Why I Love VCF (esp U-belt)

Alive! Alive! Yan ang laging naiisip ng mga tao pag nakakarinig sila ng word na "Christian." To be honest, I also had that kind of impression back then. Blame it on our neighbor in Sampaloc before who used to hold Bible study sessions in their house and then singing Alive Alive, Alive forevermore afterwards. Or more so, blame it on the wrong and/or exgerrated portrayal of media about Christian fellowships and services (remember Jologs?).

But really, today's Christian fellowship services is no longer about crying and laughing and crying again, all eyes closed, and all hands waving (imagine the picture?). Christian fellowships nowadays are more into practical approach in order to entice more people into listening and talking about God and never to scare them out. Thankfully, more people no longer perceive Christianity as being baduy or boring, but rather, it's one of the coolest things to get involved with.

I am one of those thousands of born-again Christians who are blessed enough to have found God and be part of a church who is not legalistic in its manner of teaching God's laws--Victory Christian Fellowship. And for almost 3 years that I've been part of VCF, there was never really a time that I felt regretful or discontented of my chosen community.

To make u understand why I love VCF so much (especially U-belt), here are the reasons:

1. The teachings are practical. They will not command you to do this and that or tell you not to do this and that. Instead, they believe that your love for God will eventually help you do things according to God's will.

2. Every church service is like a seminar and a concert all rolled into one. Sabi nga ng isang friend q na naisama q sa U-belt one time, "ang saya naman, parang may concert lang." The setting is like in an auditorium with a big stage at the center, all musical equipments present. Even the design of the stage is fabulous! As for the preaching, para ka lang nakikinig ng homily na never kang aantukin at mabobore kse lahat ng messages, may weight tlga at super tatagos sa puso't isipan mo:-)

3. The music ministry is super awesome! As in wala aqng masabi. Para mo na ring napanood na nagperform ang Hillsong United at lahat ng worship singers ng live! Fabulous tlga!

4. The pastors are all good-looking:-) Wala ka tlgang itatapon!

5. Ang cool ng mga pastors! Nakakita ka na ba ng pastor na nag-super luigi sa service? or nag-ala matrix kya? or ng youth pastor na pinapasakay ang mga members sa jeep na nasa unahan at nde nakapila tapos sisigawa siya ng barker kse nga nde pa un ang susunod na jeep, tapos ipipilit pa din niya, tapos dadating ang head pastor at palokong tatanuning siyan: Why are you cheating?" at sasagutin lang niya na, "eh mababasa kse sila eh" in a boyish manner? sa VCF lang un:-) Or ng pastor na nagpapavote ng venue for retreat pero dadayain kunwari ung count? or ng pastor na nang mahulog ang cord ng mic pagbigay sa kanya ng isang church leader eh pinilit pigilin ang tawa at nasabi na lang eh: "Holy Spirit come back" sabay ngiti?

6. The technical team is marvelous! The powerpoint presentations, the slideshows, all the visuals, the audios, everything! Fabulous lahat! Even the background of the lyrics kapag pinapakita sa lcd screens are fabulous din!

7. It's fun being part of the ministry. Lahat ng ministries okay tlga. It's not only a venue to serve God but also, it serves as a way to meet with other Christians and have fellowship with them.

8. The topics are amazing. Tlgang pinagiisipan bawat series. They're making it in a way na nde ma-bobore tlga ang mga members.

9. The events and activities are really fun-filled and wonderful. From the 7-day fasting to Freshmen night, to singles teambuilding and retreat, to Christmas Parties, etc., all of these are fantastic!

10. The centers are all grand-. Para kang nanonood ng concert tlga. Sound-proof. Well-lit, big enough to house a big number of people. There are also different rooms for the Toddlers, kids from 3-5, and kids from 6-12.

Actually, i could write a lot of things about VCF that i love the most, but perhaps, these things are a perfect summary of all. I feel really blessed to be part of Victory Christian Fellowship.

To God be the glory!

Usapang Bata 1

Dayalogo namin ni Chloe (my 5-year old cousin):

Ako: Beh, magiging magkapit-bahay na tau eh.
Chloe: Ayoko.
Ako: bket naman?
Chloe: Eh kse lagi aq pupunta sa inyo. Tandaan mo, magiging malaki bahay q.
Ako: pano naman?
Chloe: syempre magiging stewardess aq.
Ako: Eh ang taba-taba mo kya.
Chloe: Pagdating q ng 12, payat n aq.
Ako: Ano? 12 pa? Bket nde pa ngaun?
Chloe: eh syempre bata pa aq. pagdting q na lang ng 12.kakain muna aq ngaun.

Pambihira!

In Everything that we do, let's make it our every moment goal, to always put a SMile in God's face:-)

God the Father Revealed-Week 2 Reconciliation

In last week’s service at VCF-Malate, Pastor Nixon talked about the Parableof the Prodigal Son. He further explained that in that parable, there is actually three prodigal characters: the second son (which is the one we already know about), the first son, and the father himself.

First, let’s define the meaning of the word Prodigal.

