dil·i·gence

Okay... sometimes I really get too lazy when I'm at work. I end up daydreaming or playing an online game addiction instead of facing the task at hand.

So to help me, I collected some verses from Proverbs. I post them here to serve me as inspiration, as a net for casting a vision, as a through-line setting a goal, or as a cheerleading squad. I know I'll need this sooner or later.

I'm posting the list here so I can just glance at it instead of leafing through my notebook where I wrote these down.

The Proverbs on diligence

A wise youth harvests in the summer,
but one who sleeps during harvest is a disgrace.

Lazy people irritate their employers,
like vinegar to the teeth or smoke in the eyes.

A hard worker has plenty of food,
but a person who chases fantasies has no sense.

Wise words bring many benefits,
and hard work brings rewards.

Work hard and become a leader;
be lazy and become a slave.

Lazy people don't even cook the game they catch,
but the diligent make use of everything they find.

Lazy people want much but get little,
but those who work hard will prosper.

Work brings profit,
but mere talk leads to poverty!

A lazy person's way is blocked with briers,
but the path of the upright is an open highway.

A lazy person is as bad as
someone who destroys things.

Lazy people take food in their hand
but don't even lift it to their mouth.

Those too lazy to plow in the right season
will have no food at the harvest.

If you love sleep, you will end in poverty.
Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat!

Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity,
but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

Despite their desires, the lazy will come to ruin,
for their hands refuse to work.
Some people are always greedy for more,
but the godly love to give!

he lazy person claims, "There's a lion out there!
If I go outside, I might be killed!"

Do you see any truly competent workers?
They will serve kings
rather than working for ordinary people.

I walked by the field of a lazy person,
the vineyard of one with no common sense.
I saw that it was overgrown with nettles.
It was covered with weeds,
and its walls were broken down.
Then, as I looked and thought about it,
I learned this lesson:
A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

A hard worker has plenty of food,
but a person who chases fantasies ends up in poverty.

Okay, here's my plan. If I need a break either because laziness sets in, or I'm genuinely tired, I look at this list, grab one, and meditate on it. May God's Word do its work in me.

Baby Steps, a silly kindergarten ditty

Baby steps! Baby steps!
These delight the Father.
Baby steps, careful/confident
They bring joy to Mother.

Baby steps, little feet
God is their Maker.
Not to run ahead
but to walk in step
with the God of baby steps.

Borrowed story: Doug Nichols in the toilet

Doug Nichols tells of his experience in missions:

When I finished Bible school, the school had to put me in special tutoring class. They tutored me through school because I could not read well, or study well, and then could not do things. I applied to 30 different missions. I wanted to be a missionary. I felt God calling me to Him and people would say, "Ah, forget it, you'll never be able to be a missionary." I applied to 30 different missions, finally one accepted me on a trial basis.

For two years, I went to India with the group called Operation Mobilization and I was so excited on being with these Indian believers, these leaders because Indians taught me, train me in ministry. Indians did train me, and as we were down south in India, they would teach me how to preach and how to give gospel tracts and how to share the gospel. I was so excited. And I was preaching one day, I began to cough, cough and it got worse and worse and they discovered that I had tuberculosis, very serious tuberculosis.

We had no money so I had to go into a government TB center, and I was so discouraged. The only reason they let me in was because someone died that day and they let me have his bed. They didn't even change the sheets. I'm in a corner and I'm discouraged at that filthy, smelly, people dying all around, no money, only one meal a day. So I thought at least I can go from bed to bed and distribute gospel tracts.

I started going from bed to bed and people would look at this tract and look at me and they tear it up and they throw it back in my face. Because they didn't like this American taking the place of an Indian in the TB sanctuary. So nobody would talk to me, everybody would treat me badly, I couldn't even give out tracts. Most people can at least give out tracts. I couldn't even do that effectively. So I went to sleep that night very discouraged.

