Labor of Love ♥

"Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father" (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

I refer to this new blog as my "project" for a number of reasons. One is I'm "ningas kugon", a local idiom referring to a person who does the job well at first but does not finish what he/she has started. Knowing that I have this tendency, I am challenged to update this blog as often as I can, every day if possible. This actually requires some a lot of effort, considering the demands of my work. Even as I write now, my back strains so badly from working for more than 12 hours already, shuttling back and forth from Parañaque to meet an "asset", sit down through a lengthy and very "technical" interview on gambling (a topic I do not have the least interest in), and do more paper work/reports right back at the office. The job has started to take its toll on my health: I've been diagnosed with Vertigo which brings me regular bouts of headache and nausea almost every night. I've also been suffering from skin rashes, which always attacks whenever I'm too stressed or lack sleep. 

I don't say this to emphasize how badly I have it, no. I'm thankful for this job, this opportunity to do public service and meet a lot of interesting people in the process. I guess I'm saying this to justify how much dedication I have to put in order to keep this project running, and I will. Like I mentioned in a previous entry, this blog is my "gift" to God. The bible encourages us to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our heart (Matthew 22:37). In fact, Jesus said it to be the "first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:38). To love God with all that we have requires sacrifice, and to me, it means not going home yet even if I could already to write this blog entry. And I know fully well that this bit of sacrifice does not even come close to Jesus dying on the cross for my sins.

This blog is my labor of love. It is hard work, but one that I don't mind doing. When you receive a wonderful gift from someone, wouldn't you want to give something back to that person as a "thank you"? Perhaps something that is just as wonderful as that one you've been given? I've received the most wonderful gift from the Lord -- and I am reminded of His grace everyday. And in return, I promise to write my praises to Him with every strength and opportunity.

There was a statement by American football player Mark Tebow that very well sums up why I took up this blog challenge, he said:

"If you are married and you really love your wife, is it good enough to only say to your wife 'I love her' the day you get married? Or should you tell her every single day you wake up and every opportunity?

My relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important thing in my life. So everytime I get the opportunity to shout Him out on national TV, I'm gonna take that opportunity. And so I look at it as a relationship that I have with Him that I want to give Him the honor and glory everytime I have the opportunity." 

He reminds me of our very own Manny Pacquiao. ♥