Breaktime

Breaktime
By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

August 30, 2019

I

After years of being offline, I logged in again on Facebook on January 2017 just so I'll still have my contacts. And to have a reason to log in, I'd feature original Filipino music. The first four songs were my favorites – "Reaching Out" by Gary Valenciano, "So It's You" by Raymond Lauchengco, "Friend of Mine" by Odette Quesada and "Constant Change" by Jose Mari Chan. I'd go to YouTube first, and share the video on my Wall.

II

And then, for some reason, all shared videos had disappeared. It happened after more than a hundred songs – the 100th Song is "Kayganda Ng Ating Musika" by Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and Basil Valdez. Just for fun, I call it The Huggybear OPM Show, and I wanted to continue it, so I instead, I posted the lyrics of the songs and photos of the albums, which eventually became movie themes in an evolution of its own.

III

At some point, I would write things and post them on Facebook. I seem to have this urge to put down my thoughts on paper, which is a metaphor because I type stuff on Notepad. I realized that, instead of being too open to the public, it would be better if I just talk about the books I've read, if I were to talk at all, because if I were to do anything at all, it would be to read.

IV

And what I write are essays, like diary entries (not reviews nor critiques) but within the confines of a book so the personal essay won't be too personal. I read mostly ebooks, and they are on my tablet under different folders, so I sometimes I would read one or two chapters from four or five books before I go to bed. But some of what I've been reading last week are things I find a bit complicated to talk about – the Law of Attraction, mystical healing, astral projection, lucid dreaming, "A Course In Miracles" and "The Lost Years of Jesus" and many more. In other words, I don't have a non-controversial book to write about this week. As for last week, there is a totally non-literary reason, and though I have a lot to say, I'd rather not. 

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

Jabez's Prayer

Jabez's Prayer

By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

August 17, 2019

I

If there is a song that would sum up my life, it would be from Barry Manilow:

"I made it through the rain,

I kept my world protected,

I made it though the rain,

I kept my point of view,

I made it through the rain

and found myself respected

by the others who

got rained on too

and made it through..."

It sounds corny but it's true. There's actually another song that's perfect, from Tiffany:

"All this time, 

all in all, I've no regrets,

the sun still shines, the sun still sets, 

and the heart forgives, the heart forgets..."

II

At this point in my life, I now know there is a God, and I thank God for all the many wonderful things He showered in my life, and that belief has come to the point of knowing. Yet I still have moments that I don't like, and sometimes I can feel peace in the middle of chaos, but sometimes I don't. But it's okay because that's what it's like to be human.

III

I pray but I'm not a religious person; I meditate but I don't think of myself as spiritual. I have also noticed that my faith does not shield me from the negative things that I've attracted, which is my own responsibility because our thoughts become things. But after all is said and done, my life has been so blessed, but "I had my share of life's ups and downs," like in the song by Gladys Knight and The Pips. And though I never suffered, I still know how it feels to reach for help.

IV

That is why I'm intrigued by a simple man named Jabez who lived during the Old Testament era. In 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, it says that "Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, 'I gave birth to him in pain.' Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, 'Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.' And God granted his request." In his bestselling classic "The Prayer of Jabez," the author Bruce Wilkinson, who had prayed his prayer everyday his entire life, says: "I want to introduce you to the amazing truths in Jabez's prayer for blessing and prepare you to expect God's astounding answers to it as a regular part of your life."

I Made It Through The Rain

Barry Manilow

All This Time

Tiffany

Photo courtesy of RandomHouse

Ask And You Shall Receive

Ask And You Shall Receive

By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

August 10, 2019

I

I'm inspired by the life of Bo Sanchez, the Catholic lay preacher, entrepreneur and bestselling author, when I read his "8 Secrets of The Truly Rich." But by "rich," he meant it was more than material supply. Wealth has many forms – good health, peace of mind, a sense of purpose, meaningful relationships, success in career, and a sense of connection with God.

II

Bo was twelve when he had a spiritual awakening. That was when he learned about tithing, the Biblical tradition of giving away ten percent of your earnings. He began with his allowance, where he would tithe ten percent, which was hard for a boy who always wanted ice cream. Now, he gives forty percent of his income, and his goal is to give more. He says, "This is why I'm truly rich: because I'm a giver."

III

He began to preach when he was thirteen. One of his greatest influences was Saint Francis of Assisi, the 13th century friar and founder of the Franciscan Order, known for his generosity and love for his fellowmen, even lepers. Bo was happy to serve the poor, living with them. He didn't care about money or any material things. Then, one day, he was ministering to a woman who was distraught. It turns out that she couldn't afford to pay her daughter's tuition. Bo was surprised that it was just a small amount, but he didn't have it either.

IV

So he prayed, and that's when he began to realize that he could help more people if he had money. But first, he had to change his beliefs. Now he is rich, and he says that anyone can be. "You can get out of debt, save enough for the future, be very generous to the poor and God’s work," he says. "So who’s stopping you? Here’s the answer: YOU. No one else can stop you. Not your family, not your friends, not the government, not the poverty of the country. And God? He won’t stop you too. Why would He? He invented wealth."

Photo courtesy of KerygmaBooks.com

Once Upon A Time In Japan

By Jonathan Aquino

Saturday Stories

July 3, 2019

I am great fan of Christopher Nolan as screenwriter and director. I like his twists like the twin in "The Prestige" and the spinning top in "Inception." His stories are grounded in logic, like in "The Dark Knight" where the batmobile is a prototype of a military vehicle. In "Interstellar," our astronauts were gone for decades because they landed on a planet next to a black hole, and the extreme gravity caused time to dilate so one hour on the surface became equivalent of seven years on earth.   

Time is relative, not a universal constant, like the one by Planck, as we first thought. Einstein says, in simplest terms, that time slows down the faster you go. This naturally brings us to the Twin Paradox, where one stays on earth and the other one goes to space at the speed of light then comes back. Who is older? The one on earth will be older because the time for the one in space would have moved slower. So how could one twin be much older? That's the paradox.

Hundreds of years before space travel, a tale is told about a boy who vanished for many years, but to him it was only a few days. The story of the young fisherman Urashima Taro was a famous story with many versions in Ancient Japan. Taro rescues a sea turtle, who would later reward him by taking him to the Dragon Palace of the Sea King. There he met and fell in love with the Sea Princess, Otohime Sama, and they got married. 

He was happy, but soon he felt homesick. He told his wife that he wanted to visit his parents. She reluctantly agreed, and she gave him a sealed box and told him never to open it, which doesn't make any sense at all. And so, Taro went home, but everything was different, and he knew no one, and no one knew him. They told him that a boy named Urashima Taro used to live in his house and he went to the Dragon Palace and was never seen again, but that was three hundered years ago.

Photo courtesy of eBay