their own and maybe live in another continent. I have a bestfriend and some circle of female buddies who are also childless and single and some of us have talked about taking care of one another as we age. But I wonder what will actually happen to me.

I’ve read news recently about a famous writer-producer who passed away at 87 years old, surrounded by close friends. My newest lovely companion, being cynical, pointed out that that person was wealthy and famous, and therefore drew plenty of close friends hoping for their share of her inheritance. Trying to out-cynic him, I pointed out that that’s usually what happens but with distant relatives coming out of the woodwork for their share of the financial pie. But the point is, that is how I want to go—surrounded by people who choose to be with me.

So, plan A for my future is to be nice, take care of my friends and hope that they will take care of me until my very last breath in this world. Plan B is to become rich with my writings, get famous and buy my friends! Hahaha!!! Either way, I seriously hope to not grow old... alone.

Do you have a plan all laid out up until your old age? Tell me I’m not alone in this dilemma.
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did you ever have unnecessary guilt?


Sometimes there just come circumstances that give you unnecessary guilt. Although you are self-assured to have not done anything wrong, still there occurs an inward minute piercing impression in your heart. It’s when your day turns to gray and you feel like wanting to rest at the middle of nowhere. You want to cry. You want arms to embrace your shaking body. You want to fade away.

Why are there people who play rude but still are granted with stars? Why are there questions like this without satisfying answers? Why do humans acquire all-in-one guilt even for not doing anything wrong at all? Did you ever feel this way?
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traveling is not my purpose in life



I’m into traveling; it’s given. Although history can testify that I am only able to be at this hobby when I’m free from romantic relationships, let me clarify the reason why I feel that hopping from shore to mountains is not really my purpose in life:

First, travelling is not my first love among all my activities. It’s good to be at different places that make your jaw drop at first glance. The unexplainable feeling when you see how serene the seas are, how the waterfalls are majestically made and how really panoramic are the plains viewed from mountain top – all of these and more, will make you want to come back and take gazillion of pictures again and again. However, I tell you, not all the reasons I mentioned complement the purpose why I was born in this world.

Second, I have many other things to accomplish aside from thinking where to go next after every trip. I have a family to nurse morally and financially. So rather than spending so much (like month after month) for each pleasurable spree, won't it serve life better if I invest in my family’s needs? I hope that makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? 

Third, I prefer trips with my siblings-in-faith or family. I’ve been into left and right trips over the last few years but only when I am with my church mates and youth assembly that I feel blessed as I explore the grandeur of God’s art in this world. We pray together. We enjoy the blessings of the Lord together. Our families send us off with gladder spirit because they are confident about the people we are with and I need not have to worry about missing Sunday services because we make sure that our trips won’t hamper our worship for the Lord. 

Last, I don’t want to die while travelling. Let’s be practical, death can come anytime and anywhere. I would be glad to spend the last days or hours of my life at home or near home, not in a plane crash, shipwreck or car accident heading to our destination. This may sound silly but I am telling this as honest as I can. 

It’s fun to be born with a pair of itchy feet but the worth of life is not all about satisfying its desire. To me, I was born to love and serve my Savior, support my family, write about life and sing praises for God’s glory. Travelling and all other extracurricular itineraries are mainly accessories that won’t make me less of a person when not done. 

I hope this clears everything.
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bachelorette pad

Moving in to this so-called bachelorette pad, perhaps, is the most crucial decision I have ever made this year… and in my entire life. I was born independent, yes, but I wasn’t really given the opportunity to live away from home. So it feels different, very different that packing my things up seemed to be such a burdensome task! For the nth time I need to undress my being undomesticated and take the responsibility to make an unfamiliar place my new home. 

After that craze to look for the most economical and accessible place to stay comes this self-satisfying drive to fill the room with stuffs that wil make it more relaxing and appealing (because I have to prepare for my friend’s coming in 2013). I bought a queen-size bed which looked perfectly enough for two slim ladies. We didn’t choose a double decker bed simply because no one wants to sleep on the upper loft! I have fear of heights too so we ended up buying a wider one. The next thing I got was an industrial stand fan, although I haven’t claimed the unit yet for some (illogical and lame) reason of Anson! Anyway, they have to give me that not later than this week. My first overnight stay in my room was moved just because of that fan; I can’t sleep there and wake up the next morning patched with mosquito bites! 