About 2:30 in the morning, I woke up, coughing. Do you think that God has anything to do with our sickness? Do you believe in the sovereignty of God? I woke up at 2:30 coughing and as I was coughing trying to catch my breath from the tuberculosis. I looked across on the other side of the room and one of the patients was trying to get out of bed. He would get out of bed, he'd take a few steps and had fall back in bed. He get out of bed, take a few steps and fall back. He was so weak he could not walk that he laid down in bed and I heard him cry. I didn't know what's going on, I couldn't speak the language, I couldn't ask what's wrong, I'm sick, he's sick. But he begin to cry, well, I went back to sleep.

I woke up the next morning and I knew what had happened. He was simply trying to get up to go to the toilet. But because he was so weak, he couldn't get to the toilet. So he went to the toilet in his bed and the stench was so bad and people were upset and the other people were yelling at him. One threw a tea cup and threw it at him. When the nurses come in to change the bed, one of them slapped him in the top of the head. Terrible!

That night we went to bed again. And again, at 2:30 in the morning, I woke up coughing. As I coughed, I looked across the aisle and there was the old man and he was trying to get out of bed again. I knew now what was happening. But I did the same thing that many of you would, I began to reason. This was not my responsibility. Why don't the Indians take care of themselves? Let the Indians take care of themselves! Besides, where are the nurses? Where are the doctors? How come they're not taking care of this old man? But he was still trying to get out of bed to go to the toilet and nobody was helping him and I remembered a verse.

I memorized it a year before, "He that knows the right thing to do and does not do it to him it is sin." And so I knew I had to do something, reluctantly, not with any joy, I walked across to the other side of the room, he'd already laid back in bed and he was crying. He knew what was going to happen and I tap him on the shoulder and his eyes came to open and with fear and I said something you know, I smiled at him and I just put this arm under his back and this arm under his legs and I picked him up. I was weak but I was not weak like him. And I stumbled down the hallway and into the corner and to this filthy, filthy toilet. And then, I'm sensitive to bad smells and filthy and I held him and he relieved himself. And when he finished, I picked him up and took him into my arms again and took him back to his bed and as I lay him down on his bed, my face was near his and he kissed right here, kissed me right there. He said something in Maliala that I didn't understand.

I went back to my bed and collapsed with fatigue and immediately went to sleep. About 5:00 in the morning, I felt a tap on my shoulder and I opened my eyes and there was a man with a cup of steaming hot chai. I thought, what is this? Breakfast in bed? He gave me the tea and stepped back and opened his hands like a book. He indicated he wanted a gospel tract. Now, isn't that something? The day before they're tearing it up, now, they're coming to my bed with tea and asking for a gospel tract. Wow, I wonder what happened? And I gave him a gospel tract, I was so excited.

About a few minutes later, another patient came to my bed, and another patient, and another patient. By 10:00 that day, 350 patients either came to my bed asking for my tract or sending someone else to get one for them. And for the next several weeks or months, I'm not sure how many of those people turn from sin to the Savior because of the gospel. But you know what opened the door? Something that any of you could have done, simply taking an old man to the bathroom, open the door to all these people to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and you could do the very same thing.

Borrowed story: Doug Nichols in Greenhills

Doug Nichols showed me the value of kindness in a harsh world. This is his story:

I had to have a load more time put time on my phone and I was over at Greenhills shopping mall. I asked someone and said, "Go there."

So I walked up to one of the counters to have your load put on your phone. As I walked up, they saw this tall old missionary walk up to them. Evidently they did not like Americanos. They started calling me names. "What do you want you ugly Americano?" "Where did you get that nose? Looks like a saging, a banana nose" and they started saying things, and they laughing and making fun of me and my looks.

So they started putting the load on my phone and one of them started some very shameful things to me, very cruel and foul and using sexual terms and just is terrible. And I was so embarrassed, so embarrassed I found myself getting red with embarrassment. I was so ashamed that people would even talk to anybody like that. So I paid for my phone and I turned and as I walked away they said some terrible things to me, very bad things, couldn’t even repeat them.

