Prayer of a Doctor who is a Patient

 Dear Lord, 

I cannot breath and I long for the breath of life from you.

My lungs are weak and failing, may you give me some strength too.

My body is sick and aching, come heal me with your hand.

My mind is confused. I'm worried, help me to understand.

I am not afraid because you have promised you will always be with me. 

I am not alone because I know I will feel your presence with me through the healthcare workers who sacrifice themselves to be instruments of healing.

My X-rays, CT scans, the lab results and the vital signs are not looking good. But my hope in you remains. There is nothing else that I can hold on to. For the facts do not count when the Great Physician is at work. 

My spirit is in crisis. But my faith is in you Lord. Thank you for the moon that reminds me that the dawn is coming. Thank you for the morning light that shines so bright. My soul praises you for I was able to experience You again intensely. Thank you for the opportunity to refocus myself back to You. I can now look beyond myself. 

God of grace. Let my experience be mine alone. Keep my loved ones and everyone else safe. Spare the weak. Protect the vulnerable. 

God of love. Thank you for showing your unconditional love to us. Thank you for your Son who showed obedience to Your will.Thank you for His life and His victory over death. We are not afraid because of His triumph. We will overcome this illness. We will overcome this pandemic. We will overcome. 

I am not alone because of family and friends who keeps me company. Thank you for technology that allows videocalls, SMS and chats. We have felt your presence, Oh God, through each others messages.

I am not afraid because you are the God in times of calmness and in times of storm. You are the same God before Covid19, in this time of Covid19 and even after Covid19 is gone. 

My mind has received the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.

My body is now rested with the Balm of Gilead we have been healed. 

My lungs are now stronger with the power and might bestowed upon us all.

I can breath now for the breath of the Almighty gives us life that is full. 

Amen.

Breastfeeding in Churches

 The month of August is Breastfeeding month. One of the mot dedicated breastfeeding advocate I know is Ms. Earlie Pasion-Bautista. We all know about the importance of exclusive breastfeeding for babies in the first six months of their life. But the question I always ask is that why do we not promote breastfeeding inside our church? Why do we not support breastfeeding mothers with the space and equipments they need that will support breastfeeding? Why do we not have Bible Studies and devotions about how God uses illustrations of breastfeeding to characterize God's nurturing? Why do we not see lay groups and churches actively supporting celebrations of Breastfeeding? This month, even with the pandemic, we have organized a Virtual Hakab Na! to promote brestfeeding. Our partners are individuals and small mother's businesses. We barely see the church participate. We do have individuals from our church. But the church has not been institutionally been involved. My wife reminds me that I may need to raise awareness among chruches that the Bible has numerous times described breastfeeding to illustrate the abundant provision and the care God gives to His people. In Isaiah, we read “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her; that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.”

 We must celebrate and rejoice in the gift of breastfeeding. Thus, breastfeeding must be promoted in chruches, not discriminate mothers who do not cover when they need to feed their babies and encourage young mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding and beyond. My wife has been actively engaging other young mothers to practice exclusive breastfeeding. Our youngest daughter, who already turned 3 years old, still breastfeeds. I hope that one day, in the next Breastfeeding Month celebration, the church will be the one who will initiate and host our celebration as we celebrate mothers and the important role they take in the nurture and feeding of their chidlren. 

 

The Ladies Month

This month is the birth month of my wife and my first daughter. It will be another quarantine birthday for them. Yet, celebrating the birthdays of these women in my life is precious. Women play a special role in each person's life. Even in the life of the church. The women were responsible for the lay movement of the early methodists. In fact, women missionaries were the one who helped spread the Methodist brand of Christianity during the American period here in the Philippines. I am thankful for my wife for being a great mother to our kids. I always remember the impact of Susana Wesley in the life of John. Mothers mold the minds and the heart of the children. I experienced that with my mom, I see that in my wife and our kids. My daughter is greatly influenced by her mother. She loves dancing, music and creative arts. She is very thoughtful and persistent even in times of challenges. Even the challenge of Covid-19 will not deter her and this family to celebrate. 

While we celebrate, we do not see Covid-19 ending anytime soon. We are preparing the hospital for a long term response. Thus, we transferred the Covid 19 response back to the Administration and incorporated it back to the regular hospital operations. We welcomed the new CMPS this month too and with the new leadership, we are excited with how our response against Covid-19 will be.

Freedom and Social Justice

Today is June 12. We celebrate the Philippine Independence Day. The church plays a crucial role in achieving that ideals of freedom not only from colonizers but freedom from the bondage of the present social sins. The world is broken as injustice, abuse and inequalities has tainted all of us. This brokenness has enslaved our society and the church has tried to resist and free our society from these social ills. The church, led by its pastors and church workers, is still struggling for our freedom from these social ills.

One of the church workers active in the work of the church is Rev. Edgar de Jesus. He is the current President of the NAFAUM. I had a quick chat with Pastor Edgar today. He was inviting me to the upcoming Zoom Webinar on June 22 entitled "Leading the Church in the time of Pandemic." This has been a series of ongoing discussions which is a very timely topic as the world goes through a major change in its daily activities including the church. The way how church activities like mission work, outreach, conferences and the regular worship service is being affected such as the church sacraments of baptism, Holy Communion and even the rituals of wedding and burial have to be drastically change. It has create confusion, chaos, debates and unanswered questions. People can no longer have the Lord's Supper because of the quarantine. People can not gather in worship so will they be allowed to celebrate the Lord's Supper online? If gatherings are not allowed, then how can public declarations of the couple's love be done during their dream wedding. Will it be done online? Even the annual conferences, which is the major and crucial activity in the church have to be postponed. How can deliberations on church concerns be done including the reading of appointments? And this has domino effect on the length of stay of the administrative pastors and the District Superintendents and even the episcopacy. But the crucial concern is how can the church perform now its mission in the society? The forum will focus on how the pandemic affected the programs of the church in promoting social justice. Have we all just paused our work as Christians because of the health concern? Will Jesus have stopped ministering to the poor and oppressed because there was a curfew and quarantine? I am excited about this online event. This webinar will be able to provide insight and guidance to how the church will move forward in its life even as we anticipate major changes in the United Methodist Church. Pastor Edgar will moderate this event.

