Author: Angelo Saludo

Today we celebrate the Feast Day of Saint Augustine of Hippo. So many had been written about him and it is but good to be inspired by his life and works. I would like to share an excerpt from the “Confessions”, one of the most widely read book aside from the bible. Here it is:

Late have I loved you,
beauty so old and so new,
late have I loved you.

And see, you were within,
and I was in the external world and sought you there,
and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely things
which you made.

You were with me, and I was not with you.
The lovely things kept me far from you,
though if they did not have their existence in you
they had no existence at all.

You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness.
You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness.
You were fragrant,
and I drew my breath and now pant after you.
I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you.
You touched me,
and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.

Thank you Lord for the gift of Augustine. Amen.

Being on mission allows you to talk to so many people and even more privilege to have one on one and be part of someone else life. I have observe that most of the time when I talk to members, stories shared are shared in unadorned words, straight to the point and honest but as soon as members becomes leaders, tendency is to be choosy with words and tries to find the best euphemism someone can have because they are afraid to be judge. In the end they end up not being fully real and honest. Talking with members is a good reminder that the more we grow in leadership, the more real and honest should we become not the other way around. Being real and honest is an act of humility.

Teach us O Lord to be real and honest. Amen.

My travel here in the States had been quite a blessing, with so many wonderful surprises. Right when the SFC conference was about to finish, someone approached me and asks if I am Gelo, only to find out that she was Aunt, who lasts saw me when I was still 3 years old. Then here in LA, I was able to meet my uncle, whom I haven’t seen for 15 years already. I was also blessed to have reunions with my batchmates in FTPW training. We had a good updating and we were joking around how we are growing old because before, we used to talk late at night and now we sleep early and talk early in the morning instead. So yes, we did had a sharing around 5 am in the morning. That training was 9 years ago and here we are, one brother is married and the other is now engaged. So we took a photo, and put a sign there, “the married, the engaged and the single”

God is good, I am affirmed once more that when we follow Gods way, we build lasting relationships that goes beyond assignments and service in the community. There are things that lasts… family, friendship, brotherhood, sisterhood. Godly friends gives hope and joy.

Grant us the grace O Lord always Godly friends. Amen.

Good conversation is always uplifting, eye opening and life changing. The last few days of the preparation of SFC conference here has given me opportunities as well to have sharing time with fellow FTPWs and leaders. We are not just talking about service but actually about life. We shared about inspirations that made us say yes to the mission. One thing was common, everyone of us had this uniquely beautiful love story with God. These stories are our witnessing to the goodness of God. I was affirmed once more that the Lord is faithful and will forever be faithful. He will continue to touch lives and write beautiful stories, for the world to realize that there is a beautiful way of living our lives, there is joy that is beyond words and there is sense of fulfillment in doing what is right, true and beautiful.

Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it will surely come, it will not delay. -Habakkuk 2:2-3

Fulltime Training seems like yesterday, yet from then on the vision of the Lord had been revealed and fulfilled in its own time. The Lord never fails. He is a promise keeper.

Thank you Lord for the gift of mission and the privilege of serving You. Amen.

In the story of creation, we can already see how God loves us. He created first all necessary prerequisites in order for a human being to live. The history of salvation is a story of Gods faithfulness and human beings infidelity. It’s a story of God always seeking us out, forgiving and loving despite of our capacity to easily forget his goodness and do our own thing.

The history of salvation is an assurance for the future. God never fails even if we do. He was the God who created, guided, provided and protected us. He was the God who sends his son to reconcile us to Him. He is the same God who takes care of us today and He will be the same God who assures us of a future full of hope. He is a God we can trust.

I was looking at my reflection files and found the following reflection written when I was about to move from Vancouver to Toronto. I find this interesting specially that it’s been more than one year than I had been away from Vancouver. Reading it now reminds me of the goodness of God in any areas I am assigned. So here it is, throw back December 2011…

“I am starting preparing for my new mission area assignment and to start with, I started cleaning up my room and segregating things. I found out I had a bunch of trash accumulated for almost year and half that I had been in this area. I had more scratch papers reflections notes on it. I usually just write in any paper I find every time I have an inspiration. So I ended up piling scratch papers waiting for those written thoughts to be transferred.

Funny how it takes a reassignment for me to start actually segregating things and throwing up unwanted materials. Isn’t it like life, sometimes it takes external factor for us to realize we need cleaning up. Actually some of the trash I collected are just souvenirs of the places I had been to. It seems like unconsciously I wanted something I can hold about the place, a connection I wanted to maintain. We really are a relational being; wanting always concrete to hold on to. There are so many things we want to hold on to, like funny and memorable memories, cloud nine experiences, and even undesirable encounters that produces deep wounds and hurts that refuses to heal. Life will go on, whether we like it or not, so better move with it, with joy in the heart. Let 2011 be 2011, another lap in the marathon called life. If we made good memories then let it light our way for the new year and if we have some bad experiences then lets get all the learning’s we have, stand up again, pack up all the necessary things we need in life. It’s always good and healthy to look back, if only to learn from it.

I find it providential that my reassignment happens in the first week of the New Year, new start, new beginning. The Lord is really good because he always allows reset. If cleaning up my room makes my travel lighter, well this is the time to clean up spiritually as well, from sins, hurts and other emotional baggages. It’s tiring to journey if we are carrying a lot. The Lord doesn’t want us to carry heavy loads, He said in the bible “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” He wants us to enjoy the journey. Yes, there will valley of tears, but I would dare to say that all in all, this journey called life is fun. So let us throw the garbage, carry only what is necessary. Pack up faith, hope and love and move ahead with Christ.”