Education

My daughter was asking me yesterday why I am still studying. I told her that learning is never ending. The moment we stop learning, we are dead. I saw a post at our work and it says “Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself. –John Dewey.” And a lot of people suffer from refusing to learn. I have encountered a lot of people who are envious of my position at work and I tell them to go back to school and earn it! A lot of people have reached a certain level in life that they just cruise after high school graduation. They will stop reading a book, stop learning and start complaining about life. They think, I’m done with school and I have a job and just start complaining about my life. But God never created us to reach at a certain position and then stop reaching higher? Whether you are 8 years old or 80 years old, God has a plan for you. That is the reason why I am actually back in school and finishing my doctorate degree. That is the reason why I push my wife to go back to school and finish her nursing degree and that is also the reason why I push my children to learn more every day, learn music instruments and read books for life is a never ending lesson. The key here is to take responsibility for your own personal growth, attend conferences, go online and get continuing education courses, attend church activities, listen to good audio and read books! So what are you waiting for? Go back to school!

I CAN'T!

A lot of people’s mindset are programmed by the people who are around them. Their parents, friends, co-workers, boss and love ones. They can be either good people or bad people. But some of their words are very limiting. And as long as you believe what they say about you, their words will be limiting you. In our house, me and my wife makes it a point to remove the word “I can’t,” because the more you say you CAN’T, the more you will never be able to do it. I like how their piano teacher supports our beliefs. She would always encourage my children to be the best they can be in playing the piano. As long as you keep believing what other people say about you, they will be limiting you. One of the secret to break those limitation is to change your mindset, change what you are saying and start meditating on what God says about your life. God said He will bless you, God said He will take care of you, God said He will get you out of that situation. As you meditate on His word, you will eventually get past of those limitation set by others. People may have spoken bad words over you, but the good news is that they don’t determine your destiny. You are not what other people say who you are. You are who God says you are!

Asking and Seeking.

 I have a confession to make, I haven’t been praying lately to God. I’ve been working so hard that I tend to forget to have a quiet time. Most of the time, the only prayer I get to have is when I go to my kids room and tell them to pray. Often times, I will hear them asking for something like toys or clothes that I can do something about. But just recently, my kids Alyssa and Akeisha started asking God to let Zeyah the youngest of them all to be able to attend their school. Here in this area, pre-kindergarten is only for the less fortunate. People who have higher incomes (yeah yeah, I earn so much!!! Lol) are endorsed to Day Cares who can afford to pay them. One of the reason why we wanted Zeyah to be in that Pre-K school is that it is the same school were her siblings go to. When we visited for the registration day, they said she cannot attend due to certain income brackets, they said we shouldn’t expect and we are on the waiting list etcetera etcetera. Well guess what, last minute they called and said that Zeyah was accepted and she should come and go to school this week. My children told me that their prayers were just answered and that God is just so awesome.  The situation has touched me and my wife that we realized how prayers are so important.

A lot of times, it is easy to think we are not supposed to ask from God, a lot of times we just go along with what is happening and forget the importance and meaning of a good and sincere prayer especially from a child. The Bible tells that God longs to give the desires of our hearts and give His blessings to you. Actually, God has said “You don’t have because you do not ask!” Every time we ask God for favor, blessings or provisions, you are training your faith. When you pray, make sure you ask it sincerely and with faith. It is very important to have an attitude of faith and expectancy. If you want to move God into your lives, you need to believe in Him! He has given you everything you need to be successful in life. Your Faith!

It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father. -Pope John XXIII

Daddy,

I love you very much. You are the best dad in the world. I am happy and thankful to Jesus for giving me a dad like you. I will forever be grateful being your daughter.

Love,

Alyssa

Daddy,

I love you! You will always be my prince and I am your princess. You are my hero and you are the best daddy.

Love,

Kishi

Daddy,

I Love You!

Zeyah

Patuloy Ang Pangarap!

PATULOY ANG PANGARAP

by: Angeline Quinto

Isang pangarap, ako'y naniniwala

Ako ay lilipad at ang lahat makakakita

Sa isang pangarap ako'y naniniwala

Hindi ako titigil hangga't di makakaya

Unti-unting mararating, tagumpay na makikita

Patuloy ang pangarap

Di pa makakapaniwala sa aking makikita

Lahat ng panalangin ko, ngayon may kasagutan

Lahat ng pinagdaanan at pinaghirapan

Nagbigay ng kalakasan  upang marating ang...

Kahit saan, kahit kailan 

Alam kong ako'y patuloy

Sa marami pang tagumpay

Patuloy ang Pangarap!

Jelly Bean Prayer

Red is for the blood HE gave.

Green is for the grass HE made.

Yellow is for the sun so bright.

Orange is for the edge of night.

Black is for the sin that were made.

White is for the grace HE gave.

Purple is for the hour of sorrow.

Pink is for the new tomorrow.

I love you Aly, Kishi and Zeya!

DENIED!

My family and I have been watching the Bible series in the History Channel every Sunday. And one thing I have learned while watching is that God is the same YESTERDAY, TODAY and TOMORROW. When He says something, He really means it. When He says that He will curse a place or a person, He will fulfil it, however, when He says, He will bless you and prosper you, He will fulfil it too! And just recently, I was a little worried about my Green Card application. I was denied of my green card. According to USCIS, my education is not equivalent to the first professional degree for physical therapist which is a Master’s or Doctorate. Nevertheless, I believe God is working behind the scene and has been guiding me on how to be a better physical therapist. And guess what, God has been preparing me to be not just a good one, but to be the best by letting me enrol and be accepted to a doctorate program here in the US last year. One of the reasons why I applied to a doctorate program is for me to learn more about the US practice, to learn the latest trend in evidence based practice and to be the best clinician I can be for my patient and the company. Hopefully I will be finishing it next year and will have the title of Doctor of Physical Therapy. Yes, you can call me Dr. Michael Chua next year. Lol...  Having said that, I will have the degree that is equivalent to a US PT degree and hopefully will get my green card next year too! Is that a coincidence? Or is it God who is actually working behind the scene?

