The Good and Beautiful God 003

Chapter Three: God is Trustworthy
Soul Training Assignment: Counting Your Blessings

Fifi's Ongoing List of Blessings:

April 29, 2012
1.  Roof over my head.
2.  Food on the table.
3.  Work that I enjoy.
4.  Family.
5.  Helpful and Caring Friends.

April 30, 2012
6.  Office having aircon in this hot weather.
7.  Having hot weather instead typhoons.
8.  Driving a car with aircon.
9.  Living in a tropical climate country.
10. Living in the Philippines.
11. Holiday May 1 which is tomorrow. 
12. Eating good food.
13. Sleeping on a nice bed.
14. Watching cable TV.
15. Has internet access.

May 1, 2012
16. Having hands.
17. Having feet.
18. Having eyes that see.
19. Having ears that hear.
20. People who help clean at home every 2 weeks.
21. Staying at home all day. 

May 2, 2012
22. Providence.
23. Leading a dgrp.
24. Mature and committed D12.
25. Kind and patient boss with his wife.
26. Hardworking assistant. 

May 3, 2012 (Let's go to the specifics)
27. My mom who taught us the value of being responsible and accountable, of having integrity.
28. My sister who's so careful of offending other people and adjusts well to their differences. 
29. My 2nd eldest brother who comes to our house when we need help even if he lives in Paranaque.  (Special mention of cleaning up the smelly dead rat who got trapped in the bathroom of the spare room).
30. My eldest brother who is very masipag in his job and doing errands for his family.
31. My sisters-in-law and brother-in-law who adjusts so well with our family's crazy jokes and antics.
32. My nieces and nephews who are very obedient and who always go with the flow without complaint when we have family outings or gatherings.

May 4, 2012
33. My D12 leader who rarely gets mad and is so patient with her D12 members.
34. My dgrp members who lovingly accepts me for who I am and who graciously forgives my short comings and faults.
35. Having office mates who have the teamwork mentality and quickly help even if its not part of their job description.
36. Having abundant water.  (Imagine if we didn't have water in this heat.) *Trivia: Did you know that Singapore doesn't supply their own water?  They need to import their water from Malaysia. 
37. My every so patient boss who encourages instead of criticizes when I need rebuke. 

Lastly.....
38. My one and only Jesus Christ who gave His life for me so that I can be free.
39. My Abba Father whom I can always be a Papa's girl to Him.
40. The Holy Spirit who convicts me of sin and who empowers me to obey God. 

Why only 40?  

John 21:24-25

²⁴ This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

²⁵ Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

The world would not have room for the many things I am very thankful for! 

Thank you God!

Cat and Dog Theology

Sometime ago, I heard of a book that captured my attention.  Two reasons could be 1) I'm an animal lover and 2) I'm a Christian.   The title of the book is Cat and Dog Theology by Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison.   My interest was piqued.

Click here to read a short excerpt of the book.

"It is said that a dog thinks to itself regarding his master, “He feeds me, he shelters me, he cares for me, and he loves me.  He must be god!”  The cat makes similar observations but says  “He feeds me, he shelters me, he cares for me and he loves me, therefore I must be god!"

Looking at my own life, the people I've met and continually meet, and even some that I've counseled, there is some truth to the statement above.   

I created this short test for fun.  Click this link to answer the Cat or Dog Personality Test.

Quizzes by Quibblo.com | SnapApp Quiz Apps

What was your result?  Are you a dog or a cat? 

Kidding aside, most of us tend to switch between the dog and cat personalities, depending on what the situation is.  Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong she is until you put her in hot water."   The same goes for Christians who experience trials and testings in life.   Our true character comes out.

However, when it comes toward our relationship with our true Master (Jesus Christ), we need to embrace the trust, loyalty, and faith of a child towards his Father.   Many of us fail to realize that God is the ultimate loving Master who cares for our littlest and grandest of needs.


Hebrews 13:5 says Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

God indeed will never forsake us if we submit our lives to Him that He, above anything else, must come first.  But many of us panic and refuse to wait for His goodness.  As soon as problems arise, we ask God for the solution ASAP as if God existed to please and cater to us, and not the other way around.   God created us for one and one thing alone.  To worship Him and praise Him for who He is, for what He has done, and what He will continue to do in our lives.

Exodus 7:16  (God speaking to Moses) ¹⁶Then say to him (Pharaoh of Egypt), ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. 

I, for one, am listening  and two, would always like to imbibe a Dog Theology towards my true Lord, Savior, and Master, Jesus Christ. 

*Note: If this entry has touched you and you know God is personally talking to you, you might want to say a similar prayer like this: Dear God, help me to trust You more and more each day.  Forgive me for those instances where I blamed You and demanded solutions right away.  Help me increase my faith. I want to worship You and praise You with childlike faith. Amen.

The Good and Beautiful God 002

Chapter Two: God is Good

After reading the "assignment", a few images automatically crossed my mind. The above pictures were actual photographs I took many many years ago (year 2005 I think).

The first one was a tree I saw in one of the parking lots in Ortigas Center. I was on my way to work and had just parked my car. The tree looks dead but it's artistry looked so alive at the same time. I just found it beautiful.

The second picture I took on my way home. I just got home and was about to park in the garage when I looked up and saw this beautiful full moon. Sigh... reminds me so much of God as to how beautiful God is.

And the last picture, I took while on vacation. I can't remember where I was. Tagaytay? Cagayan de Oro? Baguio? Anyway, it isn't obvious in the picture but the street the dog was on was very very long. He was just sitting there. Alone but confident. Calm. At peace. I wondered, what could the dog be thinking? So I took his picture instead. :)

God's goodness can be seen through creation...

Romans 1:19-20 ¹⁹since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Excited for this week's Soul Training!

The Good and Beautiful God 001

While sorting through the books that was delivered to CCF, a colleague of mine suggested that I buy this book. The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith. He was all raves about it so I decided to give it a try.

As the author puts it, the book is a "curriculum for Christlikeness". At the end of every chapter you'd need to apply the main idea, journal your reflection at the end of the week, and share it with your accountability group (if you are all reading the book together).

Chapter One: Sleep

As early as day one of the first week, it surprisingly dawned on me that I was hard-headed. I couldn't believe it at first but the fact that I was resisting to sleep early as the book suggested made me see how rebellious I was.

1 John 2:16 says For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not form the Father but from the world.

I realized I was becoming worldly. Almost every night, I'd sleep at two o'clock in the morning. I know it does nothing for my health but I didn't mind. What surprised me last night was when the Holy Spirit reminded me to sleep early, I actually said no, I didn't want to. Then I suddenly realized how stubborn and anarchistic I was.

In a way, week one day one was successful because it made me see how not of a good person I really was. It made me see my true self and not the good person I thought myself to be. Additionally, I slept 12:00 midnight, instead of my usual 2am. Not there yet but it's a start.

Anyway, it's almost 12mn again. Time to go to sleep!

Note: The Good and Beautiful God is the beginning of a series of three books by the same author. The second is The Good and Beautiful Life. And the last of the series is The Good and Beautiful Community. The book is published locally by OMF and costs P250.