Woke up at around 4:00 a.m. due to a productive cough. When at 5:30 a.m. I still couldn’t go back to sleep, I decided to just have an early breakfast consisting of an apple, a sandwich, and green tea, which I took while looking out my window. The scene unfolding in front of me was too lovely, so I went out to the balcony to snap a few photos.
A Lovely Day
I hadn’t greeted the dawn in a long time. After my second day of doctor-ordered bed rest, all I could say is, “What a lovely day, Lord, thank you. It is good to be alive.”
To all who are sick out there, may the Lord’s healing grace shine upon you now like the rising sun.
P.S.
The light from the ships in the photo above is not from any lamps, but from the rising sun.
I wonder how it feels like to greet the dawn on a sailboat.
And why Caspian X named his ship the Dawn Treader.
And whether Joni Mitchell had in her mind, consciously or not, any aspect of that ship’s Voyage when she wrote her haunting The Dawntreader.
The 31st of December. It’s the day when we revisit all the previous days of the year. In this post I revisit the 5 happiest things that happened to me in 2019 as a way to thank God for all good things.
(This is my ninth reflection on my “happiest happenings” for a particular year. The previous ones were in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011, 2010.)
So, my happiest happenings in 2019 were (not in any order):
1. Time with Pastor Shinji
I got to know the Lord in Japan, a country where Christians compose only 0.8% of the population. This happened through the ministry of Pastor Shinji and his wife, Kayoko, my spiritual parents, who showed me God’s unconditional love.
Shinji ministers to church leaders in Davao every two years. He was there this year, and, as has been his practice, he dropped by to visit me and my local church in Rizal. Coincidentally, I was the one assigned to the pulpit at the time of his visit, and after seeing me preach, he said that he was so proud of me, his spiritual son. We also had a wonderful fellowship at my house that night, sharing with one another what God has been doing in our lives.
Ministering with Pastors Shinji and Jun
2. BAGCED Board of Advisers
One of the things I’m proud of having accomplished this year is the successful invitation of very special people to become part of the Board of Advisers of the Br. Andrew Gonzalez College of Education (BAGCED). These include: the dean of Teacher Education of the National Institute of Education of Singapore; the newest commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education; the newest undersecretary (for Curriculum and Instruction) of the Department of Education; the director of the Science Education Institute; the president of Knowledge Channel; and three former deans of BAGCED. May we be able to work together effectively to improve the quality of basic education in the country, which, sadly, has been declining, as the graph on the right shows.
With BAGCED’s Board of Advisers and administrators
3. Friends at Dad’s Wake
Dad passed away last Feb 13, and while that was very painful, I was buoyed by the presence of family members as well as friends, old and new, including: my oldest best friends (Carlo and Alex, the latter represented by Gija and Julie); my pastor and church mates; members of my FORMDEV family (Ryan, Kevin, Den, Chai, Joy, and MC); my new friends from BAGCED (Aireen and Ann, with Delia and the staff; former dean Voc; and Jen and her PE teachers); and my kind neighbors, Grace and Joey, coming from as far away as Nuvali. Thank you, Lord, for friends as well as family.
With Dad (in the photo on the monitor) and friends (represented in the photo by their wreaths)
4. Outings with Mom
Even before Dad passed away, I resolved to spend even more time with Mom, taking her out every week (I used to take Mom and Dad out every month), and bringing back the weekly Bible study I used to have with Mom (and Dad) a decade or so ago. Thank you, Lord.
