Binondo: A Trip Down The Memory Lane
Growing up and then living in Metro Manila for the past 33 years, I have grown to appreciate my Chinese roots.
Though I used to dislike studying Chinese subjects, literature, history and basic phonetics starting at age five, I slowly began to realize how important it is to have a good grasp of the Chinese language.
Since most Chinese are into business and trading, it would be easier to relate with Filipino-Chinese who are known masters of this type of craft since the 16th Century.
Two Mondays ago, I brought my wife again to the heart of our roots—that is, in the Binondo area—where the biggest concentration of Chinese (Fookien)-speaking people reside and do business.
I toured her to the place, beginning in Benavidez Street, which houses Hope Christian High School, one of the known secondary Chinese schools in the Philippines.
At the parallel street, G. Masangkay, you can find St. Stephen’s High school, where I finished my elementary years. It’s the school where I first learned who Jesus was and what he did more than 2,000 years ago for erring people like me.
I remembered the afternoon Chinese classes I had during my six years in elementary and even saw my Grade 2 classroom where my teacher gave me an A- in my Chinese Christian education subject.
Anyway, we walked along the streets of Benavidez and G. Masangkay for 1 and a half hours as I shared the cultural differences of Chinese to Filipino.
We ate Chinese food at Wan Chai restaurant in Benavidez, which was just across Ma Suki, famous for its big siopao and Chinese noddles (mami).
We then checked out a few condominium units open for viewing in G. Masangkay because my wife and I plan to relocate at the heart of Binondo to better assimilate with Fookien-speaking Chinese-Filipinos.
Our walk down the Chinese district of Binondo ended in the rotonda of Juan Luna/Reina Regente where several edifices are found—the Binondo Church, which had been there since the Spanish times, the Tytana Building where the Binondo Full Gospel Church and Metrobank are located.
Along that rotonda are popular establishments like Starbucks, Pancake House and a Bank of the Philippine Islands branch.
As I see my fellow Chinese-Filipinos, doing business, sipping a frappuccino in Starbucks and others dining in at Pancake House, my wife and I uttered a prayer to them—that in God’s perfect time, they will have a personal encounter and relationship with Jesus.
http://www.connect.man2God.com
When I was a student, I used to hear our university professor tell us that the pen is mightier than the sword.
That was about one a half decades ago, back when the internet, Facebook, Multiply, Friendster and texting were still non-existent.
And when the only means of communicating were still through telegram, at least, email (for those who could afford an internet subscription, which was expensive at that time) and the conventional letter you drop at the post office.
The pen (and later on, the typewriter), were both powerful tools that shaped the minds of people for centuries.
William Shakespeare swept the world with his classic literary masterpieces that to this day are still being studied in academic institutions.
Jose Rizal’s two novels—Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo—are also literary works of art that has serve to fire up nationalism and love for the country.
At present, the information highway we’re in floods us with an influx of information of various sorts.
If you need to know something, you don’t even need to go to the library to check on that subject on question, you just simply need to google it.
How convenient!
If you have queries on your business proposal or dealing with someone, you don’t need to ask Mr. Postman to deliver your mail, you and your potential client/business partner only need to register at any social network where you could chat at any given time of the day.
Today, everything is within reach because of the information highway, thanks to the world wide web.
And with all these tools within our reach, I’m all the more convinced that every Christian ought to grab these opportunities in engaging and reaching their family members, friends, classmates, peer group with God’s message of hope and salvation.
Hebrews 4:12 says, For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Information is great. But it won’t bring a life-changing, destiny-altering experience.
Only the truth in God’s word can pierce through an anguished soul that could produce a radical change from inside out.
So the next time you log on to your a social network, keep in mind that the world wide web is an avenue to connect people back to God.
Photo Source: http://www.bloggingwithsuccess.net
Do You Believe In Happily Ever After?
Putting your hope in God is like walking with God through uncertainties of life
My daughter Bea loves to watch cartoon movies with “and-they-live-happily-ever-after” themes, particularly Cinderella, Snow White and Beauty and the Beast.
She watches these Disney masterpieces with intent each time they are played without getting bored.
Well, I guess that’s human nature–where people are fond of the “and-they-live-happily-ever-after” themes, but sometimes, when a not-so-good-event comes all of a sudden, they get disappointed and begin pointing the blame on people, society or circumstances.
