A Powerful Video!

The world is not getting any better. We only need the Lord to be safe! Maranatha!

Coffee and Chocolate

Two of my favorite things in the world are coffee and chocolate. It's one dynamic confection, genuinely a gourmet experience! And so finally, I was able to taste a glimpse of heaven when our aunt gave me this.

The delicate rich, dark chocolate envelopes a burst of smoky, authentic espresso-roasted coffee bean inside. It gives a smattering crunch to every bite!!!!

AAAAhhhhhhh,,,,,,,,,, truly, Heaven at first bite!

A Silent Prayer

written during my desert experience

MY SILENT PRAYER

I come to you, O Lord in prayer,

Knowing and believing, you're always there;

With folded hands and bended knees,

Prayer, I know, is the ultimate key.

I wept, my heart in despair,

I asked if You ever care,

"Trust and Obey", was all I could hear,

In my heart, t'was ever so clear.

"Come and taste my goodness," You mused,

All the while I wandered, so confused.

In the desert, I was dry and alone-

Bewildered, I pondered until dawn.

Finally, I released of myself and stripped off,

Suddenly, fresh annointing of Your Spirit, I felt.

So gentle, so loving, so fragile, so soft,

Before His throne, with humility, my heart melts.

In prayer, relentlessly, unknown,

My God, in His favor, He has shown-

True love, my burdens He has carried,

For me on the cross until He was buried.

You gave me Hope, You gave me life!

Through resurrection power, You are my light.

My heavy yoke, the battle is not my fight,

But by Your Spirit, not mine power nor might.

Precious dear Lord, I thank you, I pray-

I will hear of you, in Your arms I stay.

In my silent prayer, You teach me to do,

In my life's journey, you leadeth I go.

Read about my desert experience, a series called: REVELATIONS, at Day by day Devotional website: http://wop-daybyday.blogspot.com/

The Holy Alphabet

Although things are not perfect

Because of trial or pain

Continue in thanksgiving

Do not begin to blame

Even when the times are hard

Fierce winds are bound to blow

God is forever able

Hold on to what you know

Imagine life without His love

Joy would cease to be

Keep thanking Him for all the things

Love imparts to thee

Move out of "Camp Complaining"

No weapon that is known

On earth can yield the power

Praise can do alone

Quit looking at the future

Redeem the time at hand

Start every day with worship

To "thank" is a command

Until we see Him coming

Victorious in the sky

We'll run the race with gratitude

Xalting God most high

Yes, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but...

Z ion waits in glory...where none are ever sad!

Prayer Tray

I have always wanted for my family to make prayer a lifestyle. And so this little project of mine was inspired by our Tita Pynky, who does prayer fasting once a week, and out of my desire for my children to become prayerful individuals.

I have seen and heard many people devise ways to make prayer life a wonder. Some have the gift and it comes naturally. Others use paraphernalia like writing in journals, sticks, leaves or with lighted candles while fasting. The idea of using candles is very nice but I don’t want my house on fire. For safety reasons, I came up with stones.

Yesterday, I went to a pet store and bought some white, gray and other colored decorative stones… yes, the ones you see inside a fish tank. The white, large stones represent the members of my family (the core group) and the rest of the stones, I marked with names of all the loved ones, relatives and friends that we want to pray for. Each stone represents a person or a family who are precious in the eyes of God. The stones serve as a reminder to pray for someone that day or that week.

My children are ages 15, 13, 8 and 5 and I would like for them to experience prayer as a joy. So this activity doesn’t have many rules. Just as long as the stones are treated as “precious” and returned to the tray, we’re okay. I also have extra stones and a marker at a safe place, just in case someone asks us to pray for them.

How do we do it?

We pick two stones: one from the core group at the center of the tray (white stones marked with each of our names on it) and another one from the colored stones for those we are led to pray for.
We each pray for the names that are marked on the stones for the day or for the whole week. We can pray for as many people as the Spirit leads. Then we put them inside the cute pouches as we will be carrying them all throughout the day.

After we’re done praying, we return the stones back to where they were originally parked.

I am looking forward to the fruits of our prayer life. This is one way to teach our children that prayer is a lifestyle. You might also want to log in the names that were prayed for in a small notebook. It will surely be exciting to see the hand of the Lord in the lives of our loved ones and friends as we pray for them faithfully.

I hope this was helpful to you

Maranatha!

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Cups of Coffee

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups ofcoffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed. "Now," said the professor as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else---the small stuff. "If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled and said, "I'm glad you asked." The coffee just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend."

SOME VERY USEFUL HOUSEHOLD HINTS

I have received this very nice email from a friend and picked up a few little tricks for household tips....

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich, add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic, and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream.

Reheating Pizza - Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs - Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done... easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting - When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating Refrigerated Bread - To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper Weeds Away - Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping. As you go, cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic; they will not get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass - Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes - Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away - To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible Vacuum - To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge, add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling - Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks... and static is gone!

