Thanksgiving for P

I have a race to blog about and more than a hundred people to thank, but right now family duties have put that on hold.

God is good. Hannah's Hundred was a success and I ran the race last Sunday morning at McKinley Hill. I shall discuss that more in detail when we get home after a five-day stay here at The Medical City.

I'm blogging at the end of a tiring day. It's been quite the eventful week beginning with the Hannah's Hundred run last Sunday morning. At around 2AM Monday, P woke me because she wasn't feeling well. By 9AM we were at the ER of The Medical City. For a while there -- 24 hours to be exact, the docs suspected it was a burst appendix. The wonderful and highly likeable pediatric surgeon Dr. Delfin Cuajungco took great care of P. She was also looked after by our pedia here at TMC - Dr. Rhiza Valdez. It's turning out to be a nasty case of food poisoning. The culprit -- most probably the baked tahong that she and I ate on Sunday night.

I'm just so glad our crisis is over. It's Thanksgiving in the US of A and my heart brims with Thanksgiving too for our Lord who has again seen us through this crisis. Such is life, the joy always runs parallel with the sad. But God is always good and faithful and he never forsakes us.

P is now on her was to recovery, both she and I have lost quite a lot of weight because of the experience. Be careful what you wish for, right? It's been quite a week for our family but with God's help and provisions, we've come out of it whole.

Thanks to everyone who has sent prayers and well-wishes. I love you all. For now, I just want to sleep, straight for 8 hours would be a joy. But there is an OFW talk to deliver on Saturday and a radio program to attend to on Saturday night. I'll be back on the week-end to tell you about Hannah's Hundred. God provides and equips ALL THE TIME... there is much to be truly thankful for.

Running The Race

On the eve of my run for Hannah, I have visions of ...



"My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." -- Forrest Gump

If you had told me six months ago that I would be doing a 5K tomorrow, I would have rolled my eyes in disbelief. I've never been the athletic type of person but now I believe that when God wants you to do something for HIM, in HIS name, HE will equip you. I pray that he will sustain me tomorrow and bless my every stride for HIS greater glory and in the name of everyone who is a part of Hannah's Hundred.

I can't help but feel both excited and jittery. And so I turn to that old classic and find God speaking to me, giving me comfort, and I know that all will be well tomorrow ...

"You came to see a race today. To see someone win. It happened to be me. But I want you to do more than just watch a race. I want you to take part in it. I want to compare faith to running in a race. It's hard. It requires concentration of will, energy of soul. You experience elation when the winner breaks the tape - especially if you've got a bet on it. But how long does that last? You go home. Maybe you're dinner's burnt. Maybe you haven't got a job. So who am I to say, "Believe, have faith," in the face of life's realities? I would like to give you something more permanent, but I can only point the way. I have no formula for winning the race. Everyone runs in her own way, or his own way. And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, "Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me." If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race." - Eric Liddel in "Chariots of Fire"

To God be the glory!

Katinas In Manila

Music has always been an integral part of my life, more so my faith life.

Music has a way of lifting one's spirits, no matter how blue you may be. Whenever I feel a little low, I always make sure that I start my day by listening to something that will lift me up. Christian music has never failed to do that for me. What better way than to hear the Lord's words set to to music, or to listen to a Christian artist remind you of the greatness of HIS love for us.

One such group, The KATINAS are coming to Manila next week to perform on November 30, 2008 at the Araneta Coliseum. Now, that's one show I don't plan on missing. The Katinas area contemporary Christian music group composed of five brothers who hail from Samoa. Their music is strongly influenced by the death of their mother in 1988 from breast cancer. In a Chrisianity Today interview, they said -- "Up to this day, we still write a lot of songs about our mother," says James, who also plays bass. "As we've grown into young men and even fathers, we find ourselves teaching our children everything we learned from our mom. She's still the inspiration to a lot of the lyrics even 15 years later."

The Katina's know all about family love, brotherhood and always trusting in the Lord who sees us through and who makes all things possible. Here's a clip of a beautiful acapella rendition of their hit "One More Time" -- to remind us that God is always with us each and every day.

Wolverine is Sexiest Man for 2008!!

He's always been my favorite character in "X-Men", and this year he's just been declared by PEOPLE Magazine as 2008's Sexiest Man Alive. Woohoo...



