Toothpaste, Toothbrush and Cheeseburgers

2012 Here we Go!

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:46:00 +0000

25 days late but it's always better than nothing right? right. Anyway, this is just a post of what's to come. A new blog is up and coming and will probably do a blog regarding that on that blog. I'm trying to keep things up and opinionated here.

It's hard to leave this blog who's been running since 2004. I'll try to keep this going as my own personal blog.

Anyway, I'll just keep this short, and have this post up to say hi.

Up Next:
1. Blog Constructions
2. Legacy Games and Brotherly Bonding
3. Good old rants maybe?
4. The New Year Plan
5. Books books and books (an end of 2011 post)

What is your Shield?

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 01:31:00 +0000

Ned produced Robert's letter. "Lord Varys, be so kind as to show this to my lady of Lannister."

The eunuch carried the letter to Cersei. The queen glanced at the words. "Protector of the Realm," she read. "Is this meant to be your shield, my lord? A piece of paper?" She ripped the letter in half, ripped the halves in quarters, and let the pieces flutter to the floor.

-excerpt from A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin

Ned ended getting the bad side of the deal. He banked on the words that King Robert wrote before his death and thought that words on paper was enough to become the Lord Protector of the Realm. Unfortunately, Queen Cersei had a greater hold on the throne, she had Joffrey, the Kings son, and rightful heir to the throne.

Cersei's question to Ned before she ripped Robert's last requests was the very inspiration of this blog. Is this meant to be your shield, my lord?

Being a Christian, it has always been a question of mine if I really am one. There are countless times where I see myself down on the ground limping because of my sin compared to the times wherein I'm comfortable standing and banking on the righteous deeds that I have just done. Where could I base my Christianity? Where could I firmly hold my belief, even through the life I live, that I am indeed a Christian? Do I have that piece of paper that would say that yes, I am in good standing and, figuratively speaking, rightfully able to claim that place? Or do I have that same assurance, like Queen Cersei had, that no matter what happens, through blood and the hierarchy of their family that Joffrey, and not Ned would rule? What is my shield?

I want to share my thoughts from my journal regarding this matter. I want to share with you the thoughts that I've wrestled with and what I've thought to be my shield and my conclusion.

Shield: Good Deeds...

As a sinner, and a human filled with pride, I guess, we do have a tendency that would always make us want to help ourselves rather than seek help from others. What I'm getting at is, talking about the topic of salvation, we have that tendency to make sure that our salvation is from our own so that we could control it. For me, I want to have that assurance that even if I do what I want to do now, I'll have that fail safe deed that would buy my way into paradise.

Here's the problem though, that doesn't work. It's as weak as the appeal of Ned to grab the throne. It could easily be ripped apart in halves and in quarters.

Behold, you were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.

(Isaiah 64:5b-7, ESV)

We're sinners, all of us, and none of us have ever lived a perfect life. That in itself makes us unworthy of any time spent in paradise. I would always think of myself. Even when I try and do selfless acts, I would always want to point the spotlight on me. See that charitable donation right there? I did that. That's how I would always look like, and with that, I can relate to what the verse says, all our righteous deeds are like polluted garment. It's basically clean water that's inside a poison dabbed glass, and whoever would drink of that glass would still be poisoned.

Shield: Theology...

Sometimes, I try to view my words and how I talk and my theology to be my shield. The way I talk, preach and teach would sometimes tend to be enough for me. Theology could act as such because you can say the right things, know the right things but in the end your heart isn't really geared up for the right things. Theology may be at the top of your head, but a man's heart would desire to be on a pedestal and be known. Theology can lead to man and not Jesus to be the reason why the nations should be glad.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians warning them that this "knowledge" puffs up. Knowledge is indeed dangerous, because a heart that cares about self and nothing but self would lead to arrogance and pushing people away from the Gospel, whose message is supposed to be attractive and beautiful.

You see, there is a great comfort to be talking about the things of God. There's that great satisfaction within me when I write down my notes to share towards my small groups and mold them all together to make sense. Yes, there is that great temptation to hold out what you know and make people believe that you're a righteous guy in words and in deed. There is that great temptation to rest on and place your hopes on what you've said, how you appeared, how you're perceived, how you're loved by people because of what you know and how you deliver it and such, and that is the very danger of knowledge.

Here's what Jesus said for the people who place all their hope on their own theology:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

(Matthew 23:25-28 ESV)

There are more woes than this, but for me these caught my own attention and made me revisit my own actions. This was fresh from a reminder of a friend regarding reading Matthew 23, in fact reading the Bible in itself. It's easy to view other people when you read this chapter, but try to look at your own self while you read Matthew 23. That I did, and this is what gripped me the most.

I may have talked a lot about Christ which made me attractively holy in the outside, but in reality, my innards are made out of greed and self-indulgence. I played the tune to the crowd and the appreciation of the crowd was what I wanted out of it. I was a whitewashed tomb, beautiful and appealing on the outside that would fool anyone but dead in the inside, featuring a heart that beats rebellion and sin against the God who I pretend to glorify.

I talked a lot about the book, but never lived a life that is worthy of my calling.

Ripped in Halves and Quarters...

There could be more shields than good deeds and theology that can act as a persons shield when the time comes that we face Christ sitting as the judge. Here's the thing, even if these actions may appear as a beautiful white cloak that we wear over ourselves, the fact remains that our heart can be as dirty as filthy rags.

Here lies the problem. We have a lying and sinful heart. Personally, it's hard to decipher what our hearts contain since it's the most deceitful thing above all things (Jer 17:9). We won't know what it really wants till we're lying face down on our own vomit. We'll talk big about God yet our heart truly doesn't want God. We'll walk bravely showing off our "kindness" to other people but we're not really big on God's kindness that is known to have lead men to repentance. We may have done things right, but with an unchanged heart, our righteous deeds are like polluted garments. This is the dilemma we have when we face our Judge, we don't have anything to show him that's as sturdy as a bloodline. All we have are papers showing of our deeds that can be ripped in halves, and then in quarters. Is this meant to be your shield, my lord?

Conclusion...

I would want to run back to scripture as the basis for my conclusion. I don't want my own opinion to be the driving point of this one since we've already reasoned out that we're no good and not meant to be trusted.

Thus says the Lord;
"Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
(Jeremiah 17:5-6)

Like what I've seen in myself, it's dangerous to trust ourselves because that would be the very proof of the curse that the verse was pertaining to. Our own strength, our deeds, our knowledge nor our hearts should be trusted. We would be like a shrubs in the desert that will not be able to see nor experience anything that's good. We'll be stuck in a wasteland trying to look for water when or food when there's none to be found. We'll die trying to fend for our own survival in a land that promises no survival. As people that possesses poisonous hearts, it's impossible for us to manufacture clean deeds. It's like a dirty well trying to produce clean water.

That in itself is death. There's no place for the promises of Christ if everything would be about ourselves. Trusting in one's self for salvation is a dead end. We're broken cisterns, not capable of holding nor giving water. We're sinners, nothing more, nothing less. Cursed, and probably on a highway to hell.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit"
(Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Christ should be our only shield. How he lived, and how he died should be our very basis for our salvation. Not with what we've done nor what we know, it is all about what Christ has done.

Paul pleaded to the Galatians that our only boast should be of Christ and him crucified (Gal 6:14). Because only through Christ and him crucified that we gain our identity.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

(Ephesians 1:3-7)

Our identity, our shield, the very thing that would cover us and proclaim us righteous is in Christ alone. We would be proclaimed holy and blameless because Christ is holy and blameless. By our own we'd just be filthy rags. This is why we're nothing apart from Christ. We'll be like branches that withers, meant to be thrown into the fire. Christ is our only hope and only through Christ shall we be saved.

Christ is our only shield. He can't be ripped apart in halves or quarters. Believe me, they tried. They whipped him to the point of death, crowned him with thorns, made him carry the heavy cross from one point to another, nailed him to a tree, dislocated his shoulders, poked his sides, and buried him. Christ only came out 3 days later and shook everything off. He lives.

With that, let's try to review and look into our hearts and see why do we do the things we do? Is it because of the joy that God has placed in our hearts through Christ that we find serving Him and sharing the hope that we received? Or is it because of the joy that we'd be accepted and recognized. Let's drop our own shields, kneel in prayer and ask for forgiveness. Let's be boastful of our weakness because from there Christ and God would be glorified.

