foreshadower's Xanga

Grad School

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:35:00 GMT

I have been accepted into graduate school at Wheaton, & I have been selected as a recipient of the BGC scholarship!

After years of lay training in counseling, I now have the opportunity to gain graduate training in Clinical Psychology. How many times have I heard some version of, “You are gifted in meeting people in their deepest, most broken places,” yet felt inadequately trained to handle profound psycho-emotional needs. I am excited to have a broadened capacity in bringing people closer to the transformative truth of Christ in them!

It’s been miraculous to be led to a school with both the program & scholarship I need, as well as an integration of biblical truths. Accomplishing the program requirements was a process of grace. The way the Lord maneuvered around seemingly restrictive timing & circumstances has been very affirming in taking this direction. This doubles my eagerness for advanced training in people-helping, which I’ve desired for a long time.

It is an honor to be one of the eight international students to be offered the BGC scholarship. The program helps equip emerging leaders for Kingdom building in needy parts of the world. After two years of graduate studies, I will return to the Philippines & serve with the Navigators for four years. Staff care, youth development, counseling, & training/education would be part of my involvement. People-helping tools & skills would be essentials to refining & expanding ministry at home & in the region.

I am currently in the process of completing the funding (not a full grant), and then the required documentation for needed entry permits. Do pray with me that all things will go well, that I'll meet deadlines, and see God working through it all! Would appreciate you being part of the journey :)

philippine navkids conference

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:52:00 GMT

another national gathering of nav kids has been held, this time in davao! sixty-one attendees, mostly late teens, from across the archipelago. it's been a treat to see these kids grow over the years. (some would now put up a fight if you call them kids ). they are incredibly brilliant, creative, gifted young people. large gatherings that happen every two or three years have allowed us to have some really great memories (who could ever forget playing sniper one late night up at caliraya six years ago?). they've seen me with blue hair, i've seen them with snot. just kidding, they have so much more elegance than that. being kids of staff or alumni, they find themselves with unique potentials and needs. helping plan and facilitate this year's conference, we hope they've had a good time experiencing the reality of God's love, as they move towards Him ever closer. here are some of our favorite moments!

lectures & fun.. good mix :)

impromptu talk show. these guys oughta get paid for humoring people :)

teams and their respective leaders did an awesome job!

brutal love

rockstar and actor in the making...

they had to listen to this guy

the little nipa hut that wasn't so real..

i smell trouble..

love it when they decide to just jam during spare time

crazy fun

wish i had photos of our visit to the monkey-eating eagles and the crocodile farm. we even put up an instant variety show at jack's ridge's ampitheather! davao has so much to offer. including supposed ghosts in the camp grounds, haha. the next time around, we'll all be a little older. but i think we're all looking forward to it .

Monday, August 25, 2008

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:11:29 GMT

i have come to the end of my summer-long journey in the US . God certainly stretched me through challenging relationships and settings, and yet provided me with soul-nourishing ones as well. i’ve seen Him maneuver through dead-ends, and renew hope through even just hints of great possibilities that lie ahead. i became witness to changed hearts that have come closer to God’s own, and i’ve seen more of His incredible work throughout the world. the words ‘easy’ and ‘smoothe’ don’t apply to this summer experience, even right at the start. but it was rich, colorful, irreplaceable; and i’d do it again in a heartbeat.

i've also had chance to visit and reconnect with some good friends. seen some great places, even got to visit a school i pray i get accepted at :) but more importantly, appreciated even more what God does in the stories He is weaving in people's lives.

at the start of the summer, my prayer for our team at glen eyrie was jeremiah 29:11-14a. at the end of the summer, i am still moved by this simple yet powerful verse: Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. may we never hesitate and keep coming, and calling, and praying to the God who has power to move the whole universe. For He is right by our side, listening intently.

our team at our favorite place in the entire glen: the kitchen dishpit :)

at our last nav night, praying for our program directors.

team leaders with program directors, and shepherds

at the compassion international office with joe!

the caves are some of the glen's best kept secrets :)

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:39:11 GMT

● Netherlands ● Carin ● Joanne ● Elise ● Kya ● Renske ● Jaap ● South Africa ● Nyamu ● Sebabatso ● Fumane ● Chere ● Sesi ● Egypt ● Vecture ● Kenya ● Victor ● Monica ● Nigeria ● Chisom ● Canada ● Diana ● Meredith ● Alecia ● Esther ● Crystal ● Mexico ● Gustavo ● Brazil ● Fernando ● Alex ● South Korea ● Changmin ● David ● Mongolia ● Galaa ● Lebanon ● Ghinwa ● Taiwan ● Doris ● Jenny ● Maria ● Dorcas ● United States ● Burke ● Hannah Edsall ● Jordan ● Rachel Layne ● Chris & Margaret ● Rachel Kronk ● Immanuel ● Leanna ● Levi ● Dave & Hannah ● Lauren ● Katie ● Natalie ● Philippines ● Ram ●

