HEART-Y SUNDAY

Today is a heart-y Sunday for me.  Not only for the heart-y meals that I munched from morning til evening, but also for the following reasons:

8:49 am today when I received a text message from a member.

Member:  Godmrning po. i was disappointed.  God did not answer my prayer in the way i have expected it,  but i still trust that He knows what is best for me.  As you worship the Lord today, pls include me in your prayers as I undergo an ERCP procedure tom at 11 am to remove the gall stones that might be causing my pancreas to swell.  Thanks and Godbless.

Me:  I am glad because of ur honesty.  God helps us most when we r true to ourselves. rest assured that u r in my prayers :-) 

I am happy when people are honest with their feelings.  Sad to say, there are Christians who fake their true feelings just to appear holy.  Someone said, "we need to be real in order to be right."

It is not the size of a man but the size of his heart that matters. - Evander Holyfield

Right after our worship service this morning, I was greeting the members goodbye as they exit the sanctuary. A sincere lady member who is a good preacher herself, told me.

Member: Pastor, I always follow your blog.

Me:  Thank you po.

Member:  It is only now I realized that you have a good singing voice.  I guess the hymn we sang is your favorite thus, you sang it well.

I was just smiling because there was no time to respond since many people behind her were also leaving the church.

The truth is, the hymn is not my favorite.  I just found it in Youtube this week. 

The other truth is, I don't consider singing as my talent.  You can ask me to preach and write spontaneously but never ask me to sing  on the spot.

But the truest of  all is, whenever I sing, I see to is that  I sing from the heart.  Be it in praise and worship singing or singing a hymn.  I always make it a point that it is my heart and not voice that sings.

By the way, I didn't  preach today because we have an invited speaker.  When I thought that her praises is enough, she concretized it with a love gift.  Yipee!

Gusto kong isipin na she blessed me because of my singing.  Basta gusto kong isiping ganon nga.  Hahahahahahaha!  And if I can bless people thru singing, and if I will be blessed because of my singing, then pass the microphone quick. Hahahahahaha!

A song will outlive all sermons in the memory. - Henry Giles

I just had my lunch when our dear pianist arrived in the church's refectory with his mother and his brother.  It is his birthday tomorrow and they brought lots of foods for the celebration.

Before we partake the sumptuous meal, they asked me to lead the prayers for the meal.

After praying, the mother remarked.

"Pastor, I am blessed with your prayer."

Sa gitna ng aming kuwentuhan, tinanong niya uli ako kung noon ko lang inisip ang prayer ko kanina.  I said yes.  By the look of her eyes, she couldn't believe that prayers can be that natural, sincere and spontaneous.

Hindi naman pagalingan ang panalangin pero kapag tapat manalangin ang isang tao, may panalanging nakaka-bless at mayroon nakaka-inis.  Hahahahahaha!

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. - Mahatma Gandi