Oil and Dew
Thoughts & Musings
The world sees a blur of truth due to the fall of human eyes.
The spectacle of life in Christ is in the endowment of a new sight.
God chose not only to live with us (Εμμανουήλ), but to live in us (Παράκλητο).
We now see the blur of deceit due to the bestowal of divine eyes.
photography: Yen Baet
My wife is an accountant who chose to follow the ledger of her heart. She has been a 2nd grade teacher for eleven years now.
Last year, we had this conversation:
Wife: Honey, I think I've reached my limits. I am afraid I have nothing left to offer the kids. This year is just impossible. I have in my list, Rupert (not his real name). There is no way I can handle his indifference and dysfunction. I think I am ready to quit.
Me: Stay the course, my dear. I will walk alongside the furnace with you.
Last week, she had this conversation:
Rupert: Mrs. Diwa (while teary-eyed), I really don't like summer because I like school more ... school is so much fun!
Wife: (Sigh). (No words) (Just hugging the little boy).
Incidentally, Manel was just awarded the prestigious Educator of the Year for what is clearly the Lord's hand of extended grace and mercy.
Soli Deo Gloria.
When my daughter was 5, she drew a family portrait which conspicuously did not include myself.
When I asked her why it was only her Mommy, herself and her sister, her reply was candid: "Daddy is always out somewhere ..."
The thunderbolt hit home.
I coveted God's mercies and was granted a new lease. I began to spell love with tangible involvement.
The following year, a school project required another family sketch.
The colors of her rendition narrated grace.
Led Zeppelin was on to something with Stairway to Heaven.
Rock music trying to figure the puzzle of eternity.
Jesus Christ was on to everything with Kingdom of Heaven.
Rock of Ages untangling the muzzle of eternity.
Nika and Kara's steps follow His lead.
It is of no surprise that prime time TV took notice.
Lord willing, they will soon show their walkway on airwaves.
Pursue the Upward Walk, my daughters!
DiwaDollhouse on CableTV coming soon.
Clothes in. Clothes out.
In between goes washing and drying.
And then, the detail of ironing.
Friends in. Friends out.
In between goes connecting and drifting.
And then, to avail of reuniting.
Photography: Renchi Arce
In 1944, Jean Paul Sartre offered a succinct definition of Hades in his existentialist play No Exit.
Hell is other people.
Two thousand years ago, Jesus of Nazareth unveiled the coverage of God's Kingdom.
Heaven is non other but people.
The flood of voices rummaging through my head calls for a halt.
Do we ever ponder why we think rather quickly without much thought?
There is deep revelation when God speaks of a "small still voice" that beckons.
But how can I even hear this whimper while I load up with Beats and other cacophonies of Indie narratives.
My soul longs for quiet.
I find this most strongly in the midst of social tsunami.
Hush, my soul.
There is God who seeks to speak.
Photography: Yen Baet / Shibuya:Tokyo
True unabridged victory happens at home.
Ask your sons.
Ask your daughters.
Ask your wife.
Through their embrace ...
You will know ...
The true appearance of a win.
The definition of sin is repugnant to human sensitivity. It is in our nature to hide the ancient malignancy. And so, we roam boulevards while clad with stench that is merely aired from makeshift alternatives.
All have sinned.
All missed the mark.
The proper understanding of life does not begin with cognitive apprehension or affective recognition.
The way to deal with internal laundry is through God's detergent.
He beckons us to obey Him, first.
He then grants wisdom to affirm the willed initiative.
In my faith journey, I am most stuck when I do laundry on my terms.
I am both convinced and convicted that my sins are only removed when the stain of Christ's love drops.
photography: Stella P. Sison
Our countenance reflects the sum total of our involvement in community.
We tend to think that we are what we are by our private personal picks. Such seem real but far from truth. The cloud of humanity that surrounds us subversively intrudes with much force, albeit invisible.
I glance over my past and the reveal overwhelms.
I find that most of my fears had been anchored with duplicitous companions.
I gathered victories with veritable friends.
No wonder, when I turned my life over to Christ, the first thing introduced was a new context for habitus.
The community of faith thus informs my heart, my mind, my soul with kernels of daily certitude.
photography: Paul Lim Supelana
It is impossible to imbibe joy in solitude.
The Godhead presents the model: Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
No wonder, the shine of these two young ladies beam holy:
Thank you my daughters, for seeking the Kingdom of God in your bond as sisters.
Joy has come.
Diwa Dollhouse, Manhattan NYC
The land of 7,107 islands is but one of God's myriad wonders.