Let's all pray to be given the heart that genuinely loves God and people, for I believe that is the very proof that we'll have that our hearts are changed from what was sinful and deceitful. Let's place all our hopes in Christ and not ourselves. So that, towards the end, when we face our Judge, we don't hold up with our own righteousness, for we have none, but we come forward and beg for the Judge's mercy as we present ourselves to be a person who holds Christ before us. He is our shield and our only hope, now and forever, Amen.

On the Question of Innocents Suffering

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 03:55:00 +0000

9/22/2011 News has been buzzing about Troy Davis, a man convicted of man slaughter and was sentenced to death. The buzz about Troy Davis is that 7 of the 9 witnesses that testified against Davis already recanted their statements saying that they were pressured to place the blame on Davis.

None of it matters now as Troy Anthony Davis already served his sentence.

There were last ditch efforts to prove the mans innocence and they were all denied by their Supreme Court and his sentence was ordered to be served.

We'll never truly know if Troy Davis was really guilty of the charge that was slapped on him, but none of this stopped my grandma, who was with me while I was watching CNN, to ask the question, what happens to the judges and the people that served the sentence?

This is such a tricky question, and usually this question, when answered, gives birth to more questions that would lead to questions about God's moral righteousness. I would want to focus at the thought at hand. And please take note that this is only an opinion of an opinionated man, and my answer would only come as how scripture has molded my thinking.

All of us are sinners, and no matter what good or bad we do, we'll all end up in the same place if... and only if... we repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our savior.

That was the answer that I gave my grandma. Troy Davis, the judges that gave the sentence, the prosecutors that helped the sentence be ruled, the defense that tried to prove the mans innocence, the policemen that carried the sentence, the victims, the supporters and even me and my grand mother who was watching miles away from the scene, are all equally guilty and deserving of the death sentence.

After giving that thought, I also supported my answer with this.

Nothing will ever surprise God or nothing that happens in this world is by accident. If Troy Davis was meant to die of lethal injection today, he was meant to do so. All of these things would happen, justly or unjustly for one reason and one reason alone. And that reason would all be For the Glory of God.

And before my grandmother raised her eyebrow in disbelief of what I just said, I followed it up with this fact that all Christians believe in. This situation already happened before. An innocent life was once paid for the freedom of many, and that innocent life is who we recognize as our Lord and our Savior. The Glory of God is seen with how unjustly things were brought on during his time. How? It showed God's mercy because through that event, our sins were forgiven and our freedom is bought and made possible again. If it weren't for Christ then I would be left standing here condemned and damned for eternity. His death, His unjust death happened for one reason and one reason alone and that reason is for the glory of God to be seen by many.

Listen to the prayer that Jesus was praying when his time at the gurney was closing in John 17:1-26

I think mostly that he was petitioning to God was for Him and God to be known. That both be glorified and that everyone would believe that He is the Messiah that was foretold to come that would save men from the clutches of sin. This was the culmination of his ministry after he lived the life that we should have lived and, at that point, suffering the death that we should be suffering.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

(John 17:24-26 ESV)

The just or unjust trial that Davis went through is part of the all things that Paul wrote in Romans 8:28. God's plan circling around this event is, and will probably be left as a mystery to me. The verse says that all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Maybe, one way or another, a man who is involved in the trial would feel the conviction within him and come out with the truth and repent of his ways and eventually throw himself to the mercies of Christ, maybe, I don't know, but that would be an ideal reaction of how things would eventually turn out to be good.

There will be trying times in our lives, both for the redeemed and for those who aren't. We will all suffer relatively but one thing remains true, all of these would lead for good. Christ's death lead to the salvation of many, my own suffering, which would probably be another post, lead me to meet my best friends right now who eventually led me to know Christ. These things may not come into our recollection of what good is, but bottom line, towards the end of our lives, when we get to meet with our maker, we will all thank God for these times and say, yes... it is indeed good.

Troy Davis Sources: 1, 2, CNN

DJ Ponders: On Axiousness

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 02:09:00 +0000

Among all the feelings that I get to feel daily, this is one of the most constant ones. And being the person that usually over analyzes things and tend to look through the window of tomorrow, this feeling doesn't really help at all when reality slaps me silly and brings me back to the present time.

I get to do a lot of planning my future. And lately, I've been working on this certain step that I would want to happen soon. The most current one and the one that causes my fingers to run out of nails, is my wanting to move to a different country, and boy has it toyed with me for quite some time now.

To be honest, this particular desire of mine to move and find a job there drives me crazy. And what's more crazy is that it's just a month since I was there and finally decided to work on the move.

But here's the thing, before you guys would raise your hands in disbelief and think about how my patience threshold, I have been receiving emails and one in particular did seem to have made strides. It's been almost a week since I responded and that in itself is the very thing that drives me crazy. They didn't acknowledge my email back to them nor have they sent a response of what I should do next. The silence is driving me mad.

A couple of months before, I've felt this very feeling a month before I took my 2 week vacation while having my VISA processed. It was nerve wracking talking to the people who processed my application and the back and forth emails to verify if my "visit" would be legit. The whole waiting game during that time was not kind to me at all. Every morning, I would always worry about how my application is going and I've always wondered if it would succeed. The game lasted a month and I ran out of nails to nibble.

One morning, I didn't have much to do aside from worrying so I made use of that time for prayer and personal reading. I happened to come across this verse:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

(Philippians 4:4-7 ESV)

The words do not be anxious about anything caught my attention. This verse has directly popped out of the Bible and awakened me to read further. I started from the top and dissected it word per word and thought by thought.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice...

This very verse made me think of the joy that the Lord has already given me and the promise of this joy to continue later on. I'm sure there will be trials and hard times ahead but for sure, as long as the Lord is before me, there will be peace and joy through this suffering. I can enumerate the times that the Lord has blessed me with this joy and that is enough for me to rejoice in the Lord... always.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God...

As soon as I got to this verse, that was the time that I told myself to get a grip, relax and always remember who's in control.

The heart of man plans his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps.

(Proverbs 16:9 ESV)

I've written countless times and reminded and talked about this certain resolution of mine. If there's anything absolute that my soul would rest on, it's the absolute goodness of my God. For others when you talk about the Lord establishing a persons steps and basically takes hold of each and every happening in a persons life, it'll always end up being a debate about mans free will. As you can see, I'm a person who believes that my God is sovereign and is in absolute control of my life and each of the things that happen in it. Romans 8:28 says that all things work together for good, and the verse did say all things not just some things but all things. This pretty much covers everything under the sun including what I'll say or decide later on.

What then should I worry about? what then should I be anxious of? The Lord is at hand, says my brain to myself. This pushed me to just remind myself of such things, breathe deep breaths to calm myself and bow myself in prayer and thanksgiving.

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This was the bottom line of that time. Bottom line should always be in Christ Jesus. How you have come to know Christ will be the very peace that would set your feet planted firm.

Times like these when I know that things are not of my control, my mind goes haywire and the peace that everyone would want during these times is nowhere to be found. All through the three phrases that I've read that day, I've come to this reminder that God is good and that bringing His name to fame is my utmost desire (Isa 26:8).

No skill of mine or anything that I could do can change what has transpired or what will transpire. All that I'm sure of, as I am convinced by Scripture, is that my God is in control of my life and that is where my soul would rest on.

The very truth that I'm not in total control of my life is the very fact that I could rest and sleep easy and get rid of the anxiety that troubles me. A good architect has designed my life and a good carpenter is at work with it. And with that... I give thanks.

On Freedom and Constraints

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 08:32:00 +0000

This morning, on the way to work, I've been listening to Tim Keller's preaching about Absolutism.
Few of the things that I've picked up was regarding freedom and constraint. And here some of my thoughts about it...

"Freedom to do the things that we like would be our own constraint to do the things that would honor God.
But being given the constraints to do the things that we would love to do would be the freedom to do the things that would honor God."

For a Christian, being barred and constrained to do the things that would mar us for eternity, is freedom.
For the reprobate, the freedom to do the things that they love to do is their own constraint for eternal salvation.

So when you actually think about it, there really is no such thing as "freedom". We're only free to do the things we love to do as the same as we being constrained from the things that we love to do.

So in conclusion to this thought, the true delight and satisfaction that we receive from the love of Jesus Christ that was portrayed on the cross and on the life that one Christian lives out is the freedom that a Christian would love and truly enjoy. Loving the cares of this world would never be seen as a constraint in a Christian's life but him being free to thinking that it's a constraint is the true freedom that he'll enjoy. That is part of the freedom that Christ gave through the cross.

