Tuesday, December 1, 2020
God Gives Strength In The Broken Places
To all who mourn in Israel he will give: Beauty for ashes; Joy instead of mourning; Praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory. Isaiah 61:3, Living Bible
Ernest Hemingway, wrote, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”[1] In this, Hemmingway was right. Ours is an imperfect, broken world. You discover your spouse has been unfaithful to you for years. A doctor breaks the news that you have inoperable cancer and will lose your leg. Your son is arrested for drunk driving. Or, the promotion that you deserved went to someone less qualified.
Everyone is broken eventually, but only some mend stronger because of it. “Out of the presses of pain” wrote A. B. Simpson, “Come the soul’s best wine.”[2] When the remarkable Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, became disabled from a fall, she spent the next 20 years of her life confined to bed. Instead of crying out in anger, she ran to Jesus for strength and comfort. Those years which she spent immobile were some of her best as she wrote, counseled the unending stream of people who came to her, and prayed for India and the world. “Some get strong in the broken places,” said Hemingway.
When prolonged sickness slowly took the life of her husband, Lettie Burd Cowman wrote a daily devotional based on her hardships and experiences of fellowship with God during this painful time. Her little book, Streams in the Desert, was so loved by Chang Kai Shek, the Chinese leader, that both this book and the Bible were placed in his casket at his death. Yes, some get strong in the broken places.
Sometimes God allows the breaking which eventually produces something of great value, having been in the fire, having sustained the blows of life, having grown strong in the broken places, as Hemingway put it.
Joni Eareckson Tada was just 17 years old when a diving accident left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. She went on to become a spokesperson on disability and founded Joni and Friends, a global ministry to the disabled community. “My wheelchair was the key to seeing all this happen—especially since God’s power always shows up best in weakness. So here I sit … glad that I have not been healed on the outside, but glad that I have been healed on the inside. Healed from my own self-centered wants and wishes,”[3] she wrote. Joni is strong even in the places that remain broken until heaven.
Who said that life is fair or just? When Hemingway felt devastated by the world’s breaking, as he termed it, he ended his life in suicide. When Lettie Burd Cowman, Amy Carmichael and Joni Eareckson Tada felt the crushing, unexpected blows of life, they turned to God and found solace and strength. To those who suffer, God promised “Beauty for ashes; Joy instead of mourning; Praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory” (Isaiah 61:3, Living Bible).
You can be certain of one thing. Nothing that happens to you as God’s child can happen apart from His knowledge and His will, and nothing which life throws at you can carry you beyond His grace and care. God doesn’t fix everything in the here and now, but He gives grace for everything, and that makes the difference which produces strength in the broken place.
In the Book of Genesis, when Jacob ran for his life from his angry brother, Esau, Jacob turned to the Lord. His encounter was characterized by physically wrestling with the Angel of the Lord. From that point on, he walked with a limp—the sign of his broken body and spirit, but God gave him a new name, Israel, and used him to give birth to a nation (Genesis 32).
Never forget that following the brokenness of an imperfect world, God gives strength in the broken place.
Resource reading: 2 Corinthians 4:1-18
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/god-gives-strength-in-the-broken-places/
Plebisito sa paghahati ng Palawan, planong gawin sa Marso 13, 2021
PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan, Dis. 1 (PIA) -- Ipinapanukala ngayon ng Commission on Election (COMELEC) provincial office na sa Marso 13, 2021 isagawa ang plebisito para sa paghahati ng Palawan sa tatlong probinsiya.
Gayunpaman, ayon kay Shiela Guno, itinalagang lider ng plebiscite team kinakailangan pang aprubahan ito ng Comelec en banc, kung kaya dadaan pa sa proseso ang magiging pinal na petsa.
Aniya, nagpapatuloy pa sa kasalukuyan ang pagbuo ng opisyal na guidelines para sa gagawing plebisito, subalit patuloy rin ang kanilang pakikipag-ugnayan sa pamahalaang panlalawigan ng Palawan kaugnay sa mga ipatutupad na panuntunang pangkalusugan sakaling matuloy na ito.