"Jackman's wife of 12 years, Deborra-Lee Furness, calls his perfect form "the Body of Doom – but I like what's inside": a romantic who sings ballads at home and makes pancakes for kids Oscar, 8, and Ava, 3" Awwwwww. He's a hot daddy too!

Find out who else made it to the list by clicking here.

Last Hurrah for Hannah's Hundred !

It's approximately a week before I run the race for Hannah.

I was looking at the map this evening. It's a pretty tough course and I must admit that I momentarily got the jitters. But running is a mind game too, and so I know that I just need to focus and pray. 5K may be a small feat to many, but for me, it's the start of a new journey. Hannah's been such a blessing and I thank the Lord for leading me to her.

Today I went to the bank to check on the status of our fundraising efforts and I am humbled by the outpouring of love and support that people have shown. In spite of the tough times, there are still so many generous hearts. God truly provides.

We are now just 20 people short of our target for Hannah!!

Once again, I would like to thank Tessa and Rapa and each and everyone of you who has given unselfishly to Hannah. Konti na lang.... Kindly include me in your prayer time this coming week -- for the Lord to keep me healthy and for my safety during the race itself.

If you would like to take part in a cause that I am sure will make your Christmas more meaningful and memorable this year, will you be a part of the last twenty that we need to complete Hannah's Hundred?

Please read on...

The gift of life is the most precious gift of all.

If you would like to pay it forward by giving a little girl a shot at life, please read on...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my three birthday wishes. Today, I write about the fourth one. About a month ago, I came across the story of Hannah Ysabelle Cordoviz through my friend Rapa Lopa's Facebook site. Hannah is a one year old girl afflicted with Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS) - a condition wherein the nerve center that allows s old. CCHS patients are expected to lead long and productive lives provided they get the care and necessary medical equipment required for their day to day existence. Hannah to breathe while sleeping does not function. The syndrome occurs in 1 out of every 1M newborn babies. In the Philippines, there are only three known cases of CCHS, the eldest is now three year years old. CCHS patients CAN live long and productive lives provided they get the support and medical equipment required.

A ventilator is CRUCIAL to Hannah's survival. Her parents, Carlo and Joann are so steeped in debt that everything they make now, all go into paying the hospital bills they incurred while Hannah was in the hospital.for eight months this year. They have also had to quit both their jobs to care for her 24/7. A portable ventilator costs 750,000 pesos. You can read more about their story in http://hannahysabelle.multiply.com/

When I first blogged about Hannah, my blogmate and friend Tessa Mendoza Cruz, a physical therapist based in Atlanta, was so moved, that on her own, she circulated the letter to several ventilator suppliers in the United States. We had been praying for someone to either donate a unit or sell it to us at a substantial discount. And God answered our prayers!
An offer came through an email, for us to purchase the ventilator at an amazingly discounted cost! The offer was too good to be true and far beyond our wildest dreams and expectations. But isn't that the way the Lord works?

Between the three of us - Tessa, Rapa and myself - we decided to split the expected cost and create our own fundraising efforts.
And this is mine...

"Hannah's Hundred" is a 5K race that I plan to run on November 23, 2008. It is a race sponsored by UNICEF, aptly titled "Walk On The Child's Side". Now, I am no true-blue runner and this will be a major challenge for me. As of this writing, I have only ran a measly 3K and at a very slow pace :) I hope and pray that you will help me run this race for Hannah. I do not expect to win the race, only to complete it with Hannah as my motivation to run it to the best of my ability.

How does it work?

I am looking for at least 100 kind individuals who will pledge at 1,000 pesos each for the race I will run. Roughly, that is 200 pesos/kilometer. I am entering the 5K category. Each person who donates 1,000 pesos to the cause will be entitled to a raffle ticket.

What do you win?