So much for the dream and happily ever after themes, but the big question really is, “Is it possible to still be hopeful even though we are living in a world of uncertainty and imperfection?”
Ever experienced burning the midnight oil for your all-important Finals examination in school, and upon getting the result, you still, fell one-point short of passing it?
How about being promised a good, high-paying job with a security of tenure, only to realize later on, that the company you joined is a bogus?
Or probably, you’re engaged in business, and you were promised a six-figure monthly income, but after investing for quite sometime, nothing came back?
Devastating isn’t it? Painful. Frustrating. Strength-sapping.
We all probably encountered various situations that end up zapping all our hopes inside.
My wife and I, in your five years of marriage had these strength-sapping moments a lot of times.
But I remembered a verse in Psalm 46:5-6, which says,
“5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and 6 my God.”
When frustrations and disappointments are mounting inside of you, I believe the author is simply saying one truth—that nothing in this world, not your career, not your education, not your dreams of success, not even a nice relationship with someone, could ever bring hope and lasting peace in your life. Except God.
Are you close to giving up? Maybe it’s time to reconsider and look inside you, where are you putting your hope into?
Put your hope in God, and you’ll be resting at His loving hands.
Photo Source: http://blog.sanriotown.com/girlinblue:kuririnmail.com/files/2008/01/windowslivewriterwhoanelly-e138footprints2.jpg
History “Today”: The Munich Massacre
September 5, 1972. On this day, the Summer Games in Munich, West Germany was best remembered not for the world-class athletes who dominated the various field of sports, rather, by the terrorists called Black September who killed 11 athletes and coaches from the Israeli Olympic team.
Photo of one of the terrorists, who was looking over at the Israeli team quarter's balcony
Sneaking in at the athlete’s village, five of the Palestinian terrorists managed to barge into the athlete’s room of Israel’s Olympic team, killing a wrestling coach as well as a weightlifting athlete.
Nine other athletes, later on, were held hostage that day as the Palestinian terrorists were joined by three of their comrades. They all demanded the release of 200 Arab prisoners while they be given passage out of West Germany.
The website www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org narrated this incident.
After the helicopters landed at the air base around 10:30 p.m., the German sharpshooters attempted to kill the terrorists and a bloody firefight ensued.
At 11, the media was mistakenly informed that the hostages had been saved and the news was announced to a relieved Israeli public. Almost an hour later, however, new fighting broke out and one of the helicopters holding the Israelis was blown up by a terrorist grenade. The remaining nine hostages in the second helicopter were shot to death by one of the surviving terrorists.
At 3 a.m., a drawn and teary-eyed Jim McKay, who had been reporting the drama throughout the day as part of ABC’s Olympic coverage, announced: “They’re all gone.”
Five of the terrorists were killed along with one policeman, and three were captured.
Desensitized
Driving or just walking along the streets of Manila, I normally encounter street kids selling all sorts of stuff—from cigarettes, to strings of sampaguita, or wiper boys, who try to offer their services by wiping your car’s windshield during traffic stops.
And for quite some time, I admit that I had been desensitized by the numerous encounters I had with these streets kids, who at a very young age, have been thrust with a heavy responsibility to either support their families or simply do it for their daily survival.
However, on Monday (Aug. 31), as I listen to Pastor Miles McPherson speak during the Miles Ahead evangelistic festival rally at the Greenhills Christian Fellowship, I was struck by what he said about identifying with the brokenness of people in our community.
Truth is, as we walk across the streets of the city, we’d see people experiencing varying degrees of hurts—from failing academically, to experiencing failure in relationship or marriage, to losing millions in business or simply getting retrenched at work.
Of course, the hurting also includes people who live in deplorable condition daily, wondering how they could survive or live the next day with their basic needs met.
I’m challenged to rethink how I basically live my life as a Christian.
Jesus lived to see the various spiritual conditions of people during His time. There were the lepers, the lame, the blind and the mute, the deaf, the tax collectors and prostitutes who were despised in society.
But in all these encounters he had with them, Jesus showed them His love and compassion.
My prayer now is that God would continue transforming my heart, far from being desensitized. Making it sensitive and caring towards the hurting and the broken.
The whole point of caring and loving people can be best summarized by what the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthian believers– “9So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.” (2 Corinthians 5:9)
Photo Source: http://www.hobotraveler.com/blogphotos/187-02-street-children-philippines.jpg
