"Laki Sa Layaw": The Mike Hanopol Story

"His music and fame led him down an inevitable path of sex, drugs, gambling and, eventually, paranoia. Who can save Mike Hanopol from his struggle? Watch the moving story of how a rock-and-roll legend found the path to genuine peace." -- The 700 Club Asia

Five Loaves and Two Fishes

Surrender What You Have To The Lord
By Edward F. Markquart

To the little boy, the key was his willingness to surrender his meager gifts to Christ, and at the heart of the story is the implied invitation for all of us to surrender our little gifts, the gift of our little lives to Christ, and then see what mighty miracles God can do in and through us. That’s what God wants from you and me, to surrender, to give the gifts of our little lives to Him.

Jesus can work miracles with five loaves and two fish. In the story, the little boy brought his meager gifts to Jesus, his five loaves and two fish, and and the Lord worked a mighty miracle with them. And God wants to do the same with us; that we bring our meager gifts to God, our five loaves and two fish, our meager and ordinary talents and gifts, we bring the simplicity of who we are to God, and see what mighty miracles God can do with our little lives.

God can use our inadequacies and work mighty miracles through them.

Implied in the story is this question: Have you surrendered your five loaves and two fish to Christ? Have you surrendered the meagerness of who you are to Christ? You would be amazed at what mighty miracles God can do with your meager self when you have surrendered who you are to Christ. The question is persistent when the memory of this story lingers on: “Have you surrendered? Have I?” Like the little boy did.

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What do you hold dear in your hands? If one of these days the Lord would ask, "My child, what is it in your hands?", will you be willing to let Him have what you may be holding dear? Whatever seemingly little thing you willingly surrender to the Lord, He uses it for greater blessing that will bless you more as well as many other people.

We All Are Pilgrims

At times our path is rough and steep, our way is hard to see; we ask God, "Why is life unfair?" He answers, "Follow Me." --D. De Haan

When a person begins to ask "Why is life unfair?", it is only because he has started to shift focus unto himself. But when a person sets his focus upon the Lord, he begins to recognize that his neighbors are fellow pilgrims traveling the same rough and steep path he is traveling -- each one carrying not his own load but the load of a fellow pilgrim.

If we think that what we are carrying is heavy, let us remember that it is our fellow pilgrim's load that we are carrying and that our very own load, which may even be much heavier than what we are carrying, is being carried by other fellow pilgrim along with us.

We are in the world but we are not of this world. We are pilgrims in this world carrying each other's load just as the Lord Jesus Christ carried all of humanity's load thru Calvary unto the cross that He might lead mankind back to the Shrine, the Father.

Burning Together Close To Each Other

These were the only unshielded candles I noticed in the cemetery that burned completely without being ever rekindled. Their fires never went out despite frequent blowing of the wind. Had those candles been placed separate from each other, their fires would have been long gone out.

Like these burning candles, people need to stay close together in their souls and spirits so that each one's "fire" may join with the "fires" of the others. The combined fire has more heat and brighter light than a lone fire, and it can withstand wind blows. When one's fire goes out, the other fires close by are able to rekindle it back.

Life may be compared to these burning candles, ready or not, someday it will all come to an end. When that time comes, the only thing that matters is how you matter to God and your fellowmen.

It is always never too late to live a life that truly matters to God and fellowmen.