Posted in Current Affairs, Film, Literature, Memoirs, Poetry, Relationships, Society, Travel, tagged afloat, alive, ashore, belonging, bottle, buoy, day, distance, heart, hope, knot, life, lost, love, message, ocean, open, out, past, place, poem, poetry, reach, reunited, sailing, sea, second, someone, souls, storm, time, Travel, wash, waters, wave, who, years, yesterday on May 17, 2013|
Leave a Comment »
A heart
belonging to someone who-
in another place
and another time
traveled the open ocean.
The distance of years
were only yesterday.
There’s a message in a bottle
washed up ashore.
Like the wave
knot by knot reaching out
for the love he lost
by the sea.
Sailing past the stormy waters,
buoyed by hope afloat.
For one day, their souls
might have a second life.
Reunited and alive.
25.279868
51.499433
Read Full Post »
Posted in Architecture & Design, Art Scene, Books, Current Affairs, Literature, Philosophy, Poetry, Society, tagged architect, blank, build, curve, depth, dimension, echo, emerge, experience, form, graphite, human, I, impressions, inspired, length, letter, life, line, look, message, muted, organic, out, outside, palimpsest, paper, poem, poetry, proportion, pure, reverberation, scale measure, simple, sketches, space, speech, subdued, subliminal, subtle, surface, symbol, syntax, tempered, time, tone, verses, voice, wait, width on July 8, 2009|
11 Comments »
I build
with lines and curves
in syntaxes, in symbols.
Blank space waiting
to emerge in form. Subdued,
muted in tone verses. Tempered
by time, organic
in proportion,
inspired.
Scale upon scale.
Measure for measure.
Out of paper,
subliminal life
surfaces. A voice,
a message in letters,
of pure and simple
speech.
Impressions.
Outside
looking in. Experience
subtle reverberations,
palimpsest graphite
echoes of human
dimension.
The length,
the width and the depth
of an architect,
I build.
25.239727
51.520386
Read Full Post »
Posted in Books, Current Affairs, Memoirs, Prose, Religion, tagged accommodation, action, believers, best-sellers, bible, brave, bridge, building, call, calling, canopy, cause, center, chapter, choir, Christian, church, church service, circumstances, climb, clothesline, comfort, company, complacency, constant, construction, darkness, debris, desert, discipline, dry, dust, effort, elements, evening, external, fact, factory, faith, field, flow, Friday, God, Gospel, heat, hinterland, home, homeland, honor, house, humble, India, Industrial Area, kingdom, laundry, life, lost, Luzon, men, message, Mindanao, mission, morning, mountain, native, night, open, overseas, passion, pastor, people, pity, place, potholes, prayer, rain, regular, reminder, road, rooftop, routine, Sabbath, sad, seating, services, seven, shade, shelter, situations, soul, staircase, stamina, steady, steps, stretch, time, tounges, training, translation, tree, tribe, truth, urban, visual, wake up, week, wet, wind, work, workers, worship, zone on April 30, 2009|
Leave a Comment »
I skipped my regular routine attending church services in the morning that Friday. A week ago, I have already informed our pastor that I plan to attend the Industrial Area church service instead in the evening. I also missed out our church choir practice that night, which I am so sad about.
We braved the dusty road leading to Industrial Area. When we have arrived at the place, it was a regular accommodation building intended for company workers. The road leading to the building is quite notorious with potholes and mountain of construction debris on the side. We reach the worship place after winding up seven staircases worth of our stamina, of climbing the steps. The place of worship is located in the rooftop. About 24 sq.m. approximately, capable of seating around 20 people, right there along with the clothesline of wet laundry left out to dry.
The truth is, I am not expecting it. Of all places, to hold a church service. A rooftop towering over other rooftops of factory buildings in the midst of desert wind and the usual darkness of the evening. I am used to attending house of worship with the comfort of sheltering oneself against the external elements, such as rain, heat and dry wind. That night is a wake up call. Believers are called upon to honor the Sabbath, wherever, whenever and whatever it takes. Be it under the shade of the tree, or under the canopy of the bridge, or an open field.
I am deeply humbled by the fact that here in the wide stretch of the desert, away from the comforts of the homeland, people who are disciplined in faith, are braving the routinary grind of their overseas life, partially isolated to the urban centers. This is mission’s work, a life dedicated to the cause of bringing the Gospel to the far reaches of places. Administering the continuous flow of the message and strengthening people’s faith in God.
I admire my pastor, who is a missionary himself, for the kind of passion he have for the lost souls and bringing them all to Christian faith. His silent ways are a steady yet constant reminder that complacency has no place in Christian service. Believers are ought to steer clear of their comfort zones, sacrificing time and effort for building up Christ’s work and taking upon each the individual God’s calling in putting into action all the Christian training they have learned.
I admire my friend Grace, who chose to become a full-time missionary, while administering translation of the gospel to the native tounges of the tribes among the hinterlands of Mindanao and Luzon back home. She already had the chance to go to India, for some introductory mission’s work as part of her trainings.
Sometimes, it is a pity, when I hear myself, complaining about being so tired to get up early in the morning to begin my morning prayers. Sometimes, it is a pity, when I see myself, scrambling over reading best-sellers in the night rather than having a bible reading of a chapter or two. Now it occured to me, that what I am doing for the kingdom is not enough. Christian life calls for able and willing men of faith to stand up and do the work. Whatever the circumstances may be or a situation they are in.
The next time, I will go to the Industrial Area to have my Friday church service there. I need to listen to what God is saying to me, visually.
Read Full Post »