GLEN & GRACIEL WEDDING VIDEO (EXCERPT)
AN excerpt of Glen and Graciel Cuarto’s Wedding Video.
Wedding was in Dubai, UAE.
Videographers are Carlo and Clark.
Edited by Auteur Video Productions (in Manila)
Congratulations Glen and Graciel. God bless.
I recently finished an 81 episode, 1-1/2 hour per episode drama series called “Jumong”. It’s a historical drama about the life of Jumong Taewang founder of the kingdom of Goguryeo (Gaojuli in the series) in Korea during the Han Dynasty ( 206 BC – 202 AD ). The Han Dynasty managed to conquer and control
China as well as its neighboring regions because of their knowledge of how to wield iron weapons.
In the series, much of Jumong’s efforts in founding his new kingdom revolved around making better weapons to defeat the enemy on the battlefield. So he commissioned his chief blacksmith to focus on forging a new metal to compose his army’s swords and various armaments. A great deal of time was spent in the mills to make a sword stronger and better than that of the Han’s. The process was long and arduous. Metal was placed in the furnace till it’s literally red hot. This would be continuously hit by a hammer to shape into that of a sword. But as the metal gets colder, the harder it becomes to mold. So every now and then it has to be placed back to the furnace to make it more manageable for the blacksmith. This process continues till the sword is finished. It will then be used on the battlefield where it will decide if the war will be won or lost.
We as Christians share the same fate as that of the sword in the battle of evangelization. We as leaders bear the same responsibility of the blacksmith in churning out powerful weapons to defeat the enemy. We need to strike while our members and fellow leaders are still hot, fresh from the furnace of God’s graces. As they become cold in their service and faith, we need to be able to bring them back to the fire where it all began then continue hammering them with our covenant and teachings. Otherwise, their cores (hearts and minds) will harden. This will make it more difficult for us to mold them. In this case, we need to strike harder to achieve our mission and vision.
If we fail to make the right impact on our members, they will break in the midst of battle.
The battle may be won for some but the war is far from being over. We need more blacksmiths to sustain the war. Those who possess the perseverance, experience, wisdom, ability and capacity to make effective and lethal weapons should be commissioned to teach other blacksmiths. Novices shouldn’t be allowed in the mills lest standards be compromised.
If we fail to produce leaders who are ready, willing and fit to lead then our resistance will all be for naught.
Although often outnumbered, Jumong turned away the Han.
Battle after battle, his blacksmiths’ dedication, hard work and sacrifices manifested themselves on the field. In the end, the enemy was no match for the weapons properly formed and forged in fire. The victory can be traced back to the mills where a simple sheet of metal found itself at the hands of a master blacksmith.
A Little Survey of my Own
This discourse has been bugging my friend since God knows when. It’s a chicken and egg thing about courtship and the nuances behind it. My friend would say that the guys have a great advantage for the reason that they have the "power" to choose who they will court. As for the women, they can only wait for the guy/s to approach her and declare his/their intentions. If the guy she likes doesn’t approach her, too bad. She will then have to choose from those who have declared or not choose at all. But then, the women would have the same if not greater "power" because they ultimately have the decision on their hands on whether they would have a relationship with a guy or not, thus leaving the men at a very vulnerable spot, making them susceptible to a heartbreaking experience. Hmmm…who then has the shorter end of the stick?
Feel free to give your two cent’s worth.
I love taglines. I would watch commercials and movies and stuff like, "are you talking to me? (Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver)", would seem to stick to my unconscious self. The other day, I remembered a line I read while I was in The University of the Philippines in Diliman. It read, "Do not go where the path leads you. Go where there is no path and lead the way. — UP Vanguard" It’s quite inspiring. In this day of age, everywhere we look we are bombarded by suggestive slogans . "Just do it" or "There are some things money can’t buy. But for eevrything else, there’s mastercard."
How come we have an overload of these "Buy me! Use me!" messages and yet the more important ones are kept in silence and obscurity? Whatever happened to "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God" or "I am the way, the truth and the life…"? Do we still have it in us to turn away from commercialism and disregard the materialistic missives around us?
Whew! What a weekned! For the past few days, we have been cramming preparations for our Visita Iglesias. Late night meetings and numerous phone calls hounded us like a cat in heat. Good Friday came and we were swamped with people eagerly expecting the day’s activities.
I was hoping to have my whole CLP discussion group there…sadly, some had other plans. Seek ye first the kingdom of God I would say, but then, maybe it’s not yet time for them. Anyways, enough of those who didn’t make it. Seeing four of the seven was in itself an inspiration. Thanks to Raymond, Bobby, Saldy and Yong for choosing to be there. For waking up very early and to Yong, for not using the lack of rest as an excuse. He came from his nightshift and went straight to the meeting area as soon as he can. Grabe! I honor these guys talaga!
We pulled out of St Mary’s Catholic Church after finishing 5 Stations of the cross, in true Filipino fashion, we were late. Sad to say, we had to make up time on the road if we still want to hit accurately our schedules.