A Year After

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 17:55:00 +0000

March 6, 2010.

It was a night that wasn't like any other nights that I've experienced before. It did start out pretty normal, but I never knew what was going to happen that night. I already have marked and tagged myself as a version 2.0 of me. Little did I know I will become indeed a version 2 of me.

You see, March 6, 2010 was the night I have felt something that I've never felt before. It was the night that I cried out and sought Jesus like I never did before. It was the night that He changed my heart. And today marks the very first year since that night.

The verse you see in the picture is the very verse that God has told me to turn to when I get home.

"He began to be in need." is the very verse that showed up when I turned to this verse. The very thing that I was feeling that night that made me turn to something that I have tried to avoid for months. I began to feel in need, and that very moment I turned to prayer. A prayer that made me ask God to show me square 1. And that He did.

I celebrate today with joy and gratefulness in my heart for it is the very day that God have surgically replaced my heart. Truly, that day, I became the version 2 of myself. No longer cold, far and rebellious against God but one that runs towards Him and totally depends on Him on all things.

Now, a year after, I'm still at awe at that very day that I received the joy of my salvation. I don't think no other experience could ever top that. It was the very day that made me just hold on to my bible and not let go of it. And to think, hours before that, opening and reading from it was something that I would have an allergic reaction to. I can't explain the whole feeling of it, but to sum it up, that night truly was refreshing. That night, I would say, I was born again.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the spirit" - John 3:5-8 (ESV)

I thank you Jesus for that very day when you came into my life and replaced my heart. I thank you for this new heart, this new life that you have granted me, one that I do not deserve. I know, from my previous actions that I deserve being forsaken by someone as awesome as you, yet you gave me this new heart that is able to see and recognize what you've done to the cross and eventually get into this relationship with you. Get into this very thing where in I would be able to experience the awesomeness that you are. Oh, my mouth that once sputtered filthy words that came from my heart is now replaced with repentance and praise of your Holy name. May I have more of you and less of me as I celebrate this day. I have nothing but love for the one who has given me Love. With my life, I pray that I'll forever give you praise, this I ask through Your Son, Jesus...

Amen.

The Edge of Twenty Five

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 05:02:00 +0000

Twenty five has been a blast, and as I'm hours away from bidding it farewell, I'd want to continue on with tradition. Every year, I find myself recalling bits and pieces and mostly just writing about the year that was, this year, I might be left to write a novel as my 25th year is nothing more but a BLAST!

First I wanna start things off with this verse...

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 (ESV)

My 25th year couldn't have started with a surgery. God gave me a new heart (Ezk 36:26) and that is the most awesome gift anyone could ever have. A heart that recognizes God and repents for the things that it has done. I've gone from not knowing anything of the Bible for 24 years being a human being and 8 more years being a Christian, to I can probably tell you everything about Paul's letter to the Romans. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bragging, it's just that I fell toooooo in love with reading and getting to know of Jesus, it just happened.

Reading was one of the biggest turn around this year. "I'd prefer moving pictures" is what I usually say, but I think I spent a fortune building a library of books about God. I could never stop myself from reading these books! I don't know if it's an obsession, but I just couldn't stop knowing of God and wanting to know more about Him. And this... this very desire is the one that I'm most thankful of. By myself? I don't know if I could've done that turnaround myself. The very desire to know of Him, the desire to read, and mostly the desire to repent and get back on track running towards him is something of Him. God I thank you for all of these things and I want to give credit to none other but you for the life that you've given me this past year. It was surely something to write about and something to brag about. And I'm just about to start to blog about this year.

I also thank you Jesus for the new office that you've placed me. It's not because I didn't want to leave the old one, but I guess He really wanted me to leave the old company that I worked with. I'm also thankful to them for the opportunity, and trust, that they gave someone like me. And because of them, I grew professionally and was able to land on the job that I'm working on. It even had a funny story along with it, I think none of my experiences really made me land the job, but one conversation with my boss, he told me specifically that he really wanted to hire me because I was a Christian. During the interview, they were asking me about what kind of leadership skills I got, and as I was running out of experiences to share, then came my experience in leading young guys to the Lord. And so I told myself, what the heck, I'll just blurt it out, I'm leading a life group and part of the youth leadership in our church. This is what I shared during my job interview, and I am surprised that this is what sealed the deal. Big props to you Big G! Now I'm enjoying being busy and doing all these things for the Lord. I've never thought I'd be happy being busy hah!

I thank you Jesus for a renewed and strengthened relationship with my family. Along with God's heart surgery is the sucking out the pride in me. I've walked long enough to think I've got it all together and I am above all things, but throughout this year, experiences and situations lead me to know this. I am nothing apart from Christ (Jn 15:5). I pray that I've been more of a blessing than a scorn to their flesh. I thank God for them, all of them, if not for them I wouldn't be any close to who I am right now. All the love and discipline that I've received from them has truly did its job. God in his ultimate wisdom knew where to place me. I love you guys! :)

Friends, what would I be and where would I be without you guys. I have nothing but love and gratefulness for you guys. You helped me stay together when I was crumbling and helped me stay grounded when I was all high and lofty. You're the awesomest friends anyone could ever have. I thank God in my prayers for you guys, each and every night. You guys are more than a blessing to me and my walk. It's been awesome being your big brother throughout this year and I hope to be more of a blessing to you guys in return. I know we haven't been seeing each other and never been complete together in one day, but I hope that we'd get to hang out like before. You know who you are.

And to you...

I literally have no words to express how grateful I am for you. You're the very proof that God does indeed know my heart more than I do. I can never ask for anyone else. To save the public from cheese, I think it's heatlhy that I'd just email you personally these things. But thank you for a wonderful year and more wonderful years to come. You're truly a blessing to me and surprisingly to my friends as well. :*

I just can't put into words how wonderful this year has been. All I could do is lift my hands in praise and gratefulness to the King that has made sure that all things would work together for His praise. Another lost sheep found, another lost son was brought back home. I thank You for everything.

On to the next one...
26 here I come

Book Review: Not Even A Hint by Joshua Harris

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:59:00 +0000

I wrote this book for both men and women. Why? Because lust isn’t a male problem. It is a human problem. It ruins our relationships, robs us of spiritual passion, and leaves us feeling hollow…

But the truth is that you and I don’t have to stay on that treadmill of guilt and shame. God calls us to a high standard - not even a hit of sexual impurity. And he gives us everything we need to make it a reality.

If you’re ready for a practical grace-centered plan for defeating lust and celebrating purity, I hope you’ll join me on a most promising journey.

- Joshua Harris

Lust goes beyond attraction, an appreciation of beauty, or even a healthy desire for sex - it makes these desires more important than God. Lust wants to go outside God’s guidelines to find satisfaction. - Joshua Harris, Not Even A Hint, Chapter 1 - The truth about Lust.

This is what lust is. It goes beyond God and centers on self. You’ll find that lust’s only concern is self satisfaction. We shouldn’t look far more than ourselves when we lust after the things that we do. What we first have to distinguish is the truths between what’s healthy and what’s not. Joshua Harris’ book, Not even a Hint made clear for that.

He later on changed the title for this book to Sex is not the problem, lust is. This is what we should know. Sex shouldn’t be feared nor considered taboo. Lust is what makes this gift of God towards married couples dirty. This is what this book is addressing. I find the book really helpful the second time around. I have read this before and I would say that I have forgotten mostly what it said. Now that I’m in the will of God’s learning curve of sanctification in my life I find that the words that Harris wrote here helps more.

If you find yourself in a sick cycle of falling into this trap, and wanting to get out, I would suggest you pick up this book. Men and women alike. As Harris bluntly said, this is not just a man’s problem but a human problem. We need to know when to open ourselves towards this idea.

This book is split into 10 chapters and 3 parts.

Part One discusses the Truth about Lust. This part consists of 3 chapters that will redeem the purpose for sex, the proper identification between our design to have sex drives and lust and the reality of us not being able to save ourselves from it.

Part two, In the Thick of the Battle, gives perspective of the authors personal journey in battling lust and gives suggestions and ideas on why we’re in it and what we could possibly do to avoid it. I personally liked one of his suggestions but I’ll leave you, the next reader to see it for yourself.

Part three, Strategies for Long-Term Change, will give you suggestions by the author on what we could possibly do to make our desire to defeat lust gain ground over the shackles that held us in it.

I would really suggest this book for everyone who would want to defeat lust in order for them to be more that just a Christian in title but also a blessing towards the people around them. May you be not just a good partner for the one you’re with but also a sturdy support for others who are weak against it.

