PSALM 8:4 - "What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"

Have you ever asked that question? What is man? What makes him so special that God would go through all the trouble of saving him?

We already know that it is because of God’s great love for man that Christ died on the cross. Jesus’ death displays the Father’s love for the people and the resurrection is His promise of salvation. But why go through all that trouble? Why bother saving mankind from sin? Why is man so important to God?

I read a book which answered my question: what is man? I learned from that book that man is composed of three parts: the body, soul and spirit. The highest of all is the spirit. It is what keeps man alive.

Remember how God created the first man? He took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it. Then he breathed life-giving breath into his nostril and man began to live. That is the spirit of God. It is what makes us alive.

Imagine a potter molding clay. God was like a potter when he created man. The human being was just like an empty piece of pottery before God had breathed his spirit into it. It was just an empty, lifeless pot.

An empty pot is nothing special to a potter. It is just like an ordinary pot like everything else he had made. But if the potter puts his life into it, then that pot will become very important to him. The potter will take good care of it.

Like a very special pot, God had put His life in man. He breathed His spirit unto him. Man is like a dwelling place for the Spirit of God. And as a man is mindful to keep his own house spick and span, so is God mindful of the dwelling place of His spirit.

PSALM 34:4 - I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me; He freed me from all my fears.

I had a very embarrassing experience at the bank the other day. I wanted to exchange a check for cash to get my salary but I could not provide them with a valid identification card. I was so frustrated and hungry. All I ever wanted was to get my money. I was already out of cash and I could not get home to get my legal documents to support my identity. My pocket was totally empty and I could not think sanely. So I lashed out at the bank officer. I was angry but deep inside I was ashamed of myself. I had been reflecting on the incident for the rest of the day and even until the next day.

I realized that it had been all my fault and I was wrong to have lashed out. It was not the right behavior. I guess I was just carried away with my emotions. And I really felt terrible after that. I felt like disappearing from the face of the planet. Thanks be to God for he is near and always ready to listen. I ran to the Blessed Sacrament and poured my heart out to Him.

God is so patient and kind. He really answers prayers and He gives sound advice. I heard Mass yesterday and I felt a certain peace and calmness within. I have the reassurance that God is always with me and He loves me. He does not make a record of my wrongs. And He helps me go through all my pains and sorrows. Praise God!

A Simple Comic Strip for a Very Beautiful Story: a Christian Love Story

God has a special purpose for the cross we carry. He made it just the right size. We complain that the cross is too heavy for us to bear and ask that it be cut down to the size that we think is right. God let us have our way.

Then we realize the cross has become too short for us to cross the other side of the cliff. We start to worry. How can we ever get across and continue the journey? As we worry, trouble chases behind us. So we call on God for help.

God hears our cry and tells us to do something and trust him. But then, we doubt. We don't believe His word. It seems we don't have a choice but to obey God's word. Death is right behind us. So we abide.

Then we realize that God had a wonderful plan and it is to save us. He also made another way for us to continue on our journey. God watches us as we pursue personal goals to please other people. And God longs to hear us express our love for Him.

But we never did. Instead, we complain to Him because we could not get what we want. And we even demand that He help us. God shows us the abundance of blessings He has prepared and offered His love for us but we reject it.

We resent God for not helping us achieve our personal desires. So we go our own way relying on our strength. We work hard and pursue more goals. We achieve success after success. We accept every gift that our hard work gives us. We carry the gifts leaving the cross trailing behind.

As we achieve great success, people begin to throw stones at us. They hit us with mockery and insult. We get hurt by these little stones and cry out to God. We pray and ask for His protection. But we don't realize that God is already there protecting us. The stones that hit us are simply stray ones. God had been receiving the bigger blows.

All throughout our lives, God is always with us. He never leaves our side. We may not be able to feel His presence. That is because we become so preoccupied with our goals. But God is always there watching us go through life. We may ignore Him or even get annoyed of His presence but He will never let go. God loves so much and He does not want to lose sight of us.

Had a chat with one of my colleagues and this song came to mind.

♪♫ "When our hope is hard to find and our faith is in decline, we need a cause to stand behind -- LOVE. We all want the way it feels. Time it comes and time it steals. What remains, what is real -- LOVE. There is love. There is forgiveness. There is love in times of need. When life is cold, there is a promise you will never go without." ♫♪

I just had a chat on Facebook with one of my colleagues at work. This woman seem to be infatuated with a certain man who we use to work with in another call center. That was already five years ago. I thought she had already gotten over him. To my surprise, she makes me log in to my Facebook profile so that she could look into his profile. Fortunately, the guy is one of my connections. As always, it has been the subject of our chat.

So I ask her what is love? She said love is a complex thing. I shared my own opinion as well and the conversation grew longer and more interesting. She had very good views about love but I wasn't satisfied. I feel like I needed to tell her what love in the Christian sense is all about. I just had a little problem. I didn't know how to break the message without leading it into an argument.

By the grace of God, I was inspired to search for the definition of the word in an online dictionary. I remembered someone from the ministry talking about love being a verb and a noun. So I consulted Merriam - Webster, and indeed the minister was right. Love is a verb and a noun. It is both a feeling and an action. I asked my friend which one she likes best and she said both. The two cannot be separated.

She actually had a point. How can you show love to people when you don't know what it is? And it is through experience that we learn best. But as the conversation went on, I somehow got the feeling she still was about to confuse love with sensuality. And that was when the song came up. I searched for a video of the song on YouTube and shared her the link. She liked the song so much and I was so happy I was able to share God's message of love to one person.