Buy yourselves the new Nestle Kit Kat ice cream cone. It’s INCREDIBLE.

Chocolate ice cream. One whole Nestle Kit Kat bar shoved into the cone. Bottom of the cone filled in with milk chocolate. On top, chocolate syrup all over the Nestle Kit Kat bar.

God. It’s GOOD.

I survived!

Seven days of liquid fasting - okay, five, because I had one meal fasts yesterday and Sunday - and I’ve seen breakthroughs on several levels, God talking to Cathy and me about a variety of things. It’s awesome.

One of the things on my prayer list is for courage in testifying of God’s goodness to people I otherwise would not share with, owing primarily to a huge fear of rejection or misrepresentation of Jesus’ goodness. (Some people judge my perfect God by looking at imperfect me, which is wrong, because just because I’m not the best thing that happened to you doesn’t mean God can’t be the best thing that’ll ever happen to you.)

Well, last week, in the middle of the fast, I took a leap of faith and sang to some of my officemates a Christian version I wrote of Beyonce’s Irreplaceable. If you’d care to see the video, please click here.

Tonight, the fast ends, although Cathy and I are seriously thinking of extending it because the fast has been good to us spiritually (physically, I’ve dropped about three pounds but that’s mostly water weight, so I don’t think it’s a very good thing).

Have a good week ahead, everyone!

Toni posts on her blog, Wifely Steps, an interesting blog carnival that I have to be a part of! It’s called If Books Were Food…

What’s this carnival about?
It’s all about answering this question: If books were food, what would they taste like?

Write about the books you loved as a child. Write about your all-time favorite reads. Write about books that made you cry. Write about books you never finished reading. Write about books you’re curious about. Write about banned books.

But let’s not stop at just books. Connect them with food. If your favorite childhood book were food, what would it taste like? If your favorite books of all time were food, what would they be?

——

For me, the Bible can be compared to a buffet, an eat-all-you-can experience with something for everyone.

I look at the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - as the buffet’s roast beef, prime rib, roast turkey, the main attraction, the indulgent meat that give me strength and extreme pleasure. When I read the words of Christ, it literally fills me up and encourages me to go on. It is my source of strength and the highlight of my buffet. I supplement these with delicious side dishes, usually taken from the letters of Paul, which add flavor and depth to the gospels.

Two of my favorite Bible books are the books of Esther and Job, which I can compare to the buffet’s Japanese spread. Job’s story is biting and fiery, like the sensual explosion of spicy wasabi with raw tuna flesh; Esther, on the other hand, has all the elements of California maki, with its sweet story of Esther’s triumph over adversity to become the queen of Persia, a touch of salty coarseness with Haman’s plot to kill the Jews, and a fine finish, with God’s angels defending His people against the king’s troops instructed to massacre them.

The Song of Solomon is the oyster spread, an aphrodisiac that can only prepare us for the night ahead returning home from the buffet. It is sensual, it is rich, it is a sinfully pleasurable read.

Ironically, my dessert - I return to it over and over - is Genesis, the first book. I love reading about how God creates the earth, about how man falls, and the stories of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob… they’re filling and they make me want to return again and again, which is how I feel about a buffet’s desserts. Abraham’s is like a rich chocolate cake, full of God’s promise and bursting with His goodness. Noah can be like a fruit plate, refreshing and encouraging. Adam is a bittersweet chocolate ganache, sweet at first then with a burst of bitterness that lingers in the palate but encourages you to search for something sweeter and deeper, like a relationship with God.

I look at Psalms and Proverbs like the little take-home candies. Life can get extremely difficult at times, turning up the stress factor and making it hard to focus and enjoy the company of friends, family, and alone time with God. Whether it is a refreshing one- to two-sentence bite of sweet wisdom, or a tangy sour warning against becoming complacent, Psalms is the ideal bit of God’s Word that sustains me throughout the day.

The Philippine Blog Awards 2008 are coming soon!

If you’d like to volunteer for the Philippine Blog Awards 2, or perhaps sponsor, the organizers would love that. Now that the Pinoy blogosphere is reaching maturity and record numbers, now is an excellent time to join and be part of the community. I, for one, have already dropped a line with them that I’d like to help out in whatever way I can.

Sali na!

Tomorrow, thousands of Filipinos will join the seven-day prayer and fasting activity of Victory Christian Fellowship that kicks off every year. It’s an amazing way to get into the right frame of mind for the year by reconnecting with God, asking Him for direction, and praying that He sanctify and bless one’s year ahead. In the case of VCF-Greenhills, it is also a powerful community-building activity that I, for one, am looking to enjoy in every way (Cathy and I will most likely participate in the Saturday prayer meeting).

