An Open Letter

 I stood my ground and worked silently along with the rest of my colleagues but I am compelled to write this because there are those critical of teachers kesyo wala daw gitrabaho ang teachers karon. Actually, gatrabaho. Most of us are not posting lang the work we do in social media. In the first place, what for?

As a matter of fact, the whole school year daghan trabaho ang teachers. We are not posting them all lang because of personal reasons, Data Privacy Law, ug uban pang applicable laws.

Sa pagkatinuod, ang teacher kay nurse, doctor, engineer, chef, engineer, foreman, elecrician, janitor, stylist, choreographer, dancer, singer, clown, mama, papa, ate, kuya etc sa eskwelahan. Name it. We have a lot of work to do in school but many of us also bring these works at home and I have personally known many teachers burning their midnight oil. Sleepless nights? Daghan. Sacrifices? Sobra. But still we did not let go because we love our job. We love our students. We love the Filipinos. We love the Philippines. We are inspired by our leaders. We love.

We love because we are humans. Humans. Just like you, we are also human beings. Not robots. We are bound to feel, and sometimes, to fail. We cannot do everything. We are not machines. Machines even need to rest and be refreshed.

Teachers feel anxiety too. Our faith in God though tells us we have the confidence to move on and do our duties and responsibilities without hesitation. After all, God is bigger than any other.
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Something Personal

The next part is something personal.

The past weeks had been so crucial to many of us and I for one, even if I endured some fever and vertigo these days had tasks to accomplish: submit weekly reports, generate and analyze enrollment data, validate enrollment applicants, contact transferees, organize my own advisory class, contact them one by one to finalize their choice of learning modality, constantly update everyone, host Zoom Meetings and many other things required of us. On top of these, together with Ma'am Pua, we are also operating the hotline numbers of the school for enrollment concerns and we talk to parents, students, and answer their calls and inquiries.

Many other teachers have even bigger and more complicated tasks than mine, than ours. But still, not one of us complained.

December 2 last year, I was confined to a government hospital after I suffered high fever for several days. Later on, I was diagnosed with Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) by my attending physician.

They had to inject higher dose of antibiotics through the dextrose attached to my hands regularly. It was costly and normally would be painful but I didn't feel any pain at all.

Other church mates and concerned friends and colleagues visited me back then, and I truly appreciate their encouragement even if I wasn't well at those times. I thought their presence and prayers helped my immediate recovery.

I can still recall that it took me around 12 hours at the emergency room while waiting for a vacant ward. My fever would not subside. I thought I was floating, out of balance. Basically without strength. I had to be accompanied by my Mama and my brother if I needed to walk. Otherwise, I'd fall. Everything was completely new to me. First time in my life.

Even if I was dizzy and all, I was not given any medicine at that time. Some doctors and nurses were too busy treating patients with "more serious conditions."

It was not until the 11th hour or so from the time of our arrival at the emergency room was I given paracetamol by one of the nurses after my mother insisted because they thought my condition got worse. Thanks to our pastor and some church mates who were with us at that time until I was transferred to a room.

In my 12-hour stay at the emergency room, I noticed there were several patients coming in that emergency room. I saw how medical workers tried to revive some patients. Many were revived, but some were lost. At that time, I witnessed around 4 deaths from patients of different cases--drowning, road mishaps, old age, and more. Was it a traumatic experience for me? Yes.

But do I still want to be a teacher? Definitely yes! Para sa mga bata, para sa bayan. Para sa pamilya. Para sa Dios.

To our leaders, thank you for pushing us to our limits!

To my colleagues, laban lang!

Now more than ever, we have to be united. There should not be room for hatred, but love. There shouldn't be any cause of misunderstanding, but love.

Let us pray that GOD'S TIME NOW and GOD'S WILL BE DONE. NOW.

What it Means to Commit to the Lord

This life revolves around goals we have whether they be short term or long term. The point is that if you have no goals, it’s very clear that you’re not moving toward anything of great significance. By the way, your life isn’t that meaningful due to the fact that you don’t really have something that you’re working on in order to improve the overall quality of it in the long run.

The Word of God boldly declares that where there’s no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18). Therefore the same thing also applies equally to your personal life. The reason is that if you don’t have any visions at all, you’re compromising your whole life for a miserable future.

Having goals is undoubtedly very important; however, not every goal people have will actually succeed. It’s quite unfortunate that in many cases people have dedicated their entire times and efforts working on goals that will eventually fail miserably. Even though some of them may succeed, but the problem is that they don’t really bring forth the type of lasting peace, joy, and fulfillment that God would like them to experience. To put it differently, their goals don’t take them to the place that God would want them to be.

