Straight From Pastor Ey

Much ink and paper and much airtime both radio and TV has already been devoted to the hostage crisis last Monday, August 23, 2010. So, instead of giving unsolicited advice or even attacking the Philippine National Police or the PNP (though I have of course expressed my angst over my Facebook posts), I want now to look at this issue from another angle and from a vantage point. Our PNP is getting a lot of flak lately. They are already under fire for the torture video that was shown over national TV. That video of a police officer torturing a suspect inside a precinct was so sickening that I could not even bear to post its link on Facebook. Knowing that I have a lot of international friends in my social network, I really restrained myself so as not to put our country (not only the police) in bad light. However, the hostage tragedy was broadcast all over the world literally through international news organizations such as CNN and BBC. The images of the failed assault were played over and o

Last week, I was having lunch with my son Jessey. Out of the blue, he asked, “Dad, what’s worse than getting killed?” I immediately replied, “Staying alive.” When he gave me that puzzled look, I clarified my answer, “Staying alive… and not really living.” Staying alive without really living is no better than being dead. In fact, I believe it is worse. It is because our Lord Jesus, the Life Himself, “came that [we] may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10, ESV. See 14:6 also.) Lest we jump into concluding that the abundant life has something to do with amassing earthly wealth, one translation clarified it: “I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.” (CEV) Living is more than breathing in and breathing out. That’s just staying alive. Even a person on life support machine can do that. Living is when you enjoy being alive. It is when we live life to the fullest. Someone summarized it well, “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” But, when we

An American, an Italian and a Filipino visited St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City. They were awestruck as they beheld Michelangelo’s Pietà. The American could only mouth the word, “Amazing!” The Italian could not contain his joy and exclaimed, “Magnifico!” But the Filipino immediately got his cell phone from his pocket, grabbed a companion’s hand, posed as close as possible to the sculpture and shrilled, “Picture! Picture! Post ko sa Facebook!” ( “I’ll post it on Facebook!” ) Yes, we are a certified Facebook country. “Of the more than 496 Facebook aficionados worldwide… The Philippines ranks seventh in the world with the most number of Facebook users at 15,935,880 ” (Source: http://inquirer.net/ ). In fact, the number of Filipinos riding the Facebook wave is growing so fast that it seems we can overtake Italy at the sixth spot, which has only 16,858,340 users. Also, we still reign as the SMS capital of the world. And according to the latest Young Asians 2010 Survey conducted b

David Koepp. Image Source:  http://wegotthiscovered.com/ We crave to be in control. “Spiderman” screenwriter David Koepp believes that is one of the reasons why superhero movies are in vogue nowadays. “ They’re empowerment stories , and what’s better than that. The golden age of fantasy is often when society is going through a hard time. I think 9/11 and the souring of the economy have had a lot to do with it, because people want fantasy. They want to escape to a place where they feel a fantasy of success and omnipotence, you’re safe and you’re protected. ” (Source: “ Superhero Obsession: Why We Love Fantasy ” )  Deep within us, we don’t want to end up weak. We covet to conquer our challenges. If it is a problem as tall as a building, we want to be able to leap over it in a single bounce. We want to solve it faster than a speeding bullet. Artist and author Arlen Schumer agrees, “ Superhero stories, all heroic myth stories teach us and tell us that it is possible, that y