Aside from being able to contribute and give the gift of breath and life to Hannah, you can win a very special prize. My good friend, the highly talented and very generous architect and visual artist Joven Ignacio has so graciously donated a watercolor painting of his which he called, "Hannah" Every One Thousand pesos you donate to Hannah's Hundred will get you one chance to win Joven's beautiful watercolor painting (17 x 23). This precious artwork is of considerable value and blessed be the person who will take it home :)
Currently, I already have pledges from 5 people and I am looking for 95 more kind and generous souls. We all know that times are very difficult but one lesson I have learned time and again is that when we find the courage to go beyond ourselves, when we step out of the shadow of our own sadness, it is then that we feel braver, blessed and more optimistic about our circumstances. Somehow it has always been in giving that we become more fulfilled. It takes many kind hearts to give one child a better chance at life.

Will you run the race with me and be a part of HANNAH'S HUNDRED?

If you would like to make a pledge, or a deposit, please leave me a message here or email me at hannahshundred@gmail.com and I will acknowledge your pledge/deposit via email. If you know of others who may want to help Hannah out, please send this post to them. Any funds collected in excess of 100K will be donated to Hannah's parents to help defray her medical expenses. The raffle will be held after the race, in the first week of December. By God's grace, Hannah will get her ventilator, and a blessed donor will bring home the "Hannah" painting, in time for Christmas.

Thank you very much!

Poignant Obama in the NY Times

President-elect Barack Obama, right, hugged Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth after a wreath laying ceremony at the Bronze Soldiers Memorial in Chicago in honor of Veteran's Day. Ms. Duckworth is the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press

Raising Obama, Be The Change...

Hope is a truly powerful thing.

So powerful that it helped propel Barack Obama into the White House. He’s been on my mind this last week for pretty obvious reasons. On Wednesday, around noon, as I listened to him deliver his acceptance speech at Grant Park, I was teary-eyed. And then the rest of the day I thought – what was it about him that has attracted, moved and inspired many other 40somethings like me to follow his campaign so closely and root for him from far away?
I suppose a lot of us look to him because for once, here is a man who speaks from his heart and the depths of his soul. Someone who can really connect with what this generation needs. “Yes we can!” He makes all things seem possible.

How does one grow up to become a Barack Obama? From stories and reports we find one very strong influence -- that of his unconventional and free-spirited but extraordinary mother who loved him unconditionally. Barack, who was raised by a single parent and a loving and supportive set of grandparents, story gives hope to many parents who raise children on their own. Obama has often been quoted as saying this about his mother Stanley -- “I know that she was the kindest, most generous spirit I have ever known, and that what is best in me, I owe to her.”
It’s never been easy to single parent, one would imagine, more so in the 1960s but Ann Dunham seems to have done quite an exceptional job with her only son, and his phenomenal rise over the last few years could still be attributed in part, I believe, to the roots that she had firmly planted when he was younger.

In his book “Obama From Promise to Power”, Chicago Tribune writer David Mendell who had followed Obama’s career very closely for the last five years, says that Obama described his mother’s parenting style as one that was very warm and to a certain degree, hands-on -- “ You know, she was one of these parents, who, you know, was the opposite of remote, was always very present and would be your biggest cheerleader and your best friend and had sort of complete confidence in the fact that you were special in some fashion. And so as a consequence, there was no shortage of self-esteem.” To love unconditionally, even though unconventionally, for a parent to make a child feel that he is capable of anything he sets his heart and mind to, and to expose him to a sense of fairness and equality and a belief in the innate goodness of man definitely has far reaching consequences even though that parent has long been gone.

Obama has said that it was his mother’s extreme idealism --- her continued ability to see the good in people --- was the quality that he most admired in her. Perhaps, it is also the trait that many people (jaded ones included) now find attractive in him—the overriding message of many of his speeches – “of how all of us are bound together as one, and that if we are to prosper as a country, and indeed, as a species, we must focus on the good we see in others .”

Meanwhile, his rock and the love of his life, Michelle, has often been referred to as the one who keeps it “real”for himself and for theirt wo children – Sasha and Malia. In a recent Newsweek interview, I could see why. When asked by a reporter, how she would keep it real in the White House, she spoke of talking to Hilary Clinton whom she describes as “a wonderful resource” Michelle Obama, a bright and successful woman in her own right says , “Our hope is that we do some of what we've been doing for the last year and a half. That we really treat our family life as separate as you can, that we keep the girls' lives very set apart from this whole experience.”


