Yesterday at church was awesome.

I got a lot of great feedback from churchmates who commented on my weight loss. Praise God for that! His grace is enough, surely, and I would never have survived three months and counting without His help, I tell you that.

I also got great feedback on Set Apart. Mickee, Joanne, and Gabe just blew the roof off on their versions of the song, and I was extremely happy with how it turned out. Mickee started the ball rolling by revamping the arrangement and turning Set Apart into some kind of all-out praise jam that worked! Joanne and Gabe soon followed suit, and I think it turned out to be a pretty good offering song.

Teri videotaped us, though, and while I may have dropped 22lbs, I am still 209lbs. My goal is 150lbs. On the TV screen, I looked like a blue whale compared to the other three worship leaders. No, sirree, that won’t do.

Regardless, God is great! Yea!

Do you believe I can do it?

On October 18, I will participate in my first fun run, the 8km Run Against Pain at the Quirino Grandstand along Roxas Boulevard. This fun run supports the Pain Society of the Philippines as part of initiatives for the Global Day Against Cancer Pain. It has been a dream of mine to participate in a fun run or race; this marks the fulfillment of that dream.

I’m preparing for this race by running three times a week for the next three weeks. At 96 kilos, I’m definitely not in fighting shape for top prizes; the goal is to actually finish the race. I still have a little more than three weeks to prepare and bring myself to a fighting 91 kilos (200 lbs), which will make finishing the run more realistic. It’s been a little over three months since I redefined my fitness goals by giving up soda and most junk food; I started the Body For Life program as part of the plan around three weeks ago. Total weight loss since June 4: 10 kilos (22 lbs).

I invite you, my friends and family, to help motivate me for this fun run by putting a little of your time, money, or heart into Race Against Pain. I offer you three options:

• Run with me! Registration is at ANTA along Bonifacio High Street at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. Registration is PHP250.00, but it’s waived if you purchase anything there worth a minimum of PHP1,000.00. Full information is available here. We can meet up, run together, then fellowship afterwards! What fun!

• Pledge a donation to the Pain Society of the Philippines through my run. The target goal is eight kilometers. Pledge any amount of money, say, for example, PHP50 per kilometer, to the Pain Society of the Philippines, in your name. If I complete the entire eight kilometers, you pledge PHP400 to help the Pain Society of the Philippines help alleviate the suffering of cancer patients throughout the country. I can’t imagine any greater motivation for me to finish this fun run than to help you help Filipino cancer patients through the local chapter of the Pain Society. (Please private message or email me if you’re interested in sponsoring my run so I can contact you for the details.)

• Pray for the success of the event. Run Against Pain is a fun run for a very good cause. If you can’t join me or pledge, please do include this race in your prayers. I lost my half-brother to cancer, and any event that works to help make cancer a thing of the past, or help people today who are suffering from cancer, is a very, very good event.
  

This is going to be legen… wait for it!… dary! LEGENDARY! I want to finish a fun run and finish it for the first time in my life. Please help me make this a reality. God bless you!

Want more accountability? Want to see how serious I am about this program? Visit my fitness program blog, Future Thin Guy, or subscribe to my YouTube channel.

An original song, Set Apart, has a demo done! Please give it a listen and tell me what you think of Set Apart. (Please remember that I’m more after comments on the lyrics and arrangement more than the vocal. Other worship leaders will sing this in church, not me. *grin*)

Set Apart was written for Victory Fort’s new series, Uncommon.

Set Apart lyrics and credit after the jump. Read more

(Listen to Love Like This by Ayiesha Woods off her new sophomore album Love Like This and read Ayiesha Woods Love Like This lyrics on this post. GannsDeen.com does not offer Love Like This mp3’s or Ayiesha Woods mp3s for free download or paid downloads. If you like what you hear, please leave a comment in the Comments box. Come back to GannsDeen.com for the latest and best in Christian, country, and pop music.)

Ayiesha Woods is back, baby! The name of the new single is Love Like This, and I tell you, this is easily one of my top 3 favorite singles of the year! I LOVE THIS SONG!

An exuberant declaration of love for God, Love Like This is both triumphant and anthemic, with a power-pop sing-along chorus, easily memorable lyrics, air-tight harmonies, and that distinguishable Ayiesha Woods voice. I LOVE LOVE LIKE THIS!

Love Like This has everything going for it, and it’s a special introduction to Ayiesha’s second album, Love Like This, which I’m pretty sure will live up to its predecessor, the spectacular Introducing Ayiesha Woods, which did introduce us to Contemporary Christian Music’s new first lady of pop-rock.

Make no mistake: Love Like This is a spectacular song. Listen to it and then buy the single or the album, then listen to it again and again. Love Like This is HOT! I haven’t been this excited for a new single since Avalon’s Love Won’t Leave You, which tanked in relative comparison to the lofty expectations of the single. Love Like This is destined to avoid the same fate. This is a guaranteed CCM hit.

Album reviews of Love Like This are available on JesusFreakHideout.com and ChristianityToday.com. Average is 4.25 stars!

Listen to Ayiesha Woods Love Like This mp3
Ayiesha Woods Love Like This lyrics after the jump.

Read more

I’ve decided to take my weight loss program accountability to the next level. Presenting…

Future Thin Guy. *grin*

Please RSS feed my new video blog, Future Thin Guy. Or you can subscribe to my Future Thin Guy YouTube channel. The idea is with so many people watching, failure is even more scary because it’s public. Ha!

