Thursday, October 8, 2020
What Does Agape Love Look Like?
Love... doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others. 1 Corinthians 13:5, Message.
When Sir Ernest Shackleton was exploring in the Antarctic, he faced a very difficult hour as their rations became depleted. Finally, the last few biscuits were given out to the men. There was not a crumb of anything left. That night Shackleton lay awake in his sleeping bag with their peril heavy on his mind. He knew that death by starvation was near unless something happened.
As he lay there with thoughts he dared not express keeping him from sleep, from the corner of his eye he noticed movement by one of his men. A cold chill came over him as he realized this man was stealthily reaching for the food bag of the man next to him. Shackleton still pretended to be asleep. His mind reeled; he could not believe what he was seeing. This was one of his most trusted men.
Still, he knew that starving men sometimes acted like predators.
He was not disturbed for long, however. The man did reach for the food container of his companion...and then quietly took his last biscuit and placed it in the other man's parcel before lying down to sleep. That is the companionship and the cost of real love.
To this Paul adds the words, "Love does not seek its own." Another version puts it: "Love does not act in its own interest" which explains why God frowns on sex apart from the relationship of marriage. Love acting in its own interest is not the agape love that is described by Paul. When the expression of love does not embrace the total needs of the other--psychological, physical, and spiritual-- it falls short of this test which Paul articulates. Agape love produces an unspoken commitment (without conditions or strings attached) to meet the needs of the person who is the object of affection, and along with that commitment comes personal sacrifice which is not difficult to make.
"Love," writes Paul, "is not provoked." George Bernard Shaw once said, "I was taught when I was young that if people would only love one another, all would be well with the world. This seemed simple and very nice, but I found when I tried to put it into practice not only that other people were seldom lovable, but that I was not very lovable myself." That is the predicament that we often find ourselves in--not only are others unlovable but when we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that we are not very lovable either.
A gardener wrote to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and said, "I've tried everything I've ever heard or read, including all your bulletins, on how to get rid of dandelions--and I've still got them." By return mail he received the last word on the subject.
"Dear Sir," read the letter, "if you have tried everything and you still have dandelions, then there is only one thing left for you to do: learn to love them."
We are amused at that candid bit of advice, but life is much like the lawn full of dandelions. We want to be rid of them any way we can- -kill them by spraying (that is, the dandelions), dig them, bomb them, pull them out--destroy them however, but get rid of them! Nonetheless, at times the dandelions hang in there, and God expects us to learn to love them, and by the alchemy of love see the dandelions of life turn to daisies. When Paul wrote to the Romans, he told them that God's love comes through the Holy Spirit who is given to us. The only way to love those without is to have God's love within. That's for sure.
Resource reading: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/what-does-agape-love-look-like/
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Metro Channel sked (Oct. 11, 2020)
- 6 am - Hong Kong Enigmata
- 7 am - Stars on the Menu
- 8 am - Last Paradise Series
- 9 am - Art And Culture Magazine
- 9:30 am - Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger
- 10 am - Bobby and Bill
- 10:30 am - Ask Master Joe
- 11 am - On the Record
- 11:30 am - Baby Matters
- 11:55 am - TV Easy
- 12 nn - Three Hungry Sisters
- 1 pm - Saksi
- 1:15 pm - Royal Tramp
- 2:55 pm - Sports Like No Other
- 3:25 pm - Showers of Blessing
- 4 pm - 2020 PBA Philippine Cup: TNT Tropang Giga vs. Alaska Aces
- 6 pm - Aerial China
- 6:30 pm - TV Patrol
- 7 pm - Sunday Report
- 7:30 pm - China Album
- 7:35 pm - Scoop
- 8 pm - 2020 PBA Philippine Cup: NLEX Road Warriors vs. Ginebra San Miguel
- 10 pm - Sunday Nightscares:Lights Out
- 11:30 pm - Financial Magazine
- 12 mn - Legal Mavericks
- 1 am - TV Easy
- 1:10 am - Best Selling Secrets
- 1:40 am - TV Easy
- 1:50 am - Scoop
- 2:20 to 5 am - Fireplace
Regions of the Philippines
- Ilocos Region
- Abra
- Baguio
- Benguet
- Dagupan
- Ilocos Norte
- Ilocos Sur
- La Union
- Mountain Province
- Pangasinan
- Cagayan Valley
- Apayao
- Batanes
- Cagayan
- Ifugao
- Isabela
- Kalinga
- Nueva Vizcaya
- Quirino
- Santiago
- Central Luzon
- Angeles
- Bataan
- Bulacan
- Cabanatuan
- Malolos
- Nueva Ecija
- Olongapo
- Pampanga
- San Fernando
- San Jose del Monte
- Tarlac
- Zambales
- Metro Manila
- Manila
- Caloocan
- Las Piñas
- Makati
- Malabon
- Mandaluyong
- Marikina
- Muntinlupa
- Navotas
- Parañaque
- Pasay
- Pasig
- Quezon City
- San Juan
- Taguig
- Valenzuela
- Pateros
- Southern Tagalog
- Aurora
- Bacoor
- Batangas City
- Batangas
- Binan
- Cabuyao
- Cainta
- Calamba
- Cavite
- Dasmarinas
- General Trias
- Imus
- Laguna
- Lucena
- Marinduque
- Occidental Mindoro
- Oriental Mindoro
- Palawan del Norte
- Palawan del Sur
- Palawan Oriental
- Puerto Princesa
- Quezon
- Rizal
- Romblon
- San Pablo
- San Pedro
- Santa Rosa
- Bicol Region
- Albay
- Camarines Norte
- Camarines Sur
- Catanduanes
- Masbate
- Sorsogon
- Western Visayas
- Aklan
- Antique
- Bacolod
- Capiz
- Guimaras
- Iloilo
- Iloilo City
- Negros del Norte
- Negros Occidental
- Central Visayas
- Bohol
- Cebu
- Cebu City
- Lapu-Lapu
- Mandaue
- Negros Oriental
- Siquijor
- Eastern Visayas
- Biliran
- Eastern Samar
- Leyte
- Northern Samar
- Ormoc
- Samar
- Southern Leyte
- Tacloban
- Zamboanga Peninsula
- Basilan
- Sulu
- Tawi-Tawi
- Zamboanga City
- Zamboanga del Norte
- Zamboanga del Sur
- Zamboanga Hermosa
- Zamboanga Sibugay
- Northern Mindanao
- Agusan del Norte
- Agusan del Sur
- Bukidnon
- Butuan
- Cagayan de Oro
- Camiguin
- Dinagat Islands
- Misamis Occidental
- Misamis Oriental
- Surigao del Norte
- Southern Mindanao
- Compostela Valley
- Davao City
- Davao del Norte
- Davao del Sur
- Davao Occidental
- Davao Oriental
- Sarangani
- South Cotabato
- Surigao del Sur
- Central Mindanao
- Cotabato City
- Cotabato
- Iligan City
- Lanao del Norte
- Lanao del Sur
- Maranaw
- Maguindanao
- Shariff Kabunsuan
- Sultan Kudarat
Palace says it has 'no reaction' on ABS-CBN comeback
Malacañang said Wednesday it had "no reaction" on the return of some ABS-CBN Corp content to free television, nearly 3 months after a House panel dominated by President Rodrigo Duterte's allies denied the franchise renewal of the broadcaster.