We went to the churches in Abu Dhabi and the other Emirates. In the bus, we would discuss about the stations we had prayed. Sharings and some meditational hymns followed.
It was very tiring. We got back to St Mary’s Church at around 9pm. We were literally dragging our feet back to our homes. But no one was complaining. No one had the right to. Because around two thousand years ago, a man-God carried two huge pieces of lumber while literally dragging His feet. He had to endure the shoves, the insults, the wounds that have been inflicted on Him, things thrown at Him, the sight of His weeping mother and death. He willingly took all that…for what? For liars. For thieves. For infidels. For sinners. He accepted all those and more…for people like us.
It’s been a few days since. Some have gone back to work. Maybe some are still in the middle of their vacations. Yes, our God has died and risen. We can claim victory in His name. But, we shoudn’t forget about the passion. We should NEVER forget about the passion. Holy Week comes each year. I just hope we can all stay devoted even after that particular week has passed on the calendar.
The countdown is on.
March 22…4 more days…till payday! 
YAHOO!
Payday, my most favorite day of the month. I instantly feel the urge to splurge during this time. My mother would always remind me when I was still young that we should always save for the rainy days ahead. Sure, but a few days after payday, you don’t really see the need to. Then after two weeks, you suddenly feel the pinch of not having enough cash because you have made an atm withdrawal too many. Tsk, tsk…mom was right. Mom was right. A week before payday comes, this sentence seems to play in my mind over and over. Then…the countdown begins, again. And the whole process repeats itself. Rags to riches to rags in just a matter of 4 weeks. Hmmm, go figure. Mom was right ;D
Last Friday, we had the third talk of the CLP. Although TFC’s "Battle of Champions" managed to pry some of our participants that day, we still had a sizable group. It was a very inspiring sight. A room filled with people who made a choice to be there instead of going to a concert. God is indeed good. I, as a facilitator in the said CLP, am expected to lead and inspire the participants. But that evening the tables seemed to have turned. I look forward to another table-turning experience next Friday.
To those who are not that familiar to the term "carlift", it’s a private vehicle for hire. It gets you from point a to point b, no questions asked. Errr, not really. If you get a nosy driver, he will ask everything about you…from your country of origin to your shoe size. Well, maybe not the shoe size. But, what’s worse is that he will go about all this in his broken english or his version of it. It borders between irritating and absurd because he will tell you his opinion on everything under the hot sun of this desert city.
After a few weeks of staying and working in Dubai, I realized that this is practically the norm. Not everyone in this city nor the region for that matter has an acceptable command of the english (American or British) language. I can’t help but compare this to the Philippines where everyone has a good grasp of english. Some (or most) may not be that fluent but at least the people has a basic idea of how it works.
This is my second stint working in a foreign country (Singapore was the first). I must say, Filipinos definitely have an edge in the language department. Hotels here have started hiring more Filipinos because of this. They used to have a lot of Indians in the travel biz but now, Filipinos are creeping in and taking their spots. Hospitality and warmth also scores well with multinationals.
Unfortuantely, not many Filipinos realize and appreciate this edge. There are still some sectors in Philippine society that think that english shouldn’t be the medium of instruction in the country. They think that Filipinos are wasting their time dabbling with the language.
I think we really have to start thinking globally. We, as a people are more regionalistic than nationalistic. I see this everywhere I go. Tagalogs will go with their fellow tagalogs…Visayans with other Visayans…I feel that we have to rid ourselves of this thinking in order to move on and be a global force.
Spain colonized us. America taught us. And Japan…well, you know the story. I guess we’re still a work in progress.
Amazingly, I woke up quite early today. So early that I had time to reheat the spaghetti (my favorite by the way) my friend cooked last night. I’ll be having sapghetti again later at lunch. Yep! This is definitely going to be a good day.
To those who doesn’t know it yet, I’m in Dubai right now. I got here last January 29. I was looking to rejoin GMA 7 and continue my career there. Alas, God has different plan for me. To make the long story short, I was headhunted to join this cable company owned by VIACOM. After all the negotiations and paper works, I found myself aboard an Emirates flight bound for this desert city. I’m a Promotions Editor for Showtime TV. What exactly do I do, you ask. Well, I primarily edit trailers for television programs and movies.
More than a month has passed and I must say, I’m lovin’ it here. With apologies to Mcdonald’s ;D
The Singles for Christ community here is great! They have been so warm and kind. I’m making new friends (always a good thing) and learning a lot about cultural differences and nuances (another good thing). I see each encounter as an enriching experince.
Hey guys!
Get a load of this!
Friendster blog!
Hmmm, I haven’t really tried this…this should be fun.
But like everything else in life, it should also be God centered.
I remember people began taking notice of blogging when people started posting raunchy stuff and sexcapades for everyone to read. Sorry guys. None of that here.
But for everything else, there’s mastercard…er, sorry.
For those who know me and care enough to read my blogs, you can look forward to my continuous babbling about anything and everything under the sun…Supremo style ;D hahaha!