He is a special case. What’s a guy who would say he is not a Christian doing at the Global Student Program (GSP)? He had no religious affiliation back home in Seoul. He applied to join this year’s summer training program at Glen Eyrie because he is seeking God. After much consideration, he was accepted into the program that caters largely to emerging young leaders from Navigator ministries around the world. He is one of the guys whom God placed in a team I get to grow with and lead this summer.

Daily, he would take the time to ask people questions about God, from some of the most basic, to some of the most profound. We can only offer people help in growing in faith, but ultimately, the decision to follow Christ belongs to them. Yet there is something so powerful about witnessing a person come closer to God each day. And two weeks ago, a pinnacle was reach. Over our breakfast talk, he said he had decided to offered his life to Christ.

It has been an amazing, stretching summer. Serving as Team Leader at GSP gives one the chance to journey intensively with young leaders. The program helps participants grow in faith, character, & leadership. The days are packed with activities. We have the opportunity to learn more about God’s work around the world through the participants, and cast vision for being involved personally. Having thirteen countries represented, we have nights set especially for countries or regions to share about their spiritual, political, or socio-economic landscape. I love being able to pray for the nations with people from different nations! This generation will make key decisions that can help shape the future of God’s assembly of believers.

The challenges on Team Leaders stretch us physically, spiritually & emotionally. We work out details of implementing the program. Language proficiency, culture & personality distinctiveness, spiritual & leadership growth needs of participants also come into play. Yet God has made Himself manifest in unique relationships & circumstances that He used to refresh & grow us.

If I had magic, I would have you all good friends present here so we can revel in His goodness this summer! Thank you for journeying with me in prayer & spirit.

Our team: Me with Changmin (S. Korea), Levi (USA), & David (S. Korea). We work at the Glen Eyrie kitchen, have Bible studies, one-to-one mentoring time, hear awesome messages from esteemed Nav staff, & do lots of fun stuff in the program!

Three copies of the same template. It’s incredible how Glenn, myself, & Burke have much in common, even though God picked us from different places at a time like this, & gave opportunities to grow in mentoring & being mentored.

GSP 2008

Tue, 20 May 2008 07:53:57 GMT

the global student program is a unique opportunity to minister to & learn with young emerging leaders from around the world.

I am excited to tell you: I have the honor of being invited to take part again in the Global Student Program, at the Navigator headquarters in Colorado Springs!

It will be an opportunity to serve at this convergence of international young leaders, see more of God’s work among the nations, learn from diverse ministry settings & approaches which I can bring back & contextualize, be intensively involved in young people’s growth, interact with seasoned Nav world leaders, even meet with mentors & old friends, & be challenged to think & dream big in serving God who is sovereign in this world!

Being the only Filipino representative this year, I’m privileged to contribute our region’s own perspective, context, leadership & ministry style. I’ll be one of the team leaders selected from around the world who will closely guide a small group of guys for eight weeks. We will work together, have group Bible studies, spend one-to-one discipleship times, attend seminars, be stretched to grow in character & faith, & have fun while learning!

GSP2008 is from June 4 to August 5. As young leaders from around the world converge at the Nav US headquarters, I consider participating as a small answer to God’s whisper of a reality that is grand & true: We are part of something big – God’s work among the peoples of the world!

five guys from different continents! it is exciting to think how God may use us in our home countries :)

bits and pieces here and there

Wed, 14 May 2008 09:26:42 GMT

birthday with some friends! March 26

UPd delegates at the Navigator's National Leadership Training Program (Benguet, Mountain Provinces, early April)

...and here are our future leaders:

puerto galera beach. one sunset in september.

my nephews and nieces, on a day at the beach ( i swear that i returned the starfish :) ) (subic, may)

nav guys planning an outdoor trip (ala wild at heart) to laguna in october.

we also teach "wine appreciation" :) valentine's night with the nav gang

some good friends:
some good things don't really change, even though it becomes a once a year visit to pampanga :)

never too old for a swing

one face is missing - jay arre's!

davao (samal island) during an ISACC retreat in feb

some good friends

Tue, 13 May 2008 08:39:24 GMT

Back in the 90’s we were the “kids” of the UPD Navigators. We were the Nav gang – new believers, church-goers, doubters, seekers – the youngsters our Nav staff invested in discipleship. But by now, graduation was years ago for us, & the label Twentysomething will soon be squeezed to its last drop.