Not even a hint will not just leave you with self written contracts and ideas on how you, yourself alone, will be able to fight this sin that the Bible instructs us to flee from. Joshua Harris will really point you towards the truths about God as was stated in the Bible to fight against it.

With all that is said and done, if you haven’t done so yet, pick it up. If you already have this one in your library and still desiring to live a life closer to God and away from this, read it all over again.

“We must fight fire with fire. The fire of lust’s pleasures must be fought with the fire of God’s pleasures. If we try to fight the fire of lust with prohibitions and threats alone - even the terrible warnings of Jesus - we will fail. We must fight it with the massive promise of superior happiness. We must swallow up the little flicker of lust’s pleasure in the confagration of holy satisfaction” John Piper - Future Grace

Other Book Recommendations with regards to this topic:

Porn-Again Christian - Mark Driscoll

Triumph over Temptation - John Owen

Tap: Defeating the sins that defeat you - Yancey Arrington

Book Review: C.H. Spurgeon, All of Grace

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 11:10:00 +0000

The object of this book is the salvation of the reader

This 128 paged book that’s about 8 inches long is one that I would call a pocket dynamite. It fits in the back pocket of my jeans but has contents that would last forever.

In All of Grace, Spurgeon tackled the essentials of faith. He explains in detail, and in old english, the truths on justification and our nothingness.

Spurgeon concentrates on the technicalities or what happens in the background throughout salvation. It will give you a solid idea on what Justification is and an understanding on Faith and Grace.

One chapter in particular that made me weep as I understood the gravity of it was on Man’s Nothingness. It’s the 11th chapter that he entitled as I Can Do Nothing!. It will give you an understanding on Romans chapter 5.

It contains 20 short, concrete and straightforward chapters that goes from Justification to Preservation. It won’t leave you hanging as a perfect conclusion was written towards the end.

If you would like to see and understand God’s grace, then I would highly suggest you to read this book. I’d probably suggest that you’d get to pickup a more modern translation as I endured thee, thy, and all the -est from this guy.

The Lord does, in fact, produce the new birth in all who believe in Jesus, and their believing is the surest evidence that they are born again.
- C.H. Spurgeon

Psalm 104 Notes: Trust, Faith, Creation and Suffering

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 03:10:00 +0000

O Lord, how manifold are your works. In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures

Psalm 104:24

The whole Psalm 104 talks about the things that we normally see happen around us. But one thing I cannot deny as I was pondering on this Psalm is how everything just works together like a perfectly planned blueprint of creation. Everything, working together.

One thing that I have picked up from this is seeing and being confident in trusting the Lord’s wisdom.
I look all around and there, everywhere, I see the Lord’s wisdom through his creation.

The suns presence to give heat, nurture everything that needs it. Animals and plants working together in perfect harmony like ebony and ivory and then later on acting as provision to us for our nutrition.
Food to eat and taste buds to enjoy it. Such grand design and things working together. Minds that would create things that would eventually give us things to work on and things that we’d need.

Everything working together for one to benefit another.

These are good things, we can’t deny that sometimes we just look at these things and think of God. How about the other things that really happens. What about storms, floods, earthquakes and to a much more personal level heartbreaks and sufferings. What about them? Could we include God’s grand design on working things together amongst these things?

Should we break? Should we worry when things don’t go about the way we want it to go? Should we doubt? Or this is where our faith should stand firm in knowing that God is God.
Where should our faith lie?

I could speak out of my own experience as I have walked. One thing that I have always wanted was things of my own. I may have induced the idea of God and mixed it amongst my own desires. A career to hold, a love that I could call my own, provisions, riches and prosperity that would eventually make my life tolerable here on earth. Do I deserve them? Am I supposed to have them? And if I don’t get Him should I call God unfair and not loving and not kind? Is this where faith should lie? In the things that we know that we should get? Should faith lie here? or…

Should faith be infinite trust in Jesus that whatever happens in our lives is something that we should accept and believe that is good for us.

I read this Psalm and see the grand design of creation and I look outside my window and through my browser window, you’ll then see news of wars and destruction from time to time.

Has God made a mistake to cause these sufferings? Or even in these things, should we remain still and know that He is our Sovereign God that works everything together for good for those who fear and love Him and who walks in His purpose (Rom 8:28).

James 1:2-4 says that we should count it all for joy! For in these things we will find our faith towards the one who holds everything together and who is most sovereign and in control stronger! We should count it all joy because in these things it would make us depend more on His faithfulness and in return cause to create steadfastness so that we may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing.

Lacking in nothing, here I would say not of material things but in prosperous faith and belief to our Maker.
Matthew 6:25 onwards tells us not to be anxious about what will happen tomorrow. Jesus then presents the fact that His Father has provided so much for the birds and the creatures around, how about us that He has called His own?

Consider who’s in control. Consider who has created and consider the grand design that we see outside. Consider the fact that we’re placed in earth where every supernova or gamma ray explosion is far from us, in a way that will never cause us any harm (I just saw that in Nat Geo). Have faith that you indeed fear God for it is in this fact that we know that we trust in Him.

For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom.

Let us not lean on our own understanding and pause to see creation around and His wisdom and sovereignty that holds these things together.

Consider these.

Praise be to Him who has ways above ours.

Book Review: Don't Waste Your Life

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 14:21:00 +0000

After 9 days of 1 chapter each, I would say, this book by far… the most enjoyable book I have read this year (hehe).

But with all seriousness. Don’t Waste Your Life is something that I would suggest all Christians to read. This book will certainly act as a compass to where we should look and what we should look at.

It addresses the most common sickness known to men, and Christians alike, is complacency. We tend to see the cross of Christ, learn about salvation and sit back relax and be satisfied that we won’t suffer from guilt of sin and the fires of hell. This book should challenge you to look more beyond that.

So if you want to challenge yourself to look beyond that mediocrity and know what we should be gunning for, go ahead and pick this book up. Read it, understand it and hopefully enjoy it. Hopefully you’ll get to understand that it’s not us that we should be making much of, but Him who is worthy of all praise. Let’s all strive to understand and be satisfied by that fact so that in the end, we’ll look back and say yes, we didn’t waste our life.

God loves us by liberating us from the bondage of self so that we can enjoy knowing and admiring him forever. — John Piper

A Blog About God's Grace and the Seriousness of Sin

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000

He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:10-12

Gift - noun

something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient orwithout its being earned

----

And if there's anything that wrecks my heart more, its this.

"He does not treat us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities."

I don't think one would get to see this clearly if one wouldn't consider the seriousness of sin.

Let me share to you how I came into having an idea of how serious sin is.

It all started when I read the dialogue between St. Anselm and someone who was opposing the necessity of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

Someone asked Anselm that if God was good then why not just forgive everyone equally and not have Jesus die on the cross. I think, if I can remember correctly this person also said that God should practice what he preached and forgive everyone equally.

Anselm's response to it was straight forward and something that made me ponder about it.

"Obviously, you haven't considered the seriousness of sin."

One may find this response as something vague and in need of some explanation. The guy was obviously asking about forgiveness of everyone and Anselm responded in a way that would expose the seriousness of sin.

Let's go deeper into it and let's dwell in the following statement that John Stott followed up on his book Incomparable Christ.

"Let's then consider the Majesty that hung on that cross."

I believe that no one could ever consider the seriousness of sin unless we see the sacrifice it demanded.

We are redeemed and such price was paid for our redemption. THE Good Shepherd had to lay down his life for his sheep. None took it from him. He laid it down himself for his sheep. (John 10)

Oh, such grace, such kindness, such love that I couldn't fathom with my finite mind. What kind of sacrifice is this. This is obviously something I did not deserve. That at the right time while in my weakness, Christ died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6). Such display of God's love that while I'm sinning, not doing anything righteous or is capable of doing any good, Christ died for me (Rom 5:8).

Instead of fire and punishment I'm accepted back home, clothed and robed and called his son. Instead of hell, I'm rewarded with a promise of eternal life enjoying his presence.

I cannot grasp this love that is as high as the heavens is above the earth. Something faithful and is steadfast that nothing could ever take me away from it.

My sins, my ashes was traded for his beauty. My ashes was laid on Him as he took the punishment I deserved and his righteousness and beauty was given to me and now I could be reconciled with my Father. This beauty that was given to me separates me from the ashes that he took and this separation is now as far as east to west.

Question...

Will east and west ever meet?

