WHAT DRIVES YOUR LIFE EVERYDAY?

When you would ask people the question what drives them or what fuels them to live every single day, you would get a variety of answers. Some would say to achieve their lifelong dreams drives them. Some would say to become rich drives them. Some would say to become famous drives them. Some would even say to be accepted by people drives them. Exactly as how we would expect most people would say. And if we are going  to figure out why people have these kinds of drivers in their lives, we will get to know that because this is what the world dictates. It is what the world sets as  standard. It is what makes someone a somebody in the eyes of men. This standard of achievement, wealth, fame, etc. is just so ingrained to everyone that they form as the driver for most people. They were all set as the expectation for everyone. But the big question is are all these permanent or simply temporary drivers? 

In exploring the different stories of people falling into failures and depressions, I could certainly say all the standard drivers of life set by men are temporary and are bound to lose. I have heard stories of people falling in desperation after losing all the wealth they have tried to build all of their lives. I have heard people whose lives revolve on proving that they are the best suddenly falling into depression because someone else became better than them. They fail at the end and they suffer a lot from it. Why? It is because they have put their hopes on temporary drivers, temporary goals, temporary dreams and on a temporary life.

So, where do we put our hopes on? I say it must be put on what is everlasting. It is only in the hope for everlasting life that we can have the absolute confidence that we have the best driver in life. It is because the moment you put your hope on the everlasting life, you allow the One who is eternal and everlasting, our God to drive your life. Putting your hope on what is eternal transcends everything from this world. Your future, your dream and your life become not of this world but for the eternal life. Putting your hope in God means allowing God to drive your life. It means giving up the driver seat for God while you sit on the passenger seat. 

Yes, it might take a lot because you have become so comfortable with your lifestyle right now, but you have to think of the great price. A price of life everlasting with God. For Jesus said “that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” [John 3:16]. God’s desire for you is certainly a life everlasting. It simply takes believing in Jesus. It is simply putting your faith and hope in Jesus. It is simply seeking Jesus, our God.

And if you decide at this very moment to put your life in Jesus Christ. Please send me a personal message so we can pray for your decision.  

HILLSONG’S NEW ALBUM IS FINALLY HERE!

        The much anticipated album of probably the most popular worship team in the world is out now. It is entitled ‘A Beautiful Exchange’ which is also the title of one of the songs in the album.  The new offering from Hillsong has thirteen great tracks of worship songs. It is the Sydney based church’s nineteenth official album.  The first single from it is called “Forever Reign”.  Listen and be blessed. 

City Life Church : A Journey

City Life Church (CLC) is my home church. But few months ago, I didn’t know the church even exists. I and Erica (my special one) used to attend at Cathedral of Praise (COP) in Taft avenue, Manila. It is considered a mega-church based on both the size of its congregation and size of its physical church. It can seat thousands comfortably at any given time. It has a great facility, great worship team, great ambiance and a lot of great stuff. It was in this church where I built the foundation of my relationship with Jesus Christ. I was born again in the Lord in this church. So why is it that COP is not my home church? Well, let’s see why.

           Firstly, I want to say that I have nothing against COP. COP is a great church. A church faithful to Christ’s Great Commission of evangelism. I didn’t get a chance to involve myself in any ministries or small groups in COP. I guess because I felt comfortable as a church attendee only. I felt the worship and sermon were enough for me. This dragged along for two years. My spiritual life was practically confined only during Sundays. I had no Bible readings nor daily devotions. But the Lord has a great plan for each of us. I realized the Lord has His way of revealing His desires for us. God’s grace was just so overflowing that I can’t just be a Christian “bum”. I desired for God’s greatness more and more by reading His Words and having devotions. I sought to know my faith deeper and deeper by reading Christian books and by exploring the this-and-that of my faith. So after being grounded enough in my faith, there were some practices/beliefs in COP which I started to feel uncomfortable with like the word-faith and prosperity theology. It was not like I theologically studied the belief, but rather it was more of the condition of my heart being uncomfortable with it. Everything was great except whenever word-faith and prosperity theology would be infused during the services. I would feel very awkward. It is not my faith. I felt bothered for months because I am not sure what to do. I knew that this was just a non-essential belief of COP, but nevertheless the conviction to me cannot be ignored. Then there were still worldly things I have yet to overcome in addition with the predicament I was facing. It was a challenging circumstance. But I learned a lot from this experience. I came to know how to ask the right questions, like is this glorifying God? Or could this make stumbling blocks for Christians? Aside from these, I came to understand the great plan of God for us. I came to understand the awesome love of God through Jesus. So how did I go about withall these?

