Jojo Agot

Convergence

Steve Farrar in How To Ruin Your Life by 40:

Convergence is “a time in your life where, after intense preparation, including successes and failures and many testings, God brings you to a place in life where your strengths are maximized and your weaknesses covered.”

If you are in your 20s right now, the idea might not hit you as powerfully as it would if you’re thirty. I am thirty, and the more I think about my age, the more I realize that Farrar is talking much sense in this book. Many people pass by their twenties in a blurry haze, making decisions like they are going to stay 20 for the rest of their lives. But time flies fast; we all know that.

I often think that I am still very young, you know, as young as the college students in our campuses today. But whenever I get blank stares and a few laughs when I mention Spice Girls and BackStreet Boys, I realize that I belong to a bygone era of the late nineties. When that happens, I’d catch myself doing quick Math, only to further realize that it’s been ten years since I graduated. I’m halfway through life. In ten years time, I will turn forty, a time in a person’s life when he has got to face himself in the mirror and ask hard questions like, “What do I have to show for my 40 years of existence?”

If Farrar is right about the idea of convergence, then I better start asking some hard questions now. I don’t want to wake up 3,650 days from now and be jolted with a realization that my strengths haven’t been maximized.

There is an obscure verse in Lamentations 3: 27- 29 that I often read without really understanding why I like it. It says:

It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.
Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him.
Let him bury his face in the dust— there may yet be hope.

It is okay for us to go through some hardships and tough times when we are young, if only to develop integrity and Godly character that would be our ticket to growing old gracefully.

Quit Fidgeting!

Roads are a remedy to all that was boring.

I had to chuckle when I read that from Steve Farrar’s book “How to Ruin Your Life by 40” yesterday. He was quoting his son’s reflections on the excitement of turning 18, getting a driver’s license and enjoying the first taste of freedom of being an adult.

I laughed because it poignantly cuts through the heart of our aversion to extended periods of stillness and quietude. We love it when we’re busy. Young people today can’t stand ten minutes of sitting still and doing nothing. Look at them when they get to the elevators, cafes and train stations and you won’t find a single soul who is not fidgeting and incessantly pressing the buttons of their gadgets.

Interestingly, the Bible has many exhortations for people to stop and think things over. In the book of Psalms alone, you will find the word Selah scattered all around. Some say that Selah means to “pause and think of that!” Whether it’s the musical sign for “rest” or an exhortation for the congregation to pause for a while and think things over, we can’t be certain. One thing is sure, stopping is as much of a biblical command as going on and moving forward.

When was the last time you paused and really thought things over? When was the last time your meditation was a little over five minutes? Could it be that the reason why you are hard pressed on every side with problems is because you’re not hearing God right? Are your activities necessary or are they just a coverup so you could dodge the facts that you need to face?

You are More than a Double Helix

Have you considered statistically what it took for God to get you here, down through the thousands of generations and centuries, all the way from Adam and Eve? You are no accident. And you are more than double helix of chromosomes. Much more.

Steve Farrar, How to Ruin Your Life by 40

When I think about how God put together everything around me so I could become what I am today, I am simply overwhelmed. The God of the universe is not far as I thought Him to be. He’s got a specific place for me in this world, a place only I could fill.

Jars of Clay

A Rabbi was once scorned by the daughter of a Roman emperor because he was not good looking. She was scandalized that such great wisdom be contained in such a sordid body of a deformed Rabbi.

The Rabbi asked her in what containers do they put their best wines in the palace. In jars of clay, came the reply. But why not put the wine in expensive silver containers? Why put up with lowly, ordinary, sordid jars of clay when they could afford to store them in more attractive containers? The girl was challenged with the idea that she ordered to put all their wines in silver containers.

The wine turned acid.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians tells of the same story. Sometimes we wonder why God would entrust the message of the gospel to ordinary people like us. Why can’t He just send the angels to preach? One seraph could probably make more converts than a thousand of us put together. And why put the power of the gospel in sordid vessels like our frail bodies?

The answer was simple. The vessel should be very ordinary so that people would not confuse the message and the messenger. Unadorned clay pots don’t produce wine. They can only contain it. The excellency of the power of God would be better revealed if the container is as ordinary as jars of clay. Like us.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2Cor. 4: 7)

How to Fight a Bully

I will not fear the tens of thousands
drawn up against me on every side.
Arise, O LORD!
Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
From the LORD comes deliverance.
Psalms 3: 6- 8

I remember this verse when I was still pastoring a church in Ormoc seven years ago. I was just a kid then, barely out of college and in many ways, clueless on how to go about the heavy responsibility that was placed on my shoulders. One of our neighbors threatened me because he didn’t like us doing praise and worship in church. I was terrified.

I turned to the men in the church to help me deal with the situation but I realized that as pastor, it was mainly my problem and I needed to deal with it myself. I remember going home that night feeling so small and powerless. I was just 22 for crying out loud!

The following day, I played Paul Wilbur’s song that exactly quoted this verse, turned up the volume of my stereo and cried my eyes out in a desperate prayer for strength. I could never forget the sense of relief and the faith of God arising in my heart that day. It gave me courage to confront the person, drag him to the barangay chairman for formal hearing and settled everything once and for all.

Over a period of less than four months, this person became my friend and good neighbor. He never attended our church but he also didn’t bother us again. Amazing.

Fresh Theology

I recently got my copy of Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris more than a week ago. I didn’t know what the book was all about, I just picked it up from OMF during the Manila International Book Fair simply because I knew the author and the Rumspringa story in the first chapter really caught my attention.

Joshua Harris was the guy behind the I Kissed Dating Goodbye fame. Whereas most people would associate his name with the love and courtship genre, he is actually more than that. The first few chapters of Dug Down Deep would show that he has matured into a well respected pastor and writer with so much to share to the body of Christ.

Harris’ sudden shift to theological stuff was a pleasant surprise for me. Dug Down Deep reads like an introduction to theology minus all the technical words and the formal writing style. In a matter of days, my new Kindle was populated with books Harris mentioned like RC Sproul’s The Holiness of God, Jerry Bridges’ The Pursuit of Holiness, JC Ryle’s Holiness, and Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.