ABS-CBN said Tuesday some of its entertainment shows and movies would be seen on the A2Z channel 11, the newly rebranded Zoe TV 11, starting Oct. 10 through a blocktime arrangement.
"What has happened is ABS-CBN has become a content provider so that’s a distinct line of business that does not require a franchise. I guess the fans of 'Probinsyano' and the other soap operas can look forward to them on Zoe TV," said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque.
"We neither welcome it nor—we have no reaction to it because they’re a content provider. For all intents and purposes, it is Zoe that will be subject to regulation because Zoe is the franchise holder," he told CNN Philippines.
House Deputy Speaker Bro. Eddie Villanueva founded Zoe Broadcasting Network Inc. Roque said he did not know whether or not Duterte and Villanueva talked about the ABS-CBN-Zoe deal when they met for a pray-over last week.
Duterte in December said he would see to it that ABS-CBN was "out" and from early in his term had accused it of failing to air his 2016 election ads. Despite this, his aides had sought to distance the President from the rejection of ABS-CBN's franchise application.
ABS-CBN, which is owned by the wealthy Lopez family, has broadcast continuously since 1953 except between 1972 and 1986 when it was seized by dictator Ferdinand Marcos -- who Duterte admires.
Duterte has a history of clashing with media outlets critical of his policies, including his controversial drug war that has killed thousands of people.
In the months since losing its free-to-air permit, ABS-CBN has kept showing many of its popular news and drama programs on cable TV and online.
But much of the advertising revenue it used to rake in has been wiped out, forcing the broadcaster to retrench thousands of its workers. -- With a report from Agence France-Presse
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/07/20/palace-says-it-has-no-reaction-on-abs-cbn-comeback
Love Requires Costly Compromise
[Love] beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 1 Corinthians 13:7, KJV
Marriage, said an unknown pundit, is the art of two incompatible people learning to love compatibly together. Anyone who has been married for more that 24 hours would agree that sustaining a marriage takes more than romantic feelings. It takes a deep commitment of love which reaches beyond your emotions and feelings to meeting the needs of another. It's costly, too! But its currency isn't monetary. We pay by repressing the desire to always be right, by giving up the desire to win every round. Yes, love learns to compromise, to yield, but triumphs in the end.
In the magnificent prose found in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes the characteristics of love. I would urge you to make an intense study of this chapter. It can change your life as it did mine many years ago.
Paul says that real love—the kind that makes incompatible people compatible—is patient, kind, free of envy, not boastful or proud; it doesn't insist on its own way; it is slow to believe wrong but quick to rejoice in good things.
Following these words Paul makes four statements about love as he writes, "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things."
First, "Love bears all things." Another translation says, "Love protects." Another way of translating this expression is, "Love covers all things." At least three times in Scripture we are told that love covers a multitude of sins in relationship to each other. L.L. Huffman received a letter from a foreign friend, and the letter was filled with expressions that were quaint because the friend's knowledge of English grammar was quite poor; however, Huffman's heart was deeply touched as he read the postscript: "The mistakes you will cover with the coat of love."
"The best of men are but men at their best," we sometimes say—which means that everyone is prone to failure. Nobody is perfect. We will all make social blunders. Eventually, the best of us will need the covering of love to hide his imperfections. The Living Bible puts it like this: "If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost." That is the picture of a real friend.
Notice the second statement: "Love believes all things." This explains how a young man can stray and fall into a life of hideous crime, yet his mother will say, "He was always a good boy who could do no harm to anyone." The mother is sure that her boy is not the one who did it, but the district attorney sees it in a different light. That is the great quality of agape love.
Paul's fourth statement about love is that it "endures all things." Before you challenge that statement, read this press release I read years ago:
"Carmine Russel, 22, looks at the man who shot her a year ago as she is married to him during a Valentine's Day ceremony at Southern Michigan Prison...The groom, Jerry Randall, 30, shot his bride-to-be in the face during a lover's quarrel. He was sentenced to 5 to 10 years for the shooting despite her refusal to testify against him…" With almost unbelievable tenacity from a human vantage, love suffers long, is kind, and endures all things. Nowhere in all of life's gamut of relationships is love more important than in our homes where we live helping incompatible people to be compatible.
Resource Reading: Ephesians 4:17-32
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/love-requires-costly-compromise/
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
PTV-4 Sked
Saturday
Sunday
Why Are We Quick To Believe A Lie?
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:6
When you learn that your bitterest enemy has really "gotten it in the neck," how do you feel? Do you quietly—or perhaps not so quietly—rejoice? "Good!" you think, "Got just what he deserved! I never liked that person anyway."
Our natural reaction is the very opposite of that which God wants us to develop. In the greatest passage ever written about love, Paul gives us some words of advice—tough ones too! They grate against our nature like sandpaper on a glass tabletop, or like a chicken bone that turns sideways when you try to swallow it. He says simply that "love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth" (I Corinthians 13:6).
When we learn to love as God wants us to, we are saddened when a person falls in a moment of weakness. The old King James text puts it, "Love rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth." Ken Taylor's Living Bible says, "It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out." In case you doubt the fact that man has a carnal nature, ask yourself why we are quicker to believe a lie than we are the truth. If you don't believe that, listen to the incident I am about to relate, which is absolutely factual.
A staff member of a certain church became jealous and resentful of the senior pastor and decided that he would "get him." He thought of various ways that he could take revenge for the wrongs that he felt he had sustained. He borrowed the church's general mailing list and wrote a letter, accusing the pastor of sexual indiscretion with one of the secretaries—something which was totally untrue.
