Clay Ball

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas of bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.

They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls, and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it. We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy, but we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees him, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay.

May we see the people in our world as God sees them. I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with each of you. Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.

The Road to Success

The Road to success is not straight
There is a curve called failure
A loop called confusion
Speed bumps called friends
Red lights called enemies
Caution lights called family
You will have flats called jobs,
But, if you have a spare called determination
An engine called perseverance
Insurance called faith
A driver called God
You will make it to a place called Success!

Author Unknown

Heart Attacks and Drinking Hot Water or Tea

This is a very good article. Not only about the hot water after your meal, but about heart attacks. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals, not cold water, maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating.

For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this "sludge" reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or hot water/tea after a meal. A serious note about heart attacks. You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive.

I want to share with you this nice story that I've read in our church bulletin enjoy reading...

= GOD'S WAYS =

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Everyday he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.
Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.
But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened. Everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me?" he cried.
Early the next day, however, he was wakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.
"How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.
It's easy to get discouraged sometimes when things appear to be going badly. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.
Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

HAVE A NICE DAY

Eagle

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks?

The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it.

The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

When the storms of life come upon us-and all of us will experience them , we can rise above them by setting over our minds and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to over come us. We can alow Gods power to lift us above them.

God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm.

Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them.

The Bible says, "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with the wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

Isaiah 30:31

One Dollar and One Hundred Dollar Bill

One dollar and One Hundred dollar bill

One day, a one dollar bill and a hundred dollar bill got folded together and began talking about their life experiences. The hundred dollar bill began to brag; "I've had a great life," he said. "I've been to all the big hotels, Donald Trump himself used me at his casino, I've been in the wallet of Fortune 500 board members, I've flown from one end of the country to the other! I've even been in the wallet of two presidents of the United States, and once when Princess Diana visited the United States, she used me to buy a packet of gum."

In awe, the one dollar humbly responded, "Gee, nothing like that has ever happened to me, ... but I have been to church a lot!"

Thoughts Back Home

It is almost nine years now since I started working overseas. And from the moment I received my first cheque I have been conscientiously sending some of my hard earned money to my family. It feels good every time I get a response from my love ones, somewhat I am a hero at home. I’ve been hearing stories from other OFW who tried their best in helping relatives back in the Philippines. Most of them were doing this noble acts for many years now and don’t expect anything back but, just a hope that someday the beneficiaries will become self-sufficient.

It seems that there is a never ending financial crisis to our relatives at home. There are plenty of nephews, nieces and grandchildren that wanted to attend colleges. There are siblings asking for assistance so they can afford to send their family members overseas for jobs. There are some who asked for money to maintain their lifestyle or just to show off and boast to their neighbors.

There are too many similar stories of relatives we helped start their businesses. Some presented really good business plans and the potential of good returns. It may not be a new idea but a copy of those who were successful. They made it sound so good that most of us were convinced and bought their plans. We did not bother to check their experience or ability to run such business.

Somehow we took money from our savings or got loans to help finance these investments. In some cases they bought some land to be planted with rice or various fruit trees. Other times it can be fish farms or poultry. Most often it will be a venture in the transportation business. It may involve buying a jeepney, a mini van, or even a tricycle so they could make some money right away but, who’s driving? What about the maintenance or minor repairs? Did you expect the Boss to do all that? It may have worked fine for a year or two but later it was a source of headaches for the rich financiers overseas. Nothing was saved for maintenance and eventually the vehicles were sold to pay for their accumulated debts.

Some of us bought land for our relatives but, we forgot one thing. They don’t want to be farmers anymore but, to be managers or business owners. They can’t even grow their own vegetables. They would rather buy some at SM City with your money. The rich soil in their yard may be suited for any plant but why bother when relatives from abroad send them money regularly. All they have to do is call or send text messages on their latest model cellular phones purchased with your money.