As of this moment, I am thinking of getting: 
  • Coffee table instead of dining set – it’s way less expensive and will not eat so much space in the room 
  • Dresser – ladies do need this to comfortably decorate ourselves before heading to work 
  • Laptop – I have often planned to get one but since there’s no instance that really required me of it, I deferred buying it, and now I badly need one 
  • Couch – well, this is optional; only that this will make the room look lovelier 
  • Long curtains – I scouted from department store and saw a few designs that fit my taste 
  • Comforter – this I have to get this week as sale season is extensive and I have to grab that chance to wisely spend my money, for comfort! 
  • Toiletries – of course these are unnegotiable and a big MUST. 
There are a lot more in my mind that I want to buy and it excites me day after day to make this room the most beautiful place for a year (or so, because we have a 12-month lease contract with the owner). Soon I will post pictures of how my new nest looks. For now, I wish nothing but to receive our bonus so all of the above must-buys won’t turn into a shattered dream! :)
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Pacman: You have bigger oaths to be carried out.


Photo grabbed from Unang Hirit's live interview
with the people's champ, Manny Pacquiao and wife, Jinkee. 

I'm honestly not a fan but this interview with the Pacquiao couple broke me into tears. It's very true that what's heavier to bear after a stunning defeat is not the shame that someone else has taken your victory — it's when you know that people closest to your heart also share the pain and bits of disappointment at this time. 

Marquez now holds that belt, but who cares anyway! Give it to him and hug the more precious things God has in store for you. You have bigger oaths to be carried out as a politician, as a Filipino, as a father and as a husband. 
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practicing independence


I am thirty and no matter how much I try to just shrug it all off, my every fiber would always crave for independence. I want to do something that I’ve never done before – something that would label my birthright, my self-governance, my life. 

For months, I have been daydreaming of working abroad where I can start everything all over again, alone. Yeah, it’s true that I once said that working overseas would never be an option for me. But people do change their minds especially on a T-junction state — again, let me reiterate, I’m thirty. I should be living life more independently than all the years behind. 

When I was in Cebu, I remember telling my travel agents that that place was good for a solitary trip. That very moment I was floating in the idea of exploring the countryside without anyone’s aid. I want to do it alone, for now. I have travelled many times with companions and I completely know how amazing it is to discover treasures from places to places along with your friends and family. But through it all, I couldn’t remark a particular scenario that I gave space for myself to learn more, to think broader, to appreciate life in a deeper sense. 

Now, I came up deciding about leaving home. Well, not really to abandon my family. This is a leap of faith in exercising my independence — the step one. I am very soon moving in to a nearer domicile. When I was in college, I envied all my classmates who were able and permitted to live on students’ lodge and dormitories. Perhaps that time, all I understood was I should be with my parents and that’s all. Well now that I’m older, I supposed that they would not take it against me if I choose to live and take care of myself for a while. As mountaineers’ creed say, you can’t climb a hill without even trying to walk a kilometer from home to highway. The same is true with my desire to work abroad. I can’t see myself comfortably living for about thousands of miles away from home if I will not practice independence here and now. 

Honestly, I’m afraid and at the same time, hopeful. Do give me a cheer and a pat on my shoulder as soon as I move in to my new place and I will show you around when it happens. 
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on becoming desperate... when you're single


The world had shaped people’s minds to understand singlehood as one unfathomable curse in this life. I was once deceived by this philosophy and still am very much vulnerable to believing its lies.

Sometimes having nobody to care for and set exclusive affection to is just as simply as ABC ─ you completely don’t mind having no one beside to cuddle along when you’re tired and unhappy… until your friends keep marrying year after year, until you’re sitting between love birds in the shuttle bus, until you walk past by a bench occupied by a girl leaning on his boyfriend’s shoulder, and until you see yourself in the mirror, all alone. It does bother more how others react about the situation, laughing at your back, mocking you, playing obnoxious clowns.

It’s such a relief to know that I am God’s child. And I haven’t really explained well my deepest thoughts about not opting to be in a relationship now until I read this wonderful article which I am sharing with you. 
  
If I could sit down with single people one on one and just offer them one piece of advice it would be… Desperation In Dating Always Leads To Destruction!


How do you know you are desperate?
  • You are compromising! (and if you are compromising you KNOW you are doing so!)
  • You are listening to your friends more than you are listening to Jesus.
  • You have placed your value in whether or not he calls and asks you out for a second date (or whether she says yes to a second date!)
  • You view yourself as "damaged goods" and believe that you are not worth very much.
  • You believe the myth that "I am miserable because I am single" and believe that marriage will solve all of your problems.
  • You are pretending to be someone you are not because you fear if you were who you really are the person you are dating would not like you!
  • You are with a person who is leading you away from Jesus, not closer to Him.

Desperate people rarely make good decisions and reality is that some singles reading this may be pursuing a relationship that has warning signs all over it…but instead of paying attention to that you believe that if you push through that eventually the other person will become who you want them to be.

But the book of Proverbs says, "The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty." (Proverbs 22:3) In other words…if we see danger in something (like maybe our dating relationships) and we pursue them anyway then we are clearly told there is a penalty to pay.

Desperate people hardly ever make great decisions. The worse thing that you could do for your future spouse and children is become desperate and grab on to whomever just happens to be in front of you. 

