No turning back

I was fortunate enough last weekend to be able to serve the youth by playing music worship for their annual retreat (with some awesome leaders alongside me: Hannah D., Jericho, and Nieman). This year's theme was to be "radical". It was all about pursuing and following Christ in a society like ours today ( where it's definitely not the most popular to be "Christian"). 

I'll be honest with you all, I was not that excited to serve. In fact, I was apathetic, uninspired, uninterested, and tired. I actually had grown weary of serving. Retreat had ALWAYS been something I was excited for, but a quick review of my peers ( all younger ones and not much my age anymore) and my thoughts quickly transformed me into a complacent person. I kept on asking myself,

Does retreat genuinely affect anyone or is it always just an emotional high?

Where are my peers now? 

What happened to them? 

Did they even learn from any of the retreats?

Why do I have to be here and others don't have to work so hard in serving?

Does my serving and constant work in music worship even do anything?

Will these young ones ultimately forget about what they learned and fall out of the faith even when truth is spoken to them time and time again?

Yes. I was quite disgusted with my personal thoughts. You guys can tell me... "You should not feel that way when you're serving God! YOUR HEART SHOULD BE HAPPY TO SERVE! Jesus died for you, you know!" 

and yes... I know that. Don't get me wrong... I absolutely love to serve the church through music worship. I've sang for the church ever since I was a little girl. For pete's sake, I have a video of me at 2 years old singing Jesus loves me. I would not do it if I didn't love it, but sometimes... it's hard. Sometimes... I don't want to, or I don't feel like it. Sometimes... I believe it's easier to not have the responsibility of being a Christian and having these Christian "duties". And even sometimes... I covet the life of a nonbeliever. Yes. I said it.

Gasp. 

I know it's crazy.Why, you ask?

No rules, no feelings of guilt in my actions because of my "Christian thoughts". I could do whatever I want, and no one can truly judge me and rebuke me with their "christianese". I wouldn't have to worry about having to act Christian on Sundays if I ever decided to party it up the night before.

All so easy. 

Too easy.

But I wonder what Christ would have done if he decided that dying wasn't right for him. I'm pretty sure that he would have found it easier if he did not have to die for those who constantly rejected him. And yet he chose to die, so that we may live and in hopes, live to serve him and love him as much as he loves us. He loved my heart to death.

wow.

Being radical is a continuous action of dying to ourselves. It is a daily decision to choose Christ over what the world has to offer. Sometimes... what the world has is overwhelmingly more enticing and we will fail, more than once. We will hurt, more than once.

But still...

While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 

Romans 5:8

Love was freely given by Christ and yet we still reciprocate by rebelling...

God has already given me something far greater than what the world offers daily. I want to praise and serve him because of everything he has done for me through Christ. That is why I still do what I do with music worship and why I am the way that I am. I still feel I could do more. I'm not perfect and I do fail, but I know there is a desire to be different in comparison to the world. I choose Christ.

He took up his cross so that we may live.

With that in mind, it should incline us take up our cross and follow.

Oh Lord you've searched me.

You know my way

Even when I fail you

I know you love me.

Continuing to pray for those who have received the word this past weekend, and those who have in past retreats. Praying we all be reminded of what Christ has done for our lives.

So yes. A lot on my mind and heart, but with that.. well end it on a cute little note. Here are some pics I took this weekend ( mostly of my cute little niece, Aubrey)! :]

- Rachel Marie

Newest Video

Here is the link to my newest video. Pretty much shows my whole Philippine Trip in a nutshell:]

Watch and enjoy:]

Boating, spelunking, ziplining, adventuring

It's a mouth full to say what I've done the past few days, so I will do my best to summarize the things that has happened.The Lord has really given me more than an eyeful of his beauty and creation the past few days and I am in awe of his magnificent works. I was able to go with my family (inlcuding my lola) to Puerto Princesa in Palawan. We specifically wanted to go to the subterranean river natural park where they had the underground river. This underground river is actually considered to be one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. WHAT A WONDER IT WAS! It was exciting going underneath by boat to see this beautifully carved cave with stalagmites, stalactites, large standing stones, and even bats! Yes. Bats... with guano ( bat poop) all over. hahaha. But in all seriousness... looking at this natural wonder.. you cant help but think that there MUST MUST MUST be a creator. The details are endless. The shapes, the textures, the build, the sturdiness, everything about it was pretty spectacular. There are things in this world you just have to marvel at. God gave me a glimpse of what he could do. So I marvelled.

