Oil and Dew
Thoughts & Musings
The war that looms against our families is not against flesh and blood.
The principalities and powers that mock our homes are unseen yet potent.
There is no psychology nor ballistics to match this insidious firepower.
Except for one: the incredible weight of pneumatology.
As the Holy Spirit leads the man of each house, this present darkness loses its hold.
The life that Christ offers provides for a most unique resplendence.
He guarantees the indwelling of the promised Pneuma within.
What does a person having God inside looks like?
A fired-up witness.
Sketch: David Talaguit / GCF
Sigmund Freud dissected the human persona with an incisive definition: we indulge in doing to please other people.
Jesus Christ forsook all others to honor none other but His Father.
Super Ego vs. Supra Ergo.
photography: Yen Baet / Venice: Carnevale di Venezia
I spotted a man humped on the streets of Bacolod City seemingly oblivious to the fast twitch of time.
He was just there ... doing nothing.
Time was likewise there ... doing something.
When nothing and something meet, a choice is granted.
Live or die in the moment.
We indulge in clothing based on the subscription of watchful eyes.
Do we ever ponder why we even bother to cover our nakedness?
My daughter Nika heeds a simple call to share her heart to the beautiful women of Manila. Her brief chat will deal with the question of dress.
Why do we clad ourselves with variations of fig leaves? Which spectacle do we truly seek to please?
If you are in the area, please come and join her at the Ortigas Centre, Pasig City at the Greenhills Christian Fellowship. On July 26 at 10:00 AM, a little gathering clamors to honor the Lord of True Fashion.
She travels all the way from NYC to uncloak the fraud and reveal the blessing.
Artist: Lisa Grosfeld NYC
Rousing early to catch the pristine sunrise, an early-rising couple greeted me with some fresh haul from China Sea.
Quite a delight to experience diligence first thing in the morning.
An hour later, I was granted joy to fish for a longing soul: Fernando, a stroke-victim was on rehab routine at the beach.
The net of Christ's gospel was on point in leading him safe to shore.
When opportunity beckons persons to a good conversation ... eternity stands still.
I am huddled away in the mountains of Negros Occidental. It is ironic but after about 4 hours of ascent, I find myself nestled in a quiet and sacred vista fronting the spectacle of a beach-themed sunset.
It is in this backdrop that I met a celebrated florist of Asia. In more than an hour of fascinating anecdotes shared through the ambiance of rustling breeze and enchanting waves, I was granted the privilege to pray for a man who was called to beautify heaven with floral wonder.
I will never forget Antonio. He promised to cross-stitch paradise at Nabulao Resort whenever my youngest daughter ties the knot.
Not in the near future, perhaps ... but soon enough for a bloom.
From the land of the Rising Sun ... the Son of God rises!
photography: Yen Baet / Eyes of a Maiko. Gion Kyoto
Today I fly to Manila with my bride of 28 years.
We enter into the intertwined gift of vocation and vacation.
As I anticipate unpredictable web connections in the next couple of weeks, I am ushered to hit the pause button to go further in.
I pray to reconnect as I am able to from Asia.
But through the interruption, the musings and thoughts will flow like rain.
Hitting the Pause Button
While the first man slept, God performed the first surgery that facilitated rest.
There is something deep and sacred about sleep.
It allows for the conquest of our kryptonite.
God handed man the prerogative to name all things. It is the imprint of vice-regency.
Adam was meant to be His faithful associate.
It is in man's psyche to practice dominion.
When such designation finds alignment with God's purposes, the intent to subdue takes on a holy form.
It becomes management according to the Creator's wise and infinite largesse.
photography: Yen Baet / Bohol: Philippine Tarsier
God declared the ineptness of isolation.
From the vantage point of Triune existence, God creates a helper suitable for man.
Although man was created first, this does not imply an ontological issue of superiority or inferiority.
The word (עֵ֫זֶר) "helper" appears in the Old Testament sixteen of the nineteen times it is used and it poignantly refers to essential contribution and not to a diminished capacity.
Men and Women are equal co-bearers of the Imago Dei.
Emeka & Nika Ihedigbo at the Garden of Poetry Springs
The gift of free will enables man to choose God.
God is God and as such possesses purview over all things. He has full rights to determine what is ultimately good and evil.
The first command at the Garden of Eden provided a graphic potential for sin. If the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was violated, it meant man's free exercise of autonomous declaration of self-authored morality. It takes away the irrevocable truth of God's sole prerogative.
The certainty of death flows from the audacity of such human arrogance.
The untiring tricycle driver has equal dignity with any hard-working Chief Executive Officer.
Both have been granted an opportunity to recognize divine rest in the context of work.
When the model of pre-Fall labor is properly understood, we are infused with mysterious zest.
We begin looking forward to Mondays and thanking God for Fridays for all the good that is leveraged for His Glory.
photography: Renchi Arce / Streets of Manila
The imagery of river flowing from Central Eden breaking forth into four headwaters: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates, ushers the origin of blessing.
True favor comes from God's dwelling.
The spring of life is not fictitious.
Dip into any river and you'll perceive divine gravitas.
photography: Renchi Arce / Pulang Daga Paracale, Camarines Norte
The introduction of place requires assent to complete obedience.
In the Garden of Eden, provision and protection were coordinated by God's ordinance.
There were no multiple edicts.
Just the simple centrality of childlike loyalty.
photography: Paolo Esquivel
I came from dust.
I live from borrowed breath.
I die if it were not for God.
photography: Yen Baet / Krakow: Igor Mitoraj's Eros Bendato
The seventh day of creation provides an eternal perspective of holy.
In a world where time is ignored, assets accrue to rot.
In God's kingdom, moments lend their jewels to everything.
A sister's wedding remains forever.
Bianca Diwa with newlywed big-sister Nika
God made man and woman to serve as His image bearers.
Eyes, ears, hands, feet, heart, mind ... were divinely crafted to express the presence of God.
On the sixth day of creation, the Imago Dei ushered a most wonderful mirror.
We can now behold a reflection of our Creator.
The Fifth day of creation grants the waters and the sky the miracle of God's originating word.
The soul is a divine grant that infuses passion related to desires and appetites. Fish and Birds teemed with such.
When the Creator spoke blessing to both, they received the intentionality of their existence: to depend upon Him while serving through dive and flight.
photography: Yen Baet / Santa Monica Beach, Los Angeles
© 2016 Oil and Dew Ltd
