Tito Jechrist

I forget the first time I met Tito Jechrist, or Tito Jeck as many liked to call him. But I do remember him as the always smiling and jolly person and very funny. He was pretty much the life of the crowd, the one who makes us laugh. It would be very rare to see him down and not smiling.

Because of his bright personality I think it was just right he served in the Usher team. He was also the one who always approached me after I've led worship, requesting for songs to be put in my next lineup so that the people would jump and dance more during praise. He would also encourage me, telling me that the worship was very blessed.

 

I was very glad to see him avail himself for the Lord. I've seen him serve, watched him pray, I've prayed along with him, I've seen him kneel before the Lord during Breakthroughs and Super CGs. It was no surprise that when he was diagnosed with colon cancer, he did not go and question the Lord. He did the complete opposite. Instead of turning from God, he held on to Him more. Instead of leaving the ministry, he availed himself more. Even as he went back to the Philippines he continued to serve.

 

He was always the kind of guy who admitted his mistakes and admitted his flaws, but he was also the type of guy who was willing to change. And he did. Many people, including myself, are a witness to the transformation he went through as he continued to walk with God. It was truly amazing. He wasn't the same person he was before I first met him. 

We said good-bye to him when he went back to the Philippines, but sadly, I am writing this to say my final good-bye. Two nights ago, I was informed Tito Jeck passed away. 

 

I would be a liar to say I'm not sad. I will miss the laughs I shared with him, his witty jokes, his bright personality, and I will miss worshiping alongside him. But it gives me greater joy and greater comfort knowing that he's with the Lord know. He's where he's always wanted to be and he is truly at peace.

I believe this isn't a time of mourning, but actually we should celebrate. Another faithful servant of Christ has gone home and now he is in the arms of the Father - no pain, no suffering. 

We love you Tito Jeck. We miss you dearly. Rest in peace and we'll see each other again.

 

YOU HOLD ME NOW - HILLSONG

 

 

On that day when I see
All that You have for me
When I see You face to face
There surrounded by Your grace

All my fears swept away
In the light of your embrace
When Your love is all I need
And forever I am free

Where the streets are made of gold
In Your presence here to hold
Let these songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suff'ring You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sickening
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

In this life fin'lly stand
Through my joy and my pain
Knowing there's a greater day
There's a hope that never fails

When You're name is lifted high
And forever praises last
For the glory of Your Name
I'll be livin' for the day

When the world has finally cease
All creation rest in peace
Let these songs of heaven rise to you alone

No weepingr, no hurt or pain
No suff'ring You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sickening
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

For eternity
All my heart will give
All the glory to Your name

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sickening
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sickening
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now

No weeping, no hurt or pain
No suffering You hold me now
You hold me now
No darkness no sickening
No hiding You hold me now,
You hold me now  

Don't Stop Believin'

What do you do when you're bored? Blog... with gloves on. Agh, I'm taking 'em off. Typing's hard with woolen fingertips...

Anyways... what to blog, what to blog?

Well, exams are finally over so that's cool. Today was basically a cool down day for all of us. We spent most of the day just watching movies. I guess we've earned it after the exams.

I've been listening to a lot of Journey again and Huey Lewis this time around too. Kinda makes me have a lot more confidence when I listen to "Power of Love" while walking to the subway. And I imagine myself sometimes as Michael J. Fox on a skateboard lol. Anyways, downloaded Journey's "Revelation" album with frontman Arnel Pineda now on the vocals. He's awesome, but of course, Steve Perry came first. So yeah, my day never ends without listening to "Open Arms" and "Don't Stop Believin'". You know, something about "Don't Stop Believin'" inspires me everytime. I guess it's the chorus that keeps ringing:

Don't stop believin'

Hold on to the feelin'

Streetlight people...

Great lyrics there. I know it's not a Christian song, but everytime I hear the chorus I always interpret it as don't stop believing and having faith in Him, despite hard times and all.