Measuring Cups - Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield? - Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth! Turning on your air conditioner will clear foggy windshields too... in the winter, turn on HIGH - only takes a minute.

Reopening Envelope - If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Voila! It unseals easily.

Conditioner - Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies - To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid, mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants - Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it "home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS - The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well, the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh... that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free (that nice fragrance too). You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box... Well, this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!

Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all! That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Hot Chocolate

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment ofcups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive,some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: "Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply.

Road Trip

End-of-year get-away, "joy ride" with hubby on motorbike
via Salvador-Benedicto route.
December 29, 2007.

(join the joy ride with us by turning the speakers up a bit)

Music by
ACOUSTIC ALCHEMY

The Real Meaning of Peace

Anonymous

There was once a king who offered a prize to the artist who
could paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried.
The king looked at all the pictures, but there were only two
that he really liked, and he had to choose between them.

One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror
for the peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was
a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture
thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The second picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged
and bare. Above was an angry sky from which rain fell, and in
which lightening played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled
a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.

But when the king looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny
bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird
had built her nest.... a perfect picture of peace.

Which of the pictures won the prize?

The king chose the second picture.

Do you know why?

"Because," explained the king, "peace does not mean

to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work.
Peace means to be in the midst of all

those things and still be calm in your heart."

That is the real meaning of peace.

I now have the answer

Oh the sky so blue!
Why? I don't know a clue.
Why do I bother?
I wish I have the answer.

Why the sand slip,
In my hand when I grip?
Why do I inquire?
I wish I have the answer.

Why is there?
And why so queer?
I wish I know
I wish I have the answer.

Can God see
The queries in me?
Why, does it matter?
I wish I have the answer.

But He has all the answer!
Why, my mind blow....
I don’t know
I wish I have the answer.

Why? I ask

Because He says,

"I am who I am"

I now have the answer.

New Devotional Website

Hello beautiful women! It's a new year and it's time to come up with new things! I'm creating another website. A women's devotional site for BCCB Women's Ministry. This will feature musings from the heart which tackles the crucial issues women face, inspirational quotes, real life stories from others, God's promises, brief but hard hitting Bible studies, practical life application ideas and prayer starters to help our soul take flight and soar! The name of the website is: Day by day.... equipping women for their journey to the heart of God. Please join me, along with the other women, walk and learn truths about God's word and experiences together. The site is already active so please take a visit and leave a comment. The URL address is: http://wop-daybyday.blogspot.com/.

If you would like to subscribe, there's a small box on the upper left to facilitate this service. Aside from the devotionals and articles delivered to your email at least three times a week, we will have bible studies together using selected materials.

We would also like you to impart to us your stories, testimonies and blessings! Furthermore, If you would like to contribute an article for the devotional, please submit it to this address: wop_daybyday@yahoo.com or jassal1984@yahoo.com. Please include either of the following details in your article:
- Title to your devotional
- Bible Study Passage
- Lesson for Life (a short commentary of the passage)
- Real Life (personal testimony)
- Action Plan(these are actions steps you may suggest to make the bible passage true to you)
- Prayer (prayer starters relating the the lesson)

The first devotional article published in the website entitled, Servanthood, should serve as your guide.

We also welcome recipes (please include a picture of the dish), favorite and inspirational quotes, household tips, your thoughts, and just about anything that will bless other women who will come to visit the site.

I invite you to journey with us as we walk in faith, to know God intimately and discover His very heartbeat, day by day.

May the Lord keep and bless you!

Blessings!

Jenny and the Women of BCCB Devotional Team

Titus 2:3-5 “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.”

Only in San Carlos

My husband and I went on a road trip to San Carlos with his bike last week. From that trip, I discovered a mystery, and a few good find munchies (well, you guessed.... I always tend to find something for my palate).

First, the mystery. A mind-puzzling phenomenon. I knew about this but never took the initiative to really test it. The mystery is found at Salvador-Benedicto route. Km. 34. You will find the sign post by the roadside. The road going to the north slopes down but what buffles me is that, if you put the vehicle on neutral (or anything that has wheels for that matter), it goes up to the opposite direction which is uphill. Watch the video for the evidence. My husband was just holding the bike so it will not fall. As you can see here, the bike just moved up mysteriously. There should be a scientific reason for this. Ah, I'll leave that to the scientists. I have seen a similar thing at Ara-al. Quite a mystery, huh?

Then the munchies.

Bucayo. Sweet to the tooth, moist and delicious.

ER's Peanuts. It is what the place is famous for. It's greaseless, very fresh. I happen to witness how it was done. I used to think it was baked, but not this one. The peanuts were sun dried and cooked in very hot oil then drained to dry. You can never tell it was deep fried in oil.

Peanut Turon. Ah... this you gotta try. It's crisp and hhmmmm... It's just good, it's beyond words.

Thanks, Manang Edith!