Christianity
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The moral basis for living in freedom
I was in college when I learned to memorize the 10 commandments. It was when my sister and I attended an evening service and the Pastor challenged us to memorize the 10 commandments through the aid of our fingers, telling us that His goal was to send us home having the 10 commandments memorized. I… Read more
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Domesticating God
After writing the Name It, Claim It blog post, I kept looking for a better way to describe how we treat God like a cosmic vending machine—and then I found it: Yes, sometimes we humans try to rope God into our dark plots and use God to help us scramble to the top of the… Read more
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When prayer stopped being about getting what I want
My 2025 planner’s year-in-review reminded me that I had a full year despite how mundane most days felt. And as I read or watched end-of-year summaries on social media, I kept thinking about what made 2025 truly different for me. I thought about how it wasn’t really about what I accomplished that year, but what… Read more
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Reading the Bible in one year again
It’s that time of the year again to commit to reading the Bible in one year. 🎉 I used to read the Bible in one year every year (which I wrote about here) until a significant life transition reorganized how I spent my days, which in turn encouraged me to focus on reading and rereading… Read more
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Letter no. 49
Dear reader from the future, Whenever provinces and cities get flooded in the Philippines, I always think about anthropogenic climate change. But there’s another problem that originates from human activity: greed. As the government poured out billions for adaptation efforts, bad actors found ways to steal what should have protected us from rising waters. But… Read more
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Beyond quiet quitting and bai lan: finding a third way to work
I’ve been unsettled these past few months about my changing attitude towards work. I can’t help but see myself resonating with my generation’s disillusionment, and it’s escalating my anxiety about the future. I feel like I’ve been cheated right after university—”too educated” for humble jobs, yet somehow I’ve forgotten that our kind of work today… Read more
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Letting go of control
Hopelessness dims the future, making it difficult to imagine what good might come out if you even try to press on through the dark to see if there is an end to it. One can also remain hopeful even when in the dark. While I was going through moments of uncertainty, it certainly felt like… Read more
jessa 