YOU ARE

You are my completion,and my strength, my very present help in trouble. You are my source and my life, my joy and inspiration. You give me strength and energy, hope and courage. You whisper truth to my ears, and say it loudly to my face when I could not hear them. You block my ears from hearing lies, and give me opportunities for victories. You continually raise me up. You carry me. You lead me in green pastures. You feed me. You satisfy me, and there is nothing my mouth lacks. You are my shepherd, and I shall never want. You took me from darkness and have led me every step of the way. You were with me yesterday. You are with me today. You will be with me tomorrow. Oh what is this, that even in my failures, You were there! In my darkest moments, You never left me. When I let go of my grip on You, You did not let go of Yours. When I was untrue, You remained true. When I became unfaithful, You remained faithful. You are my encourager, and the giver of motivation. You know me inside and out. You know my tendencies. You know my weaknesses. You know my strengths. You know my potential. You gave me my potential. You are my life. You are my all. You are my friend. You are my brother. You are my father. You are my mother. You are my Lord. . . And You are my God.

Pre-Camp Special: Part I

[This is a follow-up article to the entry entitled Supernatural http://kzovercomer.blogspot.com/2008/04/supernatural.html]

For me, one of the happiest part in any event is the preparations time. Sometimes, it's even more exciting than the event itself. Kumbaga, ung event, epekto na lang nung preparations. Agree ba? May nagsabi nga sa 'kin, sa isang boxing match daw, pagtapak pa lang sa ring ng dalawang boksingero, may panalo na - and that is the one who is more determined to win; the one who has spent more time and energy practicing and training, in short, the one more prepared.

This entry will not focus on how we prepared for the Summer Youth Camp, but more on the hindrances satan put on the staff team and how God enabled us to overcome them. Yup! Hindrances! Shakenings sabi nga ni Kuya A. Kahit nung simula pa lang ang dami ng issues of pride, pagmamalaki, at pangmamaliit. In short, the core team was not [yet] united. Si ganito may issue kay ganyan tapos si ganito naman 'di kumportable kay ganyan, etcetera, etcetera. Maging ako 'di na-excempt. In fact, it was during this period that I experienced one of the worst emotional bombardments in my 18 years of existence sa mundo. May kinainisan/kina bad-tripan/kinamuhian (heheh) akong tao,

hindi lang basta tao,

- youth

hindi lang basta youth,

- youth leader

hindi lang kung sinong youth leader,

- best friend ko pa sa church.

GANUN KATINDI !!!

I was confused, totally broken. This guy did not do or say anything [hurtful,etc] to me pero sobra siyang sinisiraan ni satan sa mind ko (demonyo talaga yang satanas na yan, hayop yan, wag kayong sasama jan), yan ang epekto 'pag kulang sa spiritual awareness, that we are in constant spiritual warfare, kaya mag-pray tayo, :-). It was very devastating to me. I don't know if you know how it feels. It was very hard 'coz I don't want to hate the person, but I just can't stop hating him. Hirap na hirap na ko to the point na wala na kong ginagawa sa prayer time ko kundi umiyak nang umiyak that God would bring back the innocence of our friendship. It really was an unwanted feeling. Dito ko nakitang mas mahirap palang maging may kinaiinisan kaysa maging kinaiinisan, gets? In english: It's harder to hate someone than to be hated by someone.

But God is so good that He doesn't want His children to remain under the yoke of slavery, so through God, the problem was resolved. Do you want to know how?

Really?

You wanna know?

Okay,

After praying, kinapalan ko mukha ko and I talked to the person. You really shouldn't keep a problem, hatred/bitterness to yourself. You need to open it up to God and to people. You shouldn't try to keep and hide it kasi lalaki yan. Ganun ako dati but taught me. Okay so back to the story. I opened it up to him, all out, not holding anything back. Usapang lalaki, usapang Kristiyano. I can say that our conversation was orchestrated by the Holy Spirit, kahit tanungin nio man ung tao.

As I let it out (fyi, wala pong iyakan na nangyari, kala ba naman nung isa kong kaibigan meron, ngek), great peace filled my heart as our friendship was renewed. Now I understand, satan is jealous and threatened by our tandem. This blessed person and I are partners in the Faith. We have done a lot of things together, and apparently satan is not happy, so he's trying to attack our relationship. That is so like satan, walang magawa kundi to steal, kill and destroy (Pesteng kaaway!). Actually, this person (not satan ha) was the one who discipled me when I first joined the 3:30 family. I partly owe my spiritual growth to him. Naturally speaking, wala kong kuya, but I look to him as my Big Brother in the Faith.

That is just one of the issues overcome thru and with God. When we, the camp staff had our corporate prayer and fasting 3 days before the camp, there was an overload of testimonies, mga kuwento ng mga struggles na napagtagumpayan, apparently hindi lang ako, heheh. Lam nio, we should really be joyful and glad in the midst of trials and problems, simple lang kasi eh- no battle, no victory. Ayun!