Maybe you are like me, who have been denied of a green card, a visa, or a job. Don’t be discouraged, because God is working behind the scene. We will all have challenges in life. During those times, it is very easy to talk about your problems. I myself am like that, I would call other people, friends and co-workers about my situation, I would complain to them about my issues in life. I would actually talk to my wife about my problem. Maybe you received a bad report; maybe you are facing financial problems. But one thing I realized is that, the more you talk about something, the bigger it becomes in our mind. I have this friend who keeps on complaining about his car, he actually has a pretty decent new car, but he keeps on complaining about it. Well guess what, it finally broke down on him. It’s because of the power of attraction. He kept on nagging and complaining about it and he got what he wanted.

Remember that, even if you don’t see how things would work out. God does. You have to speak positivity in your life. You’ve got to speak goodness instead of mediocrity in your life. Instead of talking to God how big your problems are, talk to your problems about how big your GOD is! So Dr. Michael Chua, here I come! GreenCard here I come! Blessings here I come!

SNOW much FUN!

Hello friends, I haven’t been blogging for quite a while, I've been very busy with everything. My family (wife and kids) got here in the US (finally!). I've been working extra and helping out other facilities and been very busy with school finishing my doctorate degree. So I guess I have all the excuses not to blog. I have been out and about in the cyber world and it’s nice. Lol…

Well, just today, we had winter weather. I was supposed to do some errands first thing in the morning such as buy meds for my wife who is sick, do taxes and work out. Unfortunately the snow stopped me from getting outside. I was a little upset and frustrated. First, I haven’t been working out for more than a month and would really love to get back in shape again and I also need to buy medicine for my wife. Unfortunately, the snow stopped me and frustrated me. Our neighbors were also a little irritated because of the snow. But one thing I noticed about my wife, she was happy and just enjoyed the snow, she even played outside with the kids in the snow and had a positive attitude about it. Saying “Just enjoy daddy.”

You know what my friend, every day; we will have opportunities to get upset, frustrated or get offended. You will have plans that will not work out, or someone at work or a family member that is rude to you (not new to me).Maybe you are supposed to do something that should have taken an hour and it ended up taking six hours! Guess what my friend, reality is that, life is full of inconveniences. We cannot control our circumstances, situation, weather and the people around us, but we can definitely control our reaction. Life is all about how you respond to it.

My wife would always say that I should have a more positive attitude and expect God’s favor  We should always remember that most days will not go exactly as we plan. But always remember that God created us to live in peace. If we get upset or frustrated because you were late, or somebody at work offended you, you are just giving away your power. So this is a warning to the people around me at work or my family. I will no longer give away my power and will live at peace and enjoy life! :-)

Keeping an Attitude of Faith

Are you praying to God for something that is taking so much longer than you expected? No matter how long it is, never ever give up. I like my wife’s attitude, her prayer to God is that she will go to USA, and have a good house, a nice car and debt free. I loved her attitude on not giving up. She made up her mind that she will have all of those promises coming soon. Every morning, she wakes up with an attitude of faith; I even remember her posting a picture of a car in our bedroom, saying she will have that car someday. She didn’t have it immediately, but with God’s time, she believed she will have all those promises someday.

So no matter how long you may have been waiting on God’s promises, never ever give up. Your time is coming, your blessing is on its way, it may be today, it maybe tomorrow, it maybe next week, maybe next month or next year. Always keep in mind that with God’s time, you will receive those blessings. All you have to do is just keep believing and trusting God that He will push you through the challenges you have in your life.  I like how my wife Puppen insisted her faith; she kept doing good and declaring God’s promises over her life. She decided to surround herself with encouraging church people; she kept a song of praise on her mouth. She kept the faith and attitude of Victory. What am I saying here my friend, be like my wife, surround yourself with good encouraging people, keep an attitude of faith and keep believing and trusting God that your blessing is about to come.

Focus

In our life, we will encounter many challenges, many distractions, many pessimistic people, people who will try to pull you down to their miseries, people who will keep you from being happy. And most of these people are around you, maybe someone in your work place, your office, your friend, a neighbor, your boss, your co-worker or maybe even your closest relative. To tell you the truth, they are really frustrating, but the reality is that they have little significance when you look at the big picture. Do not allow the negativity of strife to keep you from being successful.

In the Bible, Jesus encountered several negative people who tried to pull Him down and doubted Him. Those people are His friends during His childhood, His neighbors who didn’t believe in Him when He came back to His hometown, His very own relatives, well actually, His very own disciple also doubted Him. Same with David who fought Goliath, his brothers and even the king doubted David if he could kill the giant.

What am I saying here my friends? In order for us to succeed in life and enjoy the blessings that God has prepared for us, we need to ignore the people who doubts us, the people who are negatives, the people who will not celebrate our success. We should learn to separate ourselves from those people.  Let us learn the example of David and Jesus and keep our focus on what is really important in our lives. Instead of being led away by those frustrations, focus on the bigger picture.