correcting one’s course
March 26, 2007
I was in my usual "bulletin posting" mood…
When I opened my homepage today, I was looking for bulletin materials. Again, I have to choose from my main sources of "bulletin" materials — The Daily Encounter, Daily Reflection, Jesuit’s Goodnews or 365 Days with the Lord. I decided to post the article "Broken" from the Daily Encounter since I was thinking that a friend posted entitled "Superman is Dead" … being beaten and lost. Hehehe, indirectly responding kuno abi… whaaaa! =P
Anyways, I started opening my collections of Daily Encounter articles and came across this…. and I just can’t let go of this without posting this somewhere!!! 
Trying not to break my rule of having multiple bulletin posting in a day, I thought of posting this here in my blog. Upon openingmy blog site, I was surprised to read Sophie’s comment in my previous entry… how’s that for an affirmation?? (errr, motivation?? hehehe). So, here’s one article that has a VERY personal message to me. Enjoy reading! 
Correcting One’s Course
"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction."
The following story has been around on the email for a while, but it stands repeating. It is reported to be an actual radio conversation of a U.S. naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1995.
Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.
Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.
Americans: This is THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN. The second largest ship in the United States Atlantic fleet. we are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels.
I demand that YOU change YOUR course 15 degrees north, that’s one five degrees north, or counter measures will be taken to ensure the safety of this ship.
Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please help me not to be carried away with my own importance, never blame others for my problems, and always be open to correction and guidance. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, Amen."
feelings
March 23, 2007
this article from the Daily Encounter reminds me of the song with the same title and goes: "Feelings, nothing more than feelings… trying to forget my feelings of Love…Feelings, oh oh feelings"… now your singing the songs with "feelings" hehehe
how/what we feel is one thing that no one can question. it’s really us who knows to answer the "why" or "how come"… but this article will give us a deeper understanding about this unique human nature– having a FEELING… now, let’s read this with feelings :)
Feelings
"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
Imagine living in a world without emotions. It would be like living in a world without color—a world without blue skies, white fluffy clouds, red roses, or beautiful rainbows and sunsets. Everything would be a dull monotonous gray. Life would be deadly dull and boring—as it is when emotions are repressed.
Like many others, especially men, I grew up being taught that feelings weren’t important and that you couldn’t trust them."
Thank God it isn’t so. Feelings are God-given. They are an inner monitor letting us know what is going on inside of us. The more we are in touch with our true emotions, the more they can inform us when our life is out of harmony and we need an emotional tune up, caution us of impending danger, warn us when we are around unsafe people, affirm us when we are with safe people, guide us when we have major decisions to make, keep us in tune with God’s leading, and assure us when our life is in harmony with others and God. Admittedly, if we don’t understand them, they can confuse us and get us tied in knots!
Feelings are a gift from God. To deny and repress them we now know can be disastrous, physically, emotionally and spiritually. The first three fruits of God’s Spirit—love, joy, and peace—are emotions. Thus, if our emotion of love is repressed, how can God’s love flow through us? It can’t.
Yes, it may take a while but we can learn to trust our feelings. What we can’t always trust is how to interpret them correctly. It can be like learning a new language, but a language well worth learning, without which there can be no true intimacy either with my loved ones or with God.
Another way of describing emotions could be E-Motions or Energy in Motion! One thing is sure. Without emotions we are characteristically bored with life and lose our energy and our drive. Thank God for emotions.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, as you desire truth in the innermost being, please deliver me from the ’sin of denying my true emotions,’ help me to get in touch with my true feelings and inner self, and learn how to understand them and express them creatively when such is needed. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, Amen."
