Monday, July 16, 2012

Two Davids


A Roller Coaster Ride
by: Jun Gravoso

David is a typical 30-something Christian guy who grew up in Sunday schools. He was raised in a Christian home. He is blessed with a stable teaching job. He’s married to a kind and understanding woman.  He now rarely attends worship services though. The reason? He feels that God is so far away. For him it seems that God is a distant God. The root cause of his feeling? He had an extra-marital affair which gave him a son.

No, this is not the story of the biblical David.

David is one of my colleagues in school.

“Let’s go to church”, I said.

“I really don’t know. I no longer have the desire to attend worship services,” David replied.

I just looked at him with compassion and understanding. I wanted to  tell him that I am a friend who will always understand.

“I miss those good old days when I was so active in the church. I remember that I always had my daily devotion with my wife.”

“Then the more that we should go to church now.”, I said.
“How can I go to  church? You know, I really feel guilty. How can I praise God when I failed Him?”

My friend’s story is the same as that of biblical David.

David grew up in the fear of the Lord. He was really favored by God.

But he committed one grave mistake.  

He had an affair with Bathsheba. This affair affected David so much. He felt that God departed from him. In Psalm 22:1 David lamented, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thouso far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?” (KJV)

I can empathize with David.

I guess my co-teacher David can also feel with King David.

I bet my bottom dollar that so many of us can relate with King David’s feeling.

So many of us are pleading to God what King David is asking God in Psalm 22:11 “Be not far from me.” (KJV)
I guess so many of us had sleepless nights crying to God and we felt that God wasn’t listening to us. This is what David felt when he wrote, “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” (Psalm 22:2, KJV)

Duringthese times of crises it really is very important for us to go back to the Bible and see what Christ has done for us.

When we are tormented because of sins we have to remind ourselves that Christ died for our sins. (Romans 5:8)

I strongly believe that when The Father sees us He is going to look at what Christ has done on the cross and not to our transgressions. The blood of Jesus will cover all of our sins.

This is what the Bible promises us.

That we will be white as snow.

We also have to remind ourselves that nothing can separate us from the love of God. (Romans 8:38) We are eternally secure in God’s love.

There is one catch though.

We have to admit that we committed a sin and confess that sin to God.

We can hold on to his promise in 1 John 1:9. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from ‘all’ unrighteousness.” (emphasis mine)

Do you feel that God is so far away?

The Bible says that we are secured in God’s love. (Romans 8:38)

Do you feel that God is so far away  because of life’s blunder?

Claim Romans 5:8.

But never, never forget 1 John 1:9. J

Thursday, June 28, 2012

A Self-Confessed Jurassic

I don’t use mobile phones.

Not because I don’t have one. I have an obsolete unit. It is still functional though. I can still use it to call and send sms if I needed to. Though most of the time it is just lying somewhere in my topsy-turvy room. I seldom bring it with me.

I do have valid reasons why I always leave it at home. First, it really is very irritating when someone calls me when I am so busy or during my classes. I really am aghast when I am focused in doing something and suddenly my phone rings because of a not-so-very-important concern of a friend. I believe that if someone needs to tell me a very important message, he should come and see me. Second, nothing beats the face-to-face conversation. If I need to talk to someone, I prefer seeing him face-to-face to get what I want. I feel that conversation is really not clearer when it is done through the phone.

 Mind you, I haven’t brought my cellphone with me for ages and I am happier now because I am not scared that I may l lose or misplace it. How much is a cellphone now? I witnessed how a number of my friends cry rivers because they lose their precious and treasured mobile phones. With my present state of financial difficulties I will definitely be in despair if I lose thousands of my hard earned money. Not to mention that I am a card-bearing cheapskate.  Moreover, why should I buy an expensive and an up-to-date model of a mobile phone when I only need to call someone whom I cannot see probably because of geographical considerations? I can also call someone with a cheaper, second-hand mobile phone. Function is more important for me than aesthetics.

I also don’t give a damn importance to trimmings. If it can do what is supposed to do, then it is okay with me. Years ago, I had this Alcatel mobile phone which my friends call “safeguard” because of its shape. My friends always made fun of my cellphone whenever we were together. Once we were in McDonald’s and we left our table to go to the counter to order foods. We left our stuffs on the table thinking that it is safe inside McDonald’s. To our dismay, a hooligan probably passed by and got my friend’s Nokie 3310 (the latest craze at that time). To my delight and to my friends chagrin, the thug left my Alcatel. At that instance, my “safeguard” became an instant hit. 

 My friend learn his lesson and he learned it too late.

The next day when I saw him he was carrying an Alcatel.