With Mom, Jon, Pen, and Riz
5. Condo and Books
In 2015, when I relocated to Nuvali to be close to the Science and Technology Complex on DLSU’s Laguna campus, I lent my best condo to a best friend (Lizette), who was then recently widowed. Her two youngest children were then entering college. Four years later, they’ve graduated, and now that I need to be on the Manila campus four days a week due to the deanship, I have begun living in my Pacific Regency condo again. In fact, I now stay in it longer than I stay in my house. 😦
View of De La Salle University and Rizal Memorial Stadium (prior to its renovation for the 2019 SEA Games) from one of my balconies
But a nice thing has happened as a result of my staying in the condo: I have begun reading novels again. For a while I thought that, due to aging, I had transitioned from the active reading of books to the passive viewing of movies and TV series, but I’m glad to have been proven false. I have in the past six months read six novels/duologies/trilogies/quartets, including Shannon’s Priory of the Orange Tree (this is the one that got me started), Brooks’ Legends of Shannara duology and Defenders of Shannara trilogy (I loved the Shannara novels when I was young), Harris’ Harper Connelly quartet, and Johansen’s Tearling trilogy, as well as several nonfiction books, including Harari’s 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Schwab’s Shaping the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Marr’s Big Data in Practice, Eremenko’s Confident Data Skills, and Manzur’s Godot Engine Game Development. What I found the most refreshing was, surprisingly, the Harper Connelly quartet! (A close second would be Harari’s 21 Lessons, which, though seemingly just a collection of essays, could be as monumental as his Sapiens and Home Deus.)
P.S. While waiting for the New Year, I also reread one of my childhood favorites: Dixon’s/Almquist’s The Clue in the Embers, which I liked because of the Hardy boys’ hunting for lost treasure in the forests of “Texachapi” Guatemala.
~~~
As I say goodbye to 2019 and welcome 2020,I thank God, who loved me before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
And I thank my family, friends, and those whom I minister to, for their love.
At home with Mom and PenWith the Kabataang Kay Kristo Jesus (K3J or Youth for Christ Jesus), proudly wearing our verse-shirt for 2020 showing Psalm 89:15 (Hear the Call, Walk in the Light)With BAGCED friendsWith FORMDEV facis who have become my “inaanak sa kasal” (literally, “godchildren in marriage”)With Mom, T’Aida, T’Charing, and DondonWith a feline friend at schoolA bird’s next in my backyard
This 2020, may we always hear and respond to the joyful call to worship, and thereby walk in the light of the presence of our Lord (Psalm 89:15)!
The 31st of December. It’s the day when we revisit all the previous days of the year. In this post I revisit the 5 happiest things that happened to me in 2018 as a way to thank God for all good things.
(This is my eighth reflection on my “happiest happenings” for a particular year. For earlier reflections, see 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011, 2010.)
So, my happiest happenings in 2018 are (not in any order):
1. ICIS
I’ve transferred twice already to a completely different research area. My first area was artificial intelligence (AI): my PhD computer science dissertation involved the development of a machine learning (ML) algorithm that used knowledge as well as data for conceptual clustering. Then, I switched to software engineering (SE). Now–and, I hope, finally–I’m in information systems (IS) and games for learning (G4L).
What caused the changes in areas? Perceived impact on the country would probably be the main reason. When I was in AI, the country was not yet ready for it. I thought SE would be more useful and so I worked on software quality practices, but the country was not ready for that either. Now, in IS, I am using the grounded theory method (GTM) to understand how information technology (IT) is used (and misused) in the IT-enabled services industry (e.g., the BPO sector). From this I plan to propose ways to improve processes, technologies, and training for the said industry.
The International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) is the most important conference in the area of information systems, so the acceptance of my paper (co-written with one of my PhD students, R. Lavilles) is one of my happiest happenings in 2018. Presenting it at the conference (and receiving great comments, especially from C. Urquhart) and attending the workshop of the AIS Special Interest Group on GTM (organized by N. Levina, who treated us to a lovely dinner) added further joy.
Program of Session V of the Human Behavior and Information Systems Track
Next year’s ICIS will be in Munich. The last time I was in Germany was when I did postgrad work in Saarbruecken in my early 20s. So, maybe I’ll submit a paper to ICIS 2019!
2. G4L
From SE, I actually transferred not just to one area (IS) but two, the second being games for learning (G4L). One of my long-standing research interests lies in technology-enhanced learning (TEL)–this is a thread that cuts across much of my research. For a while, I thought that intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), which I applied my ML algorithm in, would be the answer to the lack of qualified teachers, until Gen Z appeared, with its preference for digital games and social media for learning.
Right now, I and one of my research groups are in the process of designing and comparing (a) quickly gamified math drills against (b) math lessons designed within a carefully constructed game world. Before commencing, we spent a month observing grade-4 mathematics classes, particularly at a resource-challenged school, where I hope we could help change for the better the life trajectories of financially challenged children.
