Category: Random Thoughts
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Brushstrokes and Jazz Notes: How China and the U.S. Shape Their Futures
China and the United States are two big countries with very different ways of doing things. Imagine China as someone painting with a brush—slow, careful, and steady. Now picture the U.S. as a jazz musician—fast, creative, and always changing the tune. China plans far ahead. Its leaders build cities, trains,…
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Where Does Consciousness Go When the Brain Goes Silent?
I’ve been reflecting on something that science and faith seem to agree on: when the brain goes quiet, consciousness doesn’t disappear—it returns to something bigger. A 2025 study published in Nature Human Behaviour found that under deep anesthesia, the brain’s unique “fingerprint”—the pattern that makes you you—completely fades (Nature Human…
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Bittersweet Brew: A Chaplain’s Reflection on Coffee, Memory, and Change
I grew up with coffee not just as a beverage, but as a ritual—an inheritance steeped in memory. My grandmother, Lola Margarita, cultivated her own beans in South Cotabato, on the island of Mindanao. She roasted them over fire, ground them by hand, and brewed them with reverence. Her coffee…
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Christians: “How to Vote Like Jesus”
Lakepointe Church senior pastor Josh Howerton delivered a sermon titled, “How to Vote Like Jesus.” In it, Howerton “repeated GOP rhetoric in a veiled attempt to convince his Dallas-Fort Worth congregation how to cast their votes in November’s election.” Howerton recommended that Christians “should rid themselves of the idea that…
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My Son Called 911…for Me
I have a daily routine. Part of it is taking my blood pressure before making coffee. After I pushed the blood pressure monitor’s start button in the morning of the 20th of March 2024, Ruth caught me leaning towards my left side with my tongue sticking out on one side…
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Chaplain’s Reflection
In the quiet chapel, where stained glass whispered stories of saints and sinners, I find solace. My footsteps echo, a rhythmic cadence that matches the beat of my heart. Each pew holds secrets—some whispered, others shouted in prayer or lament. But today, I carry a unique burden, one that weighs…
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Growing Old Man
Oh one! Oh one! Whose birth falls on January one!At this age what have you already done?Perhaps that’s the wrong question to ask an old manA better question to ask such a man is ‘Are you a grown man?’ But what do we mean when we ask an old man…
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Where Are the Parrots?
By Ed Fernandez I don’t know when this sad feeling began gnawing deep within my old yet still conscientious soul. I just know that it was long after I made that stroll in a new-found little forest of tall trees that wasn’t there before. In the farm that then already…
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Are you an ‘objective truth-seeker’ or a ‘personal truth defender?’
Are you apprehensive about what others might say because you are already happy with what you believe to be true, and don’t want to change? Such uncomfortable feeling is usually felt when you see others as having more knowledge in certain areas, and you feel that you can’t effectively defend…
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BDNF: Know and don’t forget about it
What’s BDNF? Well, it doesn’t stand for ‘Brain Damage Not Funny’ but it’s something related to that. I’m not going to just tell you or anyone who doesn’t know what BDNF is. And I’m not being selfish. I want you to do your own research and learn something new, TODAY!…
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