Fortunately, their will be a few relatives who cared about your hard earned money. They tried their best make your efforts worthwhile and made you proud. Their kids earned college degrees and landed decent jobs. Some became successful business persons. They were self-sufficient and even helped other relatives break the cycle of poverty. Helping other people is a very gracious deed but are we doing it the right way? Do you feel guilty enjoying a superior life here so you keep sending them handouts? Have you changed their lives for the better or turned them into a lifetime dependents? Maybe we can teach them how to fish instead of just giving them the fish. What would you do?

Thank you Bobot for such enlightening facts.

Noah's Ark

An interesting email, that I thought would share with you....

I learned from Noah's ark:
1---Don't miss the boat
2---Remember that we are all in the same boat
3---Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark
4---Stay fit when you're 600 yrs old, someone may ask you to do something really big
5---Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done
6---Build your future on high ground
7---For safety's sake, travel in pairs
8---Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs
9---When you're stressed, float awhile
10--Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals
11--No matter the storm, when you are with God, there is always a rainbow waiting.......

On Mother's Day

Happy Mothers day to everyone!

This Sunday, don’t forget to greet our wonderful mother in the world.
Do something special by showing your love to your dear mother. Send her a card, call, send text messages or give them that simple hug. To them, such gesture is good enough and does matters a lot them.
So dear Mother, Happy Mothers Day
The Love, Care, Guidance and Affection…thank you
You have enriched my life. I don't think I can Thank You enough.
I Am So Grateful To You....

Some Lesson Learned

You have noticed on the changes on my site’s theme. I decided to give it a face-lift and do some major changes. This time for the better and I am going green (let us save the earth). I still couldn’t find of a better background so for the time being I will stay on this one. Hope you like it.

Years back when I was still working in HongKong I tried to go into business. After several pitfalls, piggery and mango spraying, the rest were successful, profits were earned and the money invested were recovered (sigh of relief).

Important lesson learned over these years are (for OFWs). There was survey from Inquirer that 76 percent of OFW fail to succeed in their business. Reasons to name a few were the money ended up borrowing by our relatives.

You must learn how to manage time, money, and people. I say have an ample amount of patience.

Any dealings regardless if it is your relatives, brother or sister, put it in black, i.e. put everything on paper/record. Have them notarized.

Never ever extend loan without collaterals. When giving out loan, don’t provide a thousand, give them tens of thousands - and secure for an appropriate collateral! Land, house and lot, farms, or an existing business are necessary. If they are your relatives, and you are an OFW, and you loaned them some money without any collaterals, sorry but think of it as a donation.

When you come home and you have tons of money - pretend that you don't have them. Let your money sleep for months in banks - until good and cheap opportunities present themselves.

When you go into business, always be creative, and watch your market, and your competitor constantly.

And once you learned, and have thought your money to do the working for you. I can guarantee that no matter how much you got - you will always be out of capital. Seek financing somewhere else.

Seek your people's knowledge - they, most of the time, know more about the business than you!

Be generous and give to charities.

Take care of your health, do a regular exercise. We are all getting old.

Last and most of all, don’t forget to look above and thank Him
for all our Blessings.

Healing that heart

It hurts to love. It’s sad but often true. You give your love to that person and in return you receive rejection. Someone you deeply trust betrays your love. Or, perhaps someone tells you he doesn’t love you anymore. Yes, love or the loss of it badly hurts. In fact, a broken heart can sometimes hurt so badly you never want to open your heart to love again.

But you must remember this, the greatest love of all is waiting for you to open your heart to Him. He loved you even before you were born. With his love, he will never let you down. He loves you like the way you are. And he has big dreams for you.

The love of your life is God, and there is only one thing standing between you and Him. Your sin.

All of us have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. Yet God loves us and wants to offer a new life of hope. He wants to free us from sin, walk with us daily through good times and bad, and give us eternal life with Him.

To give us this ultimate gift of love, God made a way through His Son, Jesus Christ. God proves his love and while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

We receive a gift by faith alone. And by Grace we are saved through faith, and this is not from ourselves, it is God’s gift. Not from works, so that no one can boast.
Faith is a decision of our heart, demonstrated by turning toward God and away from sin.

If we are choosing right now to believe Jesus died for our sins and through Him receive a new life filled with unconditional love, say a prayer, accepting Him and thanking Him for our new life.