My wife and I have a fragrance oil burner in our bedroom. We find that the scents seem to last longer than aerosol fragrances, and purchasing these oils protects the environment longer.

We have three fragrances that we use often. If you’d like to explore getting an oil burner, these are three quality oils you can use.

1. Spa Essentials Energy. This essential oil is a refreshing, revitalizing oil that smells of lemons and spice. It’s great for the mornings and after coming home from work if we need that extra boost.

2. Zen Zest Lavender or Eucalyptus. Cathy’s favorite room fragrance scent, Zen Zest Lavender is relaxing and sensual. It’s our most frequently used scent, because Cathy usually gets her way. *grin* The Eucalyptus fragrance,

3. The Body Shop Rich Plum. I bought this for the holidays last year. It’s a nice, rich, Christmassy scent that just warms the heart. I totally love it.

Do you have a fragrance oil burner? What are your scents?

Run Against Pain! I’ve signed up for my first run!

The Pain Society of the Philippines has organized Run Against Pain, an eight-kilometer run on October 18, 2008, at the Quirino Grandstand along Roxas Boulevard. There are five competitive categories, with a variety of cash prizes for the top finishers.

I am so excited for Run Against Pain because it’s a great cause and an even greater motivation for me to go and do something to jump-start my weight loss program. It’s been 9 kilos so far, and preparing for this is definitely going to help make things happen!

Sign up with me! Registration’s only PHP250. Let’s run together!

EVENT: Run Against Pain (in celebration of Global Day Against Cancer Pain, for the Benefit of the Pain Society of the Philippines)
DATE: October 18, 2008
ASSEMBLY 5:30 A.M.
START 6:00 A.M.

VENUE: Quirino Grandstand, Roxas Boulevard
DISTANCE: 1KM walk; 8KM run

MAXIMUM PARTICIPANTS:
1,888 runners

REGISTRATION CENTER:
ANTA, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
(For a PHP1,000 purchase, your registration fee is waived)

CONTACT NUMBER:
0921 410 00 11

EMAIL:
april.eventzone@gmail.com

CONTACT PERSONS:
April Lee (EventZone)

REGISTRATION FEE:
P 250

REGISTRATION PROCEDURE:

Sign up at ANTA, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

PRIZES:

Men’s Open
1st - PHP8,000
2nd - PHP4,000
3rd - PHP2,000

Women’s Open
1st - PHP8,000
2nd - PHP4,000
3rd - PHP2,000

Men’s Junior Veteran, Men’s Senior Veteran, & Women’s Veteran
1st - PHP2,000

American Idol Season Five finalist and Contemporary Christian star Mandisa is releasing her second full-length album, a holiday stocking stuffer titled It’s Christmason October 14, 2008.

Some of the songs from Mandisa’s 2007 Christmas EP Christmas Joy are featured in the album. She will also air a Christmas TV special on TBN titled Mandisa & Friends Christmas Special sometime in November 2008. My girl Mandisa is HOT.

Track list after the jump.
Read more

… MarketManila.

I believe MarketManila represents the best of what Filipino blogging has to offer. Informative, timely, intelligent, humorous, and reliable, MarketManila has become more than a food blog: it has become the premier Filipino food blog, ably representing the discerning Filipino foodie in the pantheon of international food blogs.

it is a pleasure and thrill to count myself among the many Filipino bloggers casting their votes for MarketMan and MarketManila.

Level Up! Games

Nokia

Blog Bank

Smart Communications

Josiah’s Catering

Rsun Technology Store

Yahoo

XFM 92.3

Buddy Gancencia Reality TV

Ultravision Photo and Video

Click Booth

Aloha Board Sports

Sheero Media Solutions

YourPinoyBroker.com

Belo Medical Group

Inquirer.Net

Toshiba

ROAM Magazine

PLDT

Red Box

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

2go

Havaianas

PLDT

California Pizza Kitchen

Last Saturday, Cathy, Nathan, and I passed by WalterMart North EDSA on the way home to do some last-minute grocery shopping. While there, I spied with my eye a new juice drink called “Fab.”

Anyway, it was being billed as a healthy, weight loss-supporting drink. It even had L-Carnitine, which is fast becoming a byword amongst health-conscious dieters, despite some evidence that shows little to no effectiveness in assisting weight loss. So I took a quick look at the nutritional facts on the bottle’s label and was aghast to see the amount of sugar in the juice drink.

To compare, a can of Coke has 34.5 grams of sugar in it (plus a host of other chemicals). The Fab mango juice drink had a whopping 43 grams of sugar! The Fab pineapple is an even stronger sugar bomb: it carries a shocking 53 grams of sugar! That’s roughly twelve teaspoons of sugar in one bottle! (Conversion source here)

Some people like it, and I won’t take that away from them. However, Nature’s Harvest - even Del Monte’s “Fit and Right” - pack in insane amounts of sugar in their juice drinks. And we know too much sugar is bad for you. I don’t resent Fab for its sugar; I resent Fab for propagating the myth that L-Carnitine and sugar bomb drinks are the best way to fitness. I’m not even 1/3 of the way there, but I know that permanent, healthy weight loss comes with exercise and proper diet. Period.

The healthful benefits of fruit come into full effect when you eat the fruit, because you get the fiber with the fruit in all its fructosy goodness. Remove the juice and junk the pulp, and that’s just vitamins and sugar. The fiber is just as important as the rest of the fruit. I have fruit every day in the mornings, and that’s all I have til lunch. It rocks my world.

If you want to drink healthy, stick to a chilled bottle of distilled water. Water. The truly FAB drink.