Shortly thereafter, the disgruntled associate admitted that the moral charge was entirely fabricated and that the letter had been designed to settle the score for alleged personal differences. The church council promptly met and exonerated the senior pastor…and fired the associate who had chosen character assassination as the weapon of warfare. The issue was finished, right? Wrong.
The rumor quickly spread. "Have you heard about so and so?" people asked. When his name came up in conversation people whispered, "This was the man who…" others commented, "They said he didn't do it, but I'm not sure. I never liked that guy." The deadly damage had irretrievably been done. Character assassination was what some called it, but in reality, it was a pack of lies. In spite of the man's innocence, his ministry was hurt so badly by the rumor and malicious charges that he quietly resigned and accepted an appointment to a church in another city.
When someone says, "Have you heard about so and so?" I have made it a practice to ask, "Do you know this for a fact or is this something you have just heard?" Usually, it is the latter, and then I add, "When you are uncertain of what you are saying, you are merely passing on a rumor or gossip."
My daughter Bonnie says, "Christians don't gossip; they just share prayer requests." Right! The spirit of love asks three tough questions before it passes on issues involving character: 1. Is it needful? 2. Is it kind? 3. Is it true?
Yes, I know that checking what we say, even when sadly enough it is true, isn't done very often, but then again what Paul urged us to do isn't very widely practiced today either.
May God help us to learn to rejoice in truth and be saddened when someone stumbles and falls. May God also grant that those who are unsteady never stumble and fall because our feet were in the way.
Resource Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/why-are-we-quick-to-believe-a-lie/
Saturday, October 3, 2020
Studio 23 Sked
WEEKDAYS (Metro Manila)
- 5 am – Breakfast
- 7 am – Chuggington (Tagalog dub)
- 7:30 am – Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (Tagalog dub)
- 8 am – Dora the Explorer (Tagalog dub)
- 8:30 am – Go Diego Go (Tagalog dub)
- 9 am – Mr. Bean: The Animated series (Tagalog dub)
- 9:30 am – Bananas in Pajamas (Tagalog dub)
- 10 am – Spongebob Squarepants (Tagalog dub)
- 10:30 am – Postman Pat (Tagalog dub)
- 11 am – My Girl (original) (Tagalog dub)
- 11:30 am – White Tower Taiwan (Tagalog dub)
- 12 nn – LBO: Lunch Box Office (Filipino Movies)
- 2 pm –
- Mon, Wed, Fri: 5 & Up (Local) (Rerun from ABC-5 and GMA Network)
- Tue & Thu: Family Rosary Crusade (Local) (Rerun)
- 3 pm –
- Mon-Wed: Business & Leisure (Local) (Rerun)
- Thu & Fri: Motoring Today (Local) (Rerun)
- 4 pm – Samurai X (Tagalog dub)
- 4:30 pm – Naruto: Shippuden (Tagalog dub)
- 5 pm – InuYasha (Tagalog dub)
- 5:30 pm – Blood Plus (Tagalog dub)
- 6 pm – Sports Round-up with Boom Gonzales (Local)
- 6:30 pm –
- Mon: Fantastic Four (World TV Series) (Tagalog dub)
- Tue: Kiba (Tagalog dub)
- Wed: Gun X Sword (Tagalog dub)
- Thu: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Fast Forward (Tagalog dub)
- Fri: Power Rangers: Megafore (Tagalog dub)
- 7 pm –
- Mon: Legend of the Seeker (Tagalog dub)
- Tue: Barkada Nights (Blockbuster movies with Tagalog dub) (until 9 pm)
- Wed: Smallville (Tagalog dub)
- Thu: Entertainment Today (until 9 pm)
- Fri: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (Tagalog dub)
- 8 pm –
- Mon: House (Tagalog dub)
- Wed: Kyle XY (Tagalog dub)
- Fri: Scandal (Tagalog dub)
- 9 pm – News Central (Local) (Late-night english news Program)
- 9:30 pm –
- Mon: Private Practice (Tagalog dub)
- Tue: 90210 (Tagalog dub)
- Wed: Studio 23 Presents (Blockbuster movies with Tagalog dub) (until 11:30 pm)
- Thu: Ghost Whisperer (Tagalog dub)
- Fri: N.C.I.S.: L.A. (Tagalog dub)
- 10:30 pm –
- Mon: Rated K (rerun from ABS-CBN)
- Tue: Matanglawin (rerun from ABS-CBN)
- Thu: S.O.C.O.: Scene of the Crime Overtives (rerun from ABS-CBN)
- Fri: Mukha (rerun from ANC)
- 11:30 pm to 12 mn – Sports Round-up with Boom Gonzales (Local) (Replay)
WEEKENDS (Metro Manila)
SATURDAY
- 5 am – Breakfast
- 7 am – Living it up (Local) (Rerun)
- 8 am – Philippine Explorer (Local) (Rerun)
- 8:30 am – Eskwelahan ni Ryan Bang (Local) (Rerun)
- 9 am – Gusto ko Maging Beauty Queen (Local) (Rerun)
- 10 am – Sagupaan TV (Local) (Rerun)
- 10:30 am – Hardcore Brothers Easy Ride (Local) (Rerun)
- 11 am – Motocross TV (Local) (Rerun)
- 11:30 am – Gen RX (Local) (Rerun)
- 12 nn – LBO: Lunch Box Office (Filipino Movies)
- 2 pm – J League Highlights (Tagalog dub)
- 2:30 pm – Reel Deal (Tagalog dub)
- 3 pm – Ultimate Insider
- 3:30 pm – Yamaha (Local) (Rerun)
- 4 pm – Bakbakan na (Local)
- 5 pm – Tukaan (Local)
- 6 pm – OK Fine Whatever (Local) (Rerun from ABS-CBN)
- 7 pm – Takliya Busters (Filipino movies)
- 9 pm – News Central (Local) (Late-night English news Program)
- 9:30 pm – Mission Possible (Local) (Rerun from ABS-CBN)
- 10 pm – Gag U (Local) (Rerun)
- 11 pm – My Puhunan (Local) (Rerun from ABS-CBN)
- 11:30 to 12 mn – The Ultimate Fighter (Back-to-back episode)
SUNDAY
- 6 am – Breakfast
- 7 am – The Word Exposed
- 8 am – Family Rosary Crusade
- 9 am – TV Healing Mass for the Homebound
- 10 am – Weekend Gateway (Local) (Rerun from GMA News TV)
- 11 am – Usapang Sining at Kultura
- 11:30 am – Overdrive Philippines
- 12 nn – LBO: Lunch Box Office (Filipino Movies)
- 2 pm – This is Life with Cory Quirino (Local) (Rerun)
- 2:30 pm – The World of Gandang Ricky Reyes (Local) (Rerun from GMA News TV)
- 3:30 pm – Alamin Natin 'to!
