Matt Harding I believe set a very good example when he made this video. 

"Behold how good and how pleasant it is, for brethren to dwell together, in unity." Psalm 133:1 One person asks the world to dance with him, and we do.  One may start setting the example alone...but eventually...you'll see what happens, when you start something :) Yup kasama Pilipinas :)


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

I'm pretty spent, considering that from Thursday night to this very day (in fact I only have a few minutes for this) I've been working on two commercials simultaneously, both product freight scenes (the money shots).  To give you an idea, I worked the whole of thursday on the 1st one partially until 1am friday, then from 1am-6am the same day I worked on the second one which had a presentation set at 10am only to find that it was moved to 5pm which in turn made me growl, and race to the finish for the 1st commercial which had a presentation at 1pm.  I was like...sana naman I had worked straight for the 1st one if that's the case na hapon pa pala yung second.

I slept on my hand at a desk at 6am, and asked mom to help wake me by 830.  I woke up and my hand was dead it was cold, clammy and it couldn't feel a thing.  I squashed the veins apparently and circulation hit a bottleneck.  I shook it for the life of me...

Throughout all this, I was overwhelmed and beating myself up for being so...telling myself I would make it, if only my eternal Director believed in me.

The minute I woke up from that table, new strength was in me, I had just enough to continue preparing the second one with time to spare, but the first one for 1pm really pushed me to my limits.

Imagine that the director for your 1st commercial is coming for a pres and has to leave in an hour for an international flight so you can't be late in presenting.  I made it by a hair's breadth, of course with my art director, coordinator, and marketing person breathing down my neck as I desperately clattered over my keyboard trying to fix the scene (because it's their job talaga so no big deal).  I'm actually proud to be supervised by an art director who is not just a fine arts major but has a degree in physics, too, sometimes you think it's a pain when you're tired coz there's no cheating his eye but you realize what kind of edge you have with his expertise and his knowledge of how something in a scene should really look or react.  In the end, nakakabless.  "Jules render na, render na, ay ayusin mo ito..."  fatigue can sometimes make you feel like crying as opposed to if you had 8 hrs of sleep, well I didn't, but the stress crawled up my neck.  The whole time I thought "I render unto You...I render unto You.  I can do all things..."

I remembered a really cool lady in church sharing about faith and the power of God's spoken Word.  I thought to myself, He is the very First Director who knows exactly how everything will finish.  She said "In the dark God said 'Let there be light' and there was light.  Imagine mo if He looked at the darkness at sinabi niya 'Shucks ang dilim!' e di yari na tayo." hahaha! oo nga naman. "Lights, camera, action"...nothing happens until the Director says so.

The Secret is no secret, it is faith in Him not faith in one's self alone that makes things happen.

Pwes, I said "i'm going to make it," and I did, but not without help from my UGL team :)

If you chance upon this write up, please believe with me that my 2nd presentation this afternoon for both commercials (that's with revised material) goes well and receives favor.  Thanks :)

"Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples in Luke 8:25. (NIV)

"Where is your faith?"  The question hounded me this morning en route to Makati.  It is often during long car journeys to work that God speaks to me ever so softly, but clearly.  It occured to me that Jesus' question there in that Gospel was often received from the New International Version as rhetoric rather than an actual personal inquiry because of its simplified form.  A rhetorical question is defined in the dictionary as

question requiring no answer: a question asked for effect that neither expects nor requires an answer. Ex: "What's the point of going on?"

The implication of "Where is your faith?" as a rhetorical question would be that Jesus saw that these mortal men had no faith at all which I believe was not the case.  Jesus was humble and graceful when He spoke, even to his subjects.  I think He expected them to truly answer the question in their hearts. God has revealed to me that "Where" is the operative word.  Jesus came to pull people's faith away from things that fade away and towards Himself.