Observing a Grade 4 Math Class at a Resource-Challenged School Near my Campus
3. BAGCED
When almost a decade ago I enrolled in the PhD in Education program at the Brother Andrew Gonzalez FSC College of Education (BAGCED), it never occurred to me that I would one day be called to lead it.
I accepted the deanship because I believe that BAGCED has tremendous potential to help improve the state of education in the country. The graduate programs and certificates that we offer have been taken by hundreds of principals and superintendents of schools and districts. The conferences and seminars that we organize (e.g., ARAL on action research) are attended by hundreds of basic education teachers nationwide. I look forward to research results that have the potential to improve educational processes and policies.
I have a dream for BAGCED: inspired innovation for impact. I hope that I will be able to lay the foundation for this dream quickly.
A Vision and Master Plan for BAGCED
4. San Francisco
ICIS 2018 was held in San Francisco, and though this was my third visit to the Golden Gate City, there were several new and happy experiences for me.
First was a happy reunion with an old friend, P. Claudio, who, a long time ago, gave me my first tour of the pier and the sights and restaurants near it.
Second was buying a nice Ralph Lauren overcoat at 70% off at Macy’s. I’ve always wanted to have a nice overcoat, but I did not want to spend a lot of money on something that I would rarely use, given that I live in the tropics.
Third was spending a day at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Though I prefer the New York MOMA, there are so many art works to like at the SFMOMA, including the works of G. Richter.
Last but not the least of my happiest happenings in 2018 is not a single event but several events happening monthly, when I would take Mom and Dad out for lunch, shopping, and a haircut.
With Mom, Dad, Tita Aida, Riza, and Ely at our Favorite Restaurant
~~~
As I say goodbye to 2018 and welcome 2019,I thank God, who chose me before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) to be part of the Light of the World (Matthew 5:14), for all His blessings.
And I thank my family, friends, and those whom I minister to, for their love.
With the Kids in my Nuvali HomeAt Church with the Light of the WorldWith Carlo and Pam FajardoWith the K3J YouthWith my Laguna Campus Computational Thinking (IECMPTK) Students
The Resurrection of the Christ by Carl Heinrich Bloch
April 1, 2018
Resurrection Sunday, the greatest of all feasts!
Today, by God’s grace, I and the youth group (Kabataang Kay Kristo Jesus or K3J) of our church will be handling the P&W and preaching at the worship service. And for this special occasion, God placed in my heart a new song. I’m sharing the lyrics below. Later I hope to find a way to share a recording of it.
Happy Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!
SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD (GOD IS ABLE)
Raymund Sison
Capo 3
G – D – Em – C
Verse:
Seek first the kingdom of God
And all His righteousness
And all these things will be added
Added to you
Rapped Chorus:
God is able to do
Infinitely more than we would dare to
Ask, so ask and it will be given to you
Seek God’s Kingdom—believe, and be blessed
God is willing to heal
Any and every disease and sickness
If we place our hands on sick men and women
In the name of Jesus they will be healed
Sung Chorus:
God is able to do
Infinitely more than we would
Ever dare to ask, so dare to
Seek and be blessed
God is willing to heal
Any disease and sickness
If we place our hands on the sick
They will be healed
Bridge:
For the name of Jesus
Is above all names
So in the name of Jesus
Disciple all the nations
When I was little, I loved looking at pictures depicting the life of Christ in my grandmother’s Catholic prayer book. Of course, as a child, I didn’t know (or care) who the painter was, until many years later, when I would receive a book titled “Jesus: The Son of Man” containing high quality reproductions of Carl Heinrich Bloch’s Fredericksborg Palace Chapel paintings. Thank you, Ada, for the beautiful gift!
This is my seventh year of reflecting, through my blog, on my “happiest happenings” for a particular year. (For earlier annual reflections, see 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011, 2010.) My happiest happenings in 2017 are (not in any order):
1. Finishing my PhD in Education
I began my studies toward the PhD in education in 2010. I could have finished in 2013, but the Lord did not allow it; instead, I had to learn two important lessons.
First lesson: Please only God. I tend to be a people pleaser, but the Lord taught me not to please people but to please only Him: “Our purpose is to please God, not people” (1 Thessalonians 2:4b, NLT). I learned that when I please God, I do not need to concern myself with how other people might view me or my work. I also learned that pleasing God fulfills my potential and makes me happy.
