ACHY-BREAKY MENTOR

Whew! What a roller coaster ride.

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This current school term has just been a blur of preparing lesson schemes, Powerpoint lectures, assignments and exams; a whirlwind of class discussions, workshops, students' presentations; and agonizing exam/assignment checking.

I love teaching. 

My spirit has always been willing, but this time around, my senior self―aka, aching knees, forgetfulness episodes, impatience often rearing its ugly head―unfurled the red flag, cautioning me to slowdown, go easy, and take each day as it came, otherwise...

So here I am singing alleluia as each of my subjects winds down and anticipate a well-deserved vacation. It's only been by God's amazing grace, wisdom and strength that this achy-breaky mentor still stands.

It's been a school term of firsts, as far as this teacher is concerned:

My first time to handle a string of subjects and levels, from senior high to college undergrad to post-graduate (MBA).

My first to teach quite a number: 68 students all in all.

My first attempt at different and creative assignment and exam configurations, because I would have drowned in a hurricane of words and unintelligible essays―which would take me forever to make sense of―if I insisted on traditional course work outputs.

Too, I learned to let go, giving my students more leeway to explore more information and concepts, but mindful that as a teacher, I must impose boundaries so that their curiosity doesn't bring them to the edge where radical ideas may poison them.  

I pray my students have learned, and gained wisdom in the process.

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I pray too I've helped them be refined―that their character went through some molding, stretching, even breaking, and with a lot of aha moments besides.

Did I discipline them enough, reminded them of the consequences if they slackened?

"Smug!" I've at one point sternly told one group.

I waited for repentance, but got this chorus instead, "Ms., what does smug mean?"

"Look it up in the dictionary," I replied rather smugly too.

Anyway, next time, they were more considerate.   

It was a learning overload for me too! Just like a caffeine fix on IV (intravenous) drip perennially pumped into my veins. Some nights I spent just concocting strategies to engage them.

Where I struggled most were our discussions on family issues―domestic violence, divorce, abortion and the LGBT culture―in the subject "Understanding Culture, Society and Politics".

To put a closure on the different ideas that were almost flying off the handle, I relied on my believer's toolbox, sharing with them biblical truths as anchors for right living.   

One of my biggest realizations: special kids are special indeed! I prepared a special exam for my special student Ana*. She insisted on taking my original exam and got an even higher grade than her other supposedly "normal" classmates.

Miracles indeed happen in the classroom. Some may take longer to gestate―like students who may bungle it again and again, but shape up later. But many changes happen right in front of me.  

That's why I love teaching. Thank you, Jesus, for being my teacher.  

*Not her real name

ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA

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It's fascinating that with Facebook, Twitter and other social media channels, folks from all over the globe are able to seamlessly connect wherever and whenever they please.

That wasn't so in my heyday. That was when we wrote letters―done very sparingly because postage stamps cost a fortune―which reached the other side of the globe in weeks. Or we phoned. But that too was expensive. With my P300 salary (my first pay-check after graduation, should reveal how ancient I am), no way!  

If I went on fieldwork, I'd fall off the grid―my boss never knowing if I made lakwatsa (goofed off) or was in fact working.  

Thank God for the likes of Google's Sergey Brin and Larry Page, and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, whose algorithmic minds have made real time and in-your-face connectedness such a whee-some ride. And at hardly any cost to ordinary people like us!

So today, we no longer search but Google information, or tweet them, or FB-post them; plus say "good morning" and "nitey-nite" to nanay, ate or your bestie via Facetime, Viber, Messenger or Skype―all while you're having breakfast or while you're preparing to call it a day.

And who's complaining? How convenient! What a blessing!

People we've not seen in ages have suddenly materialized. Class and family reunions are more complete because no matter how far off the grid one is, somebody's bound to be found.

Our UST Education High School class reunion FB page is alive with reports of classmates long lost but now found. You've surely heard of high school sweethearts finding each other again, rekindling the fire for another chance at love. Cheesy ba?

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But too much of a good thing can also be a curse. It's not Zuckerberg or Brin's fault. We still celebrate their algorithmic minds or anyone with a new gadget or app to make life a bit easier, especially for those with limited means or those hindered by age or disease. Technology has levelled the playing field, don't you think?

We've become overly dependent (like an addiction) on the net and social media that we've used them as substitutes for genuine social interaction. Doesn't if feel good to have face-to-face or shoulder-to-shoulder interaction, with some fist-bumping, back slapping, foot stomping and guffawing besides? I'd feel warm and secure if in the midst of a loss or tragedy, my loved ones and friends came to embrace me or cry with me.

I feel sorry for the US president. The more he goes on Twitter, the more his popularity takes a beating. Because leading is not a matter of writing slogans or words with shock effect, or facing TV cameras and shooting off one liners and smart-alecky comments for social media mileage or to fill primetime news.  

Managing a nation or our lives is about confronting issues, spending time with people, seeking their feedback and making decisions that build bridges rather break them.

Notice how people have made social media their megaphone for expressing feelings which they could not tell you otherwise in person.

