KuyaKevin.com

Hey guys,

I wanted to let you know we'll soon be moving the internet broadcast of the Basta LoveLife show.  The new home will be The Edge website (http://theedge.ph).  


We'll keep you posted, and we'll be leaving the original podcast page up for a few more weeks so everyone can get adjusted to the Basta LoveLife Show's new home.

Hey guys:

I'll be in Santo Tomas, Batangas this Tuesday (June 29th) at around 2:00 pm.  I'll be speaking at the Youth Life Student Center.  Here's the address:

#121 J.P. Laurel St., Poblacion 4, Sto. Tomas, Batangas

I believe this campus is located near Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP).   If you have friends who attend this school please let them know. 

I'll be talking about Responsibilities.  What are your responsibilities as a student?  Come and find out.

 

It's been a pretty good week for the most part.  I visited a couple of campuses, had a mid-week worship/fellowship time here at the apartment, recorded the radio show, and managed to train in the gym.

But today was not so good.  I had insomnia last night.  My mind started racing as soon as my head hit the pillow.  This happens to me every once in a while.  Maybe it's because of my personality type.  I'm an INTP, which means I have a tendency to analyze and process things--to live inside my head, so to speak.  I vaguely recall being awake until two or three in the morning, waking up periodically, and finally getting up around eight.

Not long after waking I realized just how little sleep I had last night.  This was a problem: sleep deprivation has always been my Achilles heel.  I can keep up with energetic college students as long as I get six or seven hours of shut-eye.   But lack of sleep destroys me.

I didn't make it to campus.  I was just too mentally and emotionally drained--I had to raise the proverbial white flag.  I did introduce myself to a group of students waiting for a bus, but that was about the extent of my face-to-face ministry today (I was on the way back from grocery shopping).

It's kind of funny it happened this week. Wednesday afternoon we studied Psalm 103 (one of my favorite chapters in the Bible). Here's one of the verses:

For he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
-Psalm 103:14

I've been thinking about this verse all day.  Wednesday we talked about Adam being formed "from the dust of the ground" (Genesis 2:7).

But it became really personal today.  My God knows just how weak and frail I am.  He knows a sleepless night can transform me from campus evangelist to lethargic couch potato.

He loves me anyway--even on days when I have nothing to offer (not that He's impressed with what I have to offer in the first place). 

Thank you, Lord, for knowing me and loving me anyway.

Hey guys,

As I've mentioned before, my gmail account was erased a few months ago and I lost all my contacts--including those to contributed to Learning the Hard Way.    I have managed to "find" almost all of them, but there are still a few I haven't heard from.

I'm still looking for the people who gave me the following stories:

Mr Doormat
A young man keeps taking back his first love despite her completely unfaithful behavior (which includes getting pregnant by another guy).

Life After Abortion
This is is a story of a young woman who went overseas (OFW), got pregnant, and decided to get an abortion after returning to the Philippines.

Dangerously Close
A student gets physically and emotionally intimate with her high school crush after they graduate.  But they only have an "MU" relationship.  The relationship lasted for years and she was "dangerously close" to giving him everything.

Choosing Blindness
A young woman decides to stay in a relationship even though she sees clear evidence he is already married.

If you think one of these stories is yours, please email me.  I promised to send a copy of the book to all contributors and I intend to keep my promise. 

Some of you may remember a post I made about feeling burned out a few weeks ago.

I decided to look into some books on the subject, which led me to Leading on Empty: Refilling Your Tank and Renewing Your Passion.  I'm really thankful I found it.  I'll give you a little synopsis of the book:

Wayne Cordeiro had everything going for him.  He was pastoring one of the fastest growing churches in the United States.  We was a writer, a sought after speaker and involved in worldwide missions efforts. 

But burnout "arrived without warning, like an uninvited guest."  He started having chest pains, which he believed was a heart attack.  The doctor told him his heart was fine--his symptoms were instead caused by anxiety.  One evening he found himself sitting on a curb, crying uncontrollably.  What happened?  The pastor was, as the book's title implies, Leading on Empty.

Cordeiro's meltdown forced him to takes some time of and evaluate what he was doing wrong.   This book brings the reader along on his quest to find balance in his life and ministry.

Here is one of the many quotes that struck me:

There are things built into the psyches of those of us bent on making our lives count for eternity that can later cause diminishing returns.

So true! 

I'd definitely recommend this book.  I appreciated hearing about burnout from a pastoral perspective, and I found his advice to be both practical and holistic.   

One of the many things I'll always be thankful for is a dad who took me fishing.  Here is a picture of my dad and I about to take Will (my nephew) on a fishing trip.

Happy Father's Day!

