FOOD FOR THE SOUL

In the coming days, God willing, we shall be talking about yummy and healthy FOODS and fitness exercises, but today let me talk about another type of food – FOOD FOR THE SOUL

SELF REFLECTION

Lately I have not been feeling well due to chronic anemia and hypertension. While lying on my bed last night, trying very hard to attract some sleep, my mind wandered back to many thoughts that had been filling my head since start of CoViD19 LOCKDOWN and QUARANTINE and CURFEW here in Saudi Arabia. One story after another, of the sad and sudden deaths of well-loved front-line care workers from all sectors of society due to CoViD19 have flooded the social media and other news portals. And just recently I witnessed the grief of a friend whose father died of a sudden heart attack back home in the Philippines. She so desired to go home but international flights were still suspended, and if flights were available and she was able to get emergency leave which, by the way, is not easy to get approved, she would spend 14 days in a quarantine facility before she could finally reach her family, and when she reached them, she would not be able to even hug her mother or siblings in observance of social distancing. All these new-normal practices could only shatter one’s already sorrowful heart.

I hear friends and relatives who mourn the loss of their loved ones without even paying them their last respect due to strict community quarantine policies. All these things have happened so suddenly. Nobody was prepared for this pandemic and its impact to man and environment. I feel bewildered about people panic-buying toilet papers, alcohols, food supplies and many non-essentials for ‘fear of a lot of things’.

So you see how active my mind was while getting ready to bed. I was like King Solomon in the last moments of his life, when he wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes. He started saying in chapter-1 that ‘Everything is Meaningless’, followed by: ‘wisdom is meaningless’, ‘pleasures are meaningless’, ‘wisdom and folly are meaningless’, ‘toil is meaningless’, ‘riches are meaningless’. Then in chapter-3 his wisdom teaches us that THERE IS A TIME FOR EVERYTHING, and a season for every activity under heaven:

A time to be born and a time to die,

A time to plant and a time to uproot,

A time to kill and a time to heal,

A time to tear down and a time to build,

A time to weep and a time to laugh,

A time to mourn and a time to dance,

A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

A time to embrace and a time to refrain,

A time to search and a time to give up,

A time to keep and a time to throw away,

A time to tear and a time to mend,

A time to be silent and a time to speak,

A time to love and a time to hate,

A time for war and a time for peace.

– from the Holy Bible,  – ECCLESIASTES, 22nd book of the Old Testament

A food for my weary soul!

As I reflected and pondered upon this Scripture passages, not only did I gain many insights but I gravely realized that if this pandemic prevails beyond six months or more as predicted by some, many things can happen, and with my current health condition, I could be one of those who will not be able to survive.

It made me sad thinking about my family back home. The last time I was with them was almost two years ago. If it happens that I leave this life to be with my Saviour in my current situation, my only wish is for all of my loved ones to come to where I am going when their time on earth is over. I got to at least talk to them about LIFE beyond the here-and-now. But how? When we video-chat we talk about other things and we laugh a lot. So there have been no chance for me to share with them this food-for-their-soul.

SEE YOU WHEN I SEE YOU

On our Messenger Group Chat with my siblings, I started typing these words: See you when I see you…

Then I continued on…. But on my laptop, to be sent soon.

Here goes my letter:

My dearly beloved siblings,

Hey, what’s up? Been thinkin’ of you a lot lately. I have not been well these past few weeks. I feel like I’ll be gone any moment soon. It would be my joyous glorious day when that happens. I shall go to heaven where my soul is saved for and be with my Lord forever.

You have been aware of my faith since I surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus Christ in 1985. I was just 18 then. I regret that we do not seriously talk about God and Heaven when we get together. We talk endlessly about all the sad and happy things and we enjoy singing and laughing and just have fun. All these things will I cherish forever. I would not exchange you for anything in this world. Our bond and love as siblings are matchless.

We cannot escape reality, though. We need to decide NOW where our souls must go. We have only two choices – Heaven or Hell. And it has to be decided now, while we are alive, not when our body loses its ability to breathe and the mind is naught.

I have chosen Heaven in 1985 when some young people boldly shared and preached the Word of God. I realized then that being a good person or joining a religious sect would not make us worthy of Heaven, as is being taught in many churches and homes.

I will never forget the turning point in my life when I heard the story of Nicodemus in the New Testament, Gospel of John, Chapter 3, where he asked the Lord Jesus Christ how to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And the Lord answered him, “you must be born again”. Human as Nicodemus was, like us, he asked the Lord, “how can that be, will I go inside my mother’s womb to be born again?… oh, how like us! We are like Nicodemus, so philosophical…hehehe

The wonderful experience of Nicodemus after the Lord explained that He was talking about Spiritual birth had me believe. It was impossible for me to believe then, considering our up-bringing and culture. We were introduced to paganism while we were young, as part of our culture, and our father was an atheist. We were introduced to Christian religion only after our parents died. So, for me back then, it was a surprise to be able to believe in God after hearing a story in the Bible.