Yet there is still a bunch of us who meet Wednesday nights. We are by now involved with different kinds of work: engineering, theater arts, education, various ministries. What brings us together, after many years & changes, is the friendship that we’ve developed. Our mentors taught us that influence is by relationship. And that real change only happens in relationship. Even as college kids we were attracted to the Navs because we sought to grow in the Lord, & to fellowship with those who also seek real faith. And up to now, discipleship continues.

We have been studying different topics. In the recent months, we have been delving into more personal, deeper obstacles in our journeys of faith. At some point I became the designated “Larry Crabb” of the group, I have been leading discussions about seeking God through times of perplexities. Leading a talkative group like ours entails acting as a referee among participants who need to take a number, queue up, & wait for their turn :). We have been amazed by what God has been revealing through each other, as we listen to stories God has been writing in our lives, & the facets of Him we see.

UPD Nav Alumni! One interesting thing about this group is that the members tend to be in & out of the city every so often. We are mobile due to work, training or academic pursuits. And so it is good to have a group we can count on to be constant, to be there to come home to.

not my words

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 06:43:50 GMT

i am sharing what a friend of mine wrote. i respect this guy a lot. when i grow up i want to be able to articulate myself like him :)

----------------

"There is nothing so whole as a broken heart." Reb Nahman of Bratzlav

When I read these words, for some reason, I was drawn to them immediately.

I wish I was a rabbi also so I could elaborate, expound, explain, elucidate, and enlighten. Alas, I can like you only try to humbly piece together what I think it may mean for me...

First, how are hearts broken? Well, of course many hearts are broken (maybe all?) by other people. We are all wounded, we are all scarred by the effects of living in a broken world and among other broken people and foolish people (and even some truly evil people). So, we carry the heartaches of rejection, betrayal, broken promises, humiliation, abuse, and a host of other dark shadows and wounds which have scarred our hearts and broken them. Some of us may hold these wounds and gaze on them and become self-absorbed by them, almost paralyzed by them. Others among us brush them off and carry on with life and seem to be un-fazed by our bleeding hearts. But all of us have had our hearts broken at one time or another. There is also the heart that is broken for its own rebellion, sin, and darkness. This is the thing that God seeks, a humble and contrite - broken - heart, a heart of flesh as opposed to a heart of stone. Finally, I think there is the heart that has learned to be broken on behalf of others. Mother Teresa once said, "God, let my heart be broken wide open so that the whole world's pain can be poured in it." I think God wants to break our hearts on behalf of the pain, the suffering, the hunger, the abuse, all the wars and greed and discrimination and poverty in our communities and around the world. Of course my heart can't be broken like that, I don't think, unless it is also a heart of flesh, created new within me by God (Ps. 51), which may mean it first has to be in touch with the ways it has been broken by others, and that it also has to be first broken on behalf of my own darkness and rebellion.

I think broken hearts, or hearts that are deeply broken, are the ones that are ready for God to mend. Hearts that are not yet broken, or resist breaking, or imagine themselves whole, are like the people who imagined themselves healthy and not in need of a doctor, and it is these people Jesus was unable to heal. But when we bring our broken hearts to the One who created them, who holds them, who breathes life and blood into them, that One mends them and heals them and makes them whole and new... with scars, yet in a mysterious way, whole and new. And I believe that the Mender of hearts also gifts us with enlarged hearts. God enlarges our hearts so that the whole world can be held in them!

There! Thank you for asking the question so that I would take the time to reflect further and put into words what I think the quotation means for me. May we all have ever-increasingly whole and enlarged hearts!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 06:05:16 GMT

Thursdays have been special for me the past four & a half years because it’s the night I meet with a particular bunch of students at the University of the Philippines (Diliman). All these years, we have studied the Scriptures & learned about God together. These students are from the same batch, & are now in their senior year. Over the years, they have invited a lot their friends to this Bible study time. Many of them became believers through our study . Some did reject the Message. Some chose to stop walking with God after discovering Him. Some have returned to Him. Some have been called later to minister at other Christian fellowships. Several from this Bible study group have developed a heart for leading & ministering with the Navs at UPD. And by this time, those of them with shorter courses have graduated.

