I AM SOOO COOL! -not.

Nyeh, parang hindi naman cool. *major slapface*

I WANT TO SHARE to you a few things from a chapter of this book I have started reading just today. This book was given to me by a really cool friend and brother of mine, Jonathan Wong as a Christmas present. (thanks, bro!) Yup, and I just started reading it today. lols

Yeah, so it's called, Every Teenager's Little Black Book by Blaine Bartel.

Okay. I wanna get to the point now. 

Have you asked yourself, "Am I cool?" Mr. Bartel, the founder and youth pastor of Thrive Communications, has given 5 reflection points to know that you aren't cool. 

1.) If you constantly live in self-pity, looking to get attention, you are not cool.

2.) If you try to impress people with your money, possessions and accomplishments, you are not cool.

3.) If you are sharp-tongued, gossipy, and critical of others, then you are not cool. 

4.) If you only treat people you like and know with love and respect, you are not cool. 

5.) If you spend the majority of the time thinking about yourself,   having little regard for Christ and others, you are not cool. 

I bet that there are some people in your little world who, at the least, always try to impress YOU in some ways, or maybe you've experiencED trying to impress others, and at the same time telling yourself, "Grabe. I'm sooOO cool." with that matching humble attitude. Well, I'm not saying that I haven't tried doing this; I sometimes, am guilty of this too. Mistah Blaine wants us to know that cool people don't have to WORK just to impress you. Then he reminds us of points and verses from the Bible that helps us reflect on instances that makes us definitely UNcool:

You are not cool when you TALK ABOUT YOURSELF  most of the time.

"Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth." -(Prov. 27:2 NKJV)

You are not cool because of HOW you walk or WHAT you WEAR.

You are accepted and favored because of the good person you are, NOT the perception you try to create.

It is definitely not cool to live a life of sin and personal pleasure.

The Bible warns us, "The way of the transgressors is hard." (Prov 13:15)

It is not cool to make others feel SMALL by putting them down with your WORDS. 

Remember the law of sowing and reaping? If you don't, click here.

Feeling ko ang redundant ko na. (insert sad face here.)

Now I bet you're asking yourself, "eh, I don't wan't to be cool naman." or "Now why should I be cool? I wanna stay the same, my own, normal, averagely cool and simple life."

eh. *slapface.* GOD WANTS YOU TO BE COOL KAYA!

He wants you to be cool. 

He wants you to be accepted. 

And He definitely wants you to be favored

Ah, I think you're uncertain tuloy. Want proof? READ Proverbs 3:3-4. promise? Isapuso. Dali! 

I think that kuya Blaine's bottomline is that cool people are the ones who have the ability to influence others for good. He even says that, when you become 'cool', you can easily witness others about your faith, and bring them to the saving love of Christ. Cool people can stand up for the truth, being the right one among all odds, and that they don't need everyone to agree with them or even like them. Likable na nga kasi sila. I'm kinda running out of ideas, and I think that when you become a cool person, you can do lotsa and lotsa things. Like, being cool. (anu daw.) HAHA!

There are lotsa things you can act upon so that you could become cool. Mr. Blaine says, That's:

when you stand up for what is right;

when you reach out to the needy or the UNCOOL;

when you freely admit your shortcomings and move with Godly confidence; and

when you PUT GOD FIRST in your words, actions and plans.

SO, WHATCHACHA waitin' for? GET COOL!

end.

All the credits to:

Bartel, Blaine, (2008) Every Teenager's Little Black Book, Christian Literature Crusade, Valenzuela City,       Metro Manila, (pp.3-9)

I Wanna Lay in That Casket Too.

Have you ever been to a 'viewing' of the dead, or probably to a real funeral/ burial before? Well, I can say that I have, and I that could still remember the sight of the cold, pale-colored faces and bodies that wore such assumingly costly suits and dresses lying underneath the casket's glass. And besides from observing the finely-made caskets with their unusual mixture of bright and dark colors, the flowers and their weird dead smell, the extremely long candles and the like, observing how the dead lay on his casket was probably the most awesome thing to do in a viewing. It always seems that the dead were always at peace with themselves, no matter how painful, or how 'morbid' their death has been. It always seemed that they were really 'detached' from the world, together from it's unending sorrow and darkness... as if they were in the state of being one-hundred percent free from life's sadness and troubles. It seemed that they were happy, lying in their caskets as if they were teen-age bums who did nothing but to lie down on their beds during stress-free weekends. It was as if they really really really had nothing to do--no homework, no exams to prepare for, no horrible errands to run, no jobs, no chores, no simple and even complex, life problems to solve or to run away from. They too, obviously, had no headaches, because starting then, no one tells them what to do.


Oh, how I wished I were like them. How peaceful they look. (O__O)


But here's the problem. They're cold. They're dead.


Sometimes I wished being in that rectangular, wooden box, lying as if I had nothing to do with the world. Yes, I wanna try lying down on that casket too, well, at least just for a little while. If only death weren't permanent, I'd replace my bed with a light brown, 5ft 8" coffin, and "die" whenever problems in life tell me to do so. (Hey I think replacing my bed with a coffin would save some room space. haha) Well, all I wanted was to rest--a rest from everything.  Sige na, kahit limang minuto lang.




After countless minutes of staring at my laptop screen, thinking on how to start my next paragraph, on how I should get buried, I figured out something else, something way cooler than having to lie and play dead on caskets. Something that, just by the mere thought of it, assurance of rest shall be granted, easier than getting it from the genie in the bottle.


Let me give you a few verses to ponder upon:


"Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.'"
(Matthew 11:28) NLT


"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33)


"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
(John 14:27)


"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you."

(Psalms 116:7) 

"The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again."
(Proverbs 24:16)

"I can do everything through Him [Christ] Who gives me strength."

(Philippians 4:13) 

Now I think that I wouldn't want to lie in the casket anymore, now I need not envy the dead. Oo na, let them be. haha

It's because I already got my Rest, my Refuge and my Source of peace. 

Need I elaborate more? 

Thank You, Lord, for in You, I have rest.