The west hosts International Thanksgiving

First time for the west to host this 1st Quarter 2014 International Thanksgiving, this event will mean a lot for us members of the Church of God in the bible. Although I was not given the opportunity to go to Brazil, here I was only in one of the monitoring centers in Isabela province, Philippines. Since the event is hosted in Brazil, it doesn't matter the differences in time.

Coinciding the three-day event is Bro. Eli Soriano's 50th anniversary of accepting his holy baptism in the one true church he leads today unto salvation. A golden years of serving God and humanity. No matter what happen, in the years to come, that same man is highly determined to continue what was started in our country to the western part of the globe. Truly, his service is fully utilized in preaching the gospel around the globe.

The first day of the event was the opening of another wisdom in the Bible. Topic is about friends of God in these last days. In this lecture, I learned that being friend with God, every secrets and His plan are revealed. Nothing is secret on being friends. Even from the account of creation was revealed to Moses, including the plan of God's salvation to human race.

On the second day, Bro. Daniel speaks of the seven spirits of God. It's the sign that a true preacher of God in our time. These are the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Preachers of God are the recipients of His secrets even mysteries are manifested. In our time, God reveals these secrets in the person of Bro. Eli and Bro. Daniel which was hidden since eternity.

The picture above amazes me so much as Bro. Daniel elaborates the seven spirits. MCGI Photo.

  
The last day of the event was the offering of songs of praises to God from different places in the congregation. Various documentaries were played concerning the progress of the global evangelization of the church. Then follows the climax of the topic by Bro. Eli Soriano and Bro. Daniel Razon. The three-day event was not sufficient to discuss the whole topic which will be continued on Saturday.

To God be the glory. I can't explain my feelings anymore! It's wonderful and fantastic! Until next time, God willing.

No easy way

Now tell me if you know a single person who hasn’t failed yet. Have you ever encountered a student who never failed in an exam in his whole life? What about a story character who won all the time? Ever heard of a story without twists? Yung tipong happy ending agad. Well, probably not. That’s the point – life would not be called life if it does not have lessons. And lessons would never exist without mistakes. Let’s sum it up: You can’t win all the time. That probably is the art of losing. Let us face it, most of us are afraid to commit mistakes, most of us are afraid to lose something. Most of us as much as possible don’t want to fail. But the inevitable truth is, just what I’ve said a while ago: You can’t win all the time. That’s probably a good thing. Just imagine watching a story of a man who went through his whole life on an endless winning streak. That would be boring for sure. There is the fact behind this: all winners don’t grow for they don’t learn anything.

People face different kinds of failures. May it be failing in a test, having a fight with your friend and even having your heart broken. These are just some from the numerous kinds failures. But why are people afraid to fail? According to knowmyself.com, fear of failure is like any other type of fear, it’s an emotion generated by your subconscious mind in order to protect you from problems. Because some people have got much less tolerance to failure they always experience fear of failure, while others don’t. The reason behind this tolerance may be caused by lack of understanding of the success mechanism, being unable to tolerate the underlying emotions. These emotions could be shame, guild, or any emotion after they fail. Fear of making mistakes. Some people fear making mistakes to the extent that they quit trying just not to make a mistake in front of others. In this case, the fear of failure may be caused by lack of self confidence. In this case, the fear of failure may be caused by lack of self confidence. People who are emotionally sensitive, who fear rejection and those who lack self-confidence are more likely to be afraid of failure than others.

Failure will be and will always be a part of life. Thus, the only better way is to befriend it. Failure is just a message telling you that you have to try doing the same thing in a different way. Overcoming it may start by changing your beliefs about failure. No one has ever reached the top without failing several times. Build you self-confidence. Remember: having a better version of you starts from within. Give yourself a hand.

These are a hundred ways to kill a chicken. What I’m trying to say is, if you fail once, it doesn't mean you shouldn't try anymore. Failing means you could do better. Failing means learning from your past. There are no lost opportunities if you are always searching for alternatives. Delete the thought that you should win all the time. Here’s a simple thought: the ones who don’t fail, are pretty empty. Let life’s disappointments create a better version of you. Look forward to the ways loss will you change. Believe that the best is yet to come. And if those useless feedback keep dragging you down, bear this in mind: Failures would never ever define you truly are. So cheer up!