Such kindness is given that called my rebellious heart to repentance.
Praise be to God that has shown kindness to His people.

"I am the good shepherd: I know my sheep and my sheep know me-just as the Father knows me and I know the Father- and I lay down my life for the sheep." John 10:14-15

Psalm 1 Notes

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:15:00 +0000

So I was helping my Bubby memorize Psalm 1 for her Bible Study group a few weeks ago. As we kept on repeating and repeating the verses, it was like a nail being hammered to me as I found these verses more beautiful than I have initially thought.

Here are my notes on the 1st Psalm.

Psalm 1:1-2

I could see the regenerate heart as being described in this verse as the one blessed.
Blessed with the changed heart from the one which was stone and now flesh. (Ezk 36:26, Jer 31:33)
This change of heart would then result for this man to just avoid the counsel of the wicked, the way of sinners and the seat of scoffers.

The regenerate man would then do the unthinkable in this culture as he would just delight upon the law of the Lord and on it he will meditate day and night.
All moral and ethical decision will come and will and can be matched side by side with the instruction and direction that the Lord would instruct to this man.

Psalm 1:3

The regenerate man is then likened to a tree planted by streams of water.
This tree would continually get and be replenished by the water that doesn’t stop running. So is this man who never stops placing his whole being towards the direction and instruction of the Lord.
As Jer 31:33 says that the people of the new covenant has the law written on their hearts so that to them it would be possible for them to follow these laws.

These would then yield fruit in its season. Good or bad season you would see that this man would just delight and turn to scripture as he would tackle the changes that happens externally.
He’ll not wither but will prosper as his heart is just molded by the love Christ has for him.

Psalm 1:4

The unregenerate man would then be compared to a chaff that the wind blows easily.
In comparison the the regenerate man who is like a tree by streams of water, the unregenerate man has no roots and is taken away easily.

you could see this man described in the three instances in the parable of the sower. (Matthew 13:18-22) You could see that the world/Scripture is not deeply rooted or this man is not in delight of what the Lord instructs and how easy these words are taken away from him.
And this is why he is likened to a chaff that the wind quickly blows away. Any tug of unrighteousness or anything that is of this world can easily sway this man.

Psalm 1:5

a line is now drawn between the regenerate and the unregenerate man as the righteous can stand in judgement as the wicked couldn’t and the sinners could not be in mixture with those of the righteous.

Psalm 1:6

You can now see why the regenerate man is blessed in v1 as the Lord (v6) clearly guides the the way of the righteous and holds them by the hand and establishes each step (Prov 16:9).

The way of the wicked will just continue down the path it is heading toward which is destruction. (Prov 2:13-15)

Why Do We Do What We Do: Marriage

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 12:28:00 +0000

We're going through a series where in we try to redeem the biblical implication of the stuff that we usually practice and see a bigger picture of what they are. One of the very things that we're going to look at right now is the very meaning of marriage. What is so important about it that we have to redeem the biblical meaning of it in hopes that we truly see the serious thing that marriage is, that it's even bigger than what we have thought it is.

This is one of the very things that I have always held up high and respected and waited for. I'm very blessed to have parents that are enjoying marriage and ever since I was a kid I've always wanted that kind of thing. Of course with the help of various media and just me being my plain ol' cheesy self, I've always held marriage in high esteem. The gift that it is to a couple of people who loves each other and the rewards that comes along with it.

Has it been this way to many? This has also been one of the things that have constantly broken my heart. Being a witness of a marriage that wasn't even given a chance to materialize, hearing of people cheating with their husbands and wives left and right, marriage has consistently degraded from something held serious to a glorified "relationship".

I hold myself as someone who shouldn't even be talking about this since I am in no way near this season but I will speak to it in a stand point of someone looking at it, walking towards it with someone hand in hand and wanting to understand what it means more biblically and hopefully get to share that season with the one I am in love with.

Our goal for this session is to see what it is, and hopefully have a bigger picture on what it is biblically, and let our minds as people who are in a season of singleness looking for someone to share this with. I am not stopping you to chase relationships or going for this, I just want to mold your minds on what the texts that we're going to look at say about this and we could start from there.

Being single doesn't give us an excuse on not thinking about this, if we desire to be in a relationship with a significant other, THIS is what we should think about, and getting the biblical implication of it, we then should be wise on our decisions.

First let's all see what others, through observation, thinks about this. Dating, Relationships and Marriage. When I observe and talk to people about relationships and dating most of the time it has always been self serving. Everything is about them and everything is about what they could get out from it. I'm very particular to guys with regard to this message since that is the very standpoint that I'm looking at as well. I feel ashamed that alot of the guys that I know has this point of view with regards to relationships as well. It's always about them. To which I could say that this could be the primary reason why these things fail, why people cheat on their partners, rushing things and enjoying the rewards of marriage even before wedlock. Nobody wants this, ask any girl out there if this is the kind of relationship that they want, and I would say that nobody really wants this.

The concept of marriage and union between man and woman is marred and it has been marred since Genesis 3 when things began to sink into corruption. Certain roles of husband and wives were stepped on and everyone was out for their selfish desires.

Sad to say, in this day and age, with the way the culture has been moving towards this trend, I doubt that there's any need for marriage anymore. The social accepted norm dictates that when you're in a relationship it's already as it is. Enjoy the rewards and benefits of marriage, and skip the whole ordeal. True that there may be love involved here, and that is probably one of the most important aspects in a relationship for without that how can one begin right? but be it as it may, what do we think is the most important aspect that everyone has been missing lately with regards to relationships and mostly marriage. If people in love can still go and fall out of it, what is the most important glue that SHOULD hold these two together?

The very most important thing that should be held first and foremost in a relationship is the commitment that you as a person hold towards the person you love. And everything that is bound to happen within it is what a man and woman should enjoy while keeping the covenant that you two hold for Christ's sake.

With that in mind, let's look into the text on how we have gotten into that conclusion.

Let's check out a few verses that could help us grasp more into this. We're going to look at Ephesians 5:22 onwards and see through the roles of the husband and wife and his comparison of them to what Christ is to his church.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Of Covenant-Keeping Love...

We start off with Paul saying that this mystery is profound and that the mystery that marriage itself is presenting is referring to Christ and the church. He was quoting Genesis 2, the first marriage ever practiced, when he was saying that a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two being of one flesh. One flesh my friends, just as Christ was with us in his commitment with us.

we can see Love, Faithfulness, Righteousness, Justice all intertwined with this very act. Referring to it as Christs commitment/covenant-keeping love he has for his church where in he, knowing no sin became sin so we might become his righteousness. He being the son of God took upon our image as depraved men prone to sin and did the very thing that we couldn't do so in that we would be able to be seen as blameless and pure in the fathers eyes. His beauty for our ashes.

I'm not saying that this is what we should do, but we should still be self-sacrificial towards our love to our significant other, but we'll get to that later, what I'm presenting here is the eternal promise of God being fulfilled without any shadow of lack and how his covenant that lasts forever would then release the fragrance of love between Jesus and his church. For the very proof that we could show that God loves us is the very fact that we love him in return.

We are no longer sinners but redeemed sinners being sanctified daily towards being Christlike in the end of the age.

We might still end up tripping along the way, but one thing that I am sure of is that his covenant will still remain with his church, he'll never leave us nor forsake us, he'll never see this thing fail. He's with us even if we don't like him being there.

And with that said, this is the very reason of marriage in itself. The presence of a covenant-keeping love that exists between a man and a woman. The very vows that you share with each other and daily keeping them as much as Christ has kept his towards his church. Acting upon graces to each other just as Christ has poured out his grace towards his church. Living a grace-centered relationship in lieu of the gospel-centered life that you're living with Christ.

With this being said, how can one think about this beautiful thing being cut off? How can we think about divorce when Christ has never divorced his church. How can we think of cheating off on our significant others when Christ himself has given himself up to sanctify his bride.

Suddenly, it's bigger than how we initially viewed it is. It could all be something that we might think as burning out, something really risky and something really close to impossible to doing. It actually is. I'm not going to lie, I'm not married, I'm in a relationship and basically that in itself is something that's difficult to nourish. It's just alot easier to go through with and enjoy if you're in it with the right person.Everything is done willingly and not something that you'd drag your feet to do. Just as Christ has gone through the cross willingly for who? for us... and for him.

You see that it's actually more than just being in love with each other, for being in love is the very happy overflow of a covenant-keeping for Christ's sake.