Unfortunately, it was pretty dark in the cave so I was not able to take any good ones inside of it.. but I was able to skimp by by getting some at the beginning and ending of the tour.

This whole trip was meant to bask in his creation. It was wonderful.

The rest of the time at Palawan we went spelunking (caving), ziplining, and boating to different islands on Hunda Bay. How about I just let the pictures do most the talking?

 went to the crocodile farm

mom in front of rice fields

Before we were able to zipline, we had to do a bit of cave climbing.

At the top

playing a beach bum wasn't too bad either.

last but not least.. my favorite picture. CAUSE MY GRANDMAS FACE. hahaha!!!

Thanks for filling up the senses, Palawan.

- Rachel Marie

At Last

So my cousin, Ate Mimi got hitched! Fortunately, I have been blessed with the opportunity to be able to attend. I believe this is the first wedding I have attended that was in the Philippines, so it was pretty exciting! I absolutely love attending weddings... secretly (and not so secretly) is because I LOVE taking pictures of weddings and seeing people all dressed up. My cousin, who is a little more mature in age, was finally able to find the one who she could spend the rest of her life with. Being that she was the only girl in the family and that BOTH her brothers are in the wedding gowns/clothing/fashion business... naturally they wanted to make it a grand occasion. It was just that.. absolutely grandeur. That said, it was easy to take beautiful photos.

p.s. thanks mom for taking pics of me. After a little coaching, we were able to get some nice ones;]

Congrats again Ate Mimi and Kuya Joel!

May Christ be the center always.

- Rachel Marie

Philippines Day 1

So I have already been in the Philippines for a couple of days now and I am going to attempt to blog a little bit about my trip as I go along. So on the first it day, it was pretty much a "settling in" kind of day. Was able to visit my lola's old house, visit family, and visit my lolo's grave. It's weird being here because I already have a sense of familiarity with the sights, sounds, smells of it. It's pretty much like being home away from home. It does not take away how much I miss my family back in the states already though! I guess it's true that home is where the heart is. 

( melta is my grandparents old business. "Mel" from Melo which is my lolo's last name. And "Ta" from Tabing which is my lola's maiden name)

 I definitely will not be blogging about EVERY SINGLE DAY  because I am not that diligent in journalling. I will specifically try to keep up with posting pictures and significant events. What I hope to do during my stay here is to explore a lot more of the place (such as the natural scenery of the PI). Even though I have been here a number of times, I feel like there's always something new and beautiful to see. Trying to stray away from JUST shopping this trip... Let's hope that I save myself from frivolous buys and gain some more insight on the real Philippines. Hopefully there will be a lot more exploring! 

Lightroom

So I did it... I went out and purchased my own, legit photo editing software. I got adobe lightroom 5. I decided to buy it because 1. I've ALWAYS wanted one and saved up for one. 2. I wanted to be able to add more artistic elements to my photos and still keep the integrity of a photo's quality. 3. I'm going to the philippines for vacation and I want to come back with some killer photos!

So yeah... the photo editing software was pretty pricey in my personal opinion ( because I'm not rich) but in my overall opinion, I love it so far! It's a good price considering how much it could do ( and I havent even figured out half of the functions). I honestly just love how much it could really enhance my photos. The last couple of days, I have been spending hours just playing around on it. Here's an example of just one of the photos (before and after) I've practiced on:

Before/After:

Editing essentially woke up the photograph. The color, the contrasting, the saturation, the clarity, etc. Let's hope I'm able to whip out even more amazing pictures one day! MORE TO COME!

-Rachel Marie

Letting our Imagination Flow

I had the privilege of spending time with my nieces and nephew today. I love them so much and I always have such a blast being with them and getting to know them! What I love about kids in general is their fervor for doing anything imaginative and creative. My nieces literally love color as much as I do. I thought it was the greatest thing to create something with them and to see how much fun they had doing it. It was so much fun. They are my favorite artists. Today we created an ocean scene. Medium: crayola chalk. Not only are these girls artists... but models as well! So much talent ;]

I edited these pictures, but I give all photocred to my sister, Dinah!

( missing my nephew in these pictures:[ )

I hope they never lose their sense of wonder.

I love them so much.

- Rachel Marie