Ang plebesito ay naunang naitakda nitong Mayo 2020 subalit hindi natuloy dahil sa pagkakaroon ng pandemya dulot ng coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Nitong Oktubre, inanunsiyo ng Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) Against COVID-19 na sa taong 2021 na magaganap ang plebisito.
Sinabi rin ni Guno na plano nilang idaos ng isang araw lamang ang botohan sa halip na dalawang araw na siyang pinahihintulutan ng IATF. (LBD/PIAMIMAROPA)
Ways to Receive Signals
Ways to Receive Signals of Digital Terrestrial Television
In general, TV households within the signal coverage area of the transmission stations mentioned above should be able to receive DTT broadcasting signals with the use of standalone full band antennas in reasonably good condition and DTT receivers (i.e. the set-top boxes or the integrated digital television). After performing the “auto searching” function, the DTT receiver will automatically tune to DTT channels and display the channel numbers.
For households within the signal coverage area who are receiving television broadcasting signals through in-building communal aerial broadcast distribution (CABD) systems, the CABD system owners and managers of the buildings concerned have to install an appropriate DTT channel receiving equipment in the system before these households can receive the TV broadcasting signals from UHF TV Channel 62.
Monday, November 30, 2020
The 5 Critical Questions You Need Answers To
When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!” Luke 15:17
When a youth lost his way and ended up having squandered the inheritance he had received from his father, he came to his senses and said, “I’m starving here; I’m going home to my father.” Jesus told the story. We call it the parable or the story of the lost son.
Frankly, nothing much really changes. There are thousands today who have lost their way, and when they hit the bottom they start asking, “How did I get here, anyway? And is there a way out of my distress?” They want to know if God is really there and how can they gain some purpose to life.
Frankly, if I were at that point in life, as perhaps you may be, there are some questions I would ask myself.
First, I would ask, “Who put the longing in my heart to know God?” The very thought tells me that I am not merely homo sapiens, an animal perhaps a bit more highly developed than most mammals, but a person. The Bible says I was created in the image of God. People from every culture which anthropologists have studied have believed in some kind of a god somewhere.
Question #2: I would ask, “Who created this beautiful world, anyway?” Anselm, an eleventh century Benedictine monk, argued strongly that one of the evidences for God–proof is too strong a word–is that the order and symmetry of our world demands a creator. A watch with its intricate mechanism bears witness that someone with intelligence put it together. Today even scientists who do not believe in God recognize the intelligent design of our world, a position that has a trail leading from it to the Creator Himself.
Question #3: I would ask myself, “Who gave me the intelligence and the emotions to reason, think, and love? The human body is an amazingly complex mechanism–the interface of the brain with your nervous system, the ability of your heart to sustain life, the composition of the blood which carries oxygen to your heart, and the complexity of your emotions which give vent to strong feelings and paint the landscape of life with vivid colors.
Question #4: The fourth question I would ask myself would be, “Is there an opposite to what I abhor in life?” Most people never ask the question involving opposites, yet it’s important to do so. Day is balanced by night; heat by cold, strength by weakness, and good by evil. While God often gets the blame for the evil, there has to be an opposite which accounts for the evil in our world.
Dr. C.E.M. Joad (1891-1953) headed the Department of Philosophy at Birbeck College, London. He was a psychologist, philosopher, and thinker. He was also an agnostic. Following the end of World War 2, Joad entered some of the concentration camps of Europe, and what he saw was abhorrent beyond description. He could not believe that anyone would treat his fellowman as the Nazis treated the Jews. He began thinking that this horrible evil which he saw in humankind had to have an opposite. He reasoned that there must be a God who stands in opposition to all that he saw, and he set out to find Him. He did, embracing Jesus Christ as God’s Son.
Finally, I would ask myself, “Who is this Jesus Christ?” John says that God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son to be the Savior of the world. I would want to know, “Was He God?” and if so, “Did He die for my sins and failure?”
The prodigal–the young man who had lost his way–came to his senses, and that’s what you, too, must do if you would find your way back home. God gave you a brain. Use it. Think! You’re the only one who can do an about face and start walking towards home.
