My Failures Made Me Stronger

I have commited lots of mistakes in the past and most of them made me numb as a person until I found Jesus.

I admit that my life are filled with insecurities, worries, regrets, and pains — which leads me on being alone thus being lonely. Some of the people I have treated as my friends left me, maybe because I let them or maybe they just wanted to — Some also left me because they just don’t need me anymore. That’s how my insecurities grow inside of me. My heart is numb, and it is difficult for me to show the emptiness in me to others. Its hard because most of the time, they are the ones who asked me for an advice but as for me, I don’t have anyone to share with my own problems, not because I don’t have to… but because I have build up my strong reputation to take care of.

Another trait that manifested on me, that made me hate myself, is being a hot-tempered person, but that is way back 2005. My friends have known me as a calm person since I always rationalized things. Not until 2005, I started to show the other side of John Paul, a hot-tempered one filled with pride and arrogance, that even I was afraid of myself.

I have burned many bridges with my colleagues, treated them like a dirt, just because my past, it mold me that way, and I let it. My life is a failure then, I used to spend most of my time drinking with my friends and having fun badly.

My life then was crushed… I was broken…

But then, I have found Jesus. He never left me at all eventhough I was the one who left him, it made me whole once again, he molded me into a better person, he made me realize that my failure is my strenght to live on, run and finish my race.

I firmly believed that no matter how our failures destroy us, our hope and faith tested us, God is still there, He will never leave us.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the Love of god that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NIV) Romans 8:38-3

(posted February 22, 2007)

Confessions of a 7-month old Christian

Born-again Christian… Say what??? One of my many reactions about Christian faith. IT was during the time when I do not know of what is being a Christian. I grew up studying on a Catholic School(I don’t have any intention of disrespecting the Catholic faith) and was raised by a Catholic Family, that is why during these time, I do have a closed-mind with regards to any religions. Look where I am right now… I’m a proud Christian Believer.

As the phrase would say “Everything happens for a reason” I was brought here on my faith today not by an accident. I started attending a Christian service July 2006, and was invited by a friend, and did you know that i have encountered 3 situations that for me, it was a sign from which God is calling me to be a Christian believer? The first thing was during my 1st year college days @ San Sebastian College, where during a dinner with my friends, I saw a group of student having fun beside the place on where we are eating. I don’t have any idea of what they are doing but I already have a feeling that I want to join them, which surprisingly it was the VCF-UBelt Church that I only found out and remembered that incident only last month. The second incident was on my multiply account from where I created it 2 years ago, that I posted on my profile that I was a Christian and not a Catholic (It’s not a big deal though). And lastly, my other friend had been inviting me to VCF-Ortigas since 2003, but during that time, I was too busy leading a school organization then.

Nonetheless, as for me, Catholic and Christian faith shares in one ideology and also differs from many ideologies. Anyway, I’ve only been here for 7 months and since my 1st month, I’ve made a decision to continue this faith that made my perspective of life, even myself, CHANGE…

I never thought that Christian faith would make a big difference in my life and made me a better person today. Above all, amidst of all the trials in life, I’m here standing firm knowing that God is the true master of my life.

As a Christian, I have learned;

> that Jesus is Lord
> that God has a plan for us to prosper
> to respect myself
> to deal things in a good manner
> to wait
> that we are saved
> to learn more as I continue receiving the gift of eternal life.

(posted February 6, 2007)

The Greatest Love Of All

As we are celebrating the love month, I made a special treat for everyone.. This time, let’s talk about love, a different kind of love.

“The greatest love of all is easy to achieve, learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all” sounds familiar right?, it’s an excerpt from W. Houston’s “Greatest love of all”, I definitely agree to the first line of the song’s chorus that the greates love of all is very much easy for us to achieve, we actually got it even before we were born. But, I totally disagree with the second line stating the the greatest love of all is loving only yourself, what I mean is, loving your self does not necessarily mean you’ve already found it. It is only one of the key in finding the greatest love.

Now, what really is the greatest love? who gave it? and where do we find it?

As I’ve said, the greatest love of all is just there, you don’t need to find that special feeling as the lovers do, but rather you need to seek the one who gave it to you. If you take a look at the bible, there you will find many verses that talks about different kinds of love. The love of mankind to each and every creatures of the earth, the love of a father to his prodigal son, the love of a mother, brotherly love, the love that leads to marriage, and the love of God. Now I’m making sense, and did I say “the Love of God”? Bingo!, I’ve already given you the answer, the greatest love of all is God’s love. Why? Let’s take a look then at John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (NIV). This verse only shows that God our Father gave His son, Jesus, to us for us to be saved and proclaim His glory to mankind.