- 4 pm – Sunday Asian Showdown (Blockbuster movies with Tagalog dub)
- 6 pm – Y Speak (Local) (Rerun)
- 7 pm – World’s Wildest Police Videos (Tagalog dub)
- 8 pm – Harper’s Island (Tagalog dub)
- 9 pm – News Central (Local) (Late-night English news Program)
- 9:30 pm – Linggong Takutan (Filipino movie)
- 11:30 pm to 12 mn – Sports U (Rerun from ABS-CBN)
Galvez on NAP Phase 3: No more trade-offs in Covid-19 response
BAGUIO CITY – Government planners gathered here over the weekend to craft the third phase of the government’s national declared policy against Covid-19, which aims to sustain and build on the gains the country has achieved in its fight against the virus.
National Task Force against Covid-19 (NTF Covid-19) chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. led representatives of line agencies in identifying the challenges they encountered in the implementation of the first two phases of the National Action Plan (NAP) against Covid-19 and formulating recommendations to address them.
“In NAP Phase 3, we have to ensure the public’s health while reviving our nation’s economy. There will be no more trade-offs,” said Galvez, referring to some compromises the government had to make in the early stages of the NAP’s implementation.
NAP: An evolving document
“The pandemic is not linear -- it’s dynamic. The NAP is not a static document. It is a plan that must continue to evolve and be refined based on current realities on the ground,” he pointed out.
“We need to continue to recalibrate our efforts according to the needs of local government units, the private sector, and the general public. So, we have to find ways to be creative so that our policies are not stringent,” Galvez added.
During the NAP Phase 1’s implementation from March to June 2020, the government carried out strict community quarantine measures, which focused on the prevention and containment of the virus while mitigating its effects on the nation’s economy.
The nationwide lockdown enabled the government to strengthen the country’s healthcare system by scaling up the testing, contact tracing, quarantine, and treatment capacity of local government units throughout the country.
NAP Phase 2, on the other hand, remains anchored on the government prevent-detect-isolate-treat-reintegrate (PDITR) strategy and aims to create a balance between protecting the health of the people, while reviving the nation’s economy.
Galvez said the NAP Phase 3, which seeks to continue implementing the policies issued under the earlier two phases of the plan, will start from the last quarter of 2020 and will carry over until the first quarter of 2021.
Major blow to economy
According to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the prolonged community quarantine has dealt a severe blow to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and the economy in general.
NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon reported that for every week that the community quarantine was imposed in the National Capital Region (NCR), around 0.10 to 0.28 percentage points were being shaved off the nation’s potential annual GDP growth of 6.5 percent.
Currently, 54.9 percent of the country is under modified general community quarantine (MECQ), 44.9 percent under general community quarantine (GCQ), and 0.2 percent under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).
The stringent measures under ECQ during the first half of the year further led to the GDP’s contraction. While the gradual reopening of the economy has enabled business establishments to resume operations, Edillon said more can be done.
“From a consistently strong economic growth, GDP contracted by negative 9 percent in the first semester of 2020 due to the stringent quarantine measures. As quarantine restrictions were eased, the economic activities had improved gradually but more can be done,” she said.
This is where Recharge PH comes in. The task group that was created specifically to formulate action plans and facilitate the restarting of social and economic activities, while engaging all sectors of society in curbing the spread of the disease.
There are three sub-task groups under the Recharge PH: (1) Sub-Task Group Recovery which will engage business and workforce in the fight against Covid-19; (2) Sub-Task Group on Social Recovery which will focus on the improvement of the Filipinos’ capability to thrive under the new normal; and (3) Sub-Task Group Governance that will ensure a people-centered, clean, technology-abled, and responsive governance in addressing the pandemic.
Meanwhile, NTF on Covid-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon emphasized the need for the country to adapt to new technologies, specifically in the area of testing, as these will enable the government to further boost its Covid-19 response.
“Ang kailangan natin talaga bilisan ay yung pag-adopt ng new technologies in testing katulad ng antigen testing, saliva testing, and breath testing. Kapag walang RT-PCR, gamitin natin ang antigen (What we really need is to accelerate the way we adapt to new technologies in testing such as antigen testing, saliva testing, and breath testing. If there is no RT-PCR, we must use antigen), Dizon said.
Re-echoing NEDA Secretary General Karl Chua’s observation, Dizon said the country has the capability to respond and manage the epidemic, saying “In terms of the number of deaths on Covid-19, the response has been effective.”
The deputy chief implementer, however, said there is still a need to ramp up the nation’s Covid-19 prevention and mitigation measures as the government continues to open the economy.
"Kung di natin bubuksan ang ekonomiya, di tayo magnu-new normal, ‘yung mga naka blue na ‘yan na namamatay sa ibang bagay, mas lalo pang tataas (If we don’t open the economy, we will not have a new normal. Those indicated in blue who are dying of other [non-Covid] reasons will continue to rise),” Dizon said.
“Mahaba pa ‘yung laban pero kayang-kaya po natin. ‘Yun lang medyo mag wrap up tayo at bilis-bilsan lang po natin ng konti (We still have a long way to go but we can handle this one. We just need to wrap [our planning] and speed up [the plan’s implementation],” he said.
Improve critical care for Covid and non-Covid cases
Based on the Department of Health data as of September 30, the country has recorded 311,694 Covid-19 cases, 17 percent or 52,702 of which are active cases.
The DOH, however, noted that the utilization rate of hospital beds allocated for non-Covid 19 cases is relatively higher than those infected with the virus.
In the National Capital Region (NCR), for instance, the utilization rate of hospital beds for Covid-19 cases was placed at 52 percent, while the utilization rate for non-Covid cases was pegged at 56 percent.
Galvez urged members of the NTF to focus on increasing the bed capacity of health care facilities for Covid-19 and non-Covid 19 cases while pushing for the universalization of the country’s healthcare system.