One hour later, I’m walking, still in Greenhills, I finished all my appointments and walking back to my car and I passed Krispy Kreme donuts. Oh I shouldn’t say Krispy Kreme donuts today, should I? But I was on the other side. You know I do not like Krispy Kreme donuts because you just walk by the place you gain 5 pounds. And so, they were baking some fresh donuts and you could smell the bread, you could smell the donuts. As I smell the bread, I’m walking towards my car I’m still feeling so badly about what happened an hour before and then all of a sudden I remembered the verse "Pray for those who despitefully use you and say all manner of evil against you. Pray for them, be exceedingly glad."

All of a sudden I remember those people in that phone shop and I knew what God was leading me to do. So I walked over across the street to Krispy Kreme. I ordered 6 donuts, when they gave me the bill I said, "I just want to buy donuts, I don’t want to buy the store." They put them in a bag and I put some gospel tracts in the bag, about 50 of them. And then I walked back over to that where that phone shop was and as I walked up they saw me and they began to say the bad words again but when I got up to the counter I put the Krispy Kreme donuts and I said, "Para sa iyo" and they all asked "Sir, what is this?"

"Oh, it’s 3 o’ clock. It’s merienda time. This is for you. I want to bless you in Jesus’ name."

And then they changed totally, completely. I took out the gospel tracks and I gave to them. "This is how to tell you how you can turn from sin to the Savior." And then I turned and I walked away and as I walked away do you what they said? "Thanks mister for talking to us. Thanks mister for coming here today."

Borrowed story: Doug Nichols in a restaurant

I borrow this story from missionary Doug Nichols:

Several years ago, when I had cancer, 2 friends took me to a special breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal, the doctor said that I was going to be dying in several months, so my friends wanted to buy me a special breakfast. I guess you can call it the "last breakfast."

So we went into the restaurant and it was very crowded. There must have been a convention going on. Everybody was there and they didn't have enough servers and waiters. So finally, the waitress came over and gave us our coffee and then rushed away saying, "I will be back in a few moments to take your order."

So she rushes away, few minutes later and one of my friends said, "I wonder if that waitress who's waiting on us…I wonder if she's a believer. I wonder if she's a Christian."

I looked at her and there was nothing attractive about her. Hindi maganda, she wasn't attractive. She's kind of pumpy and her dress has kind of food all over it, her hair is all mess up and but there was something about her countenance and the way she waited on people and the way she went about her job and so when she comes over I will try to find out if she's a believer.

So when she came over, she said, "May I have your order please?" and I said, "Ma'am, I know this may not be the best time but may I ask you a question? The doctors tell me that I'm dying in about 3 months with cancer. Can you tell a man who is dying of cancer how to go to heaven?"

She did not miss a beat. She looked at me and said, "Certainly I can. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."

Whoa. I fell back in my chair. I said, "That is wonderful. Then you must know John 14:6."

She said, "Certainly. Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.' Now, may I have your order?"

Doug Nichols explained: You know, that's the type of person you and I should be. To immediately point to people and say to people and even if it's inconvenient. That's not the right time, we're rushed. People may even be embarrassed but immediately be able to say, "Jesus said, 'I am the Way,' without the way there's no going, 'I am the truth,' without the truth, there's no knowing. 'I am the Life,' without the life there is no living, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Borrowed story: Doug Nichols on a plane

Doug Nichols was at church last Sunday and he told us this story...

I was riding in a plane with a man recently, several years ago and he said. He was trying to talk to me and I’m deaf in my right ear and I couldn’t quite hear him and I was going over my notes for my message that night and I was nervous because the plane was late. And finally he said, "You’re a Christian, aren’t you?"

I looked at him and I said, "Yes, I am."

He says, "I could tell by the words on your paper. I’m a Muslim."

I said, "Yes, I know."

"How do you know?"

"Well, you look like a Muslim."

"You know," he said, "I have so much trouble going through airport security. I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think that’s fair."

I said, "Hey wait, you look like a terrorist. You know, how do you expect people to treat you?"

