This coming August 22 – September 20, marks the holy month of Ramadan throughout the Islamic world. During this time, the spiritual climate throughout the world is at an all-time high. There is no better time …
Hey Pare,
I came late last night at GENCON, it was you who was sharing your mission stories, I was encouraged by your testimony, even If i have watched your video …
I thought the best way to share about our eight weeks in the US would just be to show you. The following is a photo …
In case you have not already seen the post on 16 Rolls of Welcome you should head over there and check it out. This little video shows the culprits in action!…
So one of the ways you can tell you are loved and appreciated is by the amount of harassment you receive from your friends. Really! I always tease and joke …
Himig is a Tagalog term which means harmony, agreement, and melody. It is a Deep Tagalog term, meaning it is not used much in everyday speech so when it is used it’s message is significant. I signifies that all parts of something come together to make a powerful whole. It …
Each team is assigned a scripture verse based on a topic and is then given 168 hours to produce a 10 minute film on that assignment. The topic for 2009 is Family Business and the scriptural assignment for WMC was Matthew 12:46-49.
WHILE He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, “LOOK, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!
In the verse we see conflict between Jesus and his biological family. They are concerned for Jesus due to the negative speculation being created by his public ministry. They desire to save him from making matters worse for himself. We see the tendency for familiarity to produce contempt or doubt. Of all people, Mary should appreciate Jesus’ divinity, however she still deals with the motherly desire to protect her son by encouraging him to make ‘safe’ decisions. We see Jesus exemplifying the truth that our Spiritual calling should take precedence over all else in our lives. We see Him acknowledge those who have made this sacrifice and reward them by accepting them into His ‘family’. At times obedience to this calling requires sacrifices in other areas, however the eternal benefits are obvious (Matthew 6:33). We see how Jesus deals with conflict with those that he loves the most. He encourages them to see the truth that obedience to God’s calling is paramount and grafts us all into God’s family.
Integrating the theme and message of our scripture assignment into a Filipino context was easy. The prioritized importance of family relationships and obedience to one’s family is a major cultural value among Filipinos. There is also a common concept of the ‘second family’ in the Philippines. Those who are struggling, unloved, or impoverished will often times seek out relationships outside their immediate family in which to find support and acceptance. We also see the pressure placed on the eldest son in a family to be successful in their education in order to find a well paying career so that they might help financially support the family. Many families have at least one parent working abroad in order to pay for this education and there is the expectation that the children should focus entirely on the provision of the family over outside pursuits or concerns. Finally, we see the core value of all Filipinos to be extremely loving and giving to others.
Overall, we are really proud of how the film turned out…and so are the festival judges. We were nominated for awards in 6 categories.
We will find out in a few days the results of the judging, but whatever they are, we are blessed as God truly helped us create something special. Pray for Himig as it helps to impact the lives of Filipinos. We hope you enjoy the film.
-->One thing I have often read about blogging is that you should never make excuses for your lack of writing. It always sounds so sad to read a post where someone is apologizing for not having written in ages because they have been busy or sick or whatever. So I’m …
In my daily trolling through my RSS feeds (which, for older generations, is the equivalent of daily reading the newspaper with the exception that you choose the subjects and source from which it comes) I was fascinated as I read all about how to talk to strangers. The author …
We have a wonderful friend named Liz Hollenberg. She worked with me at WMC-AP for about 16 months as a volunteer doing things from production, to writing and program development. During this time she also became a dear friend of ours. Our kids still ask us when Liz …
I don’t know about you guys, but taking a family picture is a big deal for us. Just getting three kids all looking the same direction with a somewhat acceptable expression on their face is a complete impossibility! I can so distinctly remember myself as a 7 year old boy …