“We need to use this pandemic to accelerate the universalization of our healthcare system. The ICUs remain the same because the non-Covid cases are always there,” he said.
Galvez also reiterated his reminder that home quarantine must be avoided at all costs, as this practice has become one of the major reasons for the spike in Covid-19 local transmissions nationwide.
“No home quarantine should be the rule rather than the exemption. There shall be very strict conditions that must be complied for home quarantine to be allowed,” he said.
Through the government’s Oplan Kalinga, the government has been able to facilitate the transfer of thousands of Covid-19 patients from their homes to temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMPs) throughout the country.
Through the TTMPs, patients receive the appropriate medical attention they need, while having a safe and secure place where they can recover.
Department of Public Works and Highways Visna Manion said the agency has so far completed 289 quarantine facilities and offsite dormitories with a total bed capacity of 9,080.
Manio said the DPWH targets to build 689 facilities with a total bed capacity of 24,179 in the coming months.
Moving forward
Meanwhile, National Incident Command-National Task Force Against Covid-19 Undersecretary Isidro Purisima said the NAP Phase 3 should be designed in such a way that it should be directly felt by ordinary people.
“The question we need to address is ‘yong impact ng ating NAP to the ordinary people. It should be people-centered, nationally-supported, and locally-led,” Purisima said.
“The mission of NAP Phase 3 is to sustain our gains from the previous NAP implementation, and focus our intervention both on the economic recovery and public health safety,” he added.
In closing, Galvez reminded the workshop participants to always keep in mind the main objectives of NAP Phase 3.
“For the third phase of the plan, we must continue to sustain the gains we have achieved in the previous phases. To do this, however, we must be able to identify gaps in the NAP’s implementation and find ways to address them,” he said.
“We cannot be complacent at this crucial time. Although there are very good signs that we are flattening the curve as what the up OCTA research center has reported last month, we cannot afford to let our guard down,” he added.
DepEd assures to help parents, teachers as classes starts
Barely two days before classes officially start on Monday, the Department of Education assures that it will help parents and students cope with the online blended mode of learning.
“May mga pagsasanay, trainings na ginagawa po ang ating Kagawaran ng Edukasyon para ang mga magulang pati po ang ating mga guro, of course, ay mahasa kung papaano po makakapagturo using technology (There are pieces of training the Department of Education conducts so that our parents, and even our teachers, will learn to use technology in teaching),” DepEd Undersecretary Tonisito Umali said in an interview at the Laging Handa public briefing aired over state-run PTV4 on Saturday.
Umali also urged parents to be positive and look at the new normal in the system of education as challenges instead of problems.
He said the training is designed to be able to impart quality education to learners.
Umali said parents need not learn and teach the topics or the subjects to their children but added though that if parents can do that, then it will be better, especially for those whose children are in the early grade levels.
If in case the parents are not capable of doing that, they can at least be an effective learning facilitator.
“This means that they are being given the right knowledge – what to expect if they access the internet; how children can surf safely the internet; what are the dangers; what are the websites that may pose danger to their children; how to access different resources via the internet. Those are just examples of training we give to teachers and even to parents, and how to properly discipline and motivate children and encourage them to study,” Umali said in a mix of English and Filipino.
These things are not easy, said Umali, as the country's system of education was designed for face to face interaction between teachers and learners. This is the first time that the education sector is shifting to a different modality, the online learning, and the radio and TV-based instructions.
Umali added that the DepEd is doing a “continuous training making sure that we are coming up with a quality, well-vetted self-learning modules, providing our learners, our parents, our teachers access to these resources through our DepEd commons”.
Distribution of modules
To date, Umali said the distribution of self-learning modules remains a challenge as some parents failed to get them from the schools.
Despite this, he said the DepEd is trying to complete everything before Monday.
“Ngayon hanggang bukas ay talagang kumikilos na po ang inyong Kagawaran kasama po ang ating mga partners sa pamahalaan local buong Pilipinas, kumikilos po iyan na para po masiguro na makarating po itong mga self-learning modules na ito (Today until tomorrow, the DepEd does what it can in partnership with the different local government to make sure that students receive these self-learning modules)," he said.
He said the department is willing to deliver the modules house to house.
In terms of connectivity, Umali said the department will be able to have an appreciation of its status as days pass by, adding that the department will be very flexible on this.
He said the DepEd will never get tired of explaining and reaching out to parents and teachers in order to overcome all the challenges under the new normal.
The 4 Tests Of Real Love
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
When the cartoonist Charles Schulz dined in the home of a friend, the host remarked that he had just what Schulz needed to set off his dinner jacket. He disappeared and then returned in a few minutes with a heavy chain from which a medallion hung. Across the face of the medallion were the letters L O V E. Schulz fingered it for a few minutes and then handed it back to the host. With a wry "Charlie Brown" smile on his face, he said, "It's just a little too much for me. Do you have one that says, L I K E?"
In his honesty, Schulz pointed out an important truth. No matter how necessary it is, love is not easy. When Paul wrote about love, nearly 2,000 years ago, he gave us four marks, four characteristics of the real thing.
First, says Paul, "Love is patient.” The patience of love which helps a person wait before marriage also helps him even more after marriage. It helps you put up with the idiosyncrasies of your mate. It is the patience of love which persists when your husband leaves his clothes on the bathroom floor, or your wife leaves the cap off with the toothpaste dribbling out on the sink top.
Paul says that the second test of real love is kindness. Kindness is not weakness, softness, or inaction as some think of it. Rather it is the strength of keeping your mouth shut when you feel like saying what someone else already knows, the strength of character which lets you meet harshness with kindness. Tough stuff, this quality of love which Paul described.
The prominent psychiatrist Karl Menninger was featured in an article entitled, "Love Working Miracles for Mentally Ill in Kansas." Dr. Menninger contended that love is one of the most effective cures in healing mental illness. When reporters asked Menninger how it was that 80% of his patients recovered, he replied, "The secret is not in electro-shock, surgery, group-therapy, drugs, or any of the conventional treatments of mental disorder. These play a part, but the real secret is contained in a single word: Love!"
Then Paul mentions another test of real love when he says, "Love is not jealous...." Solomon was a man who knew something of jealousy. The record says that he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, and he said, "Jealousy is as cruel as the grave" (Song of Solomon. 8:6). That green-eyed monster of jealousy can destroy the warmth of a home as a person constantly questions motives and thoughts. Realize that jealousy is an enemy of real love.