Knowing the gospel, knowing what Christ did to his church, how could we look at our vows any lesser than what it actually mean?

to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us part...

because in reality, this is what Christ has told us and even better because there's no way that we'll be apart from him. Nothing can ever separate us from the love of Christ.

Of Gospel-Centered Life To Grace-Centered Relationships

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

I'm not going to talk about roles, roles are something that we would then discover as we discover who Christ is to us. I'm going to focus more on what were the very thing wives and husbands compared with here. What were the primary examples wives and husbands should follow.

Wives submission and Husbands headship were all asked to be acted out like Christ was to his church. Again, all of these things are centered on the very glory that God displayed on the Cross. The very glory that is of the gospel. The good news that we all hold our faith to. This is what we should all embrace and what we should all live by and love first and foremost.

Here's the reality. I'm a sinner, my girlfriend is a sinner, we'll get married sinners and probably die as sinners. How would I love someone who's as flawed as me if I don't have that gospel centered life? How could I forgive, understand, bear all and endure all things if we don't feel this one from Christ.

Dealing with our flawed selves is already hard, what more if we have someone who's as flawed with us enter the picture. There'll be alot of misunderstanding and arguments that will come along the way. I'm not saying that even in a better setting there'll be none, no, there'll be alot of things that you'll find that you don't want in your partner. And there'll never be any point of satisfaction to you if you're not satisfied by the fact that you're forgiven beyond measure.

The whole point of it all. Have a Gospel/Cross/Christ centered life. Let your life revolve and your mind blown everyday with the grace of God exercised through scripture, not until these things are embraced can you ever enjoy grace centered relationships.

Get blown by the new covenant that God gave us. Get blown by the perfect love that Christ has granted us through the cross. Get blown by the fact that these were all showered down to us even while we were still sinners. Get blown by the marriage that Christ has to his church. The one that never fails, that will always work, that will never vanish away. The only kind of marriage that we should look towards to with someone. A covenant-keeping, grace centered, Christ loving marriage.

Don't Waste Your Sorrows (Book of Ruth)

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 00:32:00 +0000

This is a blog entry that would summarize the message that was preached on our church this Sunday by Pastor Dave Darwin. We looked into the story of Naomi and Ruth in the book of Ruth and from there we tried to answer the question most people ask when they're in the gutter.

"Why me?"

There are times that we feel that life is just putting everything on us and everything's just not fair. We feel, and we even go as far as blaming God, for the trials and demise that we're getting in life. We feel that God, and everybody else, is just picking on us. We then ask what have I done to deserve all of these, I've been good all my life... Why Me? Why is every weight of the world on my shoulders why did everything that could go wrong just went wrong? Why? Why me?

Now we looked into the book of Ruth and homed in on Naomi. Now Naomi is a woman who, in the first chapter, we'll see that she has lost everything. Lost her husband and her two sons. She's left with nothing but her two daughter-in-laws, the Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. Now if I'm not mistaken, during their culture, when you're a widow and not have anyone with you, you'll be considered nothing and could be left with nothing since they, during their times, are pretty much chauvanistic in nature. So when Naomi went back to her home town she didn't want to be regarded as Naomi but Mara, a name that is of significance with bitterness. She didn't want to be regarded as someone else but bitter. She embraced the bitterness, due from the loss of everything that she had, and made an identity out of it. She even blamed God for her loss as she said For the Almighty has dealt very bitterly against me.

Clearly, Naomi has forgotten what kind of God the God of the Bible is. And that's what trials and despair leads us to, we tend to home in on what we're dealing with and lose focus to the one who holds everything together (Col 1:17) and makes everything work for the good (Rom 8:28). We tend to lose focus on who God is and we focus on what we're dealing with, making us feel like everything is just against us, which in turn would make us feel bitter. So bitter that we even blame God for what we're having. The God of the Bible, the Almighty and Holy God, who has no shade of evil in Him, where we find no shade of darkness or bad intentions for His people. I believe that the God who is Holy doesn't even think of anything bad, or evil, or anything just to spite his people in him.

Trials push us that way, and in turn we forget who God is, and we push our own carts. We just leave everything behind and forget and not see every little blessing that would eventually lead to something greater around us. Due to Naomi's bitterness, she forgot what great gift she has in Ruth, who earlier has pledged her loyalty to Naomi after everything has been said and done (Ruth 1:16-17). We don't see the little seeds that God has planted during our times of despair. We just focus on our bitterness.

To cut the story short, Naomi dealt with her bitterness and not see the blessing she had in Ruth. Ruth, the woman who pledged her loyalty to Naomi, would be the person who would help bring everything back to Naomi as Boaz claimed his kinsman-redeemership and marries Ruth. This would then return everything to Naomi's family as through Ruth marrying Boaz, they retained their family name. Not only that, Ruth then would give birth to a son and name him Obed. Obed would then be the father of Jesse, who's the father of David, the greatest king in Israel. And we all know who came from the line of David a thousand years later, Jesus.

Don't waste your sorrows. Let's not lose focus on who God is. Let's not tuck down and succumb on our trials and forget what kind of God is. God has promises to us and a few would be he'll work things together for good (Rom 8:28) and in him all things work together (Col 1:17). And we can hold our heads up high in confidence that God is someone who is faithful to his promises (Joshua 21:45, 23:14). Let us not waste our trials and despair and let us look for opportunities where God would be glorified in these gaps in our lives.

Why Do We Do What We Do: Communion

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 15:41:00 +0000

We started a series a couple of weeks back that where we try and put biblical meaning on what we do with regards to our faith. There are alot of things that we practice, but somehow we ask and wonder why. Through the following weeks we'll try to answer why we do what we do.

Last week we discussed on why do we take communion.

Communion is a practice that has always been present probably since the time of the apostles. This is a practice that has been instituted (instructed) by Christ himself (Matthew 26:26).

2 schools of thought has surrounded this sacrament and is also one of the reasons why we have denominational splits within the faith. Other people that the host and the wine would become Christs body and blood itself while others believe that they're just symbols that would remind us of what Christ did for us.

We looked at the text in 1 Cor 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

This is what we practice, the sacrament of communion. So we take bread and drink wine along with our church family but do we understand the implication of how this was instructed to us? This is to remind us and to celebrate the supper with our church family in remembrance of what Christ did for us.

The bread for his broken body and in John 6 we would see that He would pertain to himself as the bread of life. This is to remember His death, and sacrifice that would grant us eternal life. This would grant us his own righteousness, in replacement of our sin. So when we partake of the bread let us always remember of that sacrifice. Let's look at the bread and remember and be grateful of that sacrifice where He'd say, in red text, which is for you.

Same goes with the cup. When we partake of the wine, do we just drink of it and yay, I received communion. Or do we remind ourselves what this would signify, John 4 where Jesus was talking to the samaritan woman would describe himself as of living waters. Something that does not dry up. This is to remind ourselves of the new covenant. This is to remind ourselves that the eternal sacrifice has already been paid and our debt forgiven. This is the cup of the new covenant.

Let us continue to remind ourselves of that. Let's be grateful and celebrate the Lord's Supper in remembrance of His death.

Mr. DJ on Relationships

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 21:25:00 +0000

Why do we get into a relationship? What are the reasons why we even think about being in one?

I've never really gotten my head around it until I got to talk to one of the guys who are in my lifegroup.
Getting into a relationship, I believe, is something, that shouldn't be played around with. You have two souls, two human beings, two hearts that will get into it, and without treading carefully, you'd be setting each other into a different path.

Why do we get in one? Is it primarily so that you could feel satisfied? Is it because you'd just want to try it? I believe that being in a relationship is PRIMARILY sharing who you are. Relationships, now that I'm in one, is something that I would say not a joke. It's hard, It's fragile, but in the end if you're in it for the right reasons, it's the best thing that could ever happen in one persons life. You, being you, sharing all that you are to the person you love, long to be with, from now till the sun sets in your lives. Whoever said that it's not always rainbows and butterflies? I'm in probably one of the hardest relationship that one could endure, being in a long distance kind, but still enjoying it like opening a present, as a 6 year old kid, during Christmas morning. Everyday, ever since that fateful day, has always been special. All of them, a cause for celebration.

Reasons, do we need them before we get into one? Yes, I would say that everyone needs a reason when they jump into this ship that should hold a one way trip to forever. First of all, I think one shouldn't get in one unless they're in love. And not that kind of love that could be justified, It's that kind of love that you couldn't even put a finger on where it began, where it came from, or how it all happened. It's not something you learn while being in a relationship, I think, It's something that you find out as you get along with not being in one. It's that kind that you make you ask yourself if that's basically it. It's the one that transforms men to poets. It's the one that keeps you up all night. Yes, if that's what you're feeling then go on... jump on it. Risk it. I did... Took that 1% chance and, Iv'e never been more happier than I could ever be.