Luke's manuscript triggers good insight.  Where is our faith?  In the bodega?  In the CR? Hehe, but no...it dawned on me that all humans, even those who don't believe in Jesus Christ, actually operate on faith, it's built into our system.  If you were late for work and didn't believe in trusting God's orchestration and grace or His elite angel escorts on your side mirrors, you'd have faith merely in yourself and your ability to drive fast, or faith in the car that brings you there or a shortcut route you know.  When we turn on the shower in the morning, we have faith that water will spring forth.  Do we see it coming in the pipes?  No, but we expect water to be there when we need it.  How would one without faith live at all?  We'd trust nothing and no one if it is true that there are some of us who have absolutely zero faith.  We'd have no reason to live.  Yes, even those who don't believe in Him have faith, it just happens to be faith misplaced.  Faith is never missing or absent, just misplaced.  Faith ought to have its proper place, in a Savior Who never ever fails and His love for every single one of us.

What God revealed to me is that all of humanity moves towards something they are believing or hoping for.  "Where is your faith?" He asks and looks for it, because He expects us to bring it to Him and when He sees it isn't with Him, He expects us to confess to Him as a dear friend on where we've actually put it.  I believe what it truly means is what is our faith placed on?  Perhaps he, she, or it, or a situation may never truly satisfy, faith perhaps in a progressing relationship, material wealth, a certain career standing, or even plain self reliance, complete trust in our own independence.  Where is our faith?  More importantly, where must it be?

Another verse that confirmed His talk with me was the same story as told by Matthew, the tax collector who was in the boat.  In the King James version it reads:

Matthew 8:25-27 (King James Version)

 25And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

 26And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

Here we see that the disciples' faith is mentioned as little, perhaps in amount.  They had faith in their Lord, but they did not give Him all of it, it was not faith without limits so to speak, and so we see in the Gospel of Matthew that the disciples' faith wasn't far from where it ought to be, but they had it.

J.B. Phillips has a book called Your God is Too Small.  In his book he highlights the reason a lot of people still remain in the dark on God's awesome power, believers and non-believers alike.  It is we who actually say that God is only able to do what we believe He can.  We make God small, we give Him a very small work-table in our garage.  There is a critical need to believe in a God Who can achieve the seemingly impossible in any situation, even in little things, and that He actually wants to.  We think He's too high and mighty to care bout little things like our favorite desserts, passion-filled pasttimes, people we're attracted to, or things that rub us the wrong way.  A big God cares about the small things, details, even your favorite color.  A big God asks if your faith is completely on the payroll coming in 2 weeks or His promise to provide at all times.  A big God wonders why you only want to bring that friend who needs to hear more about Him if your favorite speaker is the one attending,that "you" was me.  If God is the reason for the ministry, why is your faith on the ministry and its people and not in Him to orchestrate it all?

I remember once somebody told me he/she didn't want to bring friends who didn't believe the same thing because the speaker might say something wrong or be too strong, or the vibe of the churchies attending would turn them off.  Years ago na ito.  Perfect love and faith casts out fear.  Believe in the God that you are sharing about and that is He who touches people, not in the pagka-cool of the service, the awesome music band, or the pagka-patok of the speaker.  Through any ministry that is dedicated to Jesus Christ and His teaching seeds are sown and God works wonders, whether they use old school hymns or Hillsong United and Switchfoot.  It is God Who works wonders through men.  People ought to come to church services expecting to discover more of God in His people and through His Word, the Bible, not for entertainment or to be awed by people basking in personal glory.  I remember a message I heard that said glory is not to be kept for yourself...it's for those around you.  A mango tree's fruit is not for the tree to eat but for those around it.  So if God shines His glory through you, remember that it is to bless those around you and draw more to Him.

This is my personal insight and meditation on this of course.  I am open to listen to other insights should anyone think otherwise.  I believe though that God really kind of simplified it for me.  "Julia why is your faith here, here, and here...but not with Me?"

Lord, teach me to focus all of my faith on You and bring me to levels where I never thought I could be before.

11And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:

 12And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.      1 Kings 19:11-12