True Friendship

Two entries in a row! That’s right. Since we have 3 days of ‘vacation’, I just want to update my blog. Going back to my real purpose, I read something that speaks about friendship. He/She might be smiling right now while reading this. Well, I just to share my perspective about friendship. Friendship is very essential in our lives. They come and go. Friendship for me is a totally different thing. There’s a ‘shallow’ friendship and a ‘deep’ friendship. I can definitely say that most of the friends I have right now is on the ‘shallow’ friendship level. They’re those who see me once in a while. Good example would have to be my classmates in college. College life is totally a different thing compare to high-school. Almost every term you get a chance to meet new set of classmates but none of them tries to know each other in a deeper way. See the picture?

When I say ‘deep’ friendship, I really mean D-E-E-P friendship. You need pride, time, and rapport in order to have ‘deep’ friendship. Why did I say pride? I think the first step in building a friendship is to lower down our pride. We opt not know someone simply because we don’t like him/her. We have to at least know that person before judging him/her. It’s not about shyness that keeps us a part from them; it’s our pride that hinders us from building friendship to them. Next is time. Of course you need certain time to build a friendship but if you want deeper friendship, you need L-O-N-G-E-R time for it. In that way, you get to know him/her better. Lastly is rapport. This is very essential because you cannot enjoy spending your time with him/her without rapport. I’m saying these things maybe because I value ‘friendship’ so much or I’m too choosy when it comes to these things. The Bible even says that we have to be aware in choosing our friends. It’s either they will affect you or you will affect them. Friendship is a precious gift that must be cherished and nurtured. Given proper care, it can outlast a lifetime.

What?! No Term Break?!

Yup, you read it right. We don’t have any term break! Isn’t that great?! (-_-) Despite the fact that we only have short time for ‘vacation’, I’m happy because I think I did well in my midterm exams. One of which was my oral speech exam in Public Speaking subject. Our professor told us to make any kind of speech inspired from the book “The Alchemist”. Frankly speaking, it was quite hard to organize your thoughts. You’re trying to write this idea then another idea comes in. It was hard! I read a lot of blog and books that are related to my speech. By the way, the theme of my speech was about ingredients in finding your purpose. Of all the chaotic ideas in my mind, finally I finished my speech. And guess what, all the ideas that were in my mind were useless. The key here speak through your heart. Like what our professor said, “It takes a very well versed man to create a superb speech.”

Have you ever asked yourself, what your purpose is? Or have it crossed your mind to search for it? Purpose… Consists of 7 letters but can affect our lives in thousand ways. According to Webster’s dictionary, the word ‘purpose’ means the object towards which one strives or it is an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions.

How then will you know your real purpose? The Bible says in Isaiah 44:2, “I am your creator. You were in my care even before you were born.” God created us; therefore He knows our real purpose here on earth. Our responsibility now is to seek God.

After knowing your purpose, the next step is to put it to action. It’s either you will choose to fulfill your purpose or stay and be content with your life. If you choose to fulfill your purpose, it requires sacrifice, obedience, and love. Sacrificing is probably one of the hardest things to do because we must give up our own needs and give in to God’s desires for our lives. But after letting go of our own needs, we can be assured that there is a reward at the end. Same Truth can be applied to obedience. You have to listen and obey to what God or other “matured” people say. And the Bible says in Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Next to sacrifice and obedience is love. Love is one of the important ingredients in fulfilling a purpose. Like what we always hear, “Love conquers all!” If we choose to fulfill our purpose without love in our hearts, we will fail. The Bible says in Proverbs 21:21 “He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor.” The most essential ingredient in fulfilling our purpose is God. The Bible clearly states in Colossians 1:16 “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,… everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.”

Before I end my speech, I would like to remind all of us that it is still our decision whether we want to discover and fulfill our purpose or not. But one thing is for sure; like Rick Warren wrote, “NOTHING matters more than knowing God’s purpose for your life, and NOTHING can COMPENSATE for not knowing them.” Good afternoon and God bless!

It's good to be back

I’m back and I’m back for good. All the readers out there might be wondering “where’s Paul and his new entry?!”. Well, wait no more. Let me first explain why it took me a long time to make new post here in my blog. The hard disk of my computer crushed down. Meaning, for some unexplainable reasons it stopped working as a normal computers do. I had a very hard time to solve this problem good thing I know some people who help me out. The disk had a problem last Wednesday. They said that I need to do some reformatting and that I need to back-up my files. Sounds easy? I don’t think so. To make the long story short, I bought a new hard disk last Friday (hooray!) and man, I still have problems. I need to install all the software I have. Let me thank this opportunity to thank the ‘men behind the success’ regarding with my computer. None other that Michael and Roland! Thanks guys! I really appreciate your effort.

Blog Update: The general assembly of Rotary in our school was a success! Although I declined the offer to host that event, I enjoy taking pictures of what’s happening. The next day, we sang (APC-choir) sang in the graduation. The experience is incomparable. I’m so blessed for what happened. For all the readers, I promise that I will blog more. See you then! I have to finish installing this software! God bless!

Asia Pacific College - Choir

Bass

The Great Tenors

Altos

Sopranos

I'm sick! =(

Yup, you read it right. I'm sick! I have colds with fever. I don't think it's a nice way to start the month. I think I got it from my classmate and from the stress last week. We had a straight choir practice around 6 to 9 in the evening after our last class. Anyways, I just arrived from my great-grandma’s 85^th birthday! Yup, you read it right again. My great-grandma is still alive and kickin’. We’re so blessed that God gave her long life. I mean in our generation the least age that you can attain is ‘round 50. You’re so blessed if you reach 60 to 70. My grandma is still alive. So I have my great-grandma, grandma, and my mom. Wow! By the way, I forgot to bring my camera because when I got home my mom told me that we’re going to our great-grandma’s house. I didn’t change my clothes and the funny thing was I forgot that it’s her birthday! So no pictures guys! Sorry! We ate, had a talk with my whole relatives, so it was kinda ‘reunion’, and lastly we prayed for our great-grandma.

Anyways, although I wasn’t feeling well, I still tried to go there. I hope this colds and fever will be gone on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, I’m one of the emcees in the general assembly of rotary in our school and on Saturday, it’s the performance day for the choir. I need to have my normal voice back or else I don’t know what will happen to those events. To God be ALL the glory!!!