A Child Is Born to Us

(Original Letter: December 21, 2003)
“Letters from my Sojourn”
© 2008 by Peter Allan C. Mariano

To my dear friends in Christ;


Greetings my friends!!! I hope all is fine with every one of you back there. It has been a while since I have last sent an installment to these “Letters from my Sojourn” series. The Eid Holidays after the month-long Ramadan came…. and went away… giving some short interlude to our work here in Saudi Arabia….but after that… working time again! Now, it is your turn back there to have your holidays with the coming Christmas season. I can only do a few touch-up jobs here to make my room have some holiday decoration with whatever materials I can get my hands on.

Christmas doesn’t mean much here…. in fact, it doesn’t mean anything at all… except for the Christian workers here, mostly Filipinos, and probably a handful from other races as well. It does, however, signal the Mutawa, or the Saudi Religious Police, to be more vigilant in catching merrymakers who want to celebrate Jesus’ Birthday with a bottle or two of the forbidden sadike, the homemade liquor which is very famous here (underground)… which caused quite a little too many headaches, hangovers…. and perpetrators who got caught being sent to jail. Ouch!

LETTERS: Only By Grace

( Original Letter : June 11, 2003 )


To my dear friends in Christ;

Greetings to you my Brothers and Sisters! It’s been a while since I last wrote to you. I apologize for that. It was a joy for me, however, to read about your various activities. How I wished I could be with you through all that!

By the GRACE of God, the war in Iraq has come to an end. Although there’s still hostilities in some places, like the bombings that occurred recently here in Riyadh, the general fear of escalation to the other Middle Eastern countries has finally subsided. I would like to thank all of you who prayed for me, and for the whole of Middle East. I thank God for people around the world, like you, who went down on their knees and prayed for this crisis – unlike others who just made a lot of noise here and there; but had never even said a word or two in prayer for those who were directly involved.

It is through this same Grace of God that we are to be saved – through our Faith. Paul clearly states this :

“ God, Who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. ( by GRACE you have been saved ) and raised us up with Him and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. ”
Ephesians 2: 4-6 NIV

I am working in a Muslim country, in fact at the very heart of the Islamic Religion. I can’t help but notice their ways regarding their faith, like the five-times-a-day Salah, or prayers. This is a compulsory activity for them here, to the extent that all stores and shops ( even clinics ) need to close down during prayer time, otherwise the proprietor could be arrested by the dreaded Mutawah, or their religious police. The Mutawah would also roam around, and if they caught a Muslim not praying during Salah time – the guy could get arrested.

I also heard somewhere here that if a Muslim could perform certain rites and complete certain prayers for a certain number of times, there would be a corresponding reward for them in heaven. That’s why I often see people here mumbling certain words repeatedly over and over, while holding their prayer beads. And the extreme cases of course would be the suicide bombers who believe they’ll go to heaven while performing this act ( although some Muslims claim that these suicide bombers are not true followers of Islam ).

I have nothing against the Muslim people, in fact I admire their diligence in prayer (unlike some of us who pray only when it is convenient, or when others from community are with them ). But I can’t help compare them to the Pharisees, who were so much despicable to Jesus that He warned His followers to be careful of the Pharisees’ “yeast” ( Matthew 16:6 ) and mentioned seven woes against them (Matthew 23: 1 – 36 ). But, my dear friends, this is not unique to our Muslim brothers, but is also rampant amongst us so-called “Christians” (whatever denomination, sect, old or new way, etc you may be ). Remember Yano’s song “Banal na aso, Santong kabayo.”? That’s what I’m talking about.

Natatawa ako… hi.. hi… hi… hi….

Why? Why were the Pharisees despicable to Jesus? The answer would lie in what He said in Matthew :

“ If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice’ you would not have condemned the innocent. ”
Matthew 12 : 7 NIV

The line “ I desire mercy, not sacrifice” was quoted by Jesus from Hosea :

“ For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings. ”
Hosea 6 : 6 NIV

It’s what inside of us that matters – what’s in our hearts – and not because of our efforts, because some of our efforts were not based on the correct motives. Salvation CAN NOT be bought by what we do or what we sacrifice ( remember Sacred Duty 3 : Service with Love particularly 1st Corinthians 13? ) It is rather GIVEN to us by grace, because of our FAITH.

Going back to Paul, he talked about this topic in his letters so much that it became one theme :

“ For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. ”
Romans 9 : 15-16 NIV

“ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. ”
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV

If salvation can be bought by a list of things we must do, a list of things we must say, or a list of things we must give – NO ONE can be saved. Because in our human nature, all of us fall short of God’s expectation from us :

“ The righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. ”
Romans 3:22-23 NIV

But God, in His infinite love for us, knows that we can’t accomplish this – so He provided us a way out – and that is through Jesus Christ.