"What do I do?" he asked.

So I began to explain to him how to go through airport security. You take off your coat. You take off your belt. You take off your shoes. You take all the heavy items out of your pocket. You take off your watch. You try to be polite. You open your bag, You don’t cause trouble to the security people or they will treat you badly. As I was giving him these instructions, he said, "You like Muslims, don’t you?"

And I said, "Well, yes I do. We pray for you all the time."

"You pray for Muslims? What do you pray about?"

"I pray that when you die you go to heaven."

"You don’t think we’re going to heaven?"

I said, "Hey. I know you’re not going to heaven."

"Why do you say that?"

I asked him back, "Do you know you’re going to heaven?"

He said, "No, not really."

I said, "Why not?"

"Well, I don’t know if I have enough good works." He then turned to me and said, "Are you going to heaven?"

I said, "Yeah I’m going to heaven."

"How are you going to heaven?"

I said, "I’m going to heaven on good works."

He said, "What?! How do you know you have enough good works?"

I said, "See, that’s the difference. You’re trying to go to heaven on your good works and you’ll never have enough good works. I’m going to heaven on the good works of another, Jesus Christ the Son of God who God sent to this earth, who lived the perfect life, who died on the cross in my place for my sins. I’m going to heaven on the good works of Jesus Christ the Son of God who love me and gave Himself for me."

He said, "I didn’t know that. Nobody has ever told me that before."

(Whenever I read that part I weep. "Nobody has ever told me that before.")

Doug Nichols continues with his story: So the plane was landing and I gave him a gospel track. I said, "You take this, you read it and it will tell you on how you will turn from sin and to the Savior."

He said, "We’re not there yet. Let’s read it together." So we’re getting our bags reading the gospel at the aisle of our train reading the gospel track and as he left that day he said, "Thank you, sir, for talking to me. Thank you for talking."

There's something about Starbucks

How many of you, when you need to finish an important project, go to a cafe? When you need some writing space and can't stand your desk anymore, is the nearest Starbucks the first refuge that comes to mind?

Starbucks isn't exactly private. It is a public place available to anyone. It's a meeting place, a hang-out. You can also people-watch in Starbucks. But I have, many times when I'm out of sorts, entered a Starbucks, ordered a short coffee of the day, found a secluded spot, plop myself on desk, open my notebook and write. I usually remember the coffee only hours later when it's already cold and no longer tasty. Lost in my writing, I find myself again.

I know I'm not alone. I know others do their work in cafes too. I know there's a lot of you readers out there who suddenly find their productive/prolific selves when they're at a cafe. Is it the unobtrusive jazz music? Is it the smell of caffeine in the air? Is it the lighting? Is it the round table and wooden chairs? I really don't know. But many a poem or novel has been begun at or finished in a cafe.

Right now I want to run from my office desk and to the Starbucks downstairs. The temperature there is not freezing like here in the office. And no one seems to mind you because they've either buried their noses on their laptop screens, or are busy reading the newspaper while chatting with their friends. There is something about how cafes are made that puts me into a good working mood.

So this is my proposition to those wanting to start their own companies. If you want to make your employees happy and productive, do not seat them side-by-side in computer cubicles or stations. Scratch off those swivel office chairs from your budget list. Don't worry about what color paint you'll use on the walls.

Instead, set up a counter of sorts where coffee or frap and some pastries are readily available upon order. Put up a condiments area where there's cinnamon and chocolate sprinkles in glass bottles. Add a hefty stash of coffee stirrers and napkins and muscovado sugar in packets. Don't forget the thermos for milk.

Get round wooden tables and surround each with at two to three wooden chairs. Set up a laptop per table. This will be the employees' work station. Each employee will get one table of his own each, and they have to be comfortably apart.

Glass walls are a must. So are high ceilings. The lighting should not be flourescent, and not too bright. You've the option of wall-to-wall carpeting or polished wood floors. Hang some neglectable paintings. They don't have to be about coffee. And oh! Clean restrooms, too, with soap and giant tissue paper rolls!