Ok wait! I’m gonna divide the verse into two section. First, God gave his Son, Jesus. If you take a look at Luke 1:28-31, an angel appeared unto Mary and brings her a good news, she will conceive the Son of our Lord. But, there’s more that God do, God allowed his Son to die on the cross for us to claim the gift of salvation. I mean, who would have thought of letting his Son suffer and die for us to be saved? Only God!

For the second part of the verse, it clearly states there that we are saved and have received the gift of eternal life, as what I have always been telling you. As the bible states “…whoever believes in him shall not be perish…” and as Jesus proclaim it on John 14:6, “… I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes through to the Father except through me”(NIV). Jesus is the only way for our eternal life, He died on the cross for us to receive this wonderful gift.

Now to sum it up, the greatest love of all is the unfailing love of God, and for us to achieve that love, is for us to have faith and believe to his plans for us and to confess that Jesus is Lord, the Prince of Peace, and the only way for our salvation.

Take time to read the bible and then you will find many ways on how God shows His love for us. But remember to reflect God’s glory to others, it’s not about us… IT’S ALL ABOUT HIM!

To God be the Glory!

(posted February 22, 2007)

100 Bucks blessing!

I was on my way on attending the Marriage Possible III seminar @ VCF last tuesday, only having 30 bucks on my wallet until someone gave me another 100 bucks…

Blessing, have you experienced this kind of magic? The feeling of excitement and joy when amidst of all your worries, here comes a solution to it, unexpectedly.

I haves experience many kinds of blessings in life and I wanted to share you the most recent situation that just happened to me.

Last tuesday, Me and my friends are planning to attend the Marriage Possible III seminar on the church, I was the only one whose been attending that church and I just invited my friends then. Earlier that day, I already have an intention to call the day off since I was totally broke, but I really wanted to go… Later that day my aunt gave me 30 bucks, and it was the only exact amount I needed for a round trip going to galleria then back home and without any hesitation at 6:00pm, I decided to push through and on my way to Galleria. Now here comes another blessing, as I was waiting for the jeepney to start moving, I saw my another aunt heading towards to the jeepney on where I was riding. Surprisingly, my aunt gave me 100 bucks, from which I didn’t ask for it, and it was one of the least things that I imagine her to do, and for that moment, I already felt it was a blessing from God from which he used my aunt to be a blessing to me. It maybe a small blessing though, but I just remembered that there are no such things as small blessings, because blessings from God is immeasurable, and it do comes when you least expected it, at the right time and at the right place.

(posted February 22, 2007)

Destiny

There’s one point in our life or maybe most of the time that we have asked ourselves, Who is the right person destined for us? That in a way, some of us do learn to wait for it (for the hopeless romantics) or just lose their grasp on it and disregards their idea of destiny. But how do we really know if that person is really destined for us, or how do we know if it is only a temporal kind of love. Furthermore, Is destiny for REEL or REAL?

Before we talk abouth destiny, let’s take a glimpse of what’s the meaning of love? since its one of the main ingredients of destiny. “Love must be sincere…” (NIV) Romans 12:9, for love is not only loving the persons good personality but also loving his/her indifferences, for the opposite of love is not hate but its indifferences. Love is such a strong word and its not just a feeling you should feel but rather a decision to make, a decision of a lifetime commitment.

The big deal with destiny is when you start falling in love with a person but is that would be all? a big NO, for you must also take into account the things such as, friendship, future, and commitment because friendship is what you need to have a stronger relationship, both of your future is what you should think of, and lastly you must have a sincere and very strong commitment with each other. Nonetheless, it still doesn’t completes the idea of a destiny. Destiny comes when you seek for God’s guidance over you relationship, for in everything that you, God should be the center of it, because God only knows what is best for you.

Whether you believe in destiny or not. destiny is only a word that only us can make it to reality. Destiny in the movies can also happen in the real life, for its is the mirror of reality. I for one believe that whoever comes on our way, that person is destined for us… we are both destined to meet each other… for there’s a reason on why we meet and fall in love not knowing we would end up as a couple or go on with our separate lives.

We meet and fall in love with different persons, and only to find out if that person is right for us in the end, because there are some whose maybe destined to live a life on their own and stay happy as they wanted to be.

As I conclude this blog, our destiny is made by God and only for us to work it out, whether we have someone to grow old with or not, we have to remember that we are destined to feel the unfailing love of God.

 (posted February 9, 2007)

Contentment

Last week, I was with my friends at starbucks - araneta having a small discussion about finding the best job today, as our discussion progresses, it branches out into more different topics and situations related in our life. The funny thing is, all of which leads only to one realization… CONTENTMENT!

As we all know being contented is difficult in our present situation. Why? well, we are in the world of SOME-SOME (some have more - some have less) and both of which are not contented with their situations. The some-have-less are the ones who hungers for the right and proper basic things that they need, as for the some-have-more they are those who want to have more than of what they are earning that leads them to greed for more. Now the question is, “How can we be contented in our life?”