“ But what does it say? ‘The Word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the Word of Faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with YOUR HEART that you believe, and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. ”
Romans 10: 8-11 NIV

Remember the story of the two thieves that were crucified together with Christ? :

“ One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him : ‘Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other criminal rebuked him, ‘Don’t you fear God’ he said ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said ‘ Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’. Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today, you will be with me in paradise. ”
Luke 23: 39-43 NIV

When that criminal asked Jesus, “… remember me, when you come into your kingdom…” he actually BELIEVED that Jesus can save him – and he received God’s MERCY because of that and was saved. How many times did Jesus do this in the Gospel – giving grace to the unlikely of recipients : tax collectors; prostitutes; SINNERS. Because it is in His nature to do so :

“ God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. ”
Proverbs 3: 34 NIV

In my walk through life, I usually relied on my “galing” and “abilidad” that I failed most of the time (remember “Failure: So What?” ). But when I realized that it’s not up to me – but to the Lord – I surrendered myself to Him, and everything’s falling into place. That’s why one of the most endearing songs for me is this :

“ Only by grace can we enter…
Only by grace can we stand..
Not by our human endeavor..
But by the blood of the Lamb.. . ”
Only By Grace

Some of you may argue : So, okay.. it is through grace that we are saved, by our faith… but how about good works? Balewala ba lahat ang mga ‘yon? ( ang dami ko pa namang sinalihang activities sa Singles…. ) By no means!!!

Our good works should stem as an offspring of our love for God, because of the grace that we received from Him. Paul said :

“ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by actions, is dead…. Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”
James 2: 17; 21-22 NIV

Remember my letters on Sacred Duty : we must offer ourselves as living sacrifices :

“ Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will. ”
Romans 12: 1-2 NIV

First comes our faith; and from it springs our good works; but all this should be encompassed with love (Sacred Duty 3 : Service with Love ).

I hope to hear more from you and your activities back there. Marami rin akong kwento para sa inyo tungkol sa mga karanasan ko dito sa Saudi, but I’ll discuss that later on. But there’s one important one. Remember the story I narrated earlier regarding my three friends here who got stranded after they were kicked out unjustly by their company? They were stranded here for more than 6 months, struggling to get what is due them. Well, God works in mysterious ways. There was a change in ownership of the company, after the previous owner died, and by the GRACE of God, the new owners absorbed my three friends back. And now they’re back in the saddle – full of hope, full of life. Thanks for your prayers my friends!!!

Well, hanggang dito na lang muna. Medyo napahaba yata ako ngayon. I miss you all and I hope we can all get back together soon. May the Lord bless you at all times. Greet everyone with a holy kiss for me. See ya!!!

Shalom,
Brod. Pete


“Letters from my Sojourn”
© 2008 Peter Allan Mariano

Peter Allan C. Mariano

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LETTERS: Failure - So What?

( Original Letter : February 16, 2003 )


To my dear friends in Christ;


Greetings my friends! What a JOY it is for me to write for you once more. May you all be in good condition and away from sickness of any form. At the time this letter was written, there was still the looming threat of the possible US-Iraq war. I hope that you all have been praying for us here, praying for peace to avert war.

The Eid Holidays have just concluded. This is what’s considered as the New Year’s celebration here by the Muslim people, and during this period, many are going on the Hajj pilgrimage to Makkah, their Holy City. One thing I noticed though with those going on Hajj: before they leave, they would greet everybody and ask forgiveness for all their shortcomings, and failures, real or imagined, from everyone.

Speaking of Failures, the Lord inspired me to write something about this critical topic for you. I know that this would be a good guide for those who are suffering from the setbacks caused by failures that they encountered in their lives. I know…. because I experienced them myself first hand.

I heard a lot of stories, both from RP and from other countries, about people being so depressed because of their failures that they would lose all motivation to go on with their lives. Others would even go the extremes and would eventually commit suicide ( some would even take others with them before they kill themselves. ) Failure in business; failure in their political career; failure in marriage; failure in their love life… the list would go endless. Likewise, you and I have undoubtedly experienced failure one time or another in our lives. But what has been our response to failure? Did we just give up, wither and die like the rest of them? Or did we pick ourselves up from the ashes and start afresh?

Failure is not the end of all things, nor is it the indication that your world had just ceased to exist. It should give us the motivation to go on with our lives and strive to be better. Have you ever pondered on these things when you experienced failure? ….maybe it’s the way we do things that caused us to fail…. maybe, it’s our perspective in life… maybe the Lord is trying to get our attention or trying to tell us something… maybe He’s trying to correct what we’re doing and put us in the right path – because He loves us.

