I had the chance to visit a youth summer camp held recently at the Malasag Eco-tourism Village in Cagayan de Oro. One of the evening activities at the camp was the Dance Night and the attire for that night was on tribal costumes. I was able to take a few shots. Here it is:
A few months back, I was really amused as I read about a lucky Austrian tourist who had a whole commercial flight all by himself! He was the only passenger for that flight from Manila to Boracay. No one else showed up.
It never occurred to me that something similar to that would also happen to me and my two friends just a few months later!
Last May 8, we were the only three passengers for this evening Cebu Pacific flight from Cebu to Manila! What a treat! For about an hour or so, we were VIPs on board a special flight — a “chartered flight” on a huge private jet for three special passengers haha! And may I add, complete with four lovely ladies for a cabin crew and two pilots of Cebu Pacific!
It was already the evening of May 8 and I think that most of the passengers were in a rush to reach their destinations right away because the following day, May 9, was election day. I guess they all wanted to make sure they can vote the next day.
Many of them I think have re-booked themselves for earlier flights or maybe they have cancelled their flights. That left me and my two companions to have a whole plane all to ourselves haha!
From the boarding area, it was amusing to me that we were escorted like VIPs all the way to the bus that would bring us to the plane. On board the plane, four beautiful ladies — the whole cabin crew! — were all smiling and ready to serve us haha! They actually had a good time too! They were also amused just as we were to have only three passengers in a huge jet plane. So we had a group photo with them. They also took selfies of themselves and with us.
I actually had a great time too photoshooting in the sky with the four lovely Cebu Pacific cabin crew. They were great photo subjects and I got their permission to photoshoot. What a great opportunity for an amateur photographer! Oh well, it was a unique experience and we all enjoyed it.
What we expected to be just another ordinary flight back home turned out to be quite a unique experience. Thanks to the lovely Cebu Pacific ladies for allowing me to have an on-the-spot photoshoot in the sky with them. It was quite a flight!
We are all one in Christ. God loves all of us regardless of whether one is a Jew or Gentile, male or female, a freeman or a slave as Paul said. We are all beloved of God. We are his children and he wants us to be included into his life and love for all eternity. We are all created equal in this sense.
But when it comes to Christian spirituality, we are somewhat different. We each have our own unique ways of connecting to God which may differ from others. This is because we have different personalities and temperaments. Some would love to spend their time studying God’s word and would even enter the seminary to further study and learn more and more about God and his Word, the Bible. For some others, they focus more on acting and doing. They want action right away. They want activism. For some others, they want to connect to God through worship singing or maybe by fasting and overnight prayers.
These differences can become a source of misunderstanding among church members when one imposes their brand of spirituality on others. It’s good to be aware of the various forms of spirituality.
There are six forms of spirituality which I found helpful in distinguishing what type of spirituality a Christian may have. Knowing these six types has helped me become more respectful and not judgmental of how Christians connect to God based on my personal preferences. I learned about these six forms of spirituality from Dr. Dan Rogers. He got his information from a book, Pastoral Spirituality by Ben Campbell Johnson. May I quote from Dr. Dan Roger’s article:
Evangelical Spirituality
This form of spirituality is usually found in conservative churches with a puritan or revivalist tradition (Johnson 1988, 68). Persons encounter God through his Word by setting aside times for prayer and Bible study on a regular basis. The Scriptures are authoritative, and by studying them one can discern the will of God in order to obey it. Meditation and fasting are also used to seek God’s will and make it one’s priority in life.
Evangelical spirituality has a strong appeal to the sensate and extroverted type of person who likes to have everything in life spelled out clearly. These Christians are usually passionate for God and are willing to work hard and sacrifice their lives. The weakness of this form of spirituality is that it can have a tendency toward legalism and the development of a judgmental spirit.
Charismatic Spirituality
This form of spirituality is found primarily in Pentecostal and nondenominational congregations. Charismatic spirituality is associated with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his present activity in the church. God often is experienced through the Spirit. The Bible may mediate the experience of God, but the experience can also be drawn from such activities as small group meetings and charismatic praise and worship services.
Some groups believe that speaking in tongues is the evidence of possessing the Holy Spirit and they seek to exhort other Christians into seeking this experience. This form of spirituality often finds support in group settings where the experience is shared and the gifts practiced. Charismatic spirituality tends to appeal to the extroverted, intuitive, feeling temperament.