Speaking of hard times, Bangkok is back to tense mode as red shirts start pouring in from all over Thailand to mount up a huge protest that's starting tomorrow. I have no idea when it will end. I might not have school next week. Yay for me, but not so much yay when you face the facts. Feel bad for my friend, Tor, cuz her house is at the very street where the protest is taking place. As she said, if the reds decide to use a bomb, they'll bomb her house too. The reds were also the ones who burned up the buses last year, so I pray that they won't get rowdy and all again. So please, do pray for the situation here in Thailand. Thank God that He's protected my friends and family. I've been here for ten years and experienced a coup d'etat, the closing of the airport, bus burnings, and numerous rallies, but me and my family remain safe.

So all this political unrest along with the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile bring me to another realization as I write this entry: Christ is coming soon. Very soon. I'm still reading Are We Living in the End Times? by the authors of the "Left Behind" series and it really helped me in understanding end time prophecies. All these events are the "birth pains" before the coming of Christ and they are growing very frequent. For example, the earthquake in Chile occurred only months (or weeks, not sure) after Haiti. This just gives me more reason to believe Christ could come in my lifetime and that, I must say, would be a cool thing.

And so, I circle back to the title of this entry. Despite all the happenings in this world: all the war, politics, disease, disasters... Don't stop - never stop - believing. Never stop believing that God ultimately prevails. 

Wow, I'm amazed at the range of topics for this entry lol. This just shows how bored you get after exams haha

God bless everybody and enjoy the upcoming weekend!

Reflections: Mark 16 - March 8, 2010

"1When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body.

2Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb

3and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

4But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.

5As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

6“Don't be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.

7But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

8Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.

((The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9–20.))

9When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.

10She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping.

11When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

12Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country.

13These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

14Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

15He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.

20Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it." - Mark 16

"Defeat" has never been an attractive word. "Surrender" doesn't really appeal to man either. But this is why God's plan was so wonderful, so beautiful, and so perfect, that when in the eyes of man they thought that Christ is dead once and for all, the truth was, the Lamb wins!

The ultimate sacrifice resulted in the ultimate victory. The torture, agony, and seeming defeat of Christ on the cross actually won our souls from the enemy and reconciled us back to God.

I remember the teaching why we don't believe of an image of Christ in the cross. It's true that it's a reminder of what Jesus had done for us, but it's because that it's the resurrection that proved His power over sin and death. His resurrection rendered Satan powerless and ultimately defeated him.

I believe God is reminding me - and all of us - that the enemy no longer has any hold on us and that by Christ - if we accept and believe in Him - we are set free. Take off the mindset of still being in chains, still being bogged down and tortured by sin. Christ has set you free. Christ has set the chains loose. Live in the freedom, victory, and authority God gave you. You are free and forgiven.

His grace and mercy is forever!

Saturday Evening Blogging

Hello to all out there :)

It's 10:20 pm over here. I've no idea what I'm doing blogging when I should be asleep since I have to get up early for church tomorrow lol.

Anyways, I suddenly have to worship lead for praise tomorrow cuz Tita Olive isn't feeling too well. I pray she'll be okay for tomorrow. More than pumped to lead for tomorrow! So excited!

On the school front, exams are next week... Still haven't studied haha. Plus, the titration equation in chemistry is freaking me and my classmates out so I have no idea how this is gonna work. By God's grace, I'll see it through.

Dad just got back from China. Literally just came home a few minutes ago with chocolates. Yay! My bro has his traditional stuff toy. This time, it's Eeyore.

And God has still been so faithful to me. As I shared in the last CG, my heart is always in a battle and in a struggle and I look at myself and condemn myself sometimes, asking myself why I can't just get through it and why I make the same mistakes over and over again. And God bombards me not with punishments but LOVE. From my previous Reflections post, you'll see I'm reading Mark and I'm at the crucifixion. God's reminding me how much He loves me. God's so great. His grace and love is truly overwhelming.