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Oh my sweet 30th birthday

I am so happy today as I am now on my 30th birthday! On this milestone occasion, I want to take a moment to reflect on all that I have achieved and all that I have yet to accomplish with God's help. I know that will try my best to be kind, intelligent, and driven person, and I am grateful to know about that. As I enter my 30s, I will be always remember to continue pursuing my dreams, to stay true to myself, and never stop learning and growing. May this next decade bring me more happiness, love, and all that my heart desires. Cheers to a fantastic year and many more to come! I am that you're there to support me.

My teacher, my hero 2013

Let me start by defining what a hero is. A hero is a person admired for great deeds or fine qualities, and a person who shows great courage. These qualities are strongly evident in the teachers.

The life of a teacher is very interesting and challenging. A teacher is a guide, a searcher, a counsellor, a creator, an authority, an inspirer of vision, a doer of routine, a story teller and actor or actress, a facer of reality and an evaluator. A teacher takes a hand, opens mind, touches a heart and shapes the future of pupils that are entrusted in her love and care to the fullest contentment. The teachers serve as second parents and models in school. As role models, they must project good public image worthy of emulation.

They must manifest dedication, sincerity, dignity, professionalism, simplicity and self respect. They must also have respect for people, faith in their intelligence and the willingness to enter into human relations on the basis of equality, the give and take relationship with peers and/or co-workers, parents and citizens. The role of the teachers in nation building can never be under estimated. They share a greater bulk of responsibility in molding the minds of the leader of tomorrow, the youth.

Based on the multi tasks, responsibilities and expectations from teachers, I strongly commend that they are really the superheroes of every generation. They deserved to be recognized, honoured and be given merits not only on the occasion of teacher’s day but throughout the days of their lives for their magnanimous and unselfish efforts and dedication in the lives of the pupils that surely redound and enshrined in the hearts of the parents, the community, the nation and most of all, to the world. I salute you dear teachers, the heroes of today, tomorrow and forever.

On strategies and planning

Strategies and planning is not just for the games like chess, soccer, American football and basketball for a team to make it on the top. Managing one’s life also require planning and strategies to build our future and enjoy the bounty of life by experiencing comfort and contentment in life.

Business entities goal is to satisfy its costumers, clientele to make their product saleable or fast moving for them to generate sales that spells success and stability of the business of the economy and in the market competition. In able to compete other business and make it a difference in market competition, shop owners through their business plans strategies.

Separating strategy from planning: strategy is about decision making. It is about trade-off, about deciding how to focus, how to be the best, how to be different, and how to best pursue opportunities. Planning is the process of deciding what actions are needed to achieve the vision or goal of the business.

Planning helps an organization chart a course for the achievement of its goals. The process begins with reviewing the current operations of the organization and identifying what needs to be improved operationally in the upcoming year. From there, planning involves envisioning the results of the organization wants to achieve, and determining the steps necessary to arrive at the intended destination—success, whether that is measured in financial terms, or goals that include being the highest-rated organization in customer satisfaction. Planning promotes team building and a spirit of cooperation. 

When the plan is completed and communicated to members of the organization, everyone knows what their responsibilities are, and how other areas of the organization, need their assistance and expertise in order to complete assigned tasks. They see how their work contributes to the success of the organization as a whole and can take pride in their contributions. Potential conflict can be reduced when top management solicits department or division managers’ input during the goal setting process. Individuals are less likely to resent budgetary targets when they had a say in their creation.

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest rout to victory; tactics without energy is the noise before defeat” quoted by Sun Tzu – The Art of War. Marketing Strategy is something that helps companies achieves marketing objectives. Marketing objectives help achieve corporate objectives and corporate objectives aim to achieve a competitive advantage over rival organizations.

On family, children and relationship

The basic unit of society is the family. The family is the very heart of the society, men’s system of living together in this world. The family is the first socializing agent and the source of strength and stability of its members. A child that is brought forth in this world belongs to a family. The family, therefore, especially the parents, play a vital role in instilling values and attitudes to the children and able to support and give them a bright future.

However there may be instances when a child is left by his biological parents in the care of another entity mainly because of poverty. There could be many reasons why the mother would be willing to give up her child to be taken care of by grandparents or relatives. Another reason could be separated parents with both of them having another family again. The child may have been left an orphan as a consequence of the death of parents, either the father or the mother. It may also be because one or both parents went abroad to work because of economic pressure.

