3 MINUTES SHORT

Hello guys, I'm sorry for not being able to update you for the past weeks.  I need to get my laptop fixed.  Something's wrong with the screen.  Unconfirmed diagnosis is the ribbon that connects the screen to the body (motherboard) is kaput.  I need to have it checked and fixed at Gilmore IT Bldg.  I hope to do that this weekend.  Techies here say that it is a common problem for cellphones and laptops with a "slide" or "flip" screen mechanism.  The ribbon eventually wears and tears.


I also feel kinda worn out from the hectic schedule here, especially by the very early rise and shine - 5:00 am. Whooo! I still haven't completely adjusted.  Plus the fact that we only have a maximum sleep of 7 hrs. Lights off is at 10:00 pm.  After waking up, we have 15 minutes to freshen up then get to our personal devotion. Whoooooooo! Talk about unholy hour!  It really is a struggle for me to keep my eyes open and fully get into what I'm reading. 

Then by 5:30 am, we're free. Sorry for the term but it really feels like being freed from the agony of fighting sleepiness and trying to jump start my brain to understand the text because I don't want to be hypocritical.  I  don't want to look like I'm reading to my room leader just so I won't get a call slip (a disciplinary note a student gets upon violating a rule). The required personal devotion time is a minimum of 15 minutes.  After that some of my room mates quickly go about their morning rituals, or go do their C.A.P.- work (cleaning duties besides the dorm cleaning duties), while most go back to sleep and stay in bed until 6 or 6:30 am.  I belong to the latter group.Sometimes I get up at 7:00 am.  I talk to myself every morning, "Get up, lazy! Get out of bed, sleepy head!" My room leader once added, "Labanan mo ang iyong kama!"  It feels like the bed has arms, tightly hugging me and I'd have to set my self loose.

Every morning is a battle.  More often than not, I win. Other mornings could be better, like this one time I got a dreaded call slip in my mail box. It read "sleeping during devotion; time: 5:27am; action taken: first warning." "How legalistic!", I shouted ----- deep inside of course.  I was irritated by the fact that I got a call slip because my devotion time was 3 minutes short.  I remember clearly that I started before 5:15 am. I went through my devotion without keeping track of the time. 

There's really nothing much I can do about the way things are being run here.  I can keep on complaining, resisting, or fighting the system and grow more and more bitter.  I instead challenged my self to grow better.  Will this, and many other things here I don't agree with, make me bitter or better?  I really like what one of my classmates said, "God is sovereign. He is in control."  Therefore, I can rest in the assurance that God has a wonderful purpose for everything that He allows to happen to me.  Trust and obey, like what the hymn says.  3 minutes or less is all it takes to either plant bitterness or to say a prayer in my heart.

Back to School Blues

Hello college life! We meet again. 

It was only until recently that this fancy thought of being back in college started to sink in as reality.  You see, it has been years since I last set foot in the university I previously attended.  I have also been working these past few years. Naturally, I felt uncertain whether I could survive book reports, exams, classroom issues and the whole nine yards of student life.

But like I said, I’m back to school. I am a student in Febias College of Bible. It’s not as bad as I expected after all.  In fact, I’m very happy I’m reading again. I’m rediscovering my love for books.  I think I’m beginning to become a voracious reader.  I really thank God for this because He has already granted one of the things I hope to develop in my stay here in Febias.

Besides reading, there are also other things I’m very pleased about.  Most of the people here are really friendly even the upper class students.   But perhaps, that’s just because they know I’m older than most of them which is a percentage way up in the 90’s - nearing 100% I think (haha).  Well, I don’t mind. In fact, it’s beginning to open a lot of opportunities for me to minister to my fellow students – a good thing.  I also don’t want to neglect the likely fact that they are really just nice and welcoming.

 Febias is not “Pleasantville.”  We have to follow strict rules and clean and clean and clean. And on our free time – clean some more.  I’m far removed from the comforts of my own home.  I’m used to satiating my appetite for food and a good book while lying in the bed. Here, food doesn’t  even get past the second floor of our dorm.  Get caught bringing food in the room and you’ll get extra cleaning duties.  In Davao, I have my laundry picked up and delivered fresh and clean for only Php25.00 a kilo.  Guess what, I’ve been washing my own clothes for the past two weeks.  There’s a laundry shop nearby but I rather save the money for good food.  I’m nocturnal. The floodgates of my ideas swing open at night.  But here in Febias, we have a 10:00 curfew – way too early for creative thinking and brainstorming.  During the hour of my usual awakening, I’m forced to be on bed, well under way to dreaming.  This is just one of the two page long rules, policies and punishment for non compliance.  Add to that the rules in the student handbook.  But like what I said in my speech on the Student-Faculty reception night, love can also be spelled as D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E. 

These past two weeks have really been meaningful. God has started a new stage of refining me. Please do continue to include me in your prayers.

I’m back in college. Some things are the same. But many other things are not the same.  But one thing remains constant – God’s grace.