I’m praying for the following:

1. A closer relationship with God. I pray to be closer. I want to be closer. I need to be closer. Draw me close, Lord, so close I can feel Your heartbeat. (And so mine can beat in sync with Yours.)
2. A heart - and mouth - for evangelism. I so desperately want God to give me opportunities to bring people to Him, and the wisdom to say the right things when the opportunities arise. I’ve had it with No more chickening out this year!
3. Wisdom in guiding my family daily. Cathy and I have an awesome vision for our family. This year, we’ll really make it happen.
4. Wisdom to decide whether to stay at my current job. I’m actually happy at my job, but there’s an opening in ministry that I, quite frankly, want so bad and I know I’d be great in. If I get it, great; if not, great anyway.
5. Wisdom for our finances. We’re not in bad shape by a long shot, but we want to really GIVE.
6. More opportunities to minister in music and media, and humility as I take advantage of these opportunities. This year, I will be given the opportunity to lead worship. I pray God takes center stage and glory, not me. I also pray that wherever I may be, that the talents of music and writing always be available so I can use it for His glory.
7. Safe delivery for Jess and Thammie
8. An opportunity to move to Makati, in a place we can afford, by next year so we can be closer to work and Nathan can go to a great Chinese school
9. An ASUS EEE

Do you have any prayer concerns? Feel free to email me (email address is in the Contact part of the website) and let’s see God work.

Cathy and I are not happy with Sky Cable, and join the many angry voices that are crying ‘FOUL!’ against the Philippine cable service provider Sky Cable. Today, Sky Cable removes many of our favorite channels, including Discovery Travel and Living and JackTV.

Here are some of the more important Sky Cable announcements that matter:

1. Praise God, Crime/Suspense is still around! It replaces RPN-9 on Sky Cable Channel 14. While the news and current affairs programs will continue to air, it’s wonderful to know we still get Bones!
2. ETC! and Second Ave are still alive. ETC! will air on Channel 16 (replacing SBN-21), while 2nd Avenue will air on Channel 19 (replacing RJTV 29, but that channel’s RJ’s Talk Show and Music Concert shows will continue to air on 2nd Avenue).
3. Lifestyle Network is now on Channel 52. Good to know we can still watch How Clean is Your House?
4. Disney Channel is now on Channel 47. (Big deal; we still don’t get Disney Playhouse.)

We paid our Sky Cable bill in full last year, expecting to receive all the channels we subscribed to at the time. Isn’t removing some of the channels that were being broadcast at the time of our subscription, including JackTV, Solar Sports, and Discovery Travel and Living, against our contract or something? Boo, Sky Cable, boo!

Last night, Cathy told me three contestants on the American game show Jeopardy could not identify the president of the Republic of the Philippines. (The person in power, by the way, is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, but whether she is the rightful president is another story.) When three intelligent Americans have no idea who we are, despite our significant presence in the US, well, we should take a step back and reconsider America’s relationship with us.

We’ve considered ourselves one of the United States’ strongest allies, with a history of walking hand-in-hand with Uncle Sam towards an uncertain future, but where exactly lies the Philippines in America’s long-term plans is anybody’s guess. Can we say the Philippines has much to benefit from its virtually unrequited love affair with the Stars and Stripes?

The recent Iowa caucuses - a glorified survey, really - come as a pleasant surprise, one I welcome, actually, because it shows America seems to be thinking twice about keeping Dubya and everything he stands for in the driver’s seat for much longer.

1. America seems to want change, which is good because that’s what Filipinos want, too. This election can be a crucial one in America’s history for the candidate choices it affords voters. The Iowan Democrats propelled Barack Obama to an early and substantial lead, sending erstwhile Democrat frontrunner Hilary Rodham Clinton into a spiral for third, a few points behind John Edwards. The most likely cause? Clinton’s campaign for experience seems to have backfired on her, with more Democrat voters intent on ‘change’ vs. ‘experience.’

This desire for change seems to be so great that independents are flocking to Obama’s camp (a magnetism that Republican John McCain held in 2004 but may find difficult to recapture four years later) on his platform of hope and new politics. Rubbing salt into the former American first lady’s wounds? Obama soundly beat her in crucial young voters’ and women’s votes.

Here in the Philippines, where democracy is, quite frankly, the longest-running joke ever foisted on an Asian country, old politics continues to hold sway. The same family dynasties are running politics and the economy, the same social ills plague us as in years gone by, and, most frustrating of all, the new politics that America seems to be ready to finally embrace, cannot prosper simply because we’re too concerned about putting food on the table.

The economy is so bad and the situation so dire that people will sell their conscience, their ethics, and their votes for a few dollars. Who looms in the not-so-distant horizon to lift us up out of this quagmire? We don’t have an Obama.

