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This recollection of my encounters with various early Apple Computer models will betray my age. Nevertheless, most people today only know Powerbooks, iMacs, iPods, iPhones, and iPads. How about these?

Model	Year Introduced	Description (click each picture to enlarge)
Apple I	1976	I saw this first Apple only in pictures. CPU: MOS 6502 @ 1 MHz; Memory: 4-48 KB; Video resolution 40X24 character display; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak sold the printed circuit board.
Apple IIe	1983	My brother bought this for his kids, so I was able to use this for games and writing whenever I went to their house.  CPU: MOS 65C02 @1 MHz; Memory: 64-128KB; 80-col display; up to 560×192 resolution; 2 5.25-in floppy drives
Lisa	1983	Apple Lisa with dual floppy drive and hard drive sitting on top of it. I remember that one of my co-workers at the engineering company I worked for in Alaska was so in love with this new thing, but he couldn’t afford the $9,995 price tag. By “coincidence,” Lisa was the name of Steve Jobs’ first daughter. CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 5MHz; Memory: 1 MB; 80-col display; up to 560×192 resolution; 2 5.25-in floppy drives; 10 MB hard drive; 12″ monochrome monitor, 720X364 resolution; first commercial PC with graphical user interface (GUI)
Macintosh Classic	1983	My first full-time use of a Mac was this model when I worked for an environmental engineering company in Walnut Creek, CA. The first time I brought my office Mac home, our kids were in awe. They’ve never seen a computer that was packed in a bag! ;              CPU: Motorola 68000 @ 8MHz; Memory: 1-2 MB of RAM; a SuperDrive floppy; 40MB hard drive; Display: 9″ monochrome, 512X342 After two years of using Macs in that company, I knew why Mac people would say, “Once a Mac user, always a Mac user.” Even my kids ridiculed me, “Dad, why do you like Macs?”
iMac G3	1998	In 1999, when I was the computer manager for the newly-established Mindanao International Christian Academy in Davao, the school purchased several H-P PCs and, at the insistence of my Finnish Mac enthusiast, one iMac. His two kids were the only users of the iMac. I was excited to be able to use this amazing computer, with its hardware and OS years ahead of the PCs.  CPU: 233 MHz PowerPC 750; Memory: 32 MB; HD: 4 GB; 24X CD-ROM; Display: 15-in 800X600 futuristic color This was Steve Jobs’ first model after he returned to Apple, and was another pioneering model. It was Mac’s first all-in-one model, with no floppy drive, but only with a CD-ROM drive. This model returned Apple to profitability!
PowerMac G4 Cube	2000	This 8-inch cubic model was probably a take-off from the NEXT Computer which Steve Jobs founded and later merged with Apple. I only saw these in the Apple stores. Another intriguing, innovative design, but lasted only a little over a year. CPU: 450 MHz or 500 MHz PowerPC G4 (7400/7410); RAM: 1-1.5 GB; HD: 20-60 GB; CD-ROM or CD-RW
iMac G4	2002	Of all Apple designs, I considered this the most out-of-this-world, with its 10.6″ half-sphere shape and stainless steel neck supporting a 15″ flat LCD display. I don’t know how I remember my Finnish friend introduced me to this one in 2001, when it was officially released in 2002.  CPU: 800 MHz PowerPC 7445 (G4); 256 MB-1 GB RAM; 60 GB Ultra ATA/66 hard drive; a SuperDrive; 1024X768 display
Mac Mini	2005	If there was ever a first Apple computer I was close to buying, it was this one. Sleek and pretty, 6X6X2 inches, I was thinking of using this as a desktop/notebook combo. It’s as portable as a notebook. Take it to the office or home and plug in the LCD, mouse and keyboard, and it’s a desktop! And at $599, it’s very affordable. But thanks to about 10 people, the Lord blessed me with a MacBook Pro! CPU: 1.25 GHz or 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4; 40 or 80 GB HD; 256 MB RAM; DVD-RW

These last couple of months, Rachel went college hunting, visiting three in southern California, and one in the northern state. It’s going to be a tough choice, especially with the astronomical costs, as much as $37,000 a year. Even with Federal, State, and in-house grants, the expenses are still quite prohibitive.

But our concerns run deeper than financing college. We hear more and more stories from co-missionaries and other parents in the Philippines and overseas about their children who used to be zealous about their Christian faith in high school but have dropped out of their faith when they stepped into college life. We often are very quick to lay the blame on secular universities, but many “drop out” even when they study in Christian colleges. The question then is, Does it really matter where our teens go to college?

Dr. Michael Horton, Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology at Westminster Seminary California, says no in a short article, “Dropping Out (of the Faith) in College” “According to a recent study, it doesn’t really matter. College students drop out of the church at astonishing rates at religiously-affiliated as well as secular institutions.” So what are we to do? Dr. Horton says he usually shifts the subject from college to church:

In my experience, it’s far more important to find a good church than to expect a college to buttress one’s faith. Of course, it’s important to find a good church when you’re raising kids in the first place. Churches and families that fail to immerse young people in the covenant of grace place an awful burden on a college—even a solid Christian one—or a good church in a college town. Nevertheless, I’ve seen terrific examples of faithful churches that evangelize, teach, and incorporate even shaky believers into the body of Christ while there in college. The college doesn’t matter.