Prodigal means to give lavishly or extravagantly wasteful.

The second son who asked for his inheritance from his father and left their home was said to be prodigal because he lavishly wasted all the money he got from his father to some worldly things. As for the first son—the one who chose to stay with his father and tend his flocks—he was said to be prodigal, too, for the reason that he wasted extravagantly the time he's supposed to show his love for his father and just opted to focus more on tending the flock and the field.

So why is it that the father is also being considered prodigal?

Simply because he is extravagantly giving all his love to his sons without even thinking if that love is being wasted or not. Despite what the second son had done to him, he still accepted him when he returned and even called a feast for him. Moreover, when the first son got angry at him and chided him for still accepting the second son, he didn’t get angry at him. Instead, the father just hugged him and explained to him the reason why he still chose to accept the second son.

Our good God is exactly like the father in the story of the Prodigal Son. We might have failed him a million of times before or we might still be doing a lot of wrongs in our lives now, but He never and will never take His back on us.
More often than not, we chose to live in the way the norms of this world had thought us to live. We often neglect the teachings of God and laid comfortably on the thought that God will always understand that we are just human beings and are obviously prone to temptations. True, God will always forgive, but don’t you think that we are being too harsh on God, too unfair to Him? We always ask for His blessings, for His provisions in our lives, but we seldom take the initiative to delight Him by following Him. In our minds, we often reason out: This isn’t my time yet to be Holy, or to follow God and His rules, or to read the Bible, etc.

So when will be the right time? When we are already old enough to regret on the wasting a good part of our lives following the norms of this world? Or when we are already on our deathbed and just waiting for God’s call?

God, like most of the loving fathers we have, is a very loving, caring, and considerate father . He always gives and never ask for a grand thing from us. What He only asks of us is to love Him back, spend a couple of minutes of each day talking to Him, and just rest our faith in Him. He never asked us to give up our lives for Him for He knows that it’ll be too much for us to handle.

Let us not look at God us only our CREATOR. Rather, it’ll be much sweeter and lovely if we’ll start looking at God us our very own father who is always more than willing to bless us and delight us with good provisions.

Just Because I Can't Stop Watching 'Man in the Mirror' in YOUTUBE.

I have to be honest. I’m not a big Michael Jackson fan. Last I checked, I didn’t have any of his song in my playlist. Perhaps, it’s because I was too young to admire a singer/performer during the time when he was at the peak of his career.

But then again, the news of his sudden death really shocked and saddened me. It, however, took a couple of days before his death finally dawned on me. My office mate even called me in my mobile that day to ask if I was alright (knowing I’m the type of person who will literally cry over the death of people, especially entertainers). But to be honest, I can’t really find the right emotion to feel that day when he was announced dead in the news. I didn’t know if I should feel happy for Michael Jackson that finally, he will have that rest and peace he’d long been wishing for; or sad for the one and only King of Pop is now gone for good.

Frankly, when I heard of the news, the first thing (person) that crossed my mind was Ely Buendia. Weird, but true. I felt afraid of what might happen to Ely Buendia or what would I feel should Ely have a heart attack again. Ely was to me what Michael is for my mom and my titos and titas.

But then again, guess I couldn’t really let MJ’s death pass by without me letting out my heartfelt emotion over what had befalled. As expected, I also cried over MJ’s passing away. This happened just last Friday night after watching Repertory Philippine’s Funtastiks (connect?). For few days, I’ve been avoiding the feeling of sadness over his death for I don’t want to burden myself with the sad memories of his death (so feel q tlga, close kme!). Michael Jackson is just a big guy in the history of music and his death is really something that you couldn’t easily shrug off or accept. Hearing his songs being played over and over again everywhere really added insult to the injury.

I may not be a big fan of his music or his songs but I’ve always liked Michael Jackson as a person. Even when the news about his child molestation cases was put out and was highly publicized before, never did I lost my admiration for him as a person. I’ve always felt he is a good person—only that, he was filled with sad and bitter emotions. He might be one of the richest persons in this world, but emptiness still clouded his sad life.

Perhaps, the reason why I didn't cry hard when I heard of his death is because I felt that WE'VE LOST MICHAEL JACKSON A LONG TIME AGO. During those times when the media didn't want to give him the privacy and peaceful life that he wants, we've already lost him because he chose to veer away from the cruel world of entertainment and media. It's just so sad that now that he decided to resurrect from his long slumber, God decided to call him back to His kingdom. But that's just the way it is. God has His own reasons. Perhaps, He saw that MJ is already tired of this life-long battle with sorrow and emptiness that He decided to put an end to MJ's misery. At least now, our one and only King of Pop has finally found the fulfilment that he'd long been searching for.

Michael Jackson. King of Pop. His music will forever play in the hearts of his millions of fans all over the world. At one point, his music really helped heal this world. With his music, he was able to unite the people through a common interest. And then again, by his death, the whole world is also united in mourning for him.

Here's to a wonderful journey towards the eternal life to the one and only King of Pop--Michael Jackson!