Sacramental Spirituality
This form of spirituality is found primarily in the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Episcopal churches. In Sacramental Spirituality, the presence of God is mediated through the sacraments and the liturgy of the church year. The church festivals and celebrations provide the structure; both nature (viewed sacramentally) and history (viewed as God’s unfolding story) contribute to this spirituality. Corporate worship is the focus for strengthening Sacramental Spirituality. Its practice tends to appeal to the thinking, sensate type of temperament.
Activist Spirituality
This practice is found mostly in the left wing of mainline denominations and in various religious issue-oriented groups (e.g., feminist, peace, and ecology groups). However, there is some increase in interest in activist spirituality among some evangelical Christians.
The activist engages God primarily in social service and in political action rather than in church or private devotion. The practice of this spirituality seeks to find solidarity with God who is actively transforming the world. This form of spirituality tends to appeal to an extroverted, intuitive, feeling temperament.
Academic Spirituality
This form of spirituality involves Christians who think about God and systematize their thought, thus expressing their relationship with God through the mind. It tends to be found among scholars, theologians, teachers and studious clergy who express their spirituality in a lifestyle of study, analysis, reflection and teaching. Its practice would appeal most to the introverted, intuitive, thinking temperament.
Ascetic Spirituality
This form of spirituality is found mostly among nuns and priests in religious orders and in Protestant holiness movements. For the ascetic, God is engaged in the daily devotional routine of prayer, meditation and the reading of spiritual literature. The ascetic expresses devotion to God by a life of contemplation and self-denial. It is a simple lifestyle often marked by vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Its practice appeals most to the introverted, sensate temperament.
With these different approaches to spirituality, it is important for a pastor if he is to be successful in leading his church members to Christ to be aware of such differences and also tell his church members about it. Each type has its strengths and weaknesses. Dr. Dan Rogers suggests that pastors should be able to model an “eclectic” type of spirituality if he is to help his members grow to Christian maturity.
This bit of information is also good for all Christians so that we may not judge and berate others because they do not conform to our personal preference of what Christian spirituality is all about.
Source: Leading in Spiritual Formation by Dr. Dan Rogers
Going through my files today, I saw a photo of me and my little daughter when we lived in Don Carlos, Bukidnon for about a year sometime in 1986. Back then, I was sent there as a ministerial trainee under a pastor. In this photo, my daughter was about 6 years old. This photo brought back memories of our stay there back when we were still younger and more energetic.
My wife took this shot with our Nikon EM film camera with a 50mm Nikon lens. I still have this film camera but it’s now a souvenir item. I don’t use it anymore. But I’m still using the 50mm lens which still works well and produces really good pictures.
Whenever we hear someone singing out of tune, we oftentimes either laugh about it or get annoyed by it. Personally, I don’t look down on people who sing out of tune. I realize that some of us are more gifted than others when it comes to singing. Some people have exceptionally great singing voices and some don’t have it.
I myself don’t also have a great singing voice so I have nothing to brag about. My wife can sing better than me. But I actually enjoy listening to people singing out of tune belting it out with all their might whether it be at shopping malls, family gatherings or at some karaoke bar as they enjoy each other’s company. Never mind the confusion hahaha!
But there’s one thing I can’t stand — a guitar that is out of tune. It’s just me. And maybe that’s because I did have some experience as a leader of a band for a good number of years during my younger days. Before the band starts playing, the first thing we always did was to tune our guitars making sure that the lead guitar, rhythm guitar and bass guitar were all in tune and in sync with the electric piano/organ. I somehow feel bad — a personal thing, it’s just me — when a band or a worship team performs on stage or in church when their guitars are out of tune because I know it is something that could be fixed or made ready beforehand.
Back in the old days, we had what was called a pitch pipe to do that. Sometimes we just rely on a piano as our guide too. That helped. But nowadays, I’m amazed that tuning can be done electronically in so many ways. I was really very fascinated and surprised to see an electronic guitar tuner just a few years ago. There was no such thing during my younger days. Nowadays, you can even use your smartphone to do that offline or online with an android guitar tuner. There are several guitar tuner apps that you can use to do that. Times have really changed a lot!