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.”
Hebrews 12: 5b-6 NIV

I view failure as a signal from the Lord that, ooops, I’m straying from the path – okay… regroup!!! It’s painful actually, most of the time, but what we gain after the experience would be more than what we bargained for, or even deserve. We become stronger, wiser, braver, etc and etc. Mary Tyler Moore puts it beautifully :

“You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you. ”
Mary Tyler Moore

And yes, the Bible explains this as clear as the day :

“Our father disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in His holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ”
Hebrews 12: 10-11 NIV

There are a lot of instances in the Bible where people failed, but got up and started anew, then finally made it big. Take Peter for example ( the Apostle… not me… hehehe ), he was overly zealous in saying to Jesus that he would die, while others would flee, before anyone could take Jesus away. But what happened? He disowned Jesus! Three times!!! ( see Luke 22: 59-62 ). Wala na siyang mukhang maihaharap pa kay Jesus no’n, after what he has done. But when Mary Magdalene, together with James’ mother and Salome, went to the tomb of Jesus where He was laid after His death, they got this message from an angel :

“But when they looked up, they saw that the stone which was very large, had been rolled away. They entered the tomb, then they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. ‘Don’t be alarmed’ he said ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go, tell His disciples, AND PETER, He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’ ”
Mark 16: 4-7 NIV

Take note of this passage… “But go… tell His disciples AND PETER.”!!! Special mention pa siya. The others only ran away, but he denied Jesus three times… but he was mentioned specifically by the Angel. Now, how’s that for someone who failed miserably.

I experienced the same thing in my walk with the Lord. Three times He called me to serve Him. Three times I responded…. but all three failed, one way or the other. First was in college…. in a religious group for students there at UST. Next was at ELIM Community, where I started serving in the Music Ministry and as part of the Art Committee. The last one was when I served as head of the Singles For Christ Unit in Amkor/Anam. Everything was going well, until I got a “good” job wherein I earned dollars while staying in the Philippines. Paldo tayo noon, mga kaibigan! But even though I gained a lot back then materially, I lost touch with the SFC Group, which was my ministry. Then I slowly went back to my old ways – goodtime dito, goodtime doon – paldo nga kasi e, ang daming pera. Then my relationship with Mommy Jing got strained…. and we went farther apart as I went deeper and deeper into the pit. So, what did the Lord do? He took away my job, plain and simple. I lost the job, and had no stable income for more than a year, and was up to my neck in debts.

But when I look back through those days of struggle, I knew that the Lord was with me all the way. Kinalabit Niya ako, mabuti naman at lumingon ako. I got my life back on track. I got a new job and slowly recovered in that aspect. Mommy Jing and I grew stronger in our relationship – and were rewarded with Kenji!!! And my relationship with Him has been growing ever since.

I experienced failure big time, but the Lord never let me go. He helped me get up, and offered me another opportunity to serve Him anew – this time with CFC and SFC of Muntinlupa… o ‘di ba? Just like Peter, my tokayo, in the Gospel. The Lord, after His resurrection, asked Peter three times “Simon, do you truly love me more than these?” and he replied three times also “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” (see John 21:15-17). His previous failures have been vindicated by the Lord, and he was restored to His graces. That was His personal calling for me too, when He told me to go back to him --- Peter, feed my lambs…. and I responded…. and won’t ever back down, never again!

So, my brothers and sisters, don’t lose heart whenever you experience failure. Ask yourselves the questions I outlined to you earlier. And remember these words of Paul, and you would find yourself in the right track :

“But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.. ”
Philippians 3: 7-8 NIV

I hope that you received something from what I just shared with you. It would be a great joy for me if I could hear some response from the rest of you, as what I felt when I received emails from the others. I urge you to share these letters to the other SFC’s or other members from your own community (ask me if you need a copy of the previous ones) who don’t have access to the internet. Print them, give it to them, and/or read them during your household or prayer meetings – they could make a good discussion topic if you want to.

Continue to pray for me and for the situation in the Middle East. Please pray for my three friends : Kuya Efren; Kuya Muloy and Kuya Tony; who are still stranded here in KSA awaiting the result of their complaint against their employer from the Saudi Labor courts. Also, please pray for the soul of our Uncle Boy, who recently passed away. I always pray for you back there. I hope you do the same for me too. May the Lord bless you all and keep you, and may He provide you with everything you need, in Jesus’ Name.

Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure; it means you have not succeeded.
Failure doesn’t mean you accomplished nothing; it means you have learned something.
Failure doesn’t mean that you have been a fool; it means you had a lot of faith.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ve been disgraced; it means you were willing to try.
Failure doesn’t mean you don’t have it; it means you have to do
something in a different way.
Failure doesn’t mean you are inferior; it means you are not perfect.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your life; it means you have
a reason to start afresh.
Failure doesn’t mean you should give up; it means you must try harder.
Failure doesn’t mean you’ll never make it; it means it will take
a little longer.
-- unknown --

Shalom,
Brod. Pete


“Letters from my Sojourn”
© 2008 by Peter Allan C. Mariano

Talakayan at Kalusugan - DWAD1098KHz 10-11am Every Tuesday 
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“ He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.”
Psalm 103:10-12 RSV