"Love does not brag and is not arrogant." Did you ever hear anyone say, "He is a self-made man and he worships his creator"? That is the way an arrogant person is sometimes described.
Real love knows nothing of selfishness--it constantly puts the welfare of others above the welfare of oneself. This is one of the evident proofs that much of what is called love today really lacks the ring of genuineness.
The kind of love described by Paul puts aside selfish motives and personal gratification in the interest of the one who is loved. This quality of love was described by Jesus when He said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).
The fourth test of love is how you behave towards others. "Love does not act unbecomingly" says Paul. I paraphrase it like this: "Love does not make a fool out of anyone. You’ll find these challenging words in 1 Corinthians 13 of your New Testament. Read these and measure your love life against Paul’s words today.
Resource reading: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/the-4-tests-of-real-love/
Friday, October 2, 2020
Countries and territories of the world
- Metro Manila
- Caloocan City
- Las Piñas City
- Makati City
- Malabon City
- Mandaluyong City
- Manila
- Marikina City
- Muntinlupa City
- Navotas City
- Parañaque City
- Pasay City
- Pasig City
- Pateros
- Quezon City
- San Juan City
- Taguig City
- Valenzuela City
- Ilocos Region
- Dagupan City
- Ilocos Norte
- Ilocos Sur
- La Union
- Pangasinan
- Cordillera Administrative Region
- Abra
- Apayao
- Baguio City
- Benguet
- Ifugao
- Kalinga
- Mountain Province
- Cagayan Valley
- Batanes
- Cagayan
- Isabela
- Nueva Vizcaya
- Quirino
- Santiago City
- Central Luzon
- Angeles City
- Aurora
- Bataan
- Bulacan
- Malolos City
- Nueva Ecija
- Olongapo
- Pampanga
- San Fernando City
- San Jose del Monte City
- Tarlac
- Zambales
- Calabarzon
- Antipolo City
- Bacoor City
- Batangas City
- Batangas
- Biñan City
- Cabuyao City
- Calamba City
- Cavite
- Dasmariñas City
- General Trias City
- Imus City
- Laguna
- Lipa City
- Lucena City
- Quezon
- Rizal
- San Pablo City
- San Pedro City
- Santa Rosa City
- Mimaropa
- Marinduque
- Occidental Mindoro
- Oriental Mindoro
- Palawan del Norte
- Palawan del Sur
- Palawan Oriental
- Puerto Princesa City
- Romblon
- Bicol Region
- Albay
- Camarines Norte
- Camarines Sur
- Catanduanes
- Masbate
- Naga City
- Sorsogon
- Western Visayas
- Aklan
- Antique
- Bacolod City
- Capiz
- Guimaras
- Iloilo City
- Iloilo
- Negros Occidental
- Central Visayas
- Bohol
- Cebu City
- Cebu
- Lapu-Lapu City
- Mandaue City
- Negros Oriental
- Siquijor
- Eastern Visayas
- Biliran
- Eastern Samar
- Leyte
- Northern Samar
- Northwestern Samar
- Ormoc City
- Southern Leyte
- Samar
- Tacloban City
- Western Leyte
- Zamboanga Peninsula
- Isabela City
- Zamboanga City
- Zamboanga del Norte
- Zamboanga del Sur
- Zamboanga Hermosa
- Zamboanga Sibugay
- Northern Mindanao
- Bukidnon
- Cagayan de Oro City
- Camiguin
- Misamis Occidental
- Misamis Oriental
- Iligan City
- Lanao del Norte
- Davao Region
- Davao City
- Davao de Oro
- Davao del Norte
- Davao del Sur
- Davao Occidental
- Davao Oriental
- Soccsksargen
- Cotabato
- General Santos City
- Sarangani
- South Cotabato
- Sultan Kudarat
- Caraga
- Agusan del Norte
- Agusan del Sur
- Butuan City
- Dinagat Islands
- Surigao del Norte
- Surigao del Sur
- Bangsamoro
- 63 barangays in Bangsamoro
- Basilan
- Cotabato City
- Lanao del Sur
- Maguindanao
- Shariff Kabunsuan
- Sulu
- Tawi-Tawi
Worldwide
- Abkhazia
- Afghanistan
- Akrotiri and Dhekelia
- Åland Islands
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Aruba
- Azerbaijan
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bermuda
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Bonaire
- Brazil
- British Indian Ocean Territory
- British Virgin Islands
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Cambodia
- Canada
- Cayman Islands
- Chile
- China
- Christmas Island
- Clipperton Island
- Cocos Islands
- Colombia
- Cook Islands
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Cuba
- Curaçao
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Estonia
- Federal Dependencies of Venezuela
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Finland
- French Guiana
- French Polynesia
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Greenland
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guam
- Guatemala
- Guernsey
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Isle of Man
- Israel
- Italy
- Ivory Coast
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Jersey
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kiribati
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macau
- Macedonia
- Madagascar
- Madeira
- Malawi
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mali
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Martinique
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mayotte
- Melilla
- Mexico
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Montserrat
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Myanmar
- Nagorno-Karabakh
- Namibia
- Nauru
- Navassa Island
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Niue
- Norfolk Island
- North Korea
- Northern Cyprus
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Norway
- Nueva Esparta
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Palestine
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Puerto Rico
- Qatar
- Réunion
- Romania
- Russia
- Rwanda
- Saba
- Saint Barthélemy
- Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Martin
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- San Andrés and Providencia
- San Marino
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Singapore
- Sint Eustatius
- Sint Maarten
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- Somalia
- Somaliland
- South Korea
- South Ossetia
- South Sudan
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Suriname
- Syria
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Timor-Leste
- Togo
- Tonga
- Transnistria
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- United States Virgin Islands
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Vanuatu
- Vatican City
- Venezuela
- Yemen
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
You Are Nothing Without This
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13.
One of the greatest orators of all times was Sir Winston Churchill, and who would deny the power of his words during Britain's darkest hours? Yet, says 1 Corinthians 13 from the New Testament, the greatest orator in the world is nothing apart from love. That is why it is so necessary to translate love into the kitchen where you face dirty dishes, and into the laboratory where you rub shoulders with unlovable men and women, and into the classroom where you must learn to love those who disagree with you and actually dislike you.