"You are the best thing that ever happened to me. You are my life and my joy! I wouldn't know how to go on with life if you will not be here by my side." When I read this, my first impulse was, "I hope he said this too, and more, in person."

Funny and sad scenes: family members fiddling with their cellphones at dinner time; teeners burning the midnight oil, not because of their assignments, but on their smart phones; and them coming to school with none of their lessons in mind.

This teacher has seen the quality of students go downhill each year. The internet bug has so inhabited young people's minds, they're unable to analyse or even carry on  decent conversations.    

Worse, many have taken to social media to curse and cuss others for their perceived inappropriate actions, decisions or words. Filipinos bashing Jeff Horn because he was declared winner over Manny Pacquiao? Shameful, wasn't it?

With all the negativity and sub-culture of hate―plus the selfie-showiness―displayed every day, many have started to treat social media in a sort of standoffish way.

Thanks, social media, I still love you. But I've decided to limit your intrusion, and resolved instead to heed Hebrews 10:24-25:  
    

"… consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the day approaching."

ARE YOU UP TO THE CHALLENGE? ONE CHILD AT A TIME

World Vision photo

Kiana teaches Aeta kids. Not only that, she sponsors 18 of them so they could go to school. At this stage in her life, Kiana is paying it both ways―backward and forward.

Flashback, 1991. Kiana's father, Artemio Castillo (Manong Arting), faced his most harrowing experience. Mount Pinatubo erupted, entombing whatever little dream or hope they held on to.

"Ayaw ko nang balikan ang ala-alang 'yun," he testified in the recent World Vision (WV) appreciation event for its sponsors. "Kapapanganak pa lang ng asawa ko. Napakahirap umalis. Unahan (ang mga naiwan) sa pagkuha ng kabaong. Dating nang dating ang mga patay." (I want to forget it ever happened. My wife just gave birth. It was hard to leave. (People were) jostling for coffins. The dead just kept coming.)

Manong Arting's Aeta community became World Vision's special project. Not only were the children provided education. More than 150 Aeta families from Iba, Zambales, were relocated to a place they called "Lupang Pangako" (Land of Promise). Manong Arting today pastors his Aeta congregation, constantly reminding them of God's great love and faithfulness.

"Inspiring" was this event's recurring tone―when WV Vision recognized the role of child sponsors, sought more sponsors to commit, and demonstrated that lives can indeed be changed if people cared.

You may on the surface think that WV is all about sending underprivileged kids to school. Look further and you'll realize that for each child that you send to school, families are likewise engaged, through livelihood, health and spiritual programs―all to empower communities towards productivity in all areas of their lives.

WV's 15-year sponsors with
WV chairman Liwayway Vinzons-Chato

"It takes a village to raise a child"―an African proverb. 

Note that many among the five year loyal donors are millennials! A shout-out to my students! :) 

Many of these sponsors (some of them 15 and 20-year sponsors) support not just one but many children. The World Vision staff, management and board members―headed by former BIR Commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato―themselves have their own personally-supported kids. That's walking the talk!

Jack and I continued the sponsorship of our daughter Carmela (whose family now lives overseas) who at a young age deemed it proper to extend help in a disciplined way. Our sponsored child, Leah Melcah, is now a high school student. Her recent letter to us: "Thank you for all the advice nyo sa akin. Makakaasa po kayo na panghahawakan ko ang inyong bigay na mga salita ng Diyos. Ganon din po kayo…patuloy na kumapit sa Diyos at 'wag kaligtaan na mag-pray sa kanya…" (Trust that I will hold on to the Word of God which you gave me. May you too hold on to God and not neglect to pray.)

When Jack and I retired and started to depend on our SSS pensions for our daily provisions, the temptation to stop helping charities bugged us. But how could we when God is our provider? When has He ever failed us? True, nowadays, we give sacrificially―especially since our maths still would not add up. But what's P750 a month if it means a child (without the means to make it because of extreme poverty) will have a chance to become a doctor or a scientist or a soldier?

Giving up six Starbucks lattes―or a pair of jeans―a month in exchange for a child being freed from scarcity? That's a no brainer!

One of the event's guest performers, contemporary artist, Quest (his real name Jose Villanueva III, himself a child sponsor) summed up the WV challenge via his "Sige Lang" song's chorus:

Walang imposible sige lang nang sige

Abot mo ang mundo

Malapit o malayo sama sama tayo (sama sama tayo)

Hanggang sa dulo ano man ang pagsubok

Hindi susuko, alam kong kaya mo

Sige lang sige! Sige lang sige!

Walang imposible!

People helping people. That's what it's all about! I pray you will be up to the challenge.

Jesus says in Matthew 25:40 "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

To get in touch with World Vision: Email wv_phil@wvi.org. Donor hotline  +632372777.

SUFFER NOT THE CHILDREN

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Nakakagigil! Aw, precious! Gorgeous! Lovely! Cutie-pie! Words we use to describe babies and little children — because indeed they are.