Resource reading: Luke 15:11-31
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/the-5-critical-questions-you-need-answers-to/
Cotabato City formally joins Bangsamoro on Dec. 15
COTABATO CITY, Maguindanao, Philippines — This city will finally be turned over to the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) on Dec. 15, almost two years after the majority of its residents voted for inclusion in the autonomous region in a plebiscite, according to a BARMM official.
Naguib Sinarimbo, regional interior minister, said President Rodorigo Duterte had decided to follow what was agreed upon in Malacañang last year for a turnover despite an appeal from Cotabato Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi to postpone the event.
Cotabato, an independent city in Maguindanao province, used to belong to the Soccsksargen (Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato, South Cotabato, Sarangani and General Santos City) region.
Although it served as the seat of power of the defunct Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the city was not part of the ARMM until it ratified the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL), which created the BARMM.
According to the Commission on Elections, 36,682 people voted for the BOL, or Republic Act No. 11054, in the plebiscite on Jan. 21, 2019, indicating their desire for the city’s inclusion in the BARMM, while 24,994 voted against it.
Sayadi, who campaigned for “No,” questioned the results of the plebiscite.
Keeping promise
The President made the decision to set the date of turnover during the fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Relations Body on Friday, said Sinarimbo, who is also the BARMM spokesperson.
The body is the mechanism mandated to resolve issues on intergovernmental relations between the national government and the newly created Bangsamoro.
“We thank President Duterte for keeping with the spirit of the discussion last year in Malacañang to carry out the BOL mandate and transfer the supervision of Cotabato City to the BARMM,” Sinarimbo said.
During the Dec. 15 ceremony, the Department of the Interior and Local Government in the city would also be turned over to the Ministry of Interior and Local Government, which Sinarimbo heads. INQ
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1366199/cotabato-city-formally-joins-bangsamoro-on-dec-15
Palawan plebiscite tentatively set for March 13
Shiela Mae Guno, designated plebiscite team leader by the provincial poll body and current Araceli election officer, also said in a live podcast they are looking at holding a single-day voting instead of a 2-day exercise already allowed by the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF).
The provincial COMELEC office has proposed a March 13 date for the holding of plebiscite on the law dividing Palawan into three smaller provinces. While the date is still subject to approval by the Commission en banc, a local poll body official said they have begun preparations for the exercise.
Shiela Mae Guno, designated plebiscite team leader by the provincial poll body and current Araceli election officer, also said in a live podcast they are looking at holding a single-day voting instead of a 2-day exercise already allowed by the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF).
“Actually, we have a tentative date, but it requires the approval of the commission en banc, which is March 13, but it is not yet final,” Guno said.
“Last October 28, the commission en banc approved a single-day voting for the plebiscite,” she added.
Guno said there will be about 400 clustered voter precincts with 200 voters per clustered precincts. She did not further elaborate further details on the planned clustering. She added that official guidelines for the plebiscite are still in the planning and preparation stage.
“We have not yet talked about how the Palawan plebiscite will be conducted. We are just coordinating with the provincial government of Palawan with regards the health protocols to be imposed, the possible buying of COVID-19 supplies for workers, and of course the possible addition of the budgetary requirements of the conduct of the Palawan plebiscite,” she added.
Guno is part of a six-person team composed of Palawan election officers tasked to supply data needed to prepare for the upcoming Palawan plebiscite in 2021.
“The Commission created the technical working group for the Palawan plebiscite. It is composed of the directors of the different departments of the commission. Our regional director Atty. Gloria Ramos-Petallo, and our provincial elections supervisor Atty. Urbano Arlando, created the Palawan plebiscite team, which is composed of six election officers coming from the proposed provinces – Palawan del Norte, Palawan Oriental, and Palawan del Sur – to assist the technical working group in providing data for the upcoming Palawan plebiscite,” she explained in the podcast.
The plebiscite was formerly set to occur in May 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis. In October, it was announced by the national Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) that the plebiscite would be held in 2021.