Six have remained this year. They’d like to call themselves the Power Six. Although younger students simply & more fondly call them the Oldies. (if they’re old as college seniors, imagine what I am called :) ). They currently lead the Nav campus organization at UPD. Who would have known then which of them would stay and bear fruit in Him? Like all freshmen, they were young teens who came from different parts of the country, trying their best at school, seeking growth, learning about life, & seeking community.

The great thing about discipleship through deep relationships is you become a witness to real transformation & maturity in Him. Every Thursday night that we are together, we always end up being thankful to a God who is faithful to us – whether we are full of excitement or doubt or praise or worries or longing for Him. He has used us to sharpen each other. Now He is also using our group to minister to & lead other younger students who seek Him.

With this group I feel I have friends, siblings, children all in a package! Journeying this closely & consistently over the years has allowed for love for one another. It is true that real transformation only happens in relationship with others. Please pray with us as we keep walking towards the Lord, & as we trust Him to use us at the UPD campus, in big ways & small.

serving with you,

ram de jesus

chuck, cha, vida, garner, (me), ceilo, & roy. this group of students currently spearhead the UPD navigator ministry. they have all served at different leadership positions in our org, & currently plan & execute strategies for building up people in our navigator campus ministry. do pray we'll love & serve Him well!

upd nav students spent two nights planning for the semester. their focus is developing spiritual generations who will lead out of a deep love for God. pray with us for that!

it was great to have two of our mentors visit our alumni bible study! the Cveliches have always encouraged us to live authentically for Christ. despite distance, they continue to mold us through their guidance.

UPD Nav guys at Ed Cvelich’s ‘coach approach to mentoring’ seminar. the following day, we headed outdoors for a couple of days - our time to touch upon themes in ‘wild at heart’, & talk about what its like to be men called by God to lead from His own heart & strength.

Sunday, October 07, 2007

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 19:23:03 GMT

summer’s over. the feisty late afternoon rains of manila remind me of that, as i’m caught wet walking along streets crowding up for the evening rush hour. i’m back to the familiar sounds, temperature, humidity, language spoken in the background, & cityscape that is my home. and i’ve been thinking of ways to extend the goodness of the months past onto our context here. what do i carry from God’s hand onto days beyond summer?

participating in the Global Student Program at the Navs headquarters in colorado has been the best experience. we got a clearer sense of God’s work globally. we were challenged to think big, to trust that God can use us for his work in the world. the entire world is God’s own field, & he places us where we should be according to his timing & purpose. i learned about leadership & relationships more than i can describe, as i met with students, team leaders, & staff who have served the Lord in various contexts around the world. so many questions asked, things learned, & discoveries seen with your own eyes. it was challenging, & yet fun - the program, the demands, the people. and ah, the great water-fights & pranks between the guys’ & girls’ dorms!

what a treat to witness God’s story being written & lived out in our lives: as a south african friend explained about transcending the after-effects of the apartheid, still felt until now; as friends from both developed & under-developed countries exchanged insights & shared moments of rude awakening; as expatriate Filipinos live lives that honor God in a foreign place; as mentors modeled faithfulness through the different seasons of life.

on our last large group meeting at the GSP, mike treneer (navs international president), encouraged us to keep coming back to God’s promises, & to believe he will fulfill them. mike shared this Word with us:

Isaiah 55:12-13

you will go out in joy, & be led forth in peace. the mountains & hills will burst into song before you, & all the trees of the field will clap their hands. instead of the thornbush will grow the pine tree, & instead of the briers the myrtle will grow. this will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign which will not be destroyed.

thank you, for being a part of my summer experience. let us praise Him together, for what He has been doing in our lives, & what He will do in the new seasons coming ahead.

serving with you,

ram

the GSP team leaders with our program directors, during our farewell banquet. such a privilege to serve with a diverse & gifted bunch. their heart for serving & caring for people helped us have a very strong program despite leadership challenges of various sorts. one of the most amazing things i’ve seen at GSP was how despite major differences in cultural background, worldview, personality, desires & goals, we were able to deeply love each other as brothers & sisters in Christ. only by His grace!

i also had the opportunity to visit some mentors & friends, who have all been connected with the Navs Philippines. some of my favoritest people whom i haven’t seen in a few years! it was such a blessing to witness the lives they’ve chosen to lead in the US that impact their friends’, as God shapes their own stories. deep relationships are truly the primary vehicle for real transformation in lives, through Jesus’s work. and we’re all called to be a part of that!