Out of the blue?

I leave the house
I catch the bus and go to work the way I always do
The same routine most everyday except
I guess I see my olds much more often
Years has passed I thought by now I could make a new life of my own
But I’ve been taught so hard to break I think of you and I still ache
It may take longer to learn to live alone
It’s really bad when Friday comes I know the weekend lies ahead
The watch we make at the football games
And when it rains how we stay in bed
I have done so much to change the house
The attics that is full of memories I’ve known
And yet when I turned off the light
I will wait for you to say goodnight
Now I tried go on dating
But when I do I always find the further night is through
The same old thing behind that smiles
I am comparing him to you
And in the end its always you I feel
Even more when I get home
I thought that I was free of you but I was wrong
I never knew it take too long to learn to live alone

Make Your Own Cleanser

Because you just aren’t busy enough, perhaps you’d like to whip up your own batch of homemade, non toxic household cleaners!


Window Cleaner
Ingredients: vinegar, water, spray bottle
In a spray bottle, mix 2 tablespoons of vinegar and one liter of water. Spray on your windows and wipe dry.

Bathroom/ Kitchen Cleaner
Ingredients: borax powder, baking soda
Mix ¼ cup of borax powder with ¼ cup baking soda. Add just enough water to make a paste. Use this for cleaning kitchen and bathroom surfaces. Alternatively, add less water for scouring.

Floor Cleaner
Ingredients: white vinegar, baking soda, borax powder
Mix together baking soda and a bit of borax powder and add to your mop water. The borax will keep away many insects, except ants. The white vinegar can be used for rinsing to add a natural shine and keep away ants.

Disinfectant
Ingredients: tea tree oil, water
Add up to 50 drops of tea tree oil to a bucket of water. Stir well. Use this for wiping floors, counter, sinks, bathroom tiles, shower stalls and toilet seats.

Borax powder can be found in some drug stores, grocery stores or craft stores.
Tea tree oil can be found at local health food store.
Keep these away from children.

Peace for My Troubled Heart

Sunday morning I usually linger under the warm blanket because it's the only day I don't have to rush to get dressed for work or church. This particular Sunday I decided to go out side of my room for my devotional time. As I sat on the sofa, thoughts that had nothing to do with devotional began racing through my mind. I became overwhelmed in my search for answers to challenges that seemed to consume me, and I began to drown in my own cistern of despair, broken hearted and self-pity. Many times in our Christian walk Satan succeeds in taking our focus away from Jesus, depriving us of sweet communion we can have with our loving heavenly Father.

As I opened the devotional book, the page happened to open to the reading for April 10. I was about to turn to the current date when my eyes caught the heading, "For Women Who've Fallen and Can't Get Up." The text read, "You will be secure, because there is hope" (Job 11:18 NIV). I had been wrestling with the issues that had disturbed me for several days. How heavily the burdens weighed on me! As I read the devotional thought it seemed just for me. It spoke of feeling heavy laden and how a talk with God about my big and little concerns could make a difference. Those words were a source of encouragement.

I meditated for a few moments, then turned back to the current day's reading. Again Jesus spoke to my heart: "Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." God was saying that He knew what I was going through and that He was there to strengthen me. As I was about to close the book, my eyes glanced across the page. Almost staring at me were the words: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matt.11:28,29,NIV). What a blessing to have a friend and burden bearer such as Jesus, who loves and cares about me! I am grateful to God for the precious words He sent to cheer me up when I was in the valley of despair.

Today, if you are walking through the arid deserts of your life, don't give up; take courage, look up, and go forward confidently in the knowledge of God's supreme and abundant love. He is always there, waiting to carry your burdens if you will let Him.

Have a nice day and God bless...

The Deadliest Disease

Here is another helpful information passed on to me on one of the deadliest diseases of our time: CANCER

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. Whendoctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person'slifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumours.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental,food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells andalso destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow,gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver,kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections andcomplications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply. CANCER CELLS FEED ON:a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal,Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt. b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soya milk cancer cells are being starved. c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer. d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains,seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans.Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts)and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C). e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine.Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrefied and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence,Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.