Silliman Blogs

(Delivered during the celebration of University Christian Life Emphasis Week on February 4, 2012, Udarbe Memory Chapel) Text: “Joshua 1: 8-9;” “Luke 4: 18-19;” “Isaiah 42:6” Meditating on the theme based on the Scripture text taken from Joshua 1: 8-9, “Be Strong and Take Courage,” takes me back in time as I address the students and faculty of four equally dynamic academic units which, at one time or another, I have either had some association with, I am currently involved in, .. Read more

When I took the Bar examination in November 2011, topping it never entered my mind. All I wanted was to pass. Until now, the reality of having placed Top 6 in the Bar examination mystifies me. I do not know how I did it. What I’m only sure of is that I did my best during those four Sundays of November 2011. During those months of preparation for the Bar, my parents, Judge Rosendo B. Bandal, Jr. and Dr. Hope Maxino Bandal always gave me the support and encouragement which allowed me to hurdle .. Read more

(Text appeared in his column in a national daily and a local weekly.) I listened last night (February 18) to Renato Solidum Jr., director of Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) and Leo Jasareno, director of the Mines and Geohazard Bureau (MGB), explain before a television audience composed of journalists and some officials of various organizations the recent natural occurrences on Mindanao and the Visayas. These two public officials, who are also experts in their .. Read more

The minute I stepped foot on the Antarctic Shelf, I felt the excitement and appreciation of God’s work.  There was nothing much to see in my surroundings, other than hard ice masses everywhere; and yet, there, I felt an environment that was chaste and uncorrupt by civilization.  It was delightful!  At the same time, I felt wary.  I felt that Antarctica, despite its remoteness, could feel the heartbeat of every continent on Earth, from the warmth of the flowing waters, to the depths of the .. Read more

The Dumaguete community mourns the loss of a dedicated and compleat artist and cultural icon at a time when the entire Christiandom was in the thick of preparations to greet the new year. Evelyn Rose Romano Aldecoa, 55, peacefully passed into eternal life in her sleep in the early morning of December 29, 2011. She was buried Monday, January 2 at the Dumaguete Memorial Park beside her mother, the late voice teacher, Nelly Abella Romano Aldecoa, after a solemn, moving necrological service at the .. Read more

Opening Prayer: God our Heavenly Father, It is here in the study of Your Word, and under the guiding light of Your Holy Spirit who helps us to go deeper in our understanding, that we will find the tools we need to lead. Continue to remind us that the source of true leadership -- true spiritual authority -- is not influence with men, but with You our God. Blessed our hearts and minds so that when can listen to learn to obey you. In the Jesus name, I pray, amen! INTRODUCTION Education is life .. Read more

Let us pray. Jesus, may you touch our hearts and minds as we learn from your Word this morning. In Jesus' name, Amen. Our passage reads, "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." Many people think that when they become Christians, all their troubles are over. Life is easier henceforth. If you go back to your personal history of when you became a Christian, this may have been a thought you shared. It did feel like it -the redemptive power we experienced when we accepted God's .. Read more

Hebrews 3:1-2; Luke 24:19; Luke 1:32-33 Introduction Thank you very much for inviting me to deliver the keynote address at this year's edition of the national Church Workers Convocation. This is a great honor. Whether I can live up to your expectation,I am not sure. Convocation organizers took a risk in pressing into service the feeble mind of this junk, not adjunct, professor who is 80 years young, not 40 years old. As I see it, the convocation theme has two key components: .. Read more

The two houses of Congress had barely started their hearings on the 2012 budget than the world was jolted with the news that Standard & Poor’s had downgraded the United States from its AAA rating to AA+. The event triggered turmoil in the global markets. The Philippine market was, likewise, affected. In the meantime, senators holding hearings on the macroeconomy were assured by policy-makers that the events would have only a minimal impact on the country. The senators were reportedly .. Read more

I dream bilingually. The scenes morph from my childhood in the Philippines to my life in America — from my mother’s tropical garden to the summer blooms in my Massachusetts backyard. And in these dream locations, I am speaking two languages: Cebuano, which is my Filipino dialect, and English, which I have taught as a college professor in the United States and overseas. (To read the full article, click: http://www.intervarsity.org/gfm/well/resource/home.) Read more