God gave me a lot of Golden Revelations in this experience, two of them are:

• that we are in constant spiritual warfare. In a battle, you must always be ready to fight, you can't afford to close your eyes or even blink, kundi tepok ka! Same thing with our spiritual life.
• Through God's Eyes - look on yourself and on others the way God sees you and them. Do not focus on imperfections. Do not look for perfect people,that's a foolish thing to do, you'll only be disappointed. Eyes on Jesus.

May God give you deeper revelations on this one. :-)

SUPERNATURAL

Anak ng. . .(heheh). Lagpas 3 weeks na pala kong 'di nagba-blog. Honestly 'di ko talaga napansin. Time passes quickly talaga when you have a lot of things to do, and even more quickly when you're enjoying the things you do. Agree?

Okay. . .Hello!!! Mabuhay!!! Coming off from a blog-fast, what better way to break the silence than by telling you of the wonders. . . . .what!? Yup! WONDERS - that our God did this Summer Camp '08. Because if I would be asked to describe this year's camp (even though it's pretty close to being indescribable, :-> ) in one word, it would be: Supernatural! Well maaaring sabihin ng iba: "Whooo, ang babaw naman ng kaligayahan mo". Maybe, maybe not, I dunno, all I know is I was amazed of what my God did. God moved, God intervened. He came, He saw, He conquered!

I think it wouldn't be a good idea to compress all the testimonies/stories in a single entry, baka mainip lang kayo, tapos 'di nio na balikan 'tong site na 'to, ayoko namang mangyari un diba, ;-) so I will make it 1-2 story/stories per post.

And as I write/type every word of every entry, I pray oh God that You would lead me that I may narrate Your works the way You want it to be narrated, nothing more, nothing less, that only Your Name be lifted up, amen.

Here goes:

The official youth camp preparations started about the last week of February. Spongebob. . .I mean-Kuya Allen :-) was the appointed and anointed camp director for this year (I call him King Allen). Say "Hi!" Kuya A! The theme of this year's camp is Jesus' C.R.Y. - The Call for Radical Youth. Pastor Allen came up with the title last December 2007. Actually, he has been teaching me about being radical simula nang ako'y bagong salta sa JCSGO. Glad to know na buhay na buhay pa rin ang revelation sa kanya, ganun dapat.

This will be my second youth camp and I'm just blessed and truly privileged to be chosen as part of the core team-the staff, and to work with such very talented, hardworking, and humble young people (ahem! hehe). Allow me to acknowledge them because they deserve it:

Camp Director: Allen Elefano

Asst. Camp Director: JB Cortez

Finance Committee:

Kecia Llanita

Melvin Escalora

Jocelyn Alcantara

Head Counselors:

Karl Zion Remojo

Ruby Rose Resuello

Registration:

Micah Reyes

Josephine Dimalanta

Program Committee:

Chari-nelle Flores

Micah Basco

Arlo Llanita

Logistics:

Jhomar Lim

Ma. Ysabelle Flores

Darrell Navarro
Promotion Team:

Meg Rentoria

Miriam Joshua Fulgencio

Emmanuel Mamaril

Worship Team:

Aiza Llanita

Rodlyn Biag

Marlon Alcantara
Kyle Caneta

Food (Committee):

Grace Valencia

Sila ang mga taong nagbuhos ng pawis, laway, salapi, lakas, oras at dugo (yup, meron talagang mga dinugo, nagkasugat-sugat, nosebleed, etc) literally. :-)

As an introduction to the stories to follow: I "SAW" (it's one thing to know and another thing to see) that the Holy Spirit is FREE, we really can't and shouldn't try to put God in a box, in other words - pangunahan Siya or else, we will only find ourselves fighting against God Himself. Very spontaneous is His movement that we need to adjust to Him, modify our plans to let His Power flow. We should adjust to Him, not the other way around. During the camp, the set program was not totally followed, not everything happened as planned. We could plan all we want pero ang katuparan ay sa Diyos pa rin.

That was just an appetizer. Now seat back, relax, bring out your popcorns and may these [true] stories boost your faith that Jehovah may be Glorified.

The Warrior is a Child

When my Christian friends and churchmates talk of me, they say things like: "Yang si Zion, spiritually mature"; "strong in the faith yan"; "malakas Kay Lord". My best friend at school told me once: "Buti ka pa, lakas ng faith mo, tatag mo". Even my tribe mates last camp view me as a strong leader and my sisters often complain that I'm an authoritarian "daw"!

Huwell, that's how they see me. I see myself quite the opposite. Ayoko sanang magdrama dito (because the truth is, sa harap ng Diyos ko lang talaga ako umiiyak) but I want to make this known because. . .

They don't know that I come running home when I fall down

They don't know who picks me up when no one is around

I drop my sword and C.R.Y. for just a while

'Coz deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child

That's who I am-a weak child, a crier, a sobber, a Christian and . . .

When I say I'm a Christian, I'm not saying I'm perfect,

I'm wretched, that's why I need a Savior

I'm poor, that's why I need a Provider

I'm weak, that's why I need Jesus

I will boast of one thing though, and I will boast about this with all my heart. I boast of God's Grace in me, His unconditional mercy and love, His patience and faithfulness in me, not because of who I am, but because of what He's done, not because of what I've done, but because of who He is! At dahil jan, I will gladly boast of my weaknesses!