2. America wants to vote for the candidate who says what s/he believes. Clinton is in extreme danger if only for this crucial point. Over on the Republican side, Mike Huckabee edged erstwhile frontrunner Mitt Romney because voters felt the latter didn’t say what he believes (this, despite Ann Coulter’s fiery tirade on Huckabee’s inconsistencies).

George W. Bush is the perfect example of someone who does not say what he believes, or practices what he preaches. When Gloria Arroyo pulled out Filipino troops from Iraq to save one of our citizens who was taken hostage by Iraqi militants, Bush glowered at us like we were crazy. (Credit, however, to current American Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney, who is doing a spectacular job of healing Filipino-American relations.)

How in eight years did this Christian president manage to turn America’s image from relatively respected international superpower to massive bully and self-proclaimed guardian of the international peace? It still boggles this Filipino blogger’s mind that a Christian would call for an invasive attack on another country in the guise of international peace. I thought international peacekeeping was the United Nations’ job. *wink wink*

Of course, who am I to speak? Our current president is the only president in our history to have virtually admitted cheating in the general elections and yet finish her term.

3. America needs a polarizing president. This election brings to the table something no previous election has ever done: bring up two viable presidential candidates with shockingly high polarizing value: Hilary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. One bidding to become the first American female president; the other, the first Afro-American president. Boy, America sure takes its ‘change’ agenda seriously, eh?

I had a talk a few months back with an astute American colleague, who opined that Clinton was the only Democrat candidate who stood a chance of winning the general election. However, he said, Clinton is so polarizing - either you love her, or you hate her - that if more people could be swayed to hate her, well, then, there’s the election for you.

Obama can be just as polarizing, and not half as threatening, although good luck winning the ‘white states,’ Senator. It appears that most people take him to task for his color and relative inexperience (What, and former American President Ronald Reagan was senator for decades?). While I don’t think America will ever truly be able to transcend its bias for race and social status (just like the Philippines), I think we need to take ‘inexperience’ with a grain of salt, because America seems to be tiring of old politics - the kind, unfortunately, that Clinton is forever tied to, thanks to the connection between her and husband Bill - and is seeking a fresh new perspective.

This perspective, unfortunately or fortunately, depending on one’s political camp, is represented solely by Barack Obama. America is hurting from their unnecessary ownership of the Iraq rehabilitation (which is costing them billions of dollars) and their own falling economy. Who is talking about uniting the nation, about healing? Who can represent change? Not Edwards (forever tied to the 2004 loss with Kerry), McCain (another also-ran), Huckabee (flipflopper like Kerry, eerily evangelical like Bush, and is it me or does he look eerily like Kevin Spacey?), Romney (as flavorful as paper), Guiliani (I like him, though), or Thompson (who?). The white female and the black man. The polarizers. And it will be the polarizers who will get apathetic America out of their seats to vote.

In the Philippines, who are the polarizers? Who in government service inspires the average Juan dela Cruz to get up and motivate him to do something - anything - to improve his country? At this point, there is no one. This explains why politicians need to hire movie stars, dancers, and whatever gimmickry they can wrangle up to drag people to their rallies. And a good reason why so many celebrities and entertainers in this country actually get elected; sila lang ang kilala, e (they’re the only ones the voters know).

Ah, America. Even with this race, you’re still light years better off than we are. I wonder where - if ever! - our new politics will come from.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you’ve all had great New Year’s celebrations. If you didn’t, well, that’s okay. It’s always good, though, to start the new year on a positive note, given that most people think it’s a time for a ‘fresh start.’

Personally, I’ve mapped out five simple goals for 2008:

1) Live Out the Deen Family Mission Statement. My wife Cathy and I finished a Deen Family Mission Statement to guide us, Nicki, and Nathan in our day-to-day. It’s going to be challenging to live it out, but I know we can do it, by God’s grace.

2) Get Perfect Proposals: Popping the Question the Pinoy Way published. I started a book in 2004 and finished it, but circumstances beyond my control have delayed publication. Well, this has been too long in the back burners; I have got to publish this book!

3) Lose that holiday weight. Benj got it right - I gained a lot of weight back since my 25-lb loss halfway through the year. Gotta get back on track.

4) Finish at least two new songs a month. I need to continue songwriting so I don’t get rusty. 12 songs a year isn’t much of an output, but it’ll keep me on track.

5) Finish reading the Bible again. It’s a fresh new start! I love to get into the Word.

If you have your own simple goals, please do let me know by posting a link in my Comments box. I’ll be sure to swing by your blogs and perhaps even keep you in prayer.

Have a great 2008!