Second, I think everyone that's in it, should be thinking that they just want to share who they are to this person. Be who they are, without reserve, without any kind of pretensions, something that you can boast of for the right reasons. This kind of boasting is not the one that would make you feel all pompous and like a champ, I'm pertaining to that kind of boasting that would make you look more of a loser than a champ but still wouldn't care. It's something that you wouldn't ask in return, It's something that makes you to just want to give your time and not ask for anything back. It's something that you even feel the pleasure of going out of your way to go an extra mile with giving.

Reason that you can just see forever in this persons eyes...

Next question would be when. When you know you could step into forever. When you know you could put your foot down and stick with these things. When you know that you're happy by yourself, that you can finally pour yourself, without any kind of hang ups, to the other. When you just feel like you know. I guess, you'll know it, when you know.

For long have I walked around by myself. For long have I always thought that I'd never be happy alone. And right when I found happiness, by myself, satisfied and enjoying my completeness... That's when I found that very same person, that I've thought I'd never be happy without. I hope by reading this, you'd get to share yourself as you instead of sucking the life out of another person.

and since I'm a follower of Christ.

For me, the right reason that you'd want to think when getting into a relationship would be to glorify God in that. Get in one if you feel that you'd be doing what's pleasing unto Him, who has given all things. Just like our motto from my alma mater...

That in all things, God may be glorified.

Why Did You Die On Me XBOX360?

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:14:00 +0000

As you can see, this is the cinematic trailer for the Star Wars: Force Unleashed 2. And for those of you who know me well, knows that I'm a sucker for anything Star Wars. Even if it's bad like Episodes 1, 2 and 3, I would still go and watch them repeatedly just because they're Star Wars.
I played the 1st Force Unleashed on my Wii and it was awesome. Imagine me swinging those Wii-motes like a lightsabre with my nephew watching the kid in me unleashed as well. I would swing them complete with a pouty mouth that would signify enjoyment and sound effects along with the ones that's already with the game. I loved it! and I want more...
Now I did have an Xbox360 not so long ago. I bought my friends unit for a steal price. Unfortunately, He didn't last long. Now that Box is just an aesthetic on my desk, waiting for a time that he could still be repaired. Watching this trailer made me miss that unit. How I wish I have him still in anticipation for this game. I wonder if I could still have this repaired, I wonder if I could still squeeze life out of this bad boy... just in time for THIS!
Lot's of frustration... and anticipation. Oh well...

Cinematic Trailer

Trailer (Voices: Yoda vs Vader)

Gameplay Demo

End All, Be All (Psalms 51:12)

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:31:00 +0000

What has been the primary motivator or the hook that fished you out of the waters? Provision? Promise for a posh life? No worries? Peace of mind? Comfort? Assurance that everything will be ok? or something else?

Many, including me, has succumbed to these things that would draw me into loving Christ, or have thought of loving Christ. I have always been dreaming of a posh life somewhere on my high rise condo, with my shiny white car that would get me around the metro. That was what I've always been thinking of since I've been fed with things that would make me think of these, never have I considered myself as someone who was hooked because of salvation, until now.

One prayer, one cry of a king, one particular verse in Psalms 51 claims that very conviction that I have now. That particular verse in Psalms 51 has become my rock and brings me comfort that it is because of that, that I love Jesus above all.

Restore me to the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (Psalms 51:12 ESV)

What is that very hook that has effectively drawn us out of the waters that we were in? A comfortable life? or a satisfied life resulted by the joy of our salvation?

First, I guess we have to have a firm grip of understanding of what salvation is. Salvation, as what it pertains to in the Bible, never have signified or pinpointed on something of luscious living of overflowing abundance of blessings, some would experience them, some wouldn't, I'm not saying it's bad, all I'm saying is that is it our source of joy?

This prayer of King David, who cries out for his restoration to this joy of salvation made me realize that salvation itself is joy. Salvation in the sense of your heart is changed (upheld with a willing spirit to love and obey Jesus' commandments) without you knowing. Salvation in the sense that what you disliked before is what you love doing now. Salvation in a sense that you totally see this change in your heart and would never want to be away from this particular feeling. Salvation in a sense that you could live out with this and this alone. This Salvation, of what the Bible says, in John 3:16, wherein God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that who shall ever believe in Him (Jesus) shall never perish and have eternal life.

This Salvation is the very gift of God for us. Something we didn't deserve, and something His Son, Jesus Christ, didn't deserve to take but presented himself willingly because of His great love for us (Eph 2:4). This new life (Col 2:13-14, Eph 2:5, Gal 2:20), that Christ willingly granted us through His resurrection is the very joy that I'm totally grateful of. That the very evidence of His love towards me, is that I love Him in return. For I could never love Him without first experiencing His love for me.

This gives me comfort that everything else in the Bible says is true. That everything will turn out to be good even if things are already bad (Col 1:15-17, Rom 8:28). That I will be preserved, and be called blameless and righteous before Him (Phil 1:6, Eph 1:4-5).

Jesus, for me, is enough. More than what the world could offer me, I'm already fine with this joy of salvation, with Him giving me a willing spirit. For in turn, as I would believe, whatever He wills for me, I know it would be good.

And this for me, has always been the end all, be all reason for living. That this joy should be experienced by all.

My Prayer to you guys.

I pray that you would also get to learn about this beautiful salvation. I pray that you would experience His love when you wake up one morning with a sudden change of view upon everything. I pray that you would get to see what great love the Creator of everything that you see has for you.

I pray for those who are in the gutter be restored to their joy of salvation. I pray that they would be reminded of this great love that Jesus has for us. I would also ask that He would send someone to you for these things.

Amen.

All Things: By Him, Through Him, For Him (Col 1:15-17)

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:20:00 +0000

Let’s start with questions before we dwell into the verse and how I got to understand this and also with regards to my life. So let’s go into the questions…

why do bad things happen to good people? why do bad things happen at all? if God exists then why does sin abound? why does things like murder and others happen? Where is God when family members pass away prematurely, jobs gets cut…

These are the things that makes us raise questions about His reality to begin with. As to my life, why, in all my life being a Christian, succumb to depression to the point of complete darkness.

more after the jump

Colossians 1:15-17 (ESV)

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through him and for him. and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Whenever I’m asked about existence and things happening, I always dwell into this verse. This verse shows everything that I needed to know why things are created, why things happen, why circumstances exist. For one particular reason and one particular purpose alone… for him.

Now this is quite disturbing for some, let’s take into account some circumstances that we know that would question the whole, all things… for him conundrum.

Let’s check out current events and then let’s look into biblical events then personal events.

The verse says that all things are created by him, all things invisible and visible, rulers and people are all created by him. So this could probably involve the tsunami event back in December 2004, earthquake in Haiti, 9/11 back in 2001, dictators, fuhrers, wars… I guess these things would be included under the umbrella of all things right? yes… I believe that all these would fall under all things. For Him… alone.

I don’t know yet how these things would turn out, but basing everything on Biblical events, I know these things would turn out for good.

Few stories in mind…

Joseph, being hated by his brothers, beaten up, sold into slavery and then being one of the top honchos in Egypt. This would then save the 12 heads of the tribes of Israel from an impending famine. Saving the line where Jesus would eventually come.

Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Betreyal of Judas. Judas, being a close friend of Jesus, being part of his ministry for 3 years, eventually sold him off for 30 pieces of silver that would then push for the greatest murder in human history. Christ hanging on a tree.

John 6:53-55 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink

John 10:17-18 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I received from my Father.

Romans 8:23-25 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

All things must come to pass. The good, the bad and the ugly for him. Where Romans 8:28 says that all things happen for good.

As you see, all those things, the good, bad and ugly had to happen for what… the greatest display of grace and righteousness for us. For the people, who has fallen short of the glory of God. This is the greatest prize that Paul repeatedly asks for in the book of Philippians. This was the very thing that David wanted to be restored in everyday as you could read in Psalms 51:12-14.

And then in my own personal life. Where I was completely rooted out from friends after friends back in high school and college. I graduated college without any friends, without any identity. I was a Christian then but couldn’t understand why I couldn’t catch a break. I went into depression for friends and other security blankets that culture dictates was taken away from me. This I couldn’t understand. Only now, when I found myself with the bestest friends that I could ever be with. These friends eventually helped me to get closer with the Lord. Am I thankful that I left things? Am I grateful that these things had to happen? Yes. I wouldn’t be who I am with the Lord if it wasn’t for these events.

