I must admit that I love reading books written by Max Lucado. I love how he use his typical writing style, humor, and extensive use of passages in the Bible and how he interacts it with the current life. This is maybe one of the reasons why I could say that he makes the reading of profound Christian truths easy to follow and even enjoyable. 

In his book "Just Like Jesus", Max takes us on a journey to restore our hearts. He welcomes us to a question that will really challenge us to think: "What if, for one day, Jesus were to become you?" How would you answer this?

For me, the most striking truth I've read from this book is this:

"God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be JUST LIKE JESUS. God loves you just the way you are. If you think His love for you would be stronger if your faith were, you are WRONG. If you think His love would be deeper if your thoughts were, WRONG again. DON'T CONFUSE GOD'S LOVE WITH THE LOVE OF PEOPLE. The love of people often increases with performance and decreases with mistakes. Not so with God's love. HE LOVES YOU RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE." (emphasis mine)

Max's intentions are very clear. he want the reader to be able to grasp the idea that God loves us and that He wants us to be just like his Son" pure, blameless and obedient. Max also gives hope that we can do this by trusting our lives to HIM and just follow His Word, the Bible.

I would highly recommend this book to my family and friends. It's very easy to understand yet full of hopeful topics.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com®  book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255. 

Next to temptation, perhaps the most frequent and insistent attack from the enemy to which we are vulnerable is accusation. By faith we have entered into an eternal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, we are dead to sin and alive to God, and we now sit with Christ in the heavenlies. In Christ, we are very much important, we are qualified, and we are justified.

The devil can not do absolutely anything to change our position in Christ and our worth to God. But what I have observed is that he can render us virtually inoperative if he can deceive us into listening to and believing his insidious lies, accusing us of being of little value to God or to other people.

It was SBC- Makati's first time to handle a Vacation Bible School, and I am dearly grateful to be part of this event. What's interesting about this VBS is that all of us were volunteers. It's really happy to serve a living God!

On the first day of VBS, everyone was filled with excitement. With all the rooms decorated and all the materials prepared, i think everyone is ready for the said activity.

 

We started our day by devoting ourselves to God. Pastor Jeffrey Aspacio shared a verse from the Bible, and was really a great encouragement for all the volunteers.

I so love the kids! That's why when I heard that one of our missionary friends is going to teach as a new technique in sharing the Gospel to the kids, I did not have second thoughts. Pastor Brent Longenecker, together with her wife Amanda, is a missionary from the United States. They were the ones who teach us how to share the Good News to the little kids in a very exciting way. We call this the "MESSAGE BOARD". For me, this is such a wonderful idea because I believe that kids would love visual things. In this message board, we will try to use colorful paintings while teaching them about the Bible. In this way, their attention will be caught easily. Aside from that, there is a high probability that the message would retain in kid's mind because of the paintings they will be seeing.


Some photos while having our training (credits to sister Sarah for the photos)

JIVE (Jesus-Inspired Valuing Eternity) Youth is very grateful to have the two foreigner friends. I, personally, am blessed to have these two faithful partners in my life. Hats off to both of you! :)


I believe that this new ministry opportunity is not the last one that God wants us to do. I know that His surprises and blessings are as numerous as the stars. May God continue to reveal to as all His magnificent plans in our youth ministry.

 Being part of a youth ministry that is faithful in serving God is indeed a wonderful blessing and a great opportunity. Let me introduce to you our youth ministry: Jesus-Inspired Valuing Eternity (JIVE) Youth.

JIVE Youth members, together with our Youth Director Rev. Jeffrey Aspacio, had created the name some years ago. As what they have told me, when this group was just new, they only had few attenders. But years past, they continue to grow not only in numbers but also in faith.


This group did not exist for no reason. Here's the JIVE Youth Purpose Statement:


JIVE Exists...

•  to REACH the youth of Makati
•  to ENLIST them in God's Family
•  to EQUIP them in Christ-likeness
•  to EMPLOY their gifts in serving one another and,
•  to EXALT His Name

This January, we are celebrating our 7th Anniversary. To God be ALL the Glory and Honor!

God really surprised us. We celebrated our anniversary in a High School. He opened a school for us so that we can share the Gospel to the students.Isn't it amazing? We have been praying for this particular school and God is Faithful! He answered our prayer! And with this, I believe that God will guide and will give us strength to fulfill His plans.

Below are some shots while having our program:

December 27, 2010, another day full of experience and happy moments. It was another bonding moment with the members of the church I'm attending to. We had the SBC-Makati‘s ministry leaders retreat in Loreland Farm Resort. Some were not able to make it as they left for the province, taking advantage of the holiday break. Truly, it is a joy to fellowship with this church family.  Pastor Jeff and Ate Jen have always been good to us. I love their attitude of being appreciative, a wonderful character, indeed. We are thankful to God that He is using these kind of people to make us feel His love for us. 


We had so much fun! The place was fantastic! I wasn't expecting that it would be that wonderful. Honestly, i'm not into swimming(that's why I'm being teased by my friends and family that the fact that I'm tall, I don't know how to swim), but when I saw those beautiful pools, i was encouraged to take a swimming class. And hopefully, I could start it by summer. 


But above all else, our focus here is thanking God for the grace and strength that He is granting us to continue serve Him. I'm hoping that this experience will not be the first and last. :)


Here are some of the shots on that day. (Thanks ate Jen, ate Eloisa, and ate Cla for these photos)