Would You Like To WIN this?

YES! We are serious alright!

It’s Christmas Day here at Day by Day website and we would like to bless our readers and subscribers with some interesting action! We are raffling off “Sinamak Bisaya” from Jenny’s Kitchen. But here’s the condition. You’ll have to leave a comment on this post as your raffle entry (for those who doesn’t know how to leave a comment, you’ll just have to ask somebody to do it for you… who knows, this lovely jar of sinamak might just be for you).

To post, just click on the word, "comment" found at the bottom of this article. Then, watch out for a small box that pops out on the screen which is the message box. Type in your entry details and click on "Anonymous" unless you have a URL address. The rest should just be easy.

Please specify the following:

1. USERNAME (for your privacy--- then leave your email address)
2. When did you first start reading Day by Day and how did it reach you?
3. How do you find the blog and the articles written?
4. How would you enjoy the sinamak?

Sample Answer:
1. SUNFLOWER - sunflower@yahoo.com.ph
2. I started reading Day by Day late of January when my friend forwarded one of your articles. Since then, I was hooked.
3. I find your posts very encouraging, very inspiring
4. I would like to enjoy the sinamak with some grilled tilapia and squid, some warm pork chicharon with a mound of rice and some lato (seaweed). Yum!

That’s it! That’s how simple it is. All entries, by the way will be screened. For every comment, your details will be written on paper and will be kept in a small box until the raffle time (you’ll know the date soon!). We will ask Pastor Joe to pick up the winner. By the way, the contest will only commence if and when we have enough participants…. this means, we need you to post your comment here!

All readers and subscribers can join…. HOWEVER (here’s the catch), the winner will have to pick up the bottle (or send someone else to pick it up) at IKTHUS CENTER at a date to be announced after the raffle is over.

So, are you ready to join? You can start now!!!

Blessings!
Day by Day Devotional Team

The Dash

From Warrior Princess (LF)



I hope you enjoy this as much as I did, and maybe it will help you take life a little slower and with more meaning.

In July 2006, a short 3-minute movie was launched on the Internet called The Dash. Since then, over 40 million people from around the world have watched it; and over 20,000 a day continue to watch it as a result of people passing it along.

The movie has been more successful than we could have ever imagined. More importantly, however, it has inspired many, many people to reflect on their lives and ask that all important question, 'Are my priorities where they should be?'

I hope you enjoy this movie and share it with those who are close to you.

Live the Life You Have Imagined!

Cancer Update

Special Article

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins

It is easier to remember this than it is to treat cancer.

1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr.. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.

This applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body. Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.

He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons. Also, he pointed out that Saran wrap is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead. This is an article I believe you should forward to your family and friends.

Autumn

Featured Article this week

by Crown of Beauty

Many people love this time of the year, and I do, too. For me, this is a season filled with meaning. But I find spring to be just as beautiful, and as meaningful. For me they are twin seasons: spring completes what autumn begins.

I have gone through autumn seasons time and again. It is a recurring theme in my life. I suppose that the wise Father knows what is best.

When I was just a new Christian in early 1974, I remember praying this to Him, "Lord, I don't want to be a half-baked, mediocre born-again child of Yours. I want to follow after You whole-heartedly. Whatever You want for me, I want it all and nothing less; and whatever You don't want for me, I don't want it either."

And so it has been that through the years of my Christian life, I can see that God has continually brought me answers to this prayer. Autumns that I have gone through in my life were stripping seasons -- just like leaves falling, one by one, until the tree was bare. And in the autumns of my life, the stripping process has never been easy.

Fall brings with it a certain melancholy air, because it is a reminder of dying. In the stripping seasons I have felt like being put in a back burner, like meat simmering unnoticed until tender. Well, in fact that is what is happening inside of me. God is answering my prayer that my heart be made tender for the things that really matter to Him.

Then comes the winter, a seeming death of all that one had hoped for -- but I have come to understand that in winter there is actually so much life pulsating underneath that cold blanket of stillness. Everything is a preparation for spring. It is in spring when all of a sudden life bursts forth.

Indeed, it is true, there is life out of death. Without dying there is no living, without autumn there is no room for the newness of life that spring brings. Without us being stripped of human pride, there is no room for heaven's humility. Without humility, one's heart is full, and there is no room for the fresh, life-giving touch of God.

Yes, my autumn seasons have been humbling seasons when God scrapes off my rough edges, to reveal in my spring seasons, the real beauty hidden beneath the surface.