Each time a worker arrives on time, he gets a stamp on his card. When he has collected enough stamps, he gets something special.

I assure you, your employees will be happily reporting to work each morning. Productivity, too, will rise. Your business goals will be met. And when your people call in sick, they won't be lying.

Dana's home!

Dana's home after being confined at the hospital for three days. She had pneumonia. But now she's home and it's a good way to start 2011.

We've had a whirlwind of a vacation. First, on December 27, I took my family out to Rockpoint Hotel in Pansol, Laguna. It was our wedding anniversary. While in Rockpoint, we swam and had dinners and explored a bit of Laguna. We even had spa massages, courtesy of the Hotel. While we were on the massage tables, Dana did her antics making the masseuses laugh. Dana enjoyed the stay the most, wanting to stay in the pools far longer than we would allow.

That evening though, Veck's cough grew from bad to worse. When we arrived back home on December 28, we were all too tired. I was a bit worried about Veck's health. I went to work on December 29 and 30. Veck stayed home as the nanny is on a holiday vacation.

On December 29 we saw Splendide! The Grand China National Acrobatic Circus! If Dana enjoyed Rockpoint the most, I must certainly say at this show Veck and I enjoyed it more than she did. Ever since I saw the Philippine Acrobatic Troupe I have always wanted to be an acrobat. (Yes! Turns out fate called me to be a writer-actor, but I can dream!) So it's such a treat when we saw this show at the Araneta Coliseum. Even Veck commented while we were queued up to buy tickets, "You should see the look on your face. You're like a little kid."

When we got home, though, Dana got a bad case of cough. Then her temperature got so high it went through the roof. So early on the morning of December 30, we brought her to National Children's Hospital. Veck stayed with her as I needed to go to work. We stayed in the hospital all through January 1. I would like to thank everyone who prayed for Dana and visited us during this time. Veck went up to the roof deck to watch fireworks but Dana and I were fast asleep on New Year's Eve. I was getting really homesick being couped up in the hospital, and I could tell Dana was too.

On the eve of December 30 Dana looked healthy enough to go home. In fact, she was already playful and Veck and I were enjoying playing with her. Suddenly she hugged me tight and she began to tremble. "She's having chills," I told Veck.

Veck took her temperature while I tried to wrap her in blankets. She was still clinging to me so I rubbed my hands together and placed it on her back to give her body warmth. The thermometer registered 41 degrees! Veck said Dana's lips and fingertips were turning black, and her ears and feet were turning ashen pale. I knew that ordinarily Veck would panic at this, but she didn't. She gave Dana her needed medicines. After about 15 minutes, Dana's temperature went back to normal and she was fast asleep on my chest.

Veck asked, "Were you scared for Dana?"

I said, "No. I knew God can heal her." This is me riding on the shoulders of giants of faith. I read Hebrews 11 while in the hospital and that's what helped me. I particularly enjoyed riding atop Abraham's shoulders. "Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing... Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises" (Romans 4).

I looked back on the times when Veck and I had our quarrels and we would fight over Dana. We would say things like separation and who gets to keep Dana and which one of us can ensure a good future for her. Those fights turned really ugly. When we were rushing Dana to the hospital I turned my anger towards God, "Are You now joining the tug-of-war for Dana, too? Are You now going to take her from us?" I was so different from Abraham, who willingly obeyed God when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac, his one and only son.

Suffering from terrible boredom I asked Veck to buy me a book from a bargain bookstore so I've something to read when Dana's asleep. She bought me a collection of Christmas stories. The editor wrote in the introduction for one of the stories, "We ought to read 1 Corinthians 13 every day." I opened my notebook and copied the passage word for word. So yes, faith carried us through this time, but it was love that healed Veck and me. Let me share with you a few verses from 1 Corinthians 13:

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

Love will last forever!

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

I gotta run now because Veck says we must go to the hypermart for groceries before it closes. See you soon!

May your 2011 be filled with faith, hope, and love!