            I did what must be done. As a “young” Christian, I thank the Lord for the wisdom to discern. I decided to finally leave COP and look for a church which  doesn’t conflict my belief, and at the same time I can grow spiritually with, a church where I can make an impact . I thought this should be a community church. It was also a perfect opportunity because I have just broken all the bondages of my past life. I gave up myself and declared Jesus as my Lord. I was also happy because Erica was in the same boat, not with the theological issue, but with the desire to be with a small community church. She grew up in a community church and she certainly knew the needs of community churches. Everything was going great I thought. So how did we discover City Life Church?

           I and Erica decided that since we are both working in Makati, we are going to look for a church around Makati-Pasay area. So the church hunting began. I looked around in the internet to find one. I tried to check around the city. I found Baptist, Alliance and other independent churches. But I thought this time it must be the right church. I and Erica are Pentecostal and Born Again Christian in belief so I thought this must be my main standard in looking for a church. Coincidentally, I have a pastor friend from the Assemblies of God (AG) whom I had asked advice from about our concern. I have appreciated his advice to look for a church which belongs to a denomination. He pointed out that a denomination checks the practices and beliefs of its churches and disciplines them if necessary, in comparison with independent churches like COP which has complete say to its belief. So I became keen on looking for the three Pentecostal denominations that have local churches in Makati-Pasay area, they are the Church of God (COG) , the Assemblies of God (AG) and the Church of the Foursquare Gospel. The Foursquare church we found was just too far from us it was in Guadalupe Nuevo. The Church of God has well established local churches in the area. Some are even being led by American pastors. In comparison to the Assemblies of God, I had a hard time looking for an AG church until my pastor friend helped me in looking for one. He finally referred us to a newly started AG church in Pasay. And guess what, it was the City Life Church, a local church of the Assemblies of God. After much prayer and discussion, we have decided that we will attend the church. How was the experience with our new church?

              I was both nervous and excited because I haven’t been to a community church in Manila. I knew well that there would be a big adjustment because we came from a mega church. But everything went well. Thank you to Pastor Welfert and everyone in  CLC for making the transition smooth for us. All I can say, both me and Erica just can’t hold the level of spiritual growth we are experiencing with CLC. I am just growing deeper in the Lord. 

              City Life Church, an Assemblies of God church is a community based church in Pasay city. I know greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done  for Jesus Christ is the God of this city!

"AMAZING GRACE" in 50 Languages

Our God is truly amazing and awesome! The classic gospel song “Amazing Grace” was sung in 50 different languages in the Every Nation conference 2010. A great manifestation of how greatly we honor and glorfiy God. Seeing Darlene Zscech with the other worship singers singing for the Lord is truly a blessing.

 [THE EVERY NATION CONFERENCE  2010 IN SMX CONVENTION CENTER, MALL OF ASIA]

MANILA BETHEL TEMPLE

LIFE TESTIMONY OF RICA PERALEJO

I felt blessed after seeing the life testimony of Rica. A true example of being transformed for Jesus Christ. See how the grace of God worked into the life of Rica as she accepted the Lord as the King of her life. 

A TRANSFORMED ME…

It has been a year since I last posted in my blog. I could think of a lot of reasons why, could be because I lost interest, or I got too busy. I don’t really remember now. BUT, I am back!

I am back because of a fire burning in me, a passion wanting to flow out from inside of me. I WANT TO SHARE AND WRITE ABOUT THEM…

So you might think what’s that?! or how’s that?! , well let me tell you my testimony. Well, here’s how…

Years ago, I was just like you. I wanted to finish my school. I wanted to earn money. I wanted to be happy. I wanted to enjoy life to the fullest. I would have a very hectic schedule almost everyday. I would go to work and I would meet up with friends. Everything was about fullfilling what I want in my life. Everything was about achieving my goals and desires for my life. I was very focused to be somebody because after all everyone else is trying to be somebody around me. I felt my pride and I felt I was special in my own right. I felt I was unique. I wanted the world. I was very into the world. It was all about success, pleasure and enjoynment. BUT … the more I crave for all these things, the  more I feel corrupted. I was being eaten by my goals and ambition in life. I was  being consumed by my desires to be successful. I felt my life is nothing but a wanting to be that person which I have been dreaming since I was young… a successful person. I got lost. I was just too proud. At one point I was an atheist. At one point I was a blasphemous. At one point I was very self-centered. At one point I lived a lustful life  …………… then suddenly I was just nothing.

I went into a tremendous struggle, a mutli-faceted struggle. My family broke down, I stopped schooling, my dreams got shattered away and I got lost. I was put in a situation no one would ever wish for. I was all alone. I was like a sheep lost in the wilderness who had to face lions, foxes and a whole lot of predators. I lost four years of my life wandering, searching, looking, struggling, wishful-thinking, regretting, and finding for the meaning of life. IT WAS NOTHING BUT BAD NEWS.

