Pray Without Ceasing

Some months ago, I read and heard about "pray without ceasing" of which I thought that it was expressed figuratively to perhaps show the importance of prayer and that we should have more time for prayer. Just this week, while I was on my way home thinking about different things, I realized I was wrong.

When faced with some temptations that we wanted to get rid off, we would use different means. I would distract myself into other things. A retried archbishop would look at his list of achievements whenever tempted to smoke, and would ask himself if he would be willing to see all of his achievements be gone because of one cigarette. Others would seek the help of a friend. But most of the time we would still see ourselves failing and falling. I realized that our own efforts to fight against temptations are too weak, for we are weak in trying to battle our own weaknesses. We need God to win this battle against sin. For apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5)... No matter how hard we try.

Why We Tend to Steal

We steal at the office, at home, in the government, and almost anywhere, because we don't see the price of our souls, and the severity of sin. We don't love God and His commandments.

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. (Matthew 18:8)

The verse shows how displeasing sin is that there is such a desperate need for us to stop sinning as soon as possible, and the value of our eternal life is so much important, much more valuable than our physical body, physical needs, our ambitions, our achievements, and our positions.

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Why We Filipinos Need to Stay in the Philippines

I agree in Prof. Monsod's "last lecture" to her students which centered on the initial steps to help in the development of the country. She told her students that if they are going to help this country, they've got to be in the country. There's also a published opinion by Dr. Marcaida which says Prof. Winnie can be wrong in generalizing that Filipinos going to abroad are traitors. For a country to develop, the economy and living conditions should improve. It means money should circulate and industries should develop. This is achievable when there are people trying hard to make it happen. There are some reasons which I think make Prof. Monsod's argument valid, and why Filipinos should be in the country.

Why Multi-level Marketing Is Not Good

Multi-level marketing (MLM) is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation. -Wikipedia

This strategy has been more known these days, especially in social networking where recruiters will tag several people showing the check payments they've received. They often invite us to join them. They want us to experience financial freedom where money works for them instead of trying hard to earn money. They will try their best to meet with us and talk to us. They want us to live a healthy and wealthy life, to take risks, and to trust the system that will bring instant money. I'm neither connected to those groups nor connected to those against them, but I want to point out things that are not really good with such kind of system.

My Apple iPod Touch 4G

Last Saturday, I got my Apple iPod Touch 4G 32GB. I won't post the specs and the complete set of features anymore. What I really like in this device is the Retina display. I've tried 1G, 2G, and 3G versions, and the display of 4G is really different because I can't see the pixels anymore. It matters because it helps me read texts. The new processor allows faster processing, although the memory remains to be 256MB. Not really a big deal for me, considering that I usually focus on a particular app most of the time. The cameras (front and back) are not excellent when compared to smartphones today, but at least the 4Gs have them. I'll outline some of the features I want for future iPod Touches. Below is a screenshot of my iPod Touch unit. I just learned that pressing the home button and the power button will capture a screenshot.

No Smoking

Smokers will die soon. No, I don't literally wish that it will happen to them. I just want to point out that smoking is that dangerous that it can kill them, and that non-smokers are that unhappy. Whenever there's somebody smoking inside the jeepney I ride, and I'm still far from my destination, I stop them from continuing to smoke. I'm happy that some did follow. I did get down the jeep without paying when the driver seemed not to follow my request.

Eating Mud Pies

I read a quotation from a Facebook post...

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

– CS Lewis

I was wondering at that time if there's such thing as mud pie, or how they are made. The results in Google are shocking.