Gotta get to bed. But a last note: please pray for Tita Mayette and Mama. Mama's still in the ICU and we need all the prayers we can get. Please also pray for provision since the bills are now up to 50K+.

God bless guys and hope you have a great week ahead of you.

Pranburi '10

Last weekend, I came back from Pranburi with my schoolmates. It was a really fun time and a nice break from all the hustle and bustle of BKK. There are some times you just need to slow down, take a break, and lie down at the beach...

Anyways, I miss it a lot. Why? THIS is why!

 

Who wouldn't want to go back there? Away from all the schoolwork, homework, tests, and exams? Oh well, I guess it's back to reality...

Anyways, all we did there was to swim in the pool, then swim in the beach, then eat, shower, then back to the pool. If ever we were in our rooms we were either eating, playing PS2, talking, playing cards, or doing all of them at the same time.

T'was truly fun. Hope I can go back again sometime.

Reflections: Mk. 15:1-15 - March 4, 2010

"1Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

2“Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

3The chief priests accused him of many things.

4So again Pilate asked him, “Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”

5But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

6Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested.

7A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising.

8The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

9“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate,

10knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.

11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

12“What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

13“Crucify him!” they shouted.

14“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

15Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified." - Mark 15:1-15

The very reason why Pilate did what he did is in verse 15: "Wanting to please the crowd..." Pilate knew Jesus was innocent and that the Pharisees had only captured Him out of jealousy. Yet because he knew he had to satisfy the people, he gave them what they wish.

Think about what Jesus may have been thinking. He is the Son of God, yet He was wrongly accused and condemned unfairly. Surely this wasn't the way you treat the King of Kings! It's ironic to think that these were also the very same people who welcomed Him in with palm leaves a few days ago and now they were accusing Him of false crimes. Yet Christ kept silent, kept His eye on the mission, and every step to His death He accepted. Jesus fully surrendered to God;s will and had faith.

How about us? 

 

Do we fully surrender or do we lack faith?

Do we follow despite the circumstances?

Or do we turn away?

 

 

Reflections: Mark 14:53-65 - March 2, 2010

"While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by.

67When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.
“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.

68But he denied it. “I don't know or understand what you're talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.†

69When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.”

70Again he denied it.
After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”

71He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, “I don't know this man you're talking about.”

72Immediately the rooster crowed the second time.† Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice† you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept" - Mark 14:66-72

The name "Judas" has been synonymous with "betrayer". People usually call the betrayer of a certain character in a movie or book "his Judas". And it's true. Judas did betray Christ and was the very reason why Jesus got into the hands of the Pharisees. But did you ever realize that while there was Judas the betrayer, there was also Peter the betrayer?

Peter betrayed Christ by vehemently denying any involvement with Him.Verse 71 says "... he called down curses on himself and swore to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about." So much for the man who vehemently denied earlier that he would deny Christ.

Yet these two people, though similar in this aspect, ended up very differently. Judas killed himself. Peter went on to fulfill Christ's prophecy of him being the rock on which the church will be built on. How could this be when Peter betrayed Christ too?

The difference is in their responses. Judas, after handing in Jesus, knew had head betrayed innocent blood. He wallowed in his grief, let it consume him, and ultimately it was the driving force of his decision to hang himself. Peter, on the other hand, did grieve, but repented. He grieved he betrayed and denied Christ, but instead of meditating on his grief, he turned back to Jesus and asked forgiveness.

God has reminded that we all sin and that we hurt Him everyday. It may be in what we say, what we do, or what we think, but we sin against Him everyday. But God has reminded me it's what you do after that matters. Will you condemn yourself, wallow in self-pity, and tell yourself you'll always be a sinner? Or will you run back to the arms of God, ask forgiveness, and experience His love and grace? As we can see from Judas and Peter, the response decides where you'll end up.