I came to understand later on, when I continued to study the Bible, that what happened to me was a powerful work of God. It is He who gives us faith. I never intended to listen to preaching of the Word, but there I was, skeptical at first but was convinced and humbled afterwards. It was a wonderful and new experience for me.

My spiritual hunger to learn more about the Word of God led me to better understand what it means to be born again. It is clearly explained in the Letters of the apostles, Paul, Peter, John, James, and the other disciples, Dr. Luke and Jude – all in the New Testament. To be born again, we need to understand that we are not worthy of Heaven because we have sinned. But we were washed by the blood of Jesus Christ which was shed on the cross at Calvary, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish to Hell where sinners go, but will have eternal life in Heaven.

Believing in Christ means having faith that He is the Son of God; that He came and dwelt among men. He died for you and me, and His death is a sacrifice so that instead of us paying for our sins, it was He who was the ransom. He saved us! He died on our behalf. He was buried, but He did not remain in the grave. He resurrected on the third day, and is now at the right hand of God in Heaven. If we believe, we need to invite Jesus Christ to take over our lives. When we do this, He will reside in us and will direct us to do His will.

As I am writing this, I am praying God will give you faith today as He did to me. I am writing and praying in tears, because I fervently hope that we shall see each other again and live longer together, and be together forever in Heaven after our pilgrimage here on earth. To invite Christ into your lives, you need to pray, like talking to a suitor who has been wooing you and you finally accepted his love… You may pray similar to my prayer back when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior in 1985. It goes something like this:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I have sinned against my parents, and other people. I did not believe in You because of many reasons. But here I am now. I thank you for Your love that You sent Your only Son Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice, dying in my place. I now acknowledge and accept Your Son as my Savior and Lord. Dear Lord Jesus Christ, please come into my life and be my Lord. May I be where You are. Thank you very much. Amen.”

I remember this was how I prayed. There were a lot of other things I told God that moment when I surrendered to Him. I was overwhelmed with inner peace afterwards.

When you invite Christ sincerely into your life, your spirit will be reborn. You will become a new creation as the apostle Paul says in his First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17.

I hope and really pray that you will choose Heaven as I did.

It is not about religion. It is about life beyond. Please let us be together forever in Heaven. I hope we could chat online and talk more about these things.

See you when I see you….

FACTS OF LIFE

What is happening now in the entire world is a fulfillment of prophecies proclaimed and written by God’s prophets in times bygone, chronicled in the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. I call them the facts of life. Let us mention some of those:

1.  There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be:

a. lovers of themselves,
b. lovers of money,
c. boastful,
d. proud,
e. abusive,
f. disobedient to their parents,
g. ungrateful,
h. unholy,
i. without love,
j. unforgiving,
k. slanderous,
l. without self-control,
m. brutal,
n. not lovers of the good,
o. treacherous,
p. rash,
q. conceited,
r. lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.

[from the 2nd Letter of Paul to Timothy, Chapter 3, verses 1-5, New International Version, New Testament, Holy Bible]

 2. There will be pestilences, wars and rumors of war. There will be earthquakes, famine, and perilous times in the last days.

3. Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of many will wax cold.

[from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 24, New Testament, Holy Bible, New International Version]

4. The earth will come to its destruction.

We can go on and on and talk more about prophecies and facts. But the bottomline is that: We cannot save our own selves from the destruction of the earth. We need a Savior. That Savior is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

God has provided a way out. That Way is Jesus Christ. [from the Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verse 6, New Testament]

LOOK FOR ME…

Here is a song I love to sing. It was written and sung by Rusty Goodman. You might like to hear it sung by his daughter Tanya Goodman Sykes. You can watch it from the Gaither Homecoming concerts. This song is for those who are assured of their salvation, who faithfully awaits the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Below is the lyrics of the song – LOOK FOR ME – another food for the soul.

When you finally make your entrance to that city
Of jasper walls, and bright gold avenues
As you behold all its beauty and splendor
Remember there’s just one request I make of you

Look for me, for I will be there, too
I realize when you arrive, there’ll be so much to view
After you’ve been there ten thousand years, a million, maybe two
Look for me for I will be there, too

As you go down your list of Firsts, there’s no question
You’ll want to see your loved ones, waiting there for you
And when you feel, you’ve shared your story with the last one
That wants to hear you tell just how you made it through

Look for me, I’d like to hear it, too
I realize when you arrive, there’ll be so much to view
After you’ve been there ten thousand years, a million, maybe two
Look for me, for I will be there, too.

MY PRAYER

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for guiding me in writing this first blog for my website. Please bless all those who are reading this with a wisdom that comes from You only, that they may come to know You and receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. So that when the appointed time comes, we shall look for each other in Heaven.

May you feed their souls with your Word and give each one of them faith to believe in You.

May You also bless the Letter to my siblings that I am about to send them. May they submit and surrender to Your call as You knock on the doors of their hearts, and invite You into their lives.

Further, I pray for this website to be Your channel of blessings, that many who are seeking peace, relief, help, assistance, support, and other needs, may find them here in this website.

May Your Holy Name be magnified, glorified, honored, and praised now and forevermore.

This is my prayer in the Name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Chuna