Poverty and the demands of daily living have pushed not only the father to work but the mother as well. This has caused a departure in the mother’s traditional responsibility of child rearing and doing the household chores. In addition to child rearing, the responsibilities of housekeeping are already being shared by the husbands of working mothers. But considering that both husband and wife need to go out to work at least 8 hours a day for five days a week to maintain the standard of living of the family and provide for the needs of their growing children, the latter are left to the care of non- biological parents either in another home and in schools. This situation, according to Huh1 has created child rearing and upbringing problems that develop implications in the growth and development of the child. Palispis2 says that any person or institution that shares a person’s values and behavior is an agent of socialization. Although these agents are particularly important in the early years of the life cycle socialization is a lifetime process that continues across the life span.

The causes of change in the family, according to Spocks,3 are the mass media, peer group, parents, and technological change. The media like the television, radio and other broadcast media as well as print media play a very important role in the process of socialization. The radio or television program, to which the child is exposed to, will certainly influence his personality, values, and belief system. Among peers, socialization focuses more on the children’s interest and activities than on the priorities of adults. 

While peer groups are important to all adolescents, they are especially influential when parental guidance, affection and attention are lacking. Alienated and delinquent adolescents are more deeply affected by their peers than adolescents who are not alienated from their families and do not have history of delinquency. Some parents get separated from their children because of economic pressure. 

They know that going abroad raises the household’s standard of living. But emotional, strain, loneliness, and anxiety become major problems both of husband and wife. In this kind of situation of the family, there is tendency that couples separate and children will suffer a lot of difficulties. As technology develops, there are newer video games, internet and music videos. Video games much more than violent movies have the ability to capture children imagination and train their emotions to accept violence because with video games children are active participants. The majority of household now have cable television and with it music videos. Most of these videos contain sexual images often bordering on pornography. Violence is common, including violence against women. There are chat rooms where people can participate in round table discussion in every imaginable subject. Because of these changes, having a healthy family is hard to achieve.

In our society today, it is observed that the children have different behaviors from those of the earlier generation. These behavioral differences may be rooted in the way the different aspects of life are handle, one of which and probably the most influential is how the family has been treated.

The researcher chose this study because of her great concern for the growth and development of the child. It is observed that the major issue in the educational system is the declining standard of education. According to Paloma,4 teachers are accused of being incompetent. It is easy to blame teachers and school administrators when our children bring home failing grades. While it is true that some teachers are not the most skillful, some children are clearly able to learn from them. And even though schools do not have the best facilities, some children manage to get an education there and go on to graduate from college and universities. Why, because what happens at school is only one part of education process. The parents, also, have a vital role in determining the children’s success. Parents may not have realized it, but children’s teachers want help. Most teachers take pride in their work. They are competent and dedicated. Nothing gives greater satisfaction than helping others develop their talents. Through the researcher’s observation as well as those of her co-teachers, the behavior, and attitude of pupils are worsening and their academic performance is decreasing. The reasons are some pupils are observed to be lazy in their seatwork/homework, projects are not accomplished because of poverty and some parents and guardians of pupils are less supportive and guiding at home because majority of parents and guardians have attained elementary level only. There is no challenge or motivation to pursue higher levels of education, there is lack of ambition and are contented with their present life situation dictated by their economic environment so the needs of the children in the school is inadequate. According to the writer and her co-teachers, pupils are seen to become bullies, clowns, hard headed, noisy, selfish, dependent, tactless and aggressive. Others are observed to be kind, attentive, considerate, helpful, polite, independent, obedient, tactful, talented and respectful. The academic performance of some of those who are under the care of biological parents are of low average, some are high as well. This was confirmed based on their Form 137 and Form 138. With these observations, the parents and guardians must be aware of the problem of their children. The researcher would like the parents to teach their children to value education, to do their homework/seat work, to have the right use of television, to communicate, to be honest, and to respect authority so that the children would become successful in their studies.

It if for this reason that study was conducted to find out the child care practices of parents and guardians of pupils of Santa Isabel Sur Elementary School and its effect on their academic performance.



1Max L. Huh, Psychology: The Science of Information Behavior (New York: Harper & Row, 2004).
2Dr. Epifacio S. Palispes, Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology (Rex Book Store, Inc., Samploc Manila, 1996).
3Dr. Benjamin Spocks. M.D., Baby and Child Care (The One Essential Parenting Book, New York, 2004, Revised by Robert Needileman, M.D.), pp. 465-479
4Epifania N. Paloma, “What Teachers Wish Parents Knew About School,” Modern Teacher (Vol. LI, No. 7, 2002).