Straight From Pastor Ey

It is as shocking as the Glorietta blast. I had to read the news headline many times before it sank in. “Arroyo pardons Erap.” I leave it to legal experts to debate the pros and cons of the executive clemency extended to the former president, who was convicted of plunder . It still does not make sense to me, though. I recall a similar situation in the Bible (Matthew 18:21-35). A king ordered an audit on all the governors ruling in the different provinces of his region. One was found guilty of plunder. He embezzled 10,000 talents. To give you an idea, a talent was equivalent to 75 pounds of silver. That’s astronomical considering that the total amount of taxes collected annually by Rome from the province of Galilee alone was only 300 talents. But this governor stole ten thousand talents! If we compute that, he owed the king millions or maybe even billions of pesos. Obviously, the governor squandered it all . “Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wif...

"Pugad Baboy" is a famous cartoon strip here in the Philippines. One can read it in one of the major broadsheets here, The Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI, http://inquirer.net/). This morning, Oct 18, 2007, Thursday, I found this: I immediately e-mailed PDI. I am an avid fan of "Pugad Baboy." I have tolerated PM Jr. even if there are times that he used religion as a butt of his jokes (i.e. the "kulto finish" episode). However, I find today's "religious nut" cartoon offensive (where Mang Dagul finds himself conversing with a person who asks him, "Paano ka nagpapasalamat sa biyaya na ibinigay sa yo ng Diyos?" [How do you thank God for the blessing He gave you?] Then Dagul cries out: "Religious nut!" ). Yes, we all had our share of so-called religious nuts. But, just talking about God does not make one a nut case. This is stereotyping people who just wanted to talk about God. It is unfair. I don't find it funny. Feel...

This is for our youth. But, of course, parents can eavesdrop :-) Ever wondered why your parents act like that? That there are times you feel out of sync with them? Allow me to share the “Seven Ways to Understand Your Parents,” which I heard a few days ago in “Family Matters” (a radio program hosted by Rev. Clem Guillermo and Carmen Go-Vargas aired every Monday to Friday, 9:30AM, over 702 DZAS AM). First, you have to understand that there is no school for parenting. A billboard got it right: “When a child is born, a parent is born.” Yes, there are excellent books and seminars in parenting. But, knowing how to parent is different from actually doing it. Second, your parents were “victims,” too. Their parents also “experimented” on them. So, either your parents are parenting you the way they were parented (that’s the only way they know how) or they were trying to do it differently. I know it is not good to feel like a lab rat. But, at least, thank them for the effort. They tried. Ye...

Yes, you read it right. I resign. But, before you think of anything, I am not doing an Abalos. Remember the Purpose Driven Covenant I asked people to read in the English Worship Service on my first Sunday as an associate pastor of Makati Gospel Church almost three years ago? Time and again it’s good to remind ourselves of that covenant. Here are some excerpts: “I’m tired of waffling, and I’m finished with wavering… I refuse to waste any more time and energy on shallow living, petty thinking, trivial talking, thoughtless doing, useless regretting, hurtful resenting, or faithless worrying… I won’t be captivated by culture, manipulated by critics, motivated by praise, frustrated by problems, debilitated by temptation, or intimidated by the devil.” 1 Those are the things I have resigned and will continue to resign from. Some people think that to resign is to give up without a fight. But a dictionary entry shows that the verb “resign” can also mean “to give up deli...