We just wanted to wish all our friends and loved ones a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We enjoyed our first Christmas in the Philippines as we learned how the Filipino people celebrate. Festivities will start on Christmas Eve and go on until the wee hours of Christmas morning. A wonderful meal is served around midnight which mainly consists of spaghetti and lechon (roasted pig). We celebrated with several people from the church and had fun learning the different traditions of a Filipino Christmas. While Christmas is an important holiday, the one that tops them all is New Years. A lot of superstition surrounds the day and makes it a very unique celebration. Families will gather, believing that having your family with you to ring in the New Year will mean that you will not be separated in the coming year. As the clock strikes midnight, fireworks go off from just about every home, followed by car horns blaring, and pots and pans crashing in an attempt to scare off evil spirits. It’s not like anything we have seen in the States. It’s something even I had forgotten since I lived in America for so long. We pray you all have a great time with your families as we anticipate another year to serve our Lord.
Come As A Child
To celebrate the true reason for the season, North Cebu Baptist Church hosted a Children’s Christmas Program. It’s something that both the kids and the parents look forward to each year! This year we had ninety children participate in our program, Come As A Child! They did a great job singing and making the program come to life. In all, we had forty-five parents come to see the program and hear the beautiful story of Christmas. Amidst the business of the season we need to always remember the miracle of Christ’s birth, a King who was born to die for this sinful world. There can be not doubt of the sin that plagues this earth. We are reminded of the human condition every time we watch the news or hear of an unimaginable crime that has been committed. All these things should make us turn to a loving God who offers a better way. He simply wants us to come as a child-believing in Him, repenting of our sin, and accepting Him alone as the way to heaven.
Family Day 2012
We had a special Sunday this past week at North Cebu Baptist Church! Family Day, a wonderful annual tradition was another great success this year! Brother Lewis preached a great message about the family’s foundation and one of the mother’s from our route even brought her husband! This is his third time visiting the church so please pray that he would be saved! Many Filipinos are family oriented and try to live a good life but what they must realize is that these things cannot take them to heaven. The Bible tells us that only Jesus Christ can do that and it is Christ who will also make us better fathers and mothers. Our good works cannot save us but once we accept Christ as our Savior we are compelled to live for Him and that will challenge us to love our families even more!
Three Happy Years
It’s hard to believe three years have gone by since that special day in November. In one sense it feels like we were just married two weeks ago but then again it also feels like we’ve always been together. It’s amazing how the Lord takes two separate people and makes them one. I’m so glad I have a wife who is willing to live half way around the world from home to serve the Lord with her husband. Over the course of three years we have had to face different struggles but the Lord has grown us and made our relationship even sweeter. She is my best friend and has helped me so much in the ministry! I’m so thankful for my wonderful wife!