There are many situations that some people find their own contenment. Like for those in the so-called “real world”, most of them whose earning very big salaries are still not contented with what they are doing, and one of the reasons is because they don’t love the job that they are into. But due to their rising needs, they don’t have a choice but to continue loving the job that they hate to do.

As for myself, I used to believe that having all the material things that I wanted is all I got to have, just for me to be contented. Until I finally got to know someone that made me realize that these material things can not satisy either me or you… and that someone is JESUS. ‘Coz if all you want in your life is earthly treasures, you better think first, because in the end, it will bother you during your life here on earth, well it did to me.

Now, my idea of contentment today is as long as you love the things that you have been doing even if it is the first time your doing it and you believe in yourself that it will satisfy you for a longer period, I guess that’s it!… it’s contentment. But above all, contentment is when you find it in your heart that you are ready to welcome God in your life and follow him on your life-long journey here on earth.

 (posted November 17, 2006)

The Battle

Introduction

We all go into different battles of life, it may differ on how it is being started or how you deal with, but above all, it is a battle of your own principles, belief and will.

Preparation

What do students/workers do before they go to their school/workplace? What do a chef do before they start cooking and serving the meal? What do the boss of the company do before presenting the company’s marketing strategy to the board? And you, what do you usually do for a whole day’s activity? One thing that each of these scenarios have in common is they all first PREPARE.

We can’t just go into the battlefield unprepared. Most of the people who goes into a battle without any preparation end up losing their dignity and personality. Being prepared is also accepting the fact that they can either win or lose in a battle and somehow prepare themselves on facing its outcome.

Now what are the things you need to do in preparing for a battle? Check this out;

1) You need to identify the problem or its source then analyze it. Find its root (if possible), take a chance on researching, and treat that problem as a situation and not a curse, remeber that God won’t give you problems that you can’t handle.

2) You need to think and formulate all your strategies, right down its pros and cons, and imagine the worst case scenarios.

3) Before anything else, trust your self and put all your worries to God, walk by Faith, and ask for his guidance that you may have the will and strenght to face your battle.

Journey

After you have prepared everything you need, you’re now ready to begin the next phase… The JOURNEY

There are lots of things that can happen in a journey. The best example of it is it can change your decision or even YOU during the course of the journey or at the moment when you arrived at the battlefield. It can either make you or break you, its the hardest decision that you can encounter, because from the moment you step on and start the battle YOU ARE AT THE POINT OF NO RETURN. 

 Fin

After a long journey, here comes the outcome, the moment we’ve all been waiting for.. and what would that be.. well, you ask for yourself… Coz every person’s battle have its own unique ending.

(posted November 6, 2006)

Audition

For the past 3 years, I have done several auditions on various TV shows. These includes, the scriptwriting scholarship for Ricky Lee, a Y Speak correspondent on Studio 23’s Y-Speak (luckily i got a chance to go to the final audition and made a documentary), and recently last June 2006 for the PDA and PBB Season 2.

Honestly, I have nothing against nor to be shame about these actions I have been doing, and definitely most of my colleagues doesn’t know about this. Yet I’m very proud to shout out these part of my experiences to everyone. Others would definitely say that auditioning is only for the masses and mostly those who are “promdis” and “makakapal ang mukha”, but having been a witness to such auditions I could say that it is definitely not true! Most of the personalities who have been going to auditions are mostly came from the Class A and B of the society. Thus, it only means that dreaming to be a TV personality is for everyone. It’s simply like you’re only applying for a job.

One of the most recent auditons I’ve been is the auditions for the music team on our church, no cameras and definitely not to be a talent of a certain network, but this is the most nerve-racking auditions I’ve tried which also includes the most unexpected and unusual thing for me to do. It’s different because I need to audition for the singer’s training and soon to be part of the church band and choir. Surprisingly, I passed the audition with a grade of 43/50. Amidst of passing the audition, I still can’t believe that I could sing hahaha. Above all this, I know that it’s simply God’s will and he wanted me to be part of the team. Now as others would say slowly I’m living one of my wildest dream.

Keep on BELIEVING!!!

(posted October 28, 2006)

A New Start

Starting a New Journey

A new start, a new journey, creating my new blogsite is one of those changes I wanted in life. Having a new blog site is like starting a new adventure… a new beginning.

 I name this blog “Optimistician” simply because I’m very optimistic in everything that I do… (I just don’t know if there is such a word “Optimistician”… )

Behind the Optimistician

To start with, Hi I’m  J | Japes | JP | John Paul (name it!) basically others would describe me as the misunderstood person, some would describe me “mayabang” and others would describe me as a very shy person. As for me, I would rather describe myself as a very deep person and as I go along with my blog, I hope you would get to know more the true me.

What to Expect?

This blog site basically serves as My online bio. My experiences. My personal insights.