The current administration has long pushed for the division of the province and has already been making moves to get local government officials to support the division. On Thursday, a Liga ng mga Barangay meeting was held at the Palawan Provincial Capitol where ex-officio Liga head and provincial board member Ferdinand Zaballa explained the possible benefits of dividing the province into three.
https://palawan-news.com/palawan-plebiscite-tentatively-set-for-march-13/
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Pacquiao welcomes probe on alleged breach of COVID-19 protocols in Batangas event
The camp of Senator Manny Pacquiao on Sunday said the lawmaker welcomes any possible investigation on alleged violations of COVID-19 health protocols in an event he attended in Batangas.
In a statement, Pacquiao's camp maintained that there were no violations committed during the event.
"We welcome any investigation related to claims that quarantine protocols were violated when we went to Batangas to distribute relief and early Christmas gifts for the people who have suffered so much during the Taal Volcano eruption and the series of typhoons that hit Luzon over the past two months. Before that, we have also distributed relief and financial aid for the fire victims in Bacoor and flood victims in Rizal province and in Marikina," it said.
"It should be clarified however that in all those events, we have tried so hard to ensure that social distancing and health safety protocols are strictly observed. Marshalls were assigned to ensure that all the requirements set by the National Task Force on Covid 19 are implemented. Physical arrangements for all these events were pre-inspected to ensure social distancing and people were checked for face masks and face shields," it added.
Roque on appearing at crowded event: ‘General compliance’ of COVID protocols was met
Pacquiao's camp also said the photos and videos of the event, which circulated online, do not reflect what happened on the ground.
Photos of Pacquiao distributing relief goods and gifts spread online, with netizens commenting that COVID-19 protocols and physical distancing seemed to have been violated.
SM Mall of Asia Redevelopment
"Ganito pala I-strip down yung original 2005/2006 structure. So hindi pala ito total rebuilt from scratch."
Saturday, November 28, 2020
Friday, November 27, 2020
Finding Gratitude After Loss
Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Luke 12:15
John Wesley was all of six years old when fire broke out in the frame house where he and his large family lived. It was one of the most vivid memories of his life. John was trapped on the second floor, unable to get out. He stood there at the window terrified, afraid to jump.
But a neighbor, standing on the shoulders of another man, was able to reach the little boy and pull him through the window just as the roof collapsed and fell, where, only moments before, John had been standing.
Telling of the event many years later, John Wesley wrote, "When they brought me to the house where my father was, he cried out, `Come neighbors, let us kneel down! Let us give thanks to God! He has given me all my eight children; let the house go, I am rich enough.'"
In 1709, the year this tragedy took place, there were no insurance policies guaranteeing the rebuilding of a house that had been engulfed in flames. Normally, a man's life savings went into his house, and it was passed down to one of the children as an inheritance. But the house was of no concern: "I am rich enough!" he said, thanking God that the lives of his children had been spared.
Years ago, a friend and I happened to notice smoke coming out the window of a small house nearby. We ran to see if we could help, but by the time we arrived, it was too late. An oil heater had exploded, sending flames throughout the tiny little house.
Outside stood a mother, a father, and a little girl about seven years of age. The mother was crying; the dad wringing his hands as he cried out, "My God, all is lost; everything we own." Reaching for the hand of her father, the little girl said, "All's not lost, Daddy; you've got Mommy and me!"
Far too often we focus on the ashes, the failures, the broken dreams, what happened which didn't go according to the script, and we wring our hands. What really counts? The rebuilding of a house, or saving a family?
Our problem, simply put, is that we have put so much value on possessions that we have lost sight of the value of relationships--family, friends and neighbors.
We need to learn the lesson Jesus impressed on His disciples when he said, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15).
What is needed today is a clear vision, separating what is really important from the clutter and baggage that fills our lives and our schedules--things that don't really matter when it comes to the true currency of life and living.
Many people throughout the world celebrated yesterday as Thanksgiving Day, but today, the day after, it is business as usual. How do you develop an attitude of gratitude--the kind that affects your outlook on life the day after Thanksgiving, or the day after a fire?
Strive to get the perspective of eternity! Separate the wheat from the chaff! Learn to know the difference between what people think is important--the house, the car, the luxury vacation--from what really is important.