The Philippines settles as the Pearl of the Orient Seas.
Today, the nation faces the choice of her leader.
How does one leverage God's will towards His own creation?
It is way too late to even conceptualize this inquiry.
It has has been already decreed and committed.
Through the cracks, the Jewel of Christ keeps all our lands in place until He comes ...
... to remove all flaws.
There is only one true Lord of All Nations.
His first name is Goodness. His last name is Mercy.
photography: Renchi Arce
What does Mother's Day elicit?
The implicit magnanimity of God's pursuit.
Whenever I thank Mom ...
I find myself redirected to the staggering gravitas of Christ's love for all of us.
Alpha and Omega.
To see all things all at once.
Beginning and End.
Photography: Renchi Arce
God audaciously claims to know me in infinite terms.
If this is true, my prayer ought to be terse:
Help me cease naming You, O God. Give me my name, instead. Amen.
Photography: Yen Baet / CarnevalediVenezia–with Florine Houée
For years, I took the Jeepney to commute from house to school. The trek was always nerve-wracking. No foreigner who has gone through accosting Manila roads would dare handle the wheel.
But it was a necessary ride.
I remember the long queues that were more like wrestling events before one secures a spot.
Then the polluted breeze powders your collar to grey. The smoke in your eyes lulls you to naps. The chatter of lovers drowned in decibels of high-trebled pop fills your imagination with all sorts of drama.
Such were my long public exposures.
But there was something deeply precious about those memoirs. Each day, I get to see different people. I get the opportunity to be in proximity with strangers who share a common thrust ... to get to where one is headed ... fast.
I guess, this applies whether one zooms through NYC Subway or Tokyo's Hikari Shinkansen.
There is so much that I miss while currently confined in my private commute.
All is silent. All is comfortable. While the rest of the world strains just to hitch.
Strange, but I deeply long for those wild days.
Just like the land of Aslan, where all is not safe except the Lion's goodness.
photography: Paolo Esquivel
We are oriented by ideas much more than we'd care to admit.
Our speech is comprised of all the sum total of tutorials we have imbibed either consciously or unwittingly.
Thus, our projection of God hails from a dynamic that is subjectively personal.
How does God speak?
Of course, He speaks with words.
Does this have to be in written form at all times?
One thing I'm certain of: I do text my wife but our conversations are made full when they are up-close and script-free.
I do subscribe to the Written Word as God's final say.
But what if God truly speaks?
Is He confined to mere text?
If God is God, His speech should emblazon His substance.
Did I just hear from Him today?
The Cambridge Advanced Learners Dictionary & Thesaurus defines the word scam as "an illegal plan for making money, especially one that involves tricking people."
The 1904 English Dialect Dictionary refers to it as an allusion to "impurities in rocks and minerals." It is often used likewise in reference to stain or patchy marks.
In our daily social intercourse, we have all been systemically victimized by duplicitous elements who personify the insidiousness described above.
Thus the scammed develops an aversion to any liking of what fashioned the fall for folly.
This is both advantageous and dangerous.
It is beneficial in that it safeguards from further naive involvements.
It is detrimental in that it impulsively dismisses a true opportunity.
We have seen seasons of political scam, religious scam, financial scam, relational scam, to name a few. The Psalmist is unreserved in provocatively decrying that our world runs on blotched soil. The middle name of our fallen locus is scum. No wonder, scam comes handy as its nickname.
Whether we are settled in North Cotabato or North America, the compass tilts towards chicanery. We fool each other by defaulted orientation.
There is only one way towards the egress.
When we are given eyes to see our own smear and name our illicit propensities, then we are enabled to appropriate God's mercy and infuse the grace that allows us to live distinctly.
Suddenly, whatever we do is done without dirt and for God's glory.
Artist: Eugenia Alcaide / Insidious / Main Gallery: Artinformal
I have but a few words for the woman of substance who is both my wife and mother to my two daughters.
You are so real.
ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἡ πάλη πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς ἀρχάς, πρὸς τὰς ἐξουσίας, πρὸς τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους τούτου, πρὸς τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. {Ephesians 6:12 NIV}
I was at the Synagogue of Beth Torah last night joining the league of those who remember by citing the names of those who perished in concentration camps. The last person I read died at the age of 3.
The last word is not death.
He has spoken the vanquishing of its horrific sting.
Christ has conquered.
Graphic Artist: Jesse Sosa
© 2016 Oil and Dew Ltd