Little that I know of, there was a very interesting event that I would experience… I think of it now that after all there is a GOOD NEWS.  But I thought how about all the pains, hurts and wounds in my life. You don’t know what I have been to. The pains I had to bear. I was still reasoning, I was still somehow proud to reason out. But the GOOD NEWS is simply unbearable… It is contagious, It is  overwhelming, It is over-satisfying, It is more than I ever wanted. It was just too GOOD for a NEWS. It was too great. The greatest I thought. That NEWS was just too wonderful and too great that I indulged with it. I received it and I surrenderred to it. It was the NEWS of the LOVE OF GOD. Who am I, I thought not to acknowledge the LOVE of GOD. 

 YES, that’s right I acknowleged the LOVE of GOD in my life. I acknowledged and declared that He is my Lord and I am His servant.  It was so completing that my pains and hurts became love, care and compassion. It was so blessing that my self-centered righteousness and desires became a life of selfless service to the Lord. I am no longer alone. I am no longer a lost sheep for Jesus is my Shepherd now. 

From self-righteousness and from unrighteousness, now to God’s righteousness. 

This is the start of my life… a journey with God. 

 Amazing It was a transformation.

San Miguel Holdings!?

San Miguel has started and has been continually transforming itself  from being one giant organic San Miguel corporation into a holding company. San Miguel has become a parent over several subsidiaries such as San Miguel Breweries, San Miguel Foods, San Miguel Beverages, San Miguel Packaging, Petron, Liberty Telecoms, a big share in Meralco and many other small firms. This activity of San Miguel has positioned itself into becoming the Philippines’ biggest holding company, taking over the title that Ayala corporation has enjoyed for over a century according to some analysts.

A holding company is a company that acts as a parent among group of companies which are called subsidiaries (usually belonging to different industries). The Parent company would need to have at least the majority shares of the subsidiary for it to be fully controlled and be part of the holding company. The parent company doesn’t do any of the production of goods and services, what it does is just to make sure it has effective control and management of its subsidiaries. But in essence, a subsidiary is autonomous from the parent when its financial and fundamental infrastructures are concern. Apparently, this is the path San Miguel’s management wants it to be.

One good thing for a holding company is flexibility. Since the nature of a holding company is just to hold shares of its subsidiaries. It could have a leeway to position its investments in important profitable industries and it could most importantly react faster in saving its investment in subsidiaries that will incurr losses by selling them away.  

 Let’s just see how things would work out for San Miguel.

San Miguel under the mercy of Danding.

San Miguel Corporation(SMC) has always been considered as the primier company in the Philippines. It is Southeast Asia’s biggest food and drinks company. At least 3-5% of annual Philippine GDP is said to be influenced by all economic activities of San Miguel. And best of all, San Miguel makes Filipinos proud with its  strong brands like San Miguel beer, Purefoods, Magnolia, Star and Dari Cream that became well known in this region. But that position of San Miguel is apparently threatened from with in its own ranks. Its Chairman himself, the shrewd Danding Cojuangco is steering the wheel of San Miguel to an unknown path.

Danding, the chairman of San Miguel has indecisively made the company enter other markets which it has formerly no experience at all. Danding is making a bet on industries like power, energy, telecoms and other allied businesses. I’m not sure of  his motives, but definitely this is part of his shrewdness as a businessman and to a large extent as a politician.

As of writing, SMC has already purchased 27% share of MERALCO (from GSIS), making it the second largest shareholder after the Lopezes with 33%. SMC has also secured the purchse of at least 50% share or majority of Petron corp. which it might take formally next year. It has also did entered into an agreement with Qatar telecoms to set up a local broadband subsidiary. and the list continues as Danding use SMC to bid for other businesses.

Danding whose shrewdness goes back to the Marcos era when he successfully transformed the Coco Levy Fund(levies collected from coconut farmers and traders during marcos time) from being a public fund to a private fund. With that, he maneuvered the fund and purchased the majority share (at least 50%) of San Miguel with an overwhelming leverage coming from Marcos. He put 20% of those under his name and the rest with the Coco Levy fund. He became the chairman. But he was cut short after the EDSA I, when Aquino government sequestered the Coco Levy fund share or the majority in San Miguel. But Danding definitely knew the right timing when Joseph “Erap” Estrada sworn in as Philippine president in 2008. Eight days after the formal presidency of Erap, all the government appointed board members of SMC (the majority), 9 out of fifteen, unanimously voted for Danding as the chairman of SMC. Danding was back in control. In 2007, Sandiganbayan decided that the 20% share under Danding’s name is rightfully his, and what is public fund is the other 27%. Looks like everything has been to his favor, thanks to his diligent legal pusuit with the likes of Estilito Mendoza and his strong political position with his National People’s Coalition.