And we want to forever lock them in our protective embrace — if we could; but we know that at some point we need to let go, and let them go, so they won't turn spineless and insecure.

What's sad is, many kids today grow up devoid of not only precious parental nurturing, but the basic education they need so they can survive their increasingly complex environment.

In a lot of sitios in the Philippines, parents struggle to give their children education due to poverty. We may rant and complain about inutile and corrupt governance, or misguided parenting, but meanwhile, the children await:

That they may know A from Ba, Ka, Da, E, Ga, Ha, I, La, Ma, Na, etc., and put them together. 

Engage in mathletics. 

Practice good manners and right conduct. 

Learn basic skills like carpentry, baking, sewing. Most of all, discover that they could rise above their dire straits. 

That they can create, invent, write books, be a doctor or an architect, even jet to Mars, because they've discovered this — "I am an awesome creation. God has a great plan and purpose for my life!"

World Vision, you're a God-send! Founded 67 years ago, it exists solely to ensure that children experience life in all its fullness — where poverty and injustice exist.

"I have come that they may have life and have it to the full," says Jesus (John10:10b) — World Vision's marching order.

I'm privileged to have met WV Philippines' fundraising team, courtesy of my new-found sister in the Lord, Angelica Piolino; and I praise God for instilling in them the value of "faithfulness with little".  

A professional bunch, they give donors timely and regular feedback on receipt of donations and the status of the children and their families. They even encourage the children to write you. Some messages I've received from my sponsored child have greatly inspired me.   

The first half of John 10:10 reads: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy." Satan knows that his grip on this world will soon be over, so he's closing in on the future generation.

Internet sources share these statistics: per year 56 million abortions worldwide (2010-2014); 58 million abortions in the U.S. since 1973; 610 thousand abortions in the Philippines alone in 2012.

Child abuse in the Philippines continues to rise, with sexual abuse, neglect, abandonment and sexual exploitation as leading cases. The images are as grim in Syria, many African nations, and other countries besieged by war and dictatorial or terrorist regimes.

Jesus commands in Matthew 19:14, "Let the children come to Me, and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

May our prayer and response be, "Here I am, send me." One child at a time.

If you wish to partner with World Vision, please call 372-77-77.

REDEEMING GRACE

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"Many have prophesied that 2017 will be a great year; but it's not so much the prophesying but the yielding to God which will bring you blessings," Pastor Paul Chase reminded us at the close of 2016.

And this, he said, is what the Lord requires: to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with the Lord, Micah 6:8.

I'm pretty sure that Steven and Steph (not their real names, including the ones mentioned here) are two of those who will receive God's abundant blessings—even miracles—in the days to come. 

Their love story itself is a miracle, and one for the books. If this were a theatre production, you'd be watching three acts.

Act 1: Until recently, Steph had consigned herself to a life of single-blessedness. She and Steven were schoolmates and were quite an item for seven years. They said temporary goodbyes when Steph left for the US many years back, with Steven promising to follow after two years. But the two years stretched to ten so Steph bid her merrily-ever-after-dream goodbye. She was moving on. Her sister Chai lived with her; so they made the most of their American dream.

Act 2: Fast forward to 2015. Steph and Chai step on Philippine soil again, but this time to a woeful scene. 

Their younger brother, Arvin, died under tragic circumstances, leaving behind two sons: Jace, four years old, and Nathan, one. Their mom never showed up and was never heard from again—for whatever reason. So their aging grandfather, now a widower, was left to care for the boys when Steph and Chai went back to the US. Though employed full time in the US, the sisters took turns to visit and stay a bit longer, playing surrogate mothers to their nephews.

Act 3, seventeen years after Steph and Steven said their goodbyes:

Steven, now a very mature Christian, was by himself in a mall when he espied a young boy. "He looks familiar, parang kamukha ni Arvin," he mused; then followed the boy as he strolled back to another familiar face—Steph's dad!

The next time Steph came home, guess who handed her a bunch of flowers? This time, she allowed herself to be swept off her feet again.

Steph and Steven tied the knot recently in a quiet but beautiful wedding ceremony conducted by the latter's brother/pastor.

Things are looking up that they could now quicken the process to adopt the kids and prepare for them a home in the US.

Amazing story, huh, about how God "closes a door then opens a window," borrowing a phrase from the musical play "Joseph the Dreamer". 

I've always wondered why the writer of that song used the word "window" instead of "another door"? This time I understood.

God allowed Steph and Steven to clearly see His design, a purpose bigger than one's self. It's about sacrificial love and relationships, "acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with the Lord."

That's what Christ showed us on the cross.

It will still be an uphill climb for this new couple to finally become official mom and dad to the boys. Parenting is challenging enough yet they're already deep into it.

We've witnessed a miracle. What's another miracle to Him who promised to work things out for the good of those who love Him?

I recently watched Steven playing with now two year old Nathan and my heart was assured: all will be well!

Lord, we lift up to you Steph and Steven. You know who they are and their situation. We pray that your abundant grace will enable them to persevere in their new-found status, and You will intervene so that they—with the boys—could now build their home.