Writing to the Corinthians Paul said, "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." Stop! The Corinthians were intrigued by supernatural gifts, and rightly so. Paul mentions four: prophecy, the ability to foretell the future; understanding spiritual mysteries; knowledge, and faith.
Paul says though you may be a brilliant scientist who unravels the secrets of the universe but have no love in your life, you are nothing. Though you may be a person of great spiritual prominence, though you can believe God for great works and see them brought into existence and still are loveless, you are nothing.
The word Paul used means "worthless, meaningless, of no value whatsoever." Now was Paul being theatrical? Or did he mean what he wrote? Think of it like this. If you have a very tiny amount of something, you can measure it, you can subtract from it or add to it, but when Paul said, "You are nothing!" that means you do not even rate the dust of the ground.
So that we might know the real from the counterfeit, the apostle Paul took pen in hand and described the power of love in a secular world. Then wrote Paul, "If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."
John Huss was the greatly loved pastor of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague. For 17 years he pastored the most sophisticated church in the city. People waited for hours to hear the Gospel and it revolutionized the city. But when he attacked the corruption of the aristocratic landowners and the abuses of the church, he made enemies. He preached in his native Bohemian tongue and the masses loved him. The message of Huss was "Every saint is a priest, but every priest is not a saint." When I visited the Cathedral in Constance in Switzerland, in broken communication I asked one of the attendants to point out the spot where John Huss stood when he was finally condemned to his death for preaching to the masses. It was sobering to stand in that place and realize that Huss was a man who was willing to die for his convictions. Huss gave his body to be burned rather than recant what he had said and done. As the flames licked at his body, Huss said, "I have said the truth according to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so I'll choose to die--and gladly."
Have you the convictions of a John Huss? If you have, and still have no love in your life, Paul says you are still nothing! Paul's words have a way of getting under your skin, of making you look yourself straight in the eye and realize that no matter what great charitable causes you support, even to the extent of giving away everything you have, or giving your body to be burned at the stake--without love, you are nothing. And that is pretty insignificant.
Resource reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/you-are-nothing-without-this/
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Devotees told to brace for 'different' 2021 grand massive miracle crusade
Devotees must prepare for a different way of celebrating the feast next year even as preparations for it are underway, a Quiapo Church official said on Thursday.
“At present, we priests are talking on what we shall propose and we in the procession committee are also holding meetings on what shall we ask the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) on following the protocol. But we are also set on the possibility of holding the Luneta event, as well as the other things that we usually do during the event,” said Fr. Douglas Badong, parochial vicar of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, in a radio interview.
Badong is hoping that devotees will be open to the changes in the January 16-18, 2021 celebration, amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic
“There will be big changes in January 16-18. We are hoping that devotees are open to these changes. It will only happen during this pandemic and we need their cooperation to be able to still celebrate the feast of the Santo Nino,” he said.
He added that they already sent letters to Manila City Hall and IATF as part of their preparations for the religious event early next year.
“We really need to practice or at least the people will get used to, on what we want to implement, physical distancing while they go to church,” he added.
The possibility of doing away with the traditional activities for the annual observance looms due to the health crisis. This includes the traslacion or the procession from the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta to the Quiapo Church which is the highlight of the feast.
Among the religious activities being held at Luneta venue are the vigil with the Pope and a midnight Mass.
The procession of Black Nazarene replicas is also being held around the vicinity of the minor basilica days before the feast.
Under quarantine guidelines, religious activities are allowed at 10 percent capacity in areas under general community quarantine and 50 percent capacity under modified GCQ.
Various activities that are part of religious festivities in the country have since been called off to prevent further spread of Covid-19.
As we begin the second ‘ber’ month today
Today is the start of the last quarter of the year. Government economists and business managers generally expect improved figures in these final three months, making up for any losses in the middle of the year, so that the year-end figures stand out, reflecting progress in the national economy or in the business enterprise.
To most Filipinos, however, today is better known as the start of the second “ber” month. Filipinos cherish the Christmas season so much that they celebrate it longer than other people, starting in September when we start hearing “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit” on radio and other Filipino songs heralding the holiday season. Some streets in Metro Manila already have the traditional Christmas “parol.”
There is still one other important holiday before the spirit of the season takes hold – Undas, when Filipinos traditionally troop to cemeteries all over the land to light candles and say prayers at the graves of departed loved ones. That would be at the start of the third “ber” month – on November 1, All Saints’ Day.
This year, however, after Manila closed all its cemeteries from October 29 to November 4, other towns and cities have followed suit. The COVID-19 pandemic is still with us and it is best to avoid crowds. Thus people will have to carry on with the Undas tradition spread out in the two months of October and November, before or after the banned week.
This is indeed a holiday season like no other. Everything is muted. Many offices, restaurants, and factories remain closed or have partly opened, but only up to 50 percent of capacity, under the rules of the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) in Metro Manila. In any case, most people remain uncertain about going to public places like malls.
We were not able to observe Holy Week last March as we used to. Graduating students were not able to experience receiving their diplomas in April. The month of May passed without the usual fiestas and Santacruzans. Independence Day on June 12 came and went with hardly anyone noticing. July, August, September used to be busy months for going around the country. And now, it is October and the pall of gloom that has hung over the country for the last seven months continues.
But, as the saying goes, hope springs eternal in the human breast. And so we look forward to these coming days of October, November, and December. We hope to see soon the giant Christmas trees in front of malls and hear the music of Christmas in churches, schools, and music halls. Our hopes remain that the pandemic will soon run its course, that when the first day of the fourth “ber” month – December – comes, we will all feel free to step out of our homes and feel the wonder of Christmas after all these months.
https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/30/as-we-begin-the-second-ber-month-today/
Here Is What Is Better Than Believing In Yourself
I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there" and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20- 21
What keeps the world running? Is it the Internet, markets or governments that print money as needed? It's definitely not politicians! No, the reality is that these all threaten to bring the world to its knees. In one word, it is faith! You have faith that another nation will keep its alliances and treaties, faith in your coworkers and faith in your husband or wife that he or she will live up to the promises you made to each other.
Faith is not wishful thinking or hoping. It is simply taking someone, anyone, at his word and then acting on it. Some have suggested that there are many kinds of faith, but when you stop and think about it, there's only one kind of faith: the kind that makes you trust something enough to act on it.
Faith operates on many levels. You have faith in your car—that it will start when you turn the key or push a button and take you where you want. You have faith in the financial system when you swipe your credit card at the market. When you sit down at the end of the day, you have faith that your favorite video service will stream a show of your choice your way.
