There's no place like home!

It's me again...where am I? Oh sorry I forgot, just got back yesterday to San Diego from my east coast trip. It's so great to see my family again of course my lovely wife Dianette fondly called Nette for short and my three precious lovely daughters namely Abi who is now almost 16 years old and can't wait to drive and would like to be an architect, Dianelle my 14 year old who loves to watch food channel, not because she loves to eat but because of her desire to be an "international cheff", and not to forget my youngest one Danielle Joy..."DJ" for short, who just turned 8 years old this month who's ambition is to be a "preacher pastor" when she grows up, so glad to know that somebody will be following my path. And by the way, there's no way I will forget my mother in-law who's also with us, newly migrated from the Philippines, her name is Mama Gloria.



Like what I said, there's no place like home...yesterday after my trip from Virginia I rested for a few hours and made myself ready for the wedding rehearsal that i need to be at 'coz I will be officiating it this Saturday. Basically, I haven't got my real rest yet from a combination of trip from the Philippines and East Coast which is about 4 days apart. Anyway, I thank God for His divine strength that is sustaining us day by day. It's awesome to think, that even this simple trip coud be related to a simple reminder from God that all of us are just like a traveler here on earth. Yes, to some people they probably think of traveling to different places is nothing but fun, but in reality, it's so tiring knowing the fact that you always have to adjust to time and your body clocks always needs to adjust as well and not to mention leaving your family behind. Now going back to travel in the spiritual context I beleive it is something to realize that we are just passing by here on earth, this is not our permanent place. The Lord said in John 14:1-4, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." This scriptures gives us a clear view of what to expect after we're done with our travel here on earth which by the way is just temporary. Everytime I travel to different places, I notice that I don't have any personal attachment to that place whatsoever, because i know that i'm jsut visiting regardless of the duration of my stay. In the same way, I beleive that we need to remind ourselves that we should not have any personal attachment to this world that we are living in because this is not our permanent place, this is just preliminary...but be aware that how we live our lives here on earth will determine our eternal condition. So, let me suggest a few things while traveling here on earth...first, let us make sure that we don't attach ourselves too much to this world because nothing here is permanent. Everything that we may probably call our own will one day vanish due to the fact that we came here naked and we will definitely come out of this world naked, according to Solomon in Ecclesiastes 5:15. Secondly, travel light...with all the changes happening in the airline rulings of how many luggage you can bring and the weight, it's just frustrating to find out that if you have lots of excess baggage then you will be forced to pay extra, yes pay extra, unfortunately nothing is free anymore even airlines are getting tougher. Now the lesson here is, while traveling here on earth, the bible is admonishing us to ensure that we don't carry too much excess luggage that will eventually weigh us down if we don't take noticed. You may ask, what do you mean by those excess luggage...to name a few, worry or anxiety, offense that was caused by simple unmet expectation, how about anger or the worsed is hatred and unforgiveness. These are just a few things if left unattended will caused great dammage on ourselves. So the best way to handle this is, first let us examine ourselves if we have any of this excess luggage that we are carrying. Secondly, let us go to God and surrender everything to Him, anyway He's the one who said that we can actually cast all of our cares to Him because He cares for us - 1 Peter 5:7. Lastly, make sure that you don't take back what you already casted on Him, walk in freedom and enjoy the tour while we're here on earth knowing that our real purpose and mandate from our Creator is to be intimate with Him and reflect only His presence until we leave an imprint (an indelible distinguishing effect or influence) that others will follow.



Lastly, we need to have a clear perspective of our destination...it's a clear place that God Himself has prepared for us, no eyes have seen or ears have heard nor any hearts perceived what God has set for us in eternity. So this alone served as great encouragement even though there are times we feel like giving up or quiting from this long and tiring journey, knowing that we have something to look forward to, which is our blessed hope. When that time comes then everything that we hoped for and longed for will become a reality, no longer seeing our Master in the eyes of faith, we may probably say that today we can only see Him "faith to faith" but the time is coming that we will behold Him "face to face". So let us anchor our faith and trust to this indelible truth, that one day we will be with Him forever and ever in eternity.



I hope that you have been encouraged and motivated to continue your journey even if it seems difficult. Always remember, it's not how you started the journey but it's how you finish it.



'till next time :)