Learn to be grateful for the moment--the cup of coffee with your mate or best friend, the beauty of the morning, the quiet evening with your family, the smell of the dew and the fragrance of a rose. For these, be thankful! There is gratitude beyond the fire of disappointment. Think about it.
Resource reading: Acts 16:19-28
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/finding-gratitude-after-loss/
CV census almost done –PSA-7
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Statistics Authority in Central Visayas (PSA-7) revealed that they have already covered 99.73 percent of their ongoing Census of Population and Housing which started in September 2020.
Engr. Ariel Florendo, regional director of PSA-7, said that in Central Visayas, Cebu City and Lapu-Lapu City are the remaining areas where census activity is still ongoing.
Florendo explained that knowing the country’s population is important so that the government can strategize and line their policy makings, and implementation of programs, projects, and services.
“So when it comes to planning, down to the barangays and municipalities, there’s no other data but the Census. So very important gyud that’s why we have some businesses nga matukod because of the data, we have policy-making, programs, projects from the LGUs and the government because of the data gathered in the Census,” Florendo explained.
Florendo also admitted that they have experienced difficulties in gathering data especially in condominiums, and exclusive subdivisions, because of the intensified security protocols in these areas due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We will ask the public, kung kinsa tong wala pa ma-enumerate, count, or wala pa ma-census, to please visit or call us,” he added.
He added that the agency is targeting to complete the census on April 2021, wherein the president is expected to make a declaration of the country’s population./rcg
https://cebudailynews.inquirer.net/352635/cv-census-almost-done-psa-7
Thursday, November 26, 2020
3 Things Everyone Can Be Thankful For
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34
"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus," wrote a man who had known more than his fair share of difficulties. His name? We know him as Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ. In one sentence Paul gives us the key to unlocking the door to a relationship of blessedness and gratitude. He is saying in simple terms that thanksgiving is not a holiday to be celebrated but an attitude of your heart to be daily observed because no matter how difficult the circumstances of your life—whether you are in a hospital bed or enjoying health, wealth, and happiness—God is in control.
Thanksgiving didn't begin with American pilgrims in 1621 when Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and feasting, remembering that God had turned drought to rain that brought a simple harvest. Some 1400 years before, Paul instructed the Thessalonians to be thankful. Jews were instructed to celebrate deliverance from Egypt—a custom still observed in the Feast of the Tabernacle or Sukkot. When the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, Nehemiah instructed the people to stop working and celebrate a season of thanksgiving.
In 1680 the Massachusetts Bay Colony recognized a Day of Thanksgiving, making it official. By 1858, 25 states and two U.S. territories officially recognized a day of thanksgiving, and, since 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November to be Thanksgiving Day, subsequent American Presidents have followed the same pattern.
No matter where you live on planet Earth, every day should be a day of thanksgiving. For what should you be thankful? Don't limit your gratitude to my list, but may I mention some of the things for which I give thanks.
First, I give thanks for the assurance that I am God's child, that He has forgiven me and brought me into the Kingdom of His dear Son—not because I deserved it but because of the Father's great love for me.
Then I am thankful for my family and friends. I must tell you that God has so graciously touched my life with His favor. Yes, I'm thankful not only for His grace that meets me at the point of my weakness, but, honestly, I'm thankful as well for what hasn't happened.
I also thank God for the bumps in the road, challenges that bring me face to face with my weakness and cause me to cry out for God's help and provision that comes in such a way, I know He has provided—as opposed to something just happening. I'm convinced that what He has withheld, I haven't needed, and what He has given me is a stewardship to be used wisely for His work.
I'm thankful that in a world of turmoil, our great God will allow nothing to happen that escapes His attention or ability to prevent. That's why Paul wrote, "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18, KJV).
And what of the future? It will arrive just one day at a time, and when tomorrow comes, God's Son will be there to take my hand and walk with me through the valley one step at a time. Yes, be thankful, friend. May the sin of ingratitude never be on the "unforgiven" list. Never!
Resource reading: Psalm 107:1-43
https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/3-things-everyone-can-be-thankful-for/