Sunday I'm in Love

Because I am too lazy to finish my paper for CommRes, I shall blabber about my day.

Well, for one, it wasn’t my usual Sunday except I still had a hard time waking up at 6 in the morning just to get to church. :))

I finally got to catch up with my mentor after how many weeks. And what turned out to be a “chat” turned into something else. I wish I could tell you though but you know, there are some things kept in private. :P Seriously. I wasn’t expecting anything bizarre today. But I’m glad I did wake up at 6 in the morning. It was all worth it J

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What is man that You are mindful of him?

This? We don’t deserve this. But He thinks of us. He values us. He delights in us. And that is more than enough.

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After church, the girls and I met up with Dad and had lunch in BonChon. Oh please, if you haven’t tried it, you’re missing half of your life! It’s very affordable though for high-quality dishes. Their bulgogi rice and chops are a fave! The chap-chae’s good too but I’m not much of a fan of noodles so I don’t appreciate as much as others do (my sister specifically). I wanted to try something new, like their burger but Mom ordered already. Howel, I shall explore it the next time I visit J  

Of course, Sunday lunch won’t be complete without lavishing ourselves with coffee and gelato in Café Ti Amo. It’s a really cozy and laid-back coffee place but a lot of people go there too so sometimes it can get too crowded and noisy. Yeah. It means it’s that good J Oh and there’s free wi-fi too! My dad and my sister always order the waffle with ice cream (I’m not sure what it’s called – affogato ba?) and I tried it for the first time with the rich mouth-watering dark chocolate ice cream on top and man, it tastes like heaven! I was hoping there was peppermint chocolate (my second favorite flavor) though. There’s always a next Sunday anyway :P

My goodness. I haven’t overindulged for a looong time already. Haha! I must lose these chicken chops and pounds of gelato over the week! (Weh, 'di nga? Haha!)

We had a little walk around GB, and the girls bought Christmas CDs (I do not know why they still buy CDs when they can just ask me to download it on Torrent). Haha. Sayang pera.

And then we randomly decided to go play bowling (oh yez, imagine I was with adults 46 and above and my sister of course). Shocking right? Me, playing a sport? I used to think, is bowling even a sport? Haha. But hey ah, it’s hard to perform the proper approach and delivery of both the footwork and handwork. Aaaand besides, I have duckpin bowling for PE this sem, I don’t wanna look stupid you know. :))

My Lola used to be a professional bowler but she stopped 10 years ago. When I was little, I used to tag along and watch her compete. She was tad awesome. She tried one frame earlier (note, she wasn’t even wearing bowling shoes and is SEVENTY YEARS OLD and has a knee injury) and she was able to hit 9 pins. She is SEVENTY years old. SEVENTY. Nakakamangha lang masyado :))

In all fairness, my game was fair enough. I had two strikes, so I guess I’ll manage :)) Kamille (my sister) and I wanted this to be a regular Sunday thing – bowling instead of pigging out. :)) It’s healthier somehow, right?

We didn’t stay for long because my Lola had to go home early because she has another gimmick. Tell me about cool. :))

When we got home, the house started singing “Merry Christmas.” There was already a fresh pine tree decorated at our sala, with angels and silver balls everywhere. And I caught my cousin cooking turkey for dinner. For at least an hour, I felt like I was in America. :))

So apparently, we had a thanksgiving dinner, with turkey served of course. :) It’s sad though the family wasn’t complete today. But it’s fine. I had a great time with them anyway. :)

And I guess I’ve been really learning to enjoy my time with family and value each one of them, regardless… :))

Spiritual Bulimia

I was just reading an article on bulimia and well, it made me think that perhaps at some point or another, we have all been spiritually bulemic. 

I used to be "another believer". I believed all the right stuff - that Jesus is the Son of God, died and rose again. I had become a "believer," but I had no idea what it meant to be a follower. People had taught me what Christians believe but no one had told/showed me exactly how Christians live.

So as we do in our culture, I used to think that maybe I needed to buy and succumb to more Christian stuff. I had everything Christian - T-shirts, books, devotionals, etc. I developed a common illness that haunts most of us Christians - spiritual bulimia.

Bulimia, of course, is a tragic eating disorder, largely linked to identity and image, where people consume large amounts of food but vomit it up before it has a chance to digest.

I developed the spiritual form of it where I did my devotions, read all the new Christian books and then vomited information up to friends, classmates and pastors. But it had never had the chance to digest. I had binged myself on church and whatever Christianese there is but was spiritually starving to death. I was marked by an overconsumptive but malnourished spirituality. I was suffocated by doing Christianity but thirsty for God. I thought to myself that there must be another way of doing this theeeng.

I remember when I was younger (don't get me wrong, I'm not that old), along with many others, had this episode of putting "Christianese" (literally) all over my bodeh (I hope you notice my sarcasm). Oo, yung tipong pinagsisigawan na "Kristiyano ako! Kristiyano ako!".

Church was cool, comfortable and well trendy (I'm not saying it's a bad thing though; I think it's a necessity to draw unbelievers not just in church but to Christ).

It was cool to be a Jesus freak, to be a "Christian". We preach Jesus whenever and wherever (yung tipong nakaka-annoy na). And it feels "good." It only feels good.

I call this spiritual masturbation which refers to the feel-good emotionally charged Christianity. It never really gives birth to anything except that.. well, it feels good.

But there must be more than feeling good, and doing church and "Christianity." There must be more than just handing out tracts or selling Jesus like a shampoo or a laundry soap (affordable diba?). Honestly, I used to feel like a used-car salesman like people's salvation depended on how well I articulated things. Shane Claiborne (one of my fave authors) even said that he had heard a pastor shared one time that he was in a "different kind of business" with the "best product in the world." What the hell, right?

It's a shame though that Christians had become so normal, that many of us are stuck (where? I don't really know). 

But I don't think Jesus himself was "normal." He never seemed to do anything normal. When our leaders anoint people with oil, he picked up some dirt off the ground to heal a blind guy and spits in it and then wipes it on the guy's eyes. What is weird? He turned water into wine to keep a party going. He walked on water, my goodness. It's scary. It scared his friends to death. Now, is it easy to listen to hear Him talk and walk away as if we had just watched a nice movie?

It's sad because it has become difficult to know who Jesus really is. Or what Christian life really is.

But the more I get to know Him, the more it messed me up, the more I became in love. Foh real.