So, painful as it is, I can only accept the pruning process from my heavenly Father. I am a gardener and I only know this too well. Pruning cuts back unwanted growth, and sometimes, even the fair blossoms must fall. What seems a seeming waste to the untrained onlooker, to the expert husbandman, the Divine Gardener, is an act of grace.

Life has not been all that I have wanted or expected it to be, but through it all one thing has been constant, God has been there for me. Pruning, yes, but also giving life. Time and again, God has graced my life with His surprise visits.

I am praying for you dear friend, as the autumn comes to an end, and winter sets in, that all the things that have been seeming losses to you will come back to you in the springtime of your life. You may not have spoken much to me about your life, but I do understand some of your pain, and somehow I also feel that there are still many unshed tears inside your heart...

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is that passage in Joel: "I will restore to you the years that the locusts have eaten." It speaks powerfully to me, and I pray that it will speak to you as well.

Thanksgiving is a special autumn feast. A time to thank God for the harvest, a time to declare His faithfulness. May you find yourself celebrating the autumn seasons of your life, embracing the pain, preparing yourself for the promise of spring that is just around the corner.

Traffic Light

Weekend Featured Article
by Mizpah

“This day… I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life…”

Deut. 30:19-20

Real Life:

Our house is approximately 35 minutes away from the place I work. Ever since we moved to our new residence four years ago, I knew that if I wanted to get to my work at 8:00 in the morning, I have to be on the road at 7:15. Any slight deviation would mean I’d be late.

I once read a saying which goes, “Insanity means doing the same thing all over and over again yet expecting a different result each time.” Well, I may refuse to admit it but that just describes my plight almost every morning.

Fully aware of my time constraint and donned with my fresh resolve each morning to do it right, guess what? I still end up leaving the house at quarter to eight. With all my nerves wrung with stress, I would still hope that I’ll get there on time. Of course, I would always be late. Subjected to this self-inflicted irritant, I just can’t seem to correct it! Now what would you call that?

To add to that, here’s something I noticed! From Monday to Friday, I travel the same route and I would pass by 4 traffic lights. Believe me and call it coincidence! Eighteen out of twenty lights would be RED and that meant staying on the road for another minute or so for every red light. The last one I timed took almost three minutes. I would imagine the traffic light saying, “she’s coming, I’ll turn red!” I think those red lights were picking on me! I would look at it with irritation and impatience seething from my eyes. I lose!

Accepting my defeat, this got me to think about my regular morning bouts. What’s the problem? Where is the problem? Of course, I know the problem! It’s me and my inability to choose the right thing I know I should do and continue to do the wrong I know I shouldn’t do! If this is what INSANITY is all about, I think I fit in the description!

This I realized. For the few times that I would be able to make it on time, I remembered that I enjoyed the long trip. I love looking at other cars pass by. I relish sharing a thought or two with God. I would look at the people walking on the road. I did not mind traffic lights. And if ever I did look at them, I thought they were always GREEN and if at times they’d be RED, I wait ! After a little while, I’ve reached my destination. I was on time. I made it!

So, then what’s with traffic lights? Well, I think this is how I am with God. Many times, I find myself doing the same things that I know would bring me the same difficulties. I know fully well that I will be reaping the same consequences if I continue to insist on doing them all over again. Yet, I do it! Passing through the RED lights God would afford me on the road of life, I would look at them with disdain and find myself going straight ahead until I get to the place of my stubbornness. I lose!

The times when I would obey God, I walk through the day as it unfolds before me with peace and joy. I would look at life with a GREEN light of God’s presence, power and provision. I seem just to glide through it. If at any point I may see a RED light, I can stop, sit down, and wait until the light turns green again! And on my feet I go. I made it!

Action Step:

As you wake up each morning and move on to the minutes of the day, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the areas of your life that seem to continuously bring you down. They might be a product of your own stubbornness. Move out of that insanity and move out quick!

The road of life may be bumpy at times but when you’re traveling with God , you’ll enjoy the ride whatever the traffic light may be. RED or GREEN, YOU WIN!

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the destination you have prepared for me. As I journey each day, I pray that your light will always be before me to guide me and hold me and bring me back in case I stray. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

Homesick

Featured Article of the Week by
Crown of Beauty

Wat Phan Tao. Chiang Mai, Thailand

A few months before 2007 ended, Ernie and I arrived in Chiang Mai, to fulfill a one year work contract with Maejo University, an agricultural state university located in northern Thailand. Ernie accepted the position in early August, and by month’s end, he had packed his bags and boarded his flight. I was to follow him a month later.

