A Prayer for the Future (and for the present if it applies)

(by Sir Frances Drake Quoted in OC Missionary Prayer Letter of Jeanie Curryer, September, 1997)

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity; and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

(Disturb us Lord indeed, indeed when this happens.-che)

Three Wooden Crosses

(please click the title link to listen to this song by Randy Travis, an all-time favorite)

Songwriters: Johnson, Douglas M.; Williams, Kim E.;

A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher
Ridin' on a midnight bus bound for Mexico
One was headin' for vacation, one for higher education
And two of them were searchin' for lost souls

That driver never ever saw the stop sign
And 18 wheelers can't stop on a dime

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them Heaven only knows
I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go

That farmer left a harvest, a home and 80 acres
The faith and love for growin' things in his young son's heart
And that teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children
Did her best to give 'em all a better start

And that preacher whispered, "Can't you see the promised land?"
As he lay his blood stained Bible in that hooker's hand

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them Heaven only knows
I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go

That's the story that our preacher told last Sunday
As he held that blood stained Bible up for all of us to see
He said, "Bless the farmer and the teacher and the preacher
who gave this Bible to my momma who read it to me"

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them now I guess we know
It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway

Three year-olds!

Stick

Mama: Binasag mo raw iyung isang ilaw sa room malapit sa church.

Khane: Hindi, mama. Hindi ako, iyung stick binasag niya iyung ilaw.

Mama: (after recovering from my shock). Eh anak, sino ba ang nakahawak nung stick.

Khane: Ako, mama.

Prayer meeting

Mama: Tara, punta tayo sa Muñoz attend tayo ng prayer meeting.

Khane: Ayoko pumunta sa prayer meeting, mama.

Mama: Iiwan na lang ngarud kita dito kay Ninang Weng mo.

Khane: Opo

Mama: Eh di kawawa naman si Mama, one lang niyang punta sa Muñoz.

Khane: Eh, kasama mo naman si Jesus eh.

Castle

Khane: (excited, pointing to an Iglesia ni Kristo church) Mama, castle o castle.

Mama: Hindi castle iyun anak, church iyon.

Khane: Hindi, mama castle iyun, tingnan mo o, iyun tsaka iyun (pointing to the two pointed structures).

Hindi kawawa

(Daddy and Khane speaking about food on the table.)
Daddy: Hindi tayo kawawa kahit wala tayo ulam kasi kasama natin si Jesus.

Khane: Ay, kasi magiging ulam si Jesus?

”Umiihi iyung buhok”

Khane: (while pointing at my dripping wet hair) Mama, umiihi iyung buhok mo o (laughing).

Gusto bahay ni lola, ayaw kay lola

Ptr Joel: Saan ang mas gusto mong tinitirhan, sa PhilRice o sa bahay ni lola mo.

Khane: Sa bahay ni lola kasi maraming pinto. Iyung sa PhilRice, ang gulo gulo kasi.

(Ptr. Joel relates to mama what Khane said. Khane overheard Ptr. Joel talking about it.)

Khane: Hindi, gusto ko lang iyung bahay ni lola, ayoko kay lola.

Bida

(While we were waiting for the Cabanatuan van to be full, he kept looking at the long-haired tall man standing in one side of the terminal who was smoking)

Khane: Mama iyan ang ‘guy’ o ‘guy’ (smiling). (I just laughed, pushing and wiggling my head on his tummy saying “Ikaw talaga, kung anu-ano nalalaman mo.”)

(After some 30 minutes or so, same setting, looking again and referring to the same ‘guy’.)

Khane: Mama, mama, iyun iyung ‘bida’ o. Bida. (laughing)

Fitting room

Tatay and Nanay's Greenhouse

(Taken at Tatay and Nanay's greenhouse in Malanac, Lower Daclan, Tublay on January 1, 2011. Nice.)

Khane turns 3

Be the best of whatever you are

(The Benguet State University Secondary Education Training Department (BSU-SETD) Class 1989 will be having a reunion on December 11, 2010. I can recall that our class graduation song was this song by Douglas Malloch. Maybe it is nice to sing it once again, and indeed live up to what it says. See you all.-che)

BE THE BEST OF WHATEVER YOU ARE
by Douglas Malloch

If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill
Be a scrub in the valley--but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,
And some highway some happier make;
If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass--
But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,
There's something for all of us here.
There's big work to do and there's lesser to do,
And the task we must do is the near.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,
If you can't be the sun be a star;
It isn't by size that you win or you fail--
Be the best of whatever you are!