Desperation in dating always leads to destruction. My prayer is that if you are wrestling with this that you would turn your desperation for a date into a desperation to hear the voice of the Lord (Jeremiah 29:13) and allow Him to shape your view of dating and marriage more so than the culture we are living in.

The ONE THING I know about the Lord is that HE IS GOOD…and if HE IS GOOD then so are HIS WAYS! AND…whenever HIS WAYS and my ways are not the same it is I who need to adjust my thinking (Isaiah 55:8) because in doing so there is hope, life and freedom! We should NOT be desperate when there is a God in heaven who wants greater things for us than we could ever imagine!

Perry Noble is the founding and senior pastor of NewSpring Church which has multiple campuses in South Carolina. At just 12 years old, the church averages over 16,000 people across all campuses. You can find Perry online at perrynoble.com or on twitter @perrynoble.

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14/20 Challenge: Inelegant Barking

Mistake committed in good faith is, by nature itself, still a mistake. And unless someone else’s eye notices it, the perpetrator remains in loath self-reproach. I, being then the author of error, burst in rage after reading that doom’s day note. I felt hell looked down on, insulted and off guarded. The sender of it, on the other way, ruptured in rage upon interpreting a pride-protecting-reply from me. Disrespect, ingratitude, and insubordination altogether characterized my so-called (as it was quoted) “exposed personality.” Nothing from whatever we aimed to be communicated was really understood well. We just both hit the roof!

After coming to my senses, I finally got the simple message why sometimes news puzzle us. Why would two big vessels collide in the midst of a million-meters-wide ocean? Why would two heavenly bodies smash together in an unbounded space? And why would two people from different bloc and of different dispositions come across each other only to end up clashing? It’s simply because a whistling kettle doesn’t hear the cook’s voice.

I should have behaved better and toiled in silence rather than barked in inelegance toward a big tree.
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7/20 Challenge: Believing that Time is Mine

Time is limited. I didn’t bother much about it until I lost one of my closest male friends last year.

He happily told me that he’s getting married. In fact, I supposed to march with them at the entourage. His fiance was someone outside my circle of friends so we only got a few chances to talk the girls talk when you’re soon to march on your wedding day. Nevertheless, she’s a great person and I know my friend would not have chosen her to be his bride had she not been one. Although I was really excited, I became passive during the waiting period believing that everything was in order. Well, everything really was… except for my friend.

December was nearly approaching. It was in July when I last heard of the wedding during our meeting with the rest of the secondary sponsors. He did look fine that time, although his thinning figure was very noticeable. I thought it was just normal. Months unfolded without a single report on the event. Still I didn’t bother, confident that things were under control. It was early October when I got a call from the fiance that they were calling the wedding off. For some reason, I again didn’t mind so much why. I was thinking to seek my friend’s final advice first before erupting like a little child, eager to understand the things I was missing at some pages. Little did I know that he was then suffering from cancer already. Only when the bride-to-be called me to confirm again that they’re not going to do the wedding this year anymore that I was seriously alarmed. I sent a couple of messages to him day after another even without receiving any response. He’s living just a few kilometers away but I never thought of visiting him, not that time yet.

At the fourth week of that same month, I got another call that broke me sore. He died. Suffering from liver cancer, he died without informing anyone (including me) apart from his fiancĂ© and family. I should have asked further what was wrong during the days when he’s still able to answer me. I should have cared more about his welfare and bothered to inquire about his state. I should not have wasted any minute thinking that things were doing well when he was ultimately not. I should have learned earlier that time is not in my hands, neither in his, because only until I lost it that realization came to me with a very painful surprise.
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4/20 Challenge: Have You Ever Been Swindled?

Have you ever been swindled ─ or if not really that severe, at the very least, gave in and trusted an offer made by someone you do not even know much? Call me unwise, but I once was a victim.

I got a call from an agent who claimed was from an affiliate of my credit card provider. He asked for some personal information and believing that he really was a genuine representative, I willingly gave him everything that he said was needed. The offer was actually about an abundant discount vouchers which would allow me to save up to no less than 10,000 bucks in all big establishments existing in the market. At the mere marketing strategy I just heard in that short conversation, I agreed at once ─ and not only that ─ I too, authorized the person to charge his offer to my credit card at an amount greater or equivalent to 5,000 bucks. In an eye’s twinkling, the deal was closed. My being impulsive and having poor judgment at that time caused me something that I could have shared instead to my family.

The vouchers were delivered to me but I was not able to consume a single leaf because the restaurants and places seemed to be in very distant and expensive places. What’s the use of getting a 50% discount when the price is gold for every platter or drinks?

Some people are born with gifts in marketing strategies. I know am not but I supposed to act clever, giving myself enough time to think things over before diving headfirst in an empty pool.
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