I met Pastor Edgar when I was in seminary. He was assigned to me as my mentor when I was an intern in Hurdle Mills United Methodist Church in North Carolina. It was one of my best time as a young Pastor. He took time to guide me on the ministry of the Pastor not only as a preacher but as a community leader. He made sure that I understood that the church is not confined in the four corners of the building and thus the work of the Pastor does not end in the worship service but includes community service. He took me to home visits as well as to community events and activities. Although I was more interested with the different Southern food recipes in every event we attended, I was slowly learning that collaborating with other faith groups and participating in the daily life of the community is part of the mission work of the church. Resisting the social ills in the community also means showing love to all people, especially those who are often neglected. Visiting the sick and bringing food to the shut-ins is not less significant to providing work opportunity to the unemployed and assisting migrants get documented. As Christians, we are called to be leaders... leading the church towards freedom.

Join the forum. Register in advance for the NAFAUM Leadership Webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/…/tZEsd--opz8vGdG1LrDf-RvvZoB9v_334…

A PK's Quarantine Birthday

My daughter is a PK. It is my youngest daughter's third birthday.

The whole month of May, up until the birthday of my daughter, I was confined to meeting people only in the hospital and those I meet in the online meetings and communications. One of them was our first online meeting with the PKs last May 12. 'Cher Lhyne, Amen, Soc, Joyce, 'Te Gladz and Bhin were there for this historic event. I was so blessed to be with these wonderful children of God.

A PK has unique experiences that only fellow PK can understand. This PK (Pastor's Kids) group was my core support group when I was in Quezon City almost 10 years ago. Our PK group had been a blessing not only to me but to many other people as well because they understand that more than being a PK, they are God's children. Recognizing that you are God's child means a lot. This group has been able to reach out to other younger PKs providing support, guidance and friendship. We were able to help poor PKs go to school. We raised funds together to send help to victims of calamities and disaster. We have prayed, had fellowship with other PKs and led worship services too. We also played and had fun. We also love to travel together and visit places. We have shared many special occasions - birthdays, graduations, weddings, baptism - and many other celebrations together over the years. We have fostered a relationship for a lifetime that we hope others will experience as well. I hope my daughter, also a PK, will grow up and find a PK tribe that will be her friends and celebrate with her special occasions and her birthdays in the future. 

I was able to come home to and join my family after more than 2 months of Covid19 response and quarantine. Nothing will separate us from celebrating special events like this. Just like what James 1:17 said,"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

Birthdays are gifts from God. Birthdays should be celebrated. We did. It was a quarantine themed-birthday party. Of course, a Princess cake was in order. But we did not have visitors. It was just us in the house and the family living in the compound, and those are the only people that matter. Family and friends who care for you and love you. It is always special to spend momentous occasions with people dear to your heart.


It was a wonderful day full of fun and happiness. It was a also a great day to remember how God loves us as his children. 

It is always a blessing to spend time with the children of God.

My Birthday at the time of Corona

First thing in the morning, I did for my birthday was to give thanks to God. I always believe that birthdays are moments that needs to be celebrated. It doesn't have to be a grand celebration but should recognize the milestones it brings. We must be thankful for these milestones in our lives. I invited some of my fellow Methodists to join with me in celebrating the Lord's Supper as part of my Birthday celebration. 

I celebrated my birthday without my immediate family with me. This is not the first time that I celebrated my birthday alone. But this one is different because I am not really geographically far from them. I could choose to travel the distance. But the implimented "lockdown" does not allow any movement of people from one city to the other. Thus, I cannot go home to my family. Thanks to technology, I was able to be with them virtually as they prepared food at home to celebrate my birthday. They prepared my favorite dish spaghetti as part of the celebration. 

Back here in the hospital, I had a simple celebration with my colleagues and friends in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and the frontline responders of Southern Isabela Medical Center.

Faith Response in the Time of Covid19

I work in Southern Isabela Medical Center. I had the privelege of working with several hardworking and dedicated Methodist healthworkers. One of them is the Chief Nurse of our hospital, Ma'am Jennifer Manuel.

Mam Jen is from San Gabriel. She was raised in a United Methodist family. She started working as a nurse in the LGU hospital then moved to work with the DOH retained hospital.

When the Covid19 outbreak began, I was tasked to activate the Incident Command System of the hospital. Mam Jen is one of the key personnel that helped our hospital organize the necessary teams and units that will implement the Covid19 response of our hospital. Even though most of the people were overtaken by fear, she willingly worked. It was evident that he faith was the driving force for her to do her work. On the first week, we had to scramble and work fast to identify the physical resource we had and the complementing human resource to man the Covid19 areas.

Isolation Covid19 rooms had to be convereted from ordinary ward rooms. We also had to pull out our nurses and healthworkers then assign them to each respective isolations rooms. Mam Jen was very patient in planning and organizing the needed restructuring of our hospital services even if we had to work overtime. Her faith is obviously making her calm and composed in this time of crisis. That week, she would come early everyday and did not take any weekend off to make sure the hospital is Covid19 ready. The hospital was able to effeciently use our resources and open our services to help many PUIs and Covid19 patients.

It is very inspiring to see a fellow healthworker work passionately and becoming the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. Healing miracles still do happen. Mam Jen illustrates to us how one's chosen profession can be our ministry as a faithful child of God.