Second lesson: Never compare myself with others. I remember Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata from long ago: “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself .”
As soon as I have learned these lessons, I was able to defend my dissertation successfully and pass with flying colors.
I’m now thinking of whether to transform my dissertation into a book. The big question for me, based on my understanding of William Germano’s From Dissertation to Book, is whether I have sufficient material (research results) to give leaders the encouragement and the tools to improve themselves or their situation. I know that the Lord will guide me in this, too.
2. Salvation from Permanent Injuries
When, during a sudden downpour, my former car skidded, rammed through a tall lamp post, and crossed the traffic island into the other lane, I was profoundly grateful to the Lord that: (1) the only injuries I sustained were a stiff neck due to whiplash; and (2) there was no incoming traffic. The car was declared by the insurance company as a total wreck, and so I was able to purchase a newer and better vehicle, cash!
The Lord is good. Not only were I and others saved, but I also learned so many things (e.g., about the importance of the daily unhurried reading of God’s word and prayer in cultivating one’s relationship with God), and even got a vehicle that I really like!
3. Organizing a Medium-Sized Forum on Educating Generation Z
As head of the Society of University Fellows, which is celebrating its Pearl Anniversary this academic year, I organized what I hope would become an annual Fellows’ Forum on Higher Education, the inaugural theme of which was Educating Generation Z.
Gen Zers were born around 1995, at about the same time as the birth of the World Wide Web. While doing research for the situationer that I had to give, I realized that several paradoxes exist concerning Gen Z, one of which is what I call the Friendship Paradox: Though Gen Zers might have many friends on social media, they might have very few real friends. This can have several causes as well as effects, including what Jean Twenge suggests in her 2017 book on iGen that greater suicide risk is associated with longer average daily Internet use. Since the Forum, I have talked to various groups of people, trying to convince them of the need to study further how Internet use might be adversely impacting today’s children and youth, and what we can do about it.
4. Teaching about God’s Love and Our Fruit Bearing
I’m very grateful for having been asked to give the message for 2018 to my local church. The message was about John 15:16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. And the Father will give you whatever you ask in my Name.” For the first time, I articulated, based on experience and reflection, a framework for fruit bearing.
Bearing fruit can be viewed as a process that begins with an understanding of God’s love for us as unique individuals. This leads us to respond to God’s love in kind, by doing what God wants us to do, not out of duty, but out of love. As we obey the Holy Spirit in the big things as well as in the small ones, we bear fruit, i.e., our character becomes more and more like that of Christ, and people are drawn to Christ’s love through the testimony of our actions as well as words. And “the Father will give us whatever we ask in Jesus’ name.”
~~~
As I say goodbye to 2017 and welcome 2018,I thank God, first of all, who chose me before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), and whose love for me is so great that I can never understand fully it (Ephesians 3:19a, NLT).
And I also thank my family, friends, and those whom I minister to, for their love.
With Dad, Mom, Pen, T. Violet, T. Grace, K. Mau, K. Mark, P. Jun and S. Janet on my x0th birthdayWith current FORMDEV leaders on my x0th birthday.With former FORMDEV leaders (one of whom is getting married in Feb 2018).With some of the K3J (youth group) leaders and members wearing our banner shirt for 2018: I Chose U (John 15:16).With Grace and Zoie, my very kind neighbors, on my x0th birthday. (The to-go bag is for Zoie’s husband, Joey.)With Divine and Gwen, former associates at the Office of the AVC for Academic Affairs
To everyone I wish a new year “filled with the love and power that comes from God”! (Ephesians 3:19b, NLT)
Stumbled upon the Facebook post below, which reminded me of the urgent need to look more deeply into what I called, in my talk, Gen Z’s Friendship Paradox: Having more (Facebook) friends but possibly less emotionally satisfying friendships compared to earlier generations.
Jean Twenge, in her 2017 book iGen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood – and What That Means for the Rest of Us, notes that Gen Z youth are more depressed than those of the past, and suggests that this might have to do with the number of hours they spend online:
I plan to work on this (among so many other topics!) after I get my PhD in Ed, which I hope and pray will be this December. 🙂
“The work of salvation, in its full sense, is (1) about whole human beings, not merely souls; (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us.”