Now, obviously based on how he had gotten hold of San Miguel. Danding’s reputaion is really of shrewdness and dirty underground dealings. So what is at stake in his plan to diversify SMC in the way he wants. The stake is so big, it’s San miguel that he’s gambling on. It’s the great San Miguel’s existence that’s at stake. Well, why would he wanted this kind of diversification. hmm, It’s a hard one to guess. But let’s read how Danding and his buddies are doing things around.

When SMC purchased MERALCO’s 27% share from GSIS, it created a shockwave in the business world because how the hell a food and drinks company gonna do with a power company. But at the same time, a certain investment company called the Global 5000 was suddenly incorporated by some of the best old-time “kumpares” of Danding like Inigo Zobel (SMC borad member), Roberto Ongpin and Joselito Campos(Danding’s business partner) suddenly bought the other 7% share of Meralco from SSS, Landbank and Devt Bank of the Philippines. The combined stake could definitely make a management take over of MERALCO from the Lopezes. While for Petron, it’s the same story. Ongpin who represents Southeast Asia refinery,Inc (subsidiary of UK based, Ashmore invertsments) who holds 51% of Petron in the Philippines paved the way for SMC’s acqusition of Petron. Ongpin surely was the negotiator for Danding’s successful take over of Petron. This move technically made Petron a subsidiary of SMC today.

So what are the consequences. San Miguel divested its ownership in a lot of subsidiaries to raise necessary cash for these purchases.  SMC sold National foods (giant Australian food company), J. Boag & Sons (Autralian brewer), Berri, ltd (Australian juicer), Del Monte Pacific (Singapore listed food company) and Coca Cola Bottlers Phils. Cash flow was further enhanced with the debuting of San Miguel brewery as a separate subsidiary through an initial public offering(IPO) in the Philippine stock market. And as of this writing SMC is even willing to sell 43% of the brewery to Kirin brewery of Japan, which would definitely trigger the transfer of the beer business from being Filipino owned to a foreign owned (just like what happened to PLDT).

Apparently, whatever selfish motives the ranks of Danding have, San Miguel is gonna be in the losing end. It seems that Danding and friends are ready to gamble SMC for as long they get what they want. They have started to shift the business focus of SMC from food and drinks. They have started divesting many of its assets so to finance their venture in other markets. They even went far as gradually selling off the jewel of SMC, its beer business. They might say, that at the end, SMC will be benifited from the diversification. I guess not. I think it’s the wrong move. Why the heck diversify into oil industry for instance if you are already in the most stable business of food and drinks. For one, Oil business is good if it is the oil producer like Exxon Mobil and Saudi Aramco which drill oil and sell it to the market. But if it’s just an oil refiner and marketer like Petron, which simply bow down to the mercy of the fluctuating oil prices,  no thanks. Profit-making is simply too risky for this business. So I don’t get the logic why invest here if you are already in a good position, I might have even understood it, if it’s a business that definitely more profitable than what SMC has today. Furthermore, I really think that this would lose the focus of San Miguel from its core business, instead drive all its mangement’s energy into the new businesses which are as big as SMC.

I just think that the way to diversify  San Miguel is to stick within its allied industries. SMC is already the leader in beer and liqour market, the leader in meat (pork, chicken &beef) both whole and processed, the leader in animal feeds, the leader in flour milling, the leader in butter & margarine(fats) and other allied food businesses. But this shouldn’t be the end for it’s expansion. San Miguel can interestingly battle out Nestle Philippines for its leadership in dairies, chocolates, powdered milk and nutritious foods. These are food markets SMC has small to no presence at all. San Miguel can challenge Coca Cola Phils with its leadership in beverage market. San Miguel can challenge Universal-Robina for its snacks, chocolates and candies market. San Miguel can even go far to challenge the Century Tuna brand. There are big markets in the allied food and drinks industry that San Miguel hasn’t tapped into, where San Miguel has a very competitive position to begin with. In simple putting, you should engage in business where you are familiar with. You should only stop when there’s no more room for you to grow (which I guess is impossible). It’s just like putting Micrsosoft, Inc which mastered the software business into the food business. It’s really a far shot and truly disadvantageous. Well, what I see as San Miguel starts to veer away from its core business, it will gradually decline until it bids goodbye. Its competitors would gradually get its position in the markets SMC used to hold. And I’m afraid that this is what a business get when you have a shrewd and self-motivated guy driving your business.

First Post

I have always wanted to have my own blog. I have tried several times but I was not able to maintain them. I tried writing with blogspot and wordpress, but later on abondoned them. Now, I have decided to really have my own blog. Well, I hope this time it will work out fine . I thought that blogging is a good way of writing things you really feel writing about. I thought that it’s a perfect excuse for people not so eloquent like me to start writing.