Concerned about how the two girls would adjust in the White House, Michelle hopes that her mother would come along and live with them. Something I though to be very endearing and very Pinoy. She says in the same interview, “The girls are going to need her, as part of their sense of stability. And what is true for my mom is that she does anything for us and her grandkids. All they have to do is look at her with sad eyes and she's done for.”

And clearly, though she is cognizant of the huge responsibility that lies ahead for her husband, she also very certain about the ways by which he wishes to see Barack involved in the lives of their children.”He has to continue to make them a priority even as he's the leader of the free world. I think that's an important thing for him to model for others. It's this notion that if he can do it, then we all have to really fight for it.” Positive role-modeling clearly runs deep in the Obama gene pool.

Bibliotherapy

Hope and change were the buzzwords of the entire Obama campaign. The other day, while discussing the president-elect’s positive traits, my daughter Pia read to me from a very inspiring book . “Be The Change: Your Guide To Freeing Slaves and Changing the World” written by 15 year old Zach Hunter , an abolitionist and activist who spends much of his time ending slavery in the world. Last year, he spoke to almost a half a million people and is educating and inspiring students everywhere to make a change in the world. He also founded Loose Change to Loosen Chains, a student-run effort to help raise money to free slaves. Yes, slavery still does exist today and it presents itself in many forms. Read this book with your children and together find out what you can do in your own community to make this corner of the world a better place to live in.

This article was published in "Roots&Wings" in the Lifestyle section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer on November 9, 2008

For Good from WICKED

Friends lost, friends found...

When a friend sang this to me (yes, you read that right...) over salad and pizza in an empty cafe, I was struck by the lyrics. Like a scene straight out of a Star Cinema movie, I sat there, listening in awe with my mouth half-open. When I think about it now, I wonder -- "What must have the food servers been thinking?"
I had heard it sung before but I guess you must go through certain things before you can fully appreciate its meaning. There goes another precious "aha" moment.

For anyone who has ever lost a friend, male or female, you will relate to this one.

This is for you. You know who you are. Thank you for everything :)



(Glinda): I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

(Elphaba): It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine

By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you

(Glinda): Because I knew you
(Both): I have been changed for good

(Elphaba): And just to clear the air I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for

(Glinda): But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share
(Both): And none of it seems to matter anymore

(Glinda): Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
(Elphaba): Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood

(Both): Who can say if I've been Changed for the better?
I do believe I have been Changed for the better

(Glinda): And because I knew you...
(Elphaba): Because I knew you...
(Both): Because I knew you... I have been changed for good...

Barack Obama's Journey

"I am not in this race to fulfill some long-held ambitions of because I believe it's somehow owed to me. I never expected to be here. I always knew this journey was improbable. I've never been on a journey that wasn't."

- Barack Obama, Illinois, November 2007

Photo from the Associated Press

Hannah's Hundred Update

We're almost there!

Thanks to everyone who has thrown in their generous support for Hannah's Hundred :) It's not too late to help us out. I continue to be amazed at God's provisions and we are now only about 25% away from our target with two weeks to go. I know and trust that God will continue to provide for Hannah's needs.

Hebrews 12 v 1 says --
" So let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us "

If you would still like to be a part of Hannah's Hundred, and want to know how it works, you can read about it here. If you'd like to send in a pledge, please email me at Hannahshundred@gmail.com What better way to make Christmas even more meaningful than in knowing that you have done your part in helping give a little girl a better chance at life? Thank you very much and God bless!

How Sarah Palin Got Pranked

Gullible would probably be an understatement...Listen well and see how she got taken for a ride by two Canadian comedians.

Finding Lala

Serendipity has always been of my favorite words and it came alive for me in time for All Soul’s Day.

It is the story of “finding” someone I had lost 33 years ago and putting closure to a childhood grief experience I thought I had long buried and forgotten.

In Kindergarten in the early 70s, I had a best friend at Maryknoll (now Miriam College) named Lala de las Alas. We hit it off immediately, from the first day of school and were like two peas in a pod. Lala was bright, very pretty, a funny girl with many stories to tell. Unfortunately, our friendship was rudely interrupted in 1973 when she had to stop school to leave for the United States to seek treatment for a kidney disease.