Everything happened so fast. Indeed it was a sudden move, and a major one at that. But I can’t say that I wasn’t prepared for it. One early morning in March or April 0f 2007, as I was spending time with the Lord, a thought cut across my consciousness and the impression I received was that a big change was coming into my life after September 15 of this year. I was to prepare for a new assignment.

Little did I know that it would involve leaving behind my children, my friends and loved ones, my home, my culture, my homeland, my comfort zone. It would mean leaving my immediate plans midstream, and setting aside projects long before they were completed. It wasn't an easy assignment to accept, but it was a step of obedience that I needed to take.

Ernie had already been here a month when I arrived, and for that I am thankful. When he met me at the Chiang Mai International Airport , it was a much awaited reunion for us. And when we reached the university flat that was to be our home while we were here, it felt like a homecoming of sorts.

However, in a real sense, my being in this new country allowed me to experience what it means to be a citizen of another country living as a foreigner in a strange land. There are very many things that my Father in heaven has been teaching me about this, first hand.

My mindset is that we will only be here a year, so we make sure that we never buy anything we don’t need. After Ernie's bad experience of paying a huge amount for excess baggage upon checking in for his flight to Bangkok , we both decided that we will not have any excess baggage going back. We only bought a small stove, a small rice-cooker, one reading lamp, and one lounging chair for our living room. For the kitchen, one frying pan, a sauce pan, 4 dinner plates, a few spoons and forks... were all that we needed. Just the basics, and the essentials. And all of these we can leave behind when it is time for us to go.

Though it is very beautiful here, the people are kind and friendly, and the food so delicious and amazingly cheap... our longing for home never leaves our hearts. We do our daily work heartily, but we often find ourselves thinking of home.

There are many things that cannot really be expressed in words. But the long and the short of it is that in the few months that we have been here, we have already adjusted to a simple, uncomplicated and uncluttered lifestyle.

And I really find myself enjoying this kind of life. Once again, I have entered a new season of living in a higher dimension. Somehow, being here has helped me look at life here on earth from a different perspective. Often I am reminded that I am not a citizen of this world, I am a citizen of another Kingdom. Seeing how the Thai people love and revere their king, I have come to love and revere my King in a deeper way. It is often tempting to buy many beautiful things here, but when I think of how difficult it will be to transport them as the maximum baggage allowance I’m entitled to is only 20 kilos... never mind. I tell myself have more than enough, and I am content with what I already have.

I have been aware even in the past few years that I am here on earth to fulfill a kingdom purpose. Nevertheless, a part of me is also often focused on looking at my problems and life issues, and working toward finding solutions for them. I have to admit that for the most part of my life, I have also focused on realizing a number of my life goals and life dreams.

But even before my coming to Thailand, God had already begun speaking to me about my real Kingdom purpose. Life isn’t really about me, what Oswarld Chambers calls “self-realization” or “self-consciousness.” It has been a delightful experience finding out that this life is really only about one thing: it is God-realization, a moving closer to the God dreams that God has deposited in me.

Being far removed from the usual activities that have filled my time while I was still in the Philippines , I have understood this more clearly. My life on earth has real meaning if I align myself with the plans and purposes that my Father has for me. I once heard my heavenly Father ask me, “Is your life only about having your dreams fulfilled about your home, your children, your career, your ministries, your relationships, your plans for your present as well as for your future? Is your life only meaningful if you have your problems solved?” I was struck by this. For the obvious answer was that finding resolutions to my life issues did not always mean being drawn closer to the heart of God. On the contrary, it was quite possible that the two were moving in opposite directions!

And ever since that realization, I have been given understanding as to why Jesus, at 12 years old, knew that He had to be about His father’s business while He was on earth.

And so, time and again, I have been asking God to give me this kind of heart – where my life is not about me... but about Him. About His kingdom reign. About His Kingdom authority.

Being here has often made me homesick... homesick for my home, homesick for my loved ones, homesick for my own language and culture. Homesick for the familiar and warm comfort of my own homeland.

This country is not my home. And yes, this world is not my home. This world is not our home. Nothing in this world will completely satisfy or fulfill. Deep inside each one of us is a sadness that this world cannot heal. It is a kind of heavenly homesickness... a longing to walk in kingdom authority, a longing to be about our Father’s business. A longing to do that for which we have been created. A longing to build his Kingdom, not our own. And ... it is a longing for our true home, Heaven.

I once read somewhere that when we reach Heaven, it will not be a strange place for us, we will not feel like we’re entering it for the first time. It will be like ... coming home.