The question is how can we ensure that our goals revolve around God? How do we also ensure that our goals don’t become an impediment to God’s plans and purposes for our lives? How do we make sure that God’s will for our lives is put ahead of own ambition and agenda? Well, it’s worthwhile that we consider these Scripture verses below in order for us to get a clear understanding regarding that issue.

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans (Proverbs 16:3).

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

The first Scripture verse sounds very vague and broad due to the fact that it doesn’t specify any conditions whatsoever. Nevertheless, the ideal way of trying to understand this verse is to hook it up to the second verse which is found in (Proverbs 3:5-6). First, our knowledge and understanding are very limited while God has perfect and absolute knowledge and understanding. The very things that we’re striving for may not be the things that God would want us to have.

Practical Application

Since God is asking us to trust Him wholeheartedly and not lean on our own human understanding, this will make sure that we seek His will first by acknowledging our own human limitations. When we trust God in such manner, we allow Him to have His ways in us. We also allow Him to control the circumstances. So it’s no longer about what we want done in accordance with what we believe is the right thing to do. Instead, it becomes all about us allowing the all-knowing God to guide us wherever fits His perfect will for our lives.

We can strongly rely on the fact that an all-knowing God will never lead His beloved children to failure. In that case, the best way of pursuing our goals is to let God determine what should be done and when it should be done. The good news is that when we consult Him before we start working on any plans we have in a patient and obedient fashion, He’ll make His will plain to us. That’s exactly what it means to have our plans established by Him.

Today's Prayer

Heavenly Father, we genuinely acknowledge the fact that we only know and understand partially while You know and understand everything perfectly. Lot of time we ignore that as a result of being pressed by time, curiosity, worry, impatience, and so forth. What a bad idea for us to live our lives going after things that won’t do us any good in the long run since they are outside of Your will for our lives.

We pray that You give us what it takes, so that we can strive to make sure that we find ourselves at the center of Your will. Whatever goals and visions that we have, it’s guaranteed that they will all come to pass if they are consistent with Your perfect will. We pray that You empower us to live a life marked by complete reliance on You along with that You’re able to do for us within Your perfect will and timing for Your own glory. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Reference: Living for Jesus Alone

Take Care of Your Faith or You Shall Find Yourself in the Fiery Lake of Fire

( ***I wrote this unfinished article this morning inspired by true events based on Biblical information.)

If I were God, I’d most likely hate the person who abandoned their faith and most likely, I might also discipline them in a manner that they will see my anger because of their wrong doings. These thoughts emerge because of my human nature of impatience. But God is truly patient, kind, and a God of love, and so on and so forth. His compassion, His love is truly unconditional and beyond our understanding. His love endures forever! Amen.

I can’t believe how they tend to choose what gives them earthly pleasures than doing what is noble, what is pure—to glorify God by attending church and spiritual activities. I can’t believe why they seem to distant themselves away from church, away from God. They choose to be with their friends outside the church rather than accompanying their church friends. I can’t understand why they can’t find time to attend to the Church activities and yet they have plenty of time to please others with their presence. They are making themselves as their “lords,” rather than obeying God as their Lord.

The Bible tells us that God is the Creator, the life-giver, the Spring of life, the only One who should be worshipped and glorified. Our convictions, the human reason, earth, sky, and the heavenly bodies—all proclaim of God’s glory!

Why are there some people who are putting God their least and last priority?

When God is at the last from our priorities, we reject Him who is the author of life, we reject His majesty, we reject the truth that He is God, we reject Him who is the source of the countless blessings we enjoy! We reject Him who gives us LIFE!

The salvation we receive needs to be nourished, nurtured and taken care of. This is a false statement: ONCE SAVED, ALWAYS SAVED. We should remember: We don’t have a doctrine but the Bible, no creed but Christ. When the Bible speaks, we speak, when the Bible is silent, we are silent.

It is dangerous to abandon your faith in Christ. One thing is certain: Christ will come again, and when he does so, everyone faces judgment based on how he lived his life. Isn’t it awesome when we shall hear him talking to us personally, smiling while uttering these words: “WELL DONE, GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT!” I believe such words are something we look forward to hear from Him.

The Bible tells us that those who don’t believe in Christ (the unbelievers include those who abandoned their faith) are to suffer in eternal doom—they will be suffering in the fiery lake of fire eternally. Nobody here wants to end up on that place of eternal-damnation. Today, ask yourself: "Which way is your life leading you?"