April 15, 2017. Eve of the Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus.
In preparation for this year’s celebration of the greatest of days, I read Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (2008), by N.T. Wright, whose The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is I read for Resurrection Sunday 2015.
The book can be viewed as having two main points.
First: The historical and bodily resurrection of Jesus points not only toward life after death (in heaven) but, more importantly, toward the “life after life after death” (148), i.e., in the “final coming together of [the new] heaven and [new] earth, [which] is God’s supreme act of new creation” (208).
Second: We who are created in the image of God, and who have been redeemed from death through the atoning death of Jesus, are led and empowered by the Spirit to reflect (94) the Resurrected Lord to all of God’s creation here and now, on this earth, as well as in the new one. “The intermediate stage between the resurrection of Jesus and the renewal of the whole world is the renewal of human beings – you and me! – in our own lives of obedience here and now.” (249)
Before, between, and after his painstaking exposition of the above points, Wright does his best to expose the errors in the popular worldviews of materialism and Gnosticism and their modern/postmodern variants, and in popular beliefs about death, life after death, the second coming, and the role of Christians in this present world.
QUOTABLE QUOTES
Now to quote some of Tom’s sentences that either caused me to pause, to smile, or to weep:
On salvation:
“The work of salvation, in its full sense, is (1) about whole human beings, not merely souls; (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us.” (200)
On life after death:
“Life after death, it seems, can be a serious distraction not only from the ultimate life after life after death, but also from life before death.” (198)
On reflecting God:
“One of the primary laws of human life is that you become like what you worship; what’s more, you reflect what you worship not only back to the object itself but also outward to the world around.” (182)
So in worship we reflect the Triune God back to the Triune God, and at work and in ministry we reflect the Triune God to the world. Wow!
On kingdom work:
“[B]uild for the kingdom. This brings us back to 1 Corinthians 15:58 once more: what you do in the Lord is not in vain. You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s about to roll over a cliff. You are not restoring a great painting that’s shortly going to be thrown on the fire. You are not planting roses in a garden that’s about to be dug up for a building site. You are— strange though it may seem, almost as hard to believe as the resurrection itself—accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world. Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow human beings and for that matter one’s fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world—all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make.” (208)
Wow! In relation to the above, I can’t wait to read and maybe blog about Chris Travis’ inSignficant: Why You Matter in the Surprising Way God is Changing the World.
Still on kingdom work:
“We must therefore avoid the arrogance or triumphalism of the first view, imagining that we can build the kingdom by our own efforts without the need for a further great divine act of new creation. But we must agree with the first view that doing justice in the world is part of the Christian task, and we must therefore reject the defeatism of the second view, which says there’s no point in even trying.” (216)
And still on kingdom work:
“As far as I can see, the major task that faces us in our generation, corresponding to the issue of slavery two centuries ago, is that of the massive economic imbalance of the world, whose major symptom is the ridiculous and unpayable Third World debt… Sex matters enormously, but global justice matters far, far more. The present system of global debt is the real immoral scandal, the dirty little secret – or rather the dirty enormous secret – of glitzy, glossy Western capitalism.” (216)
And finally, on Easter:
“If Calvary means putting to death things in your life that need killing off if you are to flourish as a Christian and as a truly human being, then Easter should mean planting, watering, and training up things in your life (personal and corporate) that ought to be blossoming, filling the garden with color and perfume, and in due course bearing fruit. The forty days of the Easter season, until the ascension, ought to be a time to balance out Lent by taking something up, some new task or venture, something wholesome and fruitful and outgoing and self-giving.” (257)
Now, what new, wholesome, fruitful, outgoing and self-giving task or venture shall you and I take up in the next forty days? 🙂
Happy Feast of the Resurrection!
P.S. Thanks to Raam Dev for the new, cool Independent Publisher theme. And also to the Automatticians for Twenty Ten, my blog’s first theme.
P.S. 2 As in previous Resurrection Sundays (see e.g., 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013), there were birds singing just outside or dogs barking happily at a distance. And this time, I also saw a rainbow. God is good.