With that being personally met, I wouldn’t even flinch when there are waves that would slam me down. I know that there’ll be hope. I know that all things would eventually lead to good, even if the situation sucks now. Romans 8:28 is something I hold on to.

I write this to give you hope. I write this for the readers that would eventually see things clearly that all things are created by Him, through Him and For Him. Hold on to these truths, hold on to these testimonies that everything, good, bad, ugly, would eventually lead to glorifying Christ in the end.

No matter what happens… Christ will be glorified.

when you’re hurting, when you’re in pain, when you’re in the gutter… know that always… always… all things, for those who love God and who are under his purpose, will work out for the good.

May the Lord bless you, and keep you, and make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Man, Choices, Freedom, Slaves

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:24:00 +0000

I have always found myself wondering what Paul meant in Romans 7:18 "... having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness". I kept on wondering about this paradox of being free from sin yet still slaves. I have always thought that freedom from sin would be freedom.

So bear with me as I try to dissect this particular verse and reach to a conclusion on what this could probably mean. I guess, by trying to look at this particular verse, we'd also get to understand if we really do have a choice in our lives and how these choices are operated. I'll probably go to another verse in Proverbs to see where plans and decisions lay.

It seems a bit odd having being considered free yet still called slaves. This is one of the verses that most would point to when they try to explain mans limited freedom of choice. As I have observed through my life that most of the choices that I pick would be the ones that I mostly love. Doesn't even consider the consequences of these choices, as long as I consider it good for me, I'd go for it. I would equate puffing a cigarette after every meal as part of those choice. Let's make a use of that as an example.

A smoker knows what kind of hazards smoking does to our body. I knew what kind of side effects it would give me, for so long I couldn't last and play long minutes in basketball since I couldn't run because of the effects of smoking. I knew that, I loved playing ball, and I loved smoking. As you'd see, I always have a choice of smoking and not smoking... yet, I still choose to smoke. No matter what kind of justifications I have inside my head, that's where I'll go. Same with eating burgers compared to salad. I know I'd rather have burgers since that's what I love to do.

This is what Paul was saying in Romans 7 where we could begin with verse 16 where he writes "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?". We are obedient to where we present ourselves. I was a slave of myself, my own desires, my own passions and pretty much everything that I thought I needed in life was what controlled every bit of me (Eph 2:1-3). Decisions, choices, actions all of them, obedient to the passions of my heart. It is of the same thing that I couldn't turn to Jesus back then because I was a slave of self, it could be said the same with me not choosing to eat salad because I loved meat, or a vegetarian not considering meat because they love vegetables. I hope I'm clear in this one. This is where I was set free.

"But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were commanded" Romans 7:17

Thanks be to God, that I, who was once a slave of sin, slave of desires without direction, slave of unrighteousness have become aware of God's perfect law that revives the soul (Ps 19:7) and has become obedient of it and has taken delight in it. Oh what turn from hating it to loving it.

Now I notice that... I am a slave of something else. My desires have been changed from the heart, my mind and actions are now more consumed by what the Word directs me to do. I am now a slave of righteousness set free from the slavery of sin. I still have the same choices available. I know that there's still that free choice of choosing to sin or choosing to backslide from where I am. There are still forks present in our journey showing these decisions, narrow path? or wide and gold paved road? Hanging out with your friends for a late night cap with booze, or choosing to hang out with other friends for some clean fun. These choices are there, these choices are still free. The only difference now is that you, your heart, your mind are all in sync in choosing what is right, what you want, what you desire, what you believe would help you more. Set free from the slavery of sin... but now slaves of righteousness.

Are we controlled? By all means no. These are birthed from our own initiative, these is us exercising our freedom of choice. The only difference is that we have a change of heart, surgically operated by God himself to help us out in the choices and decisions that we make (Ezk 36:26).

One of the analogies that I would use here is something that we could all relate to. Courtship. As a single guy, there are alot of choices, as the old saying goes, there are alot of fishes in the sea. You could choose girl-a or girl-b. But the real question here is... do I want to? Now that I feel that my heart has taken joy and delight towards someone else, even if I'm free and allowed to go out, I just choose not to.

I'm free, yet still a slave.

Thanks be to God for that.

I leave with this very verse that I was reading this morning about plans and decisions in Proverbs 16 where in it is written "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord." We can plan whatever we want, we can have different forks in our hearts, we can have different choices available present in our heart... But the decisions that we make is, as this Proverbs say, is from the Lord. From the God who is able to change our hearts effectively, changing the desires that birth from it.

I hope that this would be clear to you as it has been revealed to me in understanding through my reading of scripture. I hope this made sense to us all as, in a way, we have scraped through what the verse implied. I leave us all with my favorite doxologies found in the New Testament in Jude 24-25.

Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."

Miami = Mount Olympus

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:09:00 +0000

Mount Olympus, in Greek Mythology, is the mountain where all their gods lived and ruled. Where Zeus throws his bolts of lightning to wage war at anything that goes against him. Along with him are the other gods and goddesses that ruled each of their own jurisdiction. Ares of war, Aphrodite of love, Athena of wisdom and so on.

7/8/2010, Miami Florida just became like the Mount Olympus of the NBA. This is where LeBron James decided to play after he held the whole league in hostage, breathless in anticipation of where he'll go for from this season on. This marked the most interesting off-season that the NBA may have, or may will ever experience when the biggest stars of today such as LeBron, Wade, Bosh, Amar'e, Boozer and the likes have the freedom in the world to choose where they'll end. James decided to turn his back from Cleveland and head towards Miami to form this sight.

And what sight to behold. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, doing his best KG impersonation, to possibly form the biggest of all big threes.

I'm still curious how this would look like inside the court. I know Bosh wouldn't mind taking a step back in his player role but who will be Batman and who will be Robin. Who will be the Zeus in this mountain and who will be Hephaestus to hand him over his lightning bolts. Who will be the other 11 that will form this roster? We already know that Chalmers would still be part of this team (lucky), and according the league buzz, Mike Miller might return to Florida to dress up with these guys.

Alot of questions followed up the answer James provided yesterday. We also have Cavs owner, Gilbert giving an answer of his own to this whole James-to-Miami-leaving-Clevelanders-with-broken-hearts-again written in a comical font. Chicago, New York, New Jersey and the LA Clippers? can now move on with their lives and sign available Free Agents to bolster up their rosters.

Chicago wasted no time after signing up Boozer and Korver from Utah. The Knicks pulled off a trade sending David Lee to Golden State for Ronnie Turiaf, Azubuike and Anthony Randolph. New Jersey signed Travis Outlaw and The Clippers? signed Gomes? and Randy Foye.

So now that this crazy off-season just turned the corner, we can't wait and see these three play and (possibly) dismantle every team that faces them. Suns coach, Alvin Gentry still has one thing to share with them, team chemistry is one strange thing. So with everything said and done...

Come on October! Bring on the Heat.

P.S.
I will, in no way, join the millions of bandwagoners that just started buying heat merch and call themselves as fans.
I will, with disappointment and depressing stature, remain a Phoenix Suns fan (with the Orlando Magic as my mistress) even if the !@$%!@%#! owner doesn't plan on winning a title.

Random Randomness

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:20:00 +0000

My documented hatred for the mindless wave that's sweeping the entire universe right now has just released the third part of their oh-so-awesome "saga" (sarcasm and air-quotes) and I just felt I'd put this Random Randomness quote I found over the interwebs. The reality of Edward Cullen.

Edward Cullen isn’t a vampire. He lives in the forest, roams around the trees, doesn’t kill people and glitters. So he is obviously a fairy.

and this one I found from my brothers blog who was obviously talking about a non-vampiric charger. But then, I have no clue why he posted this image on his gadget blog.

Not a Fan but... Wow!

noreply@blogger.com (Marco de Jesus) — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:57:00 +0000

Never read the books, but followed all the movies (only on DVD). Can't lie that the Harry Potter series of movies is indeed one for the books (unlike the pretentious one that tagged itself a saga and also did a 2 part movie of the last book.). I'm not a fan but watching the trailer of the last film made me excited to see it on the silver screen. Check it out yourself.

Ok... but I won't lie that I love Hermo... Emma Watson.

and... shut up... you probably got excited watching the Eclipse trailer.