The Solid Rock Bible Congregation (SRBC) conducted its first “cell-lebration”, a gathering of all members of cell groups handled by cell group leaders of the church.

The church overflowed with about 250 bodies, children excluded.  The cell members came from various locations even as far as Sual, Burgos, Calasiao and Mabini.

The cell-lebration coincided with Mother’s Day, and during the service, a tribute to mothers was presented.  Here are a few pictures from the event.

 Everyone prepares to watch a video presentation.

 Some mothers present a special number.

A picture of one mother is shown on video while the group of mothers present a song number. 

Here is another shot of the song and video presentation.

Mothers line up to receive a small token from the church. 

By now everyone has gotten back to normal day-to-day life.  The Christmas and New Year breaks gave us probably enough time to “escape” from the routines of our lives.  Parents get back to the usual office, business or home activities and look after the children’s classes.  Children resume schooling and make their teachers buzzing again.

But as we get past the first week of 2008, may we learn to look back one more time to the past years and thank God for whatever we had gone through.  Anyway, life is a matter of being grateful to our Maker whether we received more blessings or not in the past. 

Life is an enormous blessing in itself whatever your attitude toward it.  Your way of looking at the happenings of life does not affect the fact that you are alive. 

One thing that we should all learn to do is to live life to the fullest and this can only be done if we connect this life to its Author.  Only the Author knows the full extent of a life lived fully and only the one who confides to the Author knows if he/she is living a full life.

The year 2008 is the Year of the Lord, not the year of the earth rat.  Every year is the year of the Lord and if everyone just lives each day of the year for the Lord, then this year shall also be called the Year of the Lord’s favored ones.

I pray that you reader belong to the Lord’s favored ones this year and to eternity.

The Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition is I believe more Filipino than the first edition. The Big Winner Keanna Reeves is my explanation.

ABS-CBN, one of the biggest heralds of Filipino uniqueness, has to be credited for coming up with the celeb edition of the Big Brother hit.

Keanna’s victory exhibits the great and priceless value that Filipinos attach to their identity–family-oriented. In fact, the big four could not have been more complete in terms of familial nature. There was a mother (Keanna), a big brother (Zanjoe), a big sister (Bianca), and a little brother (John). To look at it another way, there was a mother, a little brother, and a brother or a sister with a lover.

You may ask me why I see it complete when there was no father-figure. Well, this is not to belittle the role of the father in a Filipino family but it’s common knowledge that Filipino fathers do not frequent the house. I place the focus on the Big Brother House.

Among the four, the mother, of course, plays the biggest role and Keanna showed that motherly presence and touch all through the 56-day challenge. She may not be the ideal mother in there but she did the mothering the best way she could and she was rewarded for it.

She had struggles as all of them had. She showed her heart out and didn’t care so much of what others would say. She spoke the words as candidly as she could with little regard to criticisms and when her presence and opinions were needed, she willingly gave them.

The love birds (Zanjoe and Bianca) won in the name of romance, John won in the name of dreamful and idealistic youth, and Keanna won in the name of womanhood and family; and the greatest of these is Keanna’s victory–uniquely Pinoy.

Your postman here is not really a sexist. He just knows what words to put as far as gender issues are concerned. Here is one thread that will boost the morale of women.

“A woman can be delicate
Yet strong and vibrant too,
In fact, I know a woman
For whom this all is true.”

Actually, it’s quite long but you will see a more picturesque version if you click here.

As the days get fewer, the big brother house seems to get smaller for the four surviving housemates in the Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition.

Budoy’s exit has sort of made the preference of the viewers more obvious: romance vs. family.  Romance is personified by love birds Bianca Gonzales and Zanjo Marudo whose romance sprouted and blossomed in the house.  Family is what we see in the other pair of Keana Reeves who plays mother to teen heartthrob John Pratts.  I can say with pride that these tandems speak of the kind of people Filipinos are–romantic and family-oriented.  Whatever the outcome is, the Philippine media’s kind of reality TV as exemplified by the Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition magnifies the greater values that are rarely present in other reality TV shows especially the foreign ones.

The deeper meaning of the representations of the last four will surface the more in the coming days when the tandems have to be inevitably broken via the force evictions.  For sure, the whole nation will watch intently as the show draws to its unpredictable close. 

Now, let’s talk about Budoy.  His exit is yet another exhibit of the Filipino versatility.  Previous evictions were pictures of heavy emotions and deep sentimentalities.  But the eviction of Budoy painted light-heartedness and manly coolness. Those are characteristics of the real, unequivocal Filipino as are the characteristics shown by earlier evictees. Surely, big brother’s house could have not been more complete with the presence of a person like Budoy.

The question now is, “Who’s going to be the most loved celebrity in Big Brother’s House?”  Let’s see!

Want to read more?  Click here.

Our highly technological age has brought us to so many paradigm shifts including our way of looking at our own sexuality.  And speaking of sexuality, one thing that does not escape from it is the question on virginity.  Does it amount to something considering our current context of widening knowledge on the human being?

Janis Cortese has things to share us.  Here are some.

PURITY VS. EXPERIENCE:  WHAT DO YOU OWE SOMEONE? 

Many people who feel strongly about one or the other side of this issue often make much of what a lover “owes” their partner. “Keep your virginity as a special gift for your first spouse; you owe it to them to remain pure!” “Get rid of your virginity when you can — your spouse deserves a competent lover instead of a bungler!” Read more

I don’t like divorce at all. I believe many people just don’t know the real importance of marriage even before their planning of the wedding. To see them wed and later divorce is just as disgusting as a dog that vomits food it thinks was “nice stuff taken in.”

Whether you’re contemplating on having divorce or not, the following words will help you one way or another.

Divorce ends your marriage. Marriage is something you should build on a strong foundation, and true enough, every married person has invested so much wealth of whatever kind. In fact, divorce belittles the biggest investments in the marriage–the couple themselves.

Read more