After a year or so, Lala resumed school but was held back because of her illness. I had then moved onto Grade Five. We tried to pick up from where we left off, but you know how it is with children. I missed Lala and I would feel bad whenever I would see her on campus, her appearance had changed and she seemed tired, perhaps because of the steroids that her young body had to take. But her smile was still there. The few times that we were able to chat after she returned from treatment were precious but few and far between.

It was a warm August day in 1975 when the news was delivered over the P.A. system by one of the Maryknoll sisters. “We would like to request the school community to pray for the eternal repose of the soul of Lala de las Alas who joined our Heavenly Father yesterday…” and then it all became a blur as I broke down and cried. All I remember of that day was my uncontrollable sobbing and how I ran to the bathroom to compose myself. In the afternoon, when I returned home from school I requested my parents to take me to Lala’s wake. Perhaps because my parents did not know any better (child psychologists were not readily accessible in 1975) I was not allowed to attend her wake at the Santo Domingo Church. “It’s better for you to remember her alive…” my father said. And so it was that I was not able to say good-bye to a much-loved friend who was gone too soon.

In the ensuing years, although I had tried to block the memory of that first significant loss, I had always considered Lala’s death to be my first major experience of grief. While doing research last year for a book on grief, I remembered Lala’s mother who had lost Lala in the 1970s long before grief support was available in the Philippines. I wondered how she was and had so many questions that I wanted to ask her. I embarked on a search for Dra. Carmen de las Alas that unfortunately ended nowhere.

In March this year, I was asked to edit the book “Age of Confidence” a project of the Maryknoll College High School Class of 1984. A collection of 40 stories from Maryknollers of different generations, it wasn’t an easy project to do and one that was fraught with moments of great frustration but for some reason I was very much drawn to it. I suggested to the book coordinators to include the names of their deceased classmates in the books dedication. When I received the final lay-out, my hair stood. There, in the introduction page, was her name – “In memory of Ma. Estela de las Alas” She was the reason after all, why I had been tasked to edit the book. The Maryknoll High School Batch of 1984 would have been her batch had she lived to graduate from high school.

Then again, I bumped into a wall. Because she died so young, they hardly had any memories of her. However, there was a new link that I had perhaps blocked off but was reminded because of my association to the Batch of ’84 -- Lala had a younger sister named Melanie and she was part of Batch ’84 too. Unfortunately, Melanie had moved to Assumption for high school and no one knew where she was now.

Fast forward to August this year, the hospital I work for hired a new Medical Marketing Director who looked vaguely familiar to me, like someone I used to see as a child. You know how it is when some of the people from your past have faces that hardly change? I noticed that she too would sometimes look at me in a funny way, I would catch her staring at me from the corner of my eye. Finally, one afternoon, during a colleague’s birthday merienda, Dr. Ditas Gonzalez, the new manager, asked me if I had gone to Maryknoll for grade school. I quickly replied yes, andu understood why she had looked so familiar, so I asked her if she did too. She replied in the affirmative and said that she was a part of the class of 1980 but that she had moved to Assumption for high school. A lightbulb suddenly went on in my head… “Wait a minute, I just did a book on your high school batch… Do you know Melanie de las Alas?” I asked her, my chest pounding like crazy, I could hear the thump-thump in my ears. She paused for a moment and replied, “Of course, she’s my best friend…”

Suddenly the floodgates of my childhood swung open and in that moment I thought I was going to faint. So in the next hour, Ditas gave me an update on the why, how’s and whereabouts of Melanie. I was saddened to hear about their mother’s loss but was stunned when I realized that Dra. delas Alas had died during the month when I had been frantically searching for her last year. However I was so happy to have finally found a direct link to Melanie at long last!

A few days later, Ditas hands me over Melanie’s email address and I stare at it for a couple of weeks -- hemming and hawing, agonizing over what I would say to her. Finally, a few days before my birthday last month, I wrote her a very long email. To my great joy she replied the following day. We had both been thinking about each other through the years, “In my mind you will always be ten,” she said. In my mind, I told her, she would always be Lala’s baby sister. How the years had changed us both, how the grief experiences we had as children reverberated all the way throughout our adult lives. What a precious gift it has been for me to find Lala again after 33 years through her sister, Melanie.

