LOSING OUR LIVES

Weirdness of weirdnesses, I'm home on a late Sunday night after a day of worship, feeling really tired over a full day, and I'm snuggled up in bed after a nice cold shower watching LOVE ACTUALLY! Seriously, I have no idea how many times I've seen this amazing Richard Curtis flick on DVD! But I do remember having seen it with friends on three different occasions back when it was shown in theaters in 2003!

Again, I am moved by the famous scene (watch this 2-minute clip)...

At any rate, dinner with my family was fun! And today being Grandparents Day, our senior citizens singing groups sung special music. But that's not exactly what I wish to highlight, as I do the sheer goose-bump inducing sight of married senior couples, some of them in their eighties, just loving each other, and loving God.

I arrived at 6:30AM in church and found 80-year-olds Col. Alex Camacho (Ret.) and his wife Claire enjoying breakfast of cut fruit, coffee, wheat bread and cream cheese spread! I greeted them "Good morning," shook their hands and proceeded to the inner room to get my coat. Through the glass door, I saw Alex put a little piece of bread with cheese into Claire's mouth, as he held her hand.

At lunchtime, I went down to the cafeteria to "oversee" their lunch- that comes with my job description as Worship Pastor, overseeing guests singers' lunch! I did a head count and found that I was missing a couple. I went back upstairs, and found Mr. Ed Alba (78) leaning against a wall. I asked if he wanted to join us for lunch. He smiled and said, "Thanks, son...I'm waiting for my wife. She's in the ladies room. You go ahead, we'll catch up." He and his wife came down and joined everyone else. He picked a table for them, pulled out a chair, wiped the seat with a piece of napkin and asked his wife to sit while he got them both some lunch! After a few minutes, he returned with lunch on a tray. After arranging the food on the table, he reached out to his wife's hand and prayed!

Fil Alcordo (85) and his wife were having lunch together when they saw another senior lady, Nene, a widow, carrying her tray. Fil stood, helped the lady with her tray and gently asked if she would want to join them. Nene agreed. I walked to their table and asked if they would want some cut fruit for dessert. He stood and said, "Maybe the ladies might want some." He reached down and held his wife's hand and asked, "Pangga (love), do you want some melons?"

Prof. Oscar Yutuc (70) came up to me and said, "Pastor, I really hope I could meet with your brother-in-law again. You see, he was the one who planted the Gospel seed in my heart even when I was smarty-pants Professor of Economics in the 90s, always trying to debate with him. Now I'm a believer, I feel I should be thanking him for his ministry. But honestly, I can never thank him enough." I told him that my brother in law was coming to worship at GCF tonight. They met, hugged, and with a simple "Thank you," I saw Prof. Yutuc's sincerity-- an appreciation beyond words.

More than seeing them sing today, I saw how they express their love in various forms. A kind of love that springs from their greatest Love- Jesus Christ.

They are the men and women whom God used to minister to me today in a special way! People who have lost themselves in God, and gained everything in Him.

Losing our lives in God is really gaining what God wanted for us in the first place – an authentic self.

The real challenge in all of this is learning to live authentically. It doesn’t seem to come easily. Since we’ve been so busy living another life instead of the one we were given to live by Jesus Christ, in the power of the Spirit, we have to learn anew how to make our way in the world, in our relationships, in our work, and in our faith.