This is pretty awesome: Eric Duquette was diagnosed with autism and didn't speak his first word until he was five years old. Despite his disabilities, he went on to be the salutatorian of his high school class. Here is an excerpt of his graduation speech.

One of the issues you face when living in Manila is noise pollution.  There's the general noise, for example, like the sounds of engines and horns.

But it seems I'm always subjected to my own personal barrage of audio delights.  There is a videoke bar located across the street from me.  Inebriated patrons belt out lyrics, convinced they are singing a near-perfect rendition of their favorite songs (in reality it sounds more like a cat being run over by a lawn mower).   

Then there's the construction noise.  The apartment below me has been under renovation for what seems like an eternity.  Now it is about finished, so I thought I'd have a little more peace and quiet (relatively speaking, of course).

Who was I kidding--my neighbors have invented yet another way to make noise.  The powers that be decided this apartment building next to mine needed windows in the parking level (I don't know why they didn't make this decision while they were building it).  Time to break out the jackhammer and make some noise.  I took this video from my porch.



God is either working on building my patience, my sense of humor, or both.

I'm looking on the bright side--they are almost finished with this latest, noisy project.

 This week is open house at Youth Life Student Center (YLSC), located across from FEU Morayta (right beside McDonald's).  Feel free to stop by.

I spent about five years doing substance abuse counseling before I moved to the Philippines. Recovering addicts have a saying: “secrets keep you sick.” I’m inclined to agree, and I think this statement can help all of us.

As I’ve mentioned before (in Basta LoveLife), sexual sin brings with it a measure of guilt and shame unlike any other transgression. This in turn causes another problem: we dare not tell anyone about our hidden struggles.

It looks something like this:

Scene 1: A young man is involved in the music ministry of his church. The members recognized his gifts and encouraged him to join the praise team. He loves it—he’s always dreamed of using his talents to glorify God. Soon he will be asked to lead and mentor others.

His private life, however, is a different matter. He is struggling with internet pornography, a sin he just can’t seem to conquer. He’s been caught up in a vicious cycle of sinning, repenting, and falling back into sin. He realizes the hypocrisy, but fear keeps him from asking for help.

Scene 2: A college student has earned the respect of all her friends, relatives, and church family. She is a straight-A student and is also involved in a local campus ministry.

But there’s a problem. She and her boyfriend have begun to compromise, crossing the line from innocent affection to sexually intimate behavior. They haven’t “gone all the way,” but it is only a matter of time before they take this final, irreversible step. She cringes every time her pastor mentions sexual immorality. But she is afraid to ask for help—afraid to let anyone know things are not what they seem.

I believe these scenarios play out in churches and parishes all across the Philippines. Why? Because I get emails that sound just like these two fictitious accounts.

Tragically, the enemy tricks us into keeping secrets from the very people that could help us break free. He whispers the following lies:

“Everyone has his act together except for you.”
“No one else struggles with this—only you. You are alone.”
“Don’t say anything—just keep up appearances.”
“Ask for help? How embarrassing!”

I want to make something clear before I go any further: I consider it a privilege and honor to be a “cyberpastor.” I love helping students with their questions and problems.  My email and blog will continue to be a safe haven for those needing advice.

But an email exchange is only the first step in the healing process. I encourage students and young people to look for face-to-face accountability when it comes to issues of sexual sin. Let’s consider a couple of Bible verses:

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
-James 5:16

He who conceals his sins does not prosper,
  but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
-Proverbs 28:13

Here’s my advice for those of you who are struggling with some type of sexual sin or temptation: find a mature believer whom you trust completely. It should be someone of the same sex (you may need to find someone a little older if you feel you need an extra dose of wisdom). Tell him/her you need someone to be accountable to, and start meeting regularly. Talk about whatever is troubling you--your past failures, current struggles, etc.  Sin will begin to lose its grip through the power of accountability.

“But Kevin,” you argue, “the person I have in mind would lose all respect for me if I shared this.”

Not true! Some of my closest friends are the ones I’ve shared my most intimate struggles with. Our respect for each other grew a hundredfold the moment we put down pretenses and got honest about what was happening in our lives. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the way a true friend responds to such raw honesty. 

Don’t let secret sins destroy your life.

I've seen all the posters, TV ads an other hype related to Al Gore's visit to Manila.  I'm sure he'll be talking about An Inconvenient Truth. 

Before you are convinced the sky is falling, you may want to check out these links:

A Convenient Fraud Expose (11 Problems with Gore's Film)

Video Series on the Truth About "Global Warming"

You may also want to ask Gore why he bought a 9 million dollar oceanfront home in California if he really believes the oceans are about to rise twenty feet.