The photographs you see here were sent to me by Melanie only a few days ago and the poem is the last one Lala had written the evening before she died on August 25, 1975. God’s ways are truly mysterious and sometimes it takes many decades before we find closure on certain things and events in our lives. Today I remember Lala with special fondness and though I have now been able to bid her good-bye, I am grateful for the new friendship I have forged with her sister. In Melanie I have found and retrieved a cherished part of my childhood, and in me, parts of her sister have come alive once more. Our re-connecting has not been just serendipitous one, but a Divinely orchestrated gift from above.

Finding Joy

"One of the conclusions I've reached as I've grown older and, I hope, wiser is that...less is usually more. In other words, when given the opportunity to simplify your life...take it.

I compare it to pruning a tree. By removing the excess branches the tree has more energy to bear beautiful blossoms and healthy fruit. Your life is no different. When you continually prune the areas not bearing fruit, you will be able to focus your energy on what matters most."

- Mac Anderson, Founder Simple Truths

Would you buy a Thudguard?

I remember a time as a young parent when P would reward us with an "egg" on her forehead almost every week. The "eggs" would come in various shapes, sizes and locations on her forehead. All part of growing up, right?

Would I have bought this product had it been available 16 years ago? I don't think so...

Welcome the Thudguard. It's a special hat for new crawlers and new walkers -- infants to toddlers -- to prevent any injuries to their noggin while exploring. And it's US$38.99.

Those little eggs and bumps are part and parcel of a baby or a toddler's natural exploratory nature. Sometimes they even crash and fall occasionally.

I remember how P dropped from her crib onto the floor, in front of her father one evening. I was in the kitchen on the ground floor, and this was while we were living in Seoul, when I heard a, what else... giant "Thud!" from above me. You can imagine how quickly I flew up the stairs and there she was, wailing and her flailing in her daddy's arms, thank God, alive and well with no major injuries.

So do new parents need a Thudguard? I think not.

Writing For God

God comes with a nugget just when you need it.

I read this quote on my friend, Victoria Gaines' blog ---

“When this little life is over, nearly all that makes the headlines in the newspapers or fills the bulletins on the radio will seem to be of purely temporary significance. But the work of those who have cooperated with God will remain, for it is part of his everlasting purpose.” ~ J.B. Phillips

The title of her blog post was "Cooperating With God".

Sometimes, like tonight, you hear a piece of criticism (that keeps you wide-awake until 2AM!) and you wonder if your writing ever makes sense, if it ever makes a dent on someone else's life. I've asked myself that question several times and God always sends His affirmation through an email from a distraught mother or someone who had been inspired or moved by what I wrote. I guess you cannot expect to please everyone... and so I plod along.

I know some of the things I write about can be depressing sometimes. I often like to tackle subjects that in my country aren't culturally acceptable. "Lungkot naman..." But I'd like to think that I take directions from above and write with the spirit's leading. When you are moved by a story, when a story stirs something inside of you... does that necessarily mean that it is sad? Perhaps the sadness is there to intsruct or to teach a lesson? Maybe there's a happy ending somewhere? Usually, there is.

Victoria writes -- "To cooperate with God is to realize our desperate need for His enablement as we cleave. And yet He keeps us. Through His Holy Spirit, we’re moved and motivated. We enjoy productivity and security because we trust His timing and purpose for us."

Having read that, I find peace, knowing that I have done His work today, no matter what anyone else says. I pray that what I have written will touch someone else's life and in the process draw him or her closer to the Lord. Then, my writing will have served a higher purpose.

Who Will America Vote For?

In 72 hours, America casts its vote.

I had breakfast with the boys today -- former classmates of mine who all went to the same Jesuit university for college -- and all 40something of us were unanimous in our choice for Obama as President. Not that we are able to vote but we were just wishing out loud. I don't know if our sentiments are reflective of how America will vote on Tuesday, November 4 2008 Only one among the four of us, holds a blue passport. The American classmate said that he would treat us all to dinner next month in case Obama wins. Maybe we are all enamored and awed by him from a distance. Maybe it's because he is almost our age and we are dazzled by how far he has come and by what he has achieved thus far.

We were all concerned for his safety in the event that he gets elected. I'm pretty sure he's very much aware of that risk. So, will there be an African American in the White House by next year? Will he be the best leader for the United States at this point in time?

America seems destined for a HUGE change.

I pray that they vote wisely.