Ridiculous Socials

We will have our National Planning Workshop next week in Butuan City. This is a great time to meet NSO field officials and hear their best practices. I always enjoy NPW except the socials. We are always made to do or perform ridiculous things. The usual fare is sing and dance and it is kind of boring. The more important reason is that I really do not enjoy dancing.

I hope that we could invent more creative or innovative ways to have socials. Games for one is a lot better alternative. Socials should have a relaxed atmosphere and not structured as a regular programme. The idea of this event is to talk with people and renew acquaintances. Let people relax and realease stress. Doing presentations is welcome unless the performers are enjoying what they do and are good in that area. But to watch performers who do not like what they do (as we usually do in NSO socials) is wasting time or worse having fun at their expense unless of course they are certified comedians. Minsan nga ako pa nahihiya kapag napapanood ko na talagang awkward ang performers. I know they were forced to do those things.

And now for the highlight: Imagine me mimicking Romy Mallari. Who?! Do I have a choice? Yes.

Perform or Pay P1,000. Funny? Not for me. A thousand pesos is a lot of money. Sakay ka na lang.

Daily Miracles: Can't You See God's Hands?

This year, I am aiming to read the whole Bible again. My wife and eldest son are also trying their best to do the same. I already finished Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. Last night I finished reading Deuteronomy 3.

I enjoy reading God's Word. It is always fresh and I get new and clearer insights this time. God was extremely gracious and very patient with His people. He is doing miracles in their lives each day yet they fail to recognize and thank God for all of these. God gave them manna, quail meat, water in the desert each day: all very precious basic necessities. The Lord also made their clothes and sandals endure for many years. They have pillar of clouds as shade by day and pillar of fire as light and warmth at night. How could the Israelites grumble and be blind to all these great and wonderful expression of love and protection from God?

I'm sure I am no different from the Israelites. God has been gracious and doing great miracles everyday in my life. And yet I fail to notice them and neglect to thank God.

Lord forgive my blindness. Thank you for all the goodness and miracles you are doing each day in my life. Open my eyes that I may see all your goodness to me. Open my eyes that I may give thanks and praise that are due to you.

God Answers Prayers

This is a testimony to how God answers prayers.

My 8-year old son Emilio joined MTAP grade 3 level this year. Every night for more than 2 months he would ask God to help him in the Math team and individual contests. The results came out last week that his Grade 3 team qualified for the Caloocan Division level oral contest. But no word on whether he qualified for the individual contest regional level and my son was a bit disappointed that he was not able to qualify for this. So it was my turn to ask God to answer my son's prayers. I prayed daily for Emilio's request for a week.

Then on Thursday, 2 days before the individual contest is slated to be held, Emilio came home at 6:30 pm that day overly excited. His teacher gave him a copy of the Deped Caloocan Memo that he is qualified to represent Caloocan in the the Grade 3 level of the MTAP individual regional contest.

Then on Saturday morning, February 3, Emilio woke up early and proceeded with his Mom to Stella Maris College in Cubao for the contest.

God answered my son's and my prayers. God is gracious.

Key to success

It has been said that "You will only have significant success with something that is an obsession." I think that is true to some degree. The correct word is passion not obsession.

For years I have been following developments in the proofs on Unsolved Math Problems. I tried and continue to try to solve a few of those challenging problems. I tried the Goldbach conjecture and recently the problem on Perfect Numbers. The last problem says that there is no even Perfect Number. A perfect number is one that is equal to the sum of its proper divisors (excluding itself). I worked on this perhaps more than a thousand times but no success. It has become a passion and a past time.

Lately my 12-year old son Nathan shared this passion and texted (SMS) me last week that he has proven that there is no odd perfect number. I was ecstatic to say the least. So when I got home, my son eagerly shared his proof to me. His work looks perfect. But the next day, when I began to rehearse his proof in my mind, I noticed a small flaw.

I told my son that there is a little error in his proof. He realized his mistake. But I told him that his approach is better than those I tried before.

So now I continue to search for ways to prove the problem. This time I am not alone. Is this another way of bonding with my son?