When it comes to the spiritual realm, it takes the same kind of faith to live day by day, not a different kind. Faith in the realm of the spiritual is taking God at His Word, and then acting on it. It is accepting at face value what He tells you about yourself, about His love for you, about your relationships with people, and about your future destiny. Some people believe that they must have a huge amount of faith in God in order for Him to do anything for them. But, they know they do not have great faith. This isn't true, though. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20-21).
Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It is small, a fraction of the size of the little fingernail on the hand of a baby. It is not great faith you need half as much as small faith in a great God. A very tiny mustard seed grows into a plant so tall that it towers overhead. When we think of people of great faith, we often think of Abraham, David and Moses in the Old Testament; Peter and Paul in the New. But look carefully at their lives and you will discover that Moses was a murderer; David, an adulterer; Abraham, a deceiver. Paul was an accomplice to murder— the murder of Stephen, and Peter denied his Lord.
No, we have to realize that they were as human as you and I are. They sinned, but yet God used them. It was not that they had such great faith; it was that they discovered how great a God rules our world. Actually, they had small faith in a great God.
When you stop and think about it, faith is no better than the object of your faith. Put your faith in yourself, and you are in for a disappointment. Put your faith in others and you may be let down but put your faith in God and His promises and you will never be disappointed. God has the power to keep His Word; to meet your need; to answer your prayer. He promises the kind of peace that no psychiatrist can prescribe. He offers forgiveness and cleansing through our trust in Him.
Faith is your response to God's Word. It is acting like you believe what He said is true. What is the need that confronts you right now? Whatever it is, there is a solution. God can give you the guidance you need. Faith is your part. Leave the rest to Him.
Resource reading: Romans 10:14-17
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/here-is-what-is-better-than-believing-in-yourself/
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
How Overconfidence Can Hurt You
Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has the power over the day of his death... Ecclesiastes 8:7-8
Overconfidence can be your most deadly enemy! So learned a young man who once stood guard on the walls of ancient Pergamos when an enemy force laid siege to the city. What you don't know is that the wall of the ancient city was almost impregnable. I use the word almost because nothing is absolutely impenetrable.
For months enemy forces laid siege to the city and gave it their best hits, but they could neither scale the wall nor tunnel through it. They watched and waited. Standing duty, however, was a young soldier who dropped his expensive helmet over the side. He looked carefully assuming that no one was watching. Then he slipped over the side of the wall, retrieved his helmet, and finished his watch.
An enemy soldier, however, saw the lad as he used the secret handholds and made his way down the face of the wall to get his helmet. It was the break-through the enemy had been hoping for. Excitedly he told his officers what he had seen, and then under the darkness of night, the enemy force came up the wall, surprised the guards, and overthrew the city.
"But I didn't think anyone was watching," you may think. That's what Prince Charles once told the press when his picture, taken in the buff as he changed out of his swimsuit, appeared on the front page of newspapers.
The only way you can be absolutely certain that nobody is watching is to do nothing that you wouldn't want the enemy to see. Overconfidence--whether it is in business, in warfare, in love, or in your spiritual life--is the prelude to disaster.
Can we learn from the disasters and failures of others? Apparently, Paul thought we could. When he wrote to the Corinthians, he made a point of describing Israel's failure. Then he said, "Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did" (1 Corinthians 10:6). He continued this line of thinking, saying, "These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall. No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Corinthians 10:11-13).
That's good news, friend! I not only can learn from the mistakes of others; I can also find God's strength to overcome my human weakness. Did you catch that phrase, "God is faithful"? And what does that mean in relationship to your life?
Nothing is more dangerous than presumption. Nothing is more fatal than to assume you can handle anything, that you are impervious to the forces which cause others to collapse, that you are strong enough you need no help.
The most successful men and women are always those who have learned their own weaknesses and have been able to lean upon others who had strengths they did not possess. But most important of all, they learned to lean upon the strong arm of the Almighty, who knows neither weariness nor difficulty.
"I can't do it, but God can!" Have you come to understand that great truth? Read the Psalms and notice the phrases, "The Lord is my strength" and "The Lord is my helper" or "My high tower or fortress."
He is strongest who most understands how weak he really is and knows where his strength really comes from. Think about it.
Resource reading: Ecclesiastes 8:1-8
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/how-overconfidence-can-hurt-you/
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Velasco to replace Cayetano as House Speaker on October 14: source
Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco will take over as Speaker of the House of Representatives on Oct. 14, according to a source from the Velasco camp.
Velasco and incumbent House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano met with President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday night to put an end on the Speakership issue.
Under an earlier term-sharing agreement for the speakership last year, Cayetano leads the House for the first 15 months of the 18th Congress, while Velasco will assume leadership for the last 21 months.
That term sharing agreement was brokered by Duterte.
The son of retired Supreme Court Associate Justice and now Marinduque Gov. Presbitero Velasco, Lord Allan served as provincial administrator before becoming a lawmaker. His mother and sister also were legislators in previous congresses. He has close ties to San Miguel Corporation CEO Ramon Ang who served as mentor to the baptism of his youngest daughter.
The President's son, Davao City Rep. Paolo Duterte, earlier denied he would call for a change in House leadership as congressmen approached him over their district's allocations under next year's national spending plan.
In a budget hearing earlier this month, Negros Oriental 3rd District Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. confronted officials of the Department of Public Works and Highways about rumors he heard that Taguig City and Camarines Sur (CamSur) were getting the largest slice of their budget pie for next year.
The two districts of Taguig are ran by House Speaker Alan Peter Cayatano and his wife Lani, while one of CamSur's districts is represented by LRay Villafuerte, a close ally of Cayetano. Villafurte's son, Migz, is also governor of CamSur.
Villafuerte called Teves a "rumormonger" for raising concerns based on "hearsay" and linked his accusation with an alleged plot concerning the House Speakership, adding that he saw nothing wrong if his and Cayetano's districts get a larger infrastructure budget.
ACT-CIS Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap, the House budget panel chair, said he also saw nothing anomalous if Taguig would get allegedly over P11 billion worth of projects from the DPWH.
In 2018, Duterte’s younger sister, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte was widely credited for the ouster of then Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and his replacement by former President and then Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The leadership change affected the enactment of the 2019 budget which was delayed by 4 months over lawmakers' wrangling. - with a report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News