Horton has seen the results of this failure of families, schools and churches in preparing their children for the onslaught of anti-Christian culture in college:

Tough questions that you’d be asked on a secular campus weren’t pressed here. Everybody sort of nodded to the right answers, though not always sure why. Spiritually, it was pretty dull, routine, and mindless … A lot of those friends today are unchurched. Some are bitter—the last person they want to talk to is a conservative Christian, much less an evangelical. I don’t blame the college, but the whole religious sub-culture that shaped these young people and then provided a few extra years of moralistic, therapeutic deism.

John Armstrong, adjunct Professor of Evangelism at Wheaton College Graduate School, in his post “The Self-Esteem Gospel and the Faith of Christian Parents”, also lays the blame squarely on parents and churches for passing down a “watered-down” faith to their children:

What’s more, many American teens who do say they are Christians have actually embraced what is being termed for good reason “a watered-down ‘mutant’ form of Christianity, one that portrays God as a ‘divine therapist’ whose primary aim is to boost people’s self-esteem … What is very clear is that neither churches nor parents are adequately helping teens to see, or comprehend, what true Christianity is. Thus the faith of “Christian” parents has now been passed along to their children.

Horton also recommends this article by Marybeth Hicks, “College Students Need to Keep Their Faith.” Like Horton, Hicks says it’s not college choice that’s important, but

the tools to stay sane and safe – a well-formed conscience, a grounded faith based on whatever beliefs we espouse and have chosen to instill, and especially a commitment to pray for and with our young adults as they head out into the larger world.

A Plea for Catechizing our Children

As we think about our last year of nourishing, discipling, and strengthening the faith of our sons and daughters, let us remember the Bible’s prescription for teaching our children: catechism. No, catechism is not harsh even for little children, nor is it Roman Catholic. As Pastor Ron Gleason of Grace Presbyterian Church in Yorba Linda writes in “A 21st Century Plea for Catechizing Our Covenant Children,”

Children have a high capacity to learn, so the available catechisms are not too hard for them. Historically, catechism has been around since the time of Moses, as we shall observe. During the period of time known as the Reformation, virtually every Reformed pastor cobbled together a catechism for the children of the congregation … “Teaching, by the catechetical method, has marked the history of the church almost from the beginning down to the present time.” [This] statement might come as a shock to a number of people who believe that catechetical instruction is of recent vintage, or that it was only performed in the Roman Catholic Church. Both are misconceptions.

Gleason says that the road that families and churches took led this generation to “watered-down worship, preaching and teaching” by two things: first, “open ridicule of biblical truth, otherwise known by that dirty epithet of ‘doctrine’”; and second, assuming that the congregants “were simply too stupid to fathom the depths of the Bible.” He sees the importance of the unbreakable relationship between Christian doctrine and Christian living:

Far too many who call themselves Christians today are rudderless when it comes to living a distinctively Christian lifestyle and are unable to articulate a biblical life and worldview … They see little or no connection between the relationship of one biblical doctrine to another or to how a biblical doctrine has any association with ethical behavior.

To start, here are downloadable 16th century catechisms (PDF):

Heidelberg Catechism

Westminster Shorter Catechism

We apologize since this is only our first official update since last December 2010 (most of our updates have only been through emails). So we owe you highlights about our family and mission from January.

Rachel played one of the orphans in Faith Academy's "Annie" musical	Lunch with Oli, Nem & Ching (Ngaihte) at one of Chiang Mai's markets	Tim & Chesney's family were visited by Lloyd & Nancy Peckham and Lem.
Click on images to enlarge

Last school year, I worked as half-time staff of Faith Academy as the school’s Webmaster to save about $1,200 on Rachel’s school expenses. But I found it difficult juggling my time between church ministries, teaching at the study center, and being webmaster. So we decided that Evelyn should apply to be part-time staff as Circulation Desk Manager and IGCSE Exam Officer. We pray that she will be accepted so we can retain the savings and free half of my time.

Rachel finished her junior year strong, and she will enter her senior year in about two weeks. In addition to track & field, she was part of her drama class presenta­tions, and played one of the orphans in the musical “Annie.” This summer, she was given a gift by her broth­ers and aunts and uncles to visit California. She has vis­ited 3 out of 4 colleges in California. We’re thankful that she can work for two weeks in a camp in the Santa Cruz mountains.

On May 9, we all joyfully welcomed Baby Tayte, Tim and Chesney‘s third boy and our third grandson. Caleb is 7 and Tyler is 3. Following after us!

By God’s grace, Tim is still a web developer for File­maker, Inc., while Lem is still busy working and travel­ling for CityTeam Ministries, both in San Jose, CA.

Oli and Nem have both settled in Lakerland—Oli with the LAPD and Nem does design for a print shop and taking classes for an M.A. Last month, they visited Nem’s parents who are missionaries in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We were so glad to meet them there and visit a new place (and also to be able to renew our Philippine visas).

Our family in the Philippines suffered a couple of tragic losses in the last three months. Hannah Ong, Evelyn’s sister Leah’s sweet 13-year-old daughter, and Renato Aguinaldo, Evelyn’s sister Beth’s godly husband, both lost their battle with terminal cancer.

Mission Church Report

Next month, Pasig Covenant Reformed Church will be praising the Lord for our third year anniversary. Please pray that our church will grow, both spiritually and numerically. We also hope to move to a rented room in a building, so we have several needs to establish it as a place for Bible study and Lord’s Day worship. More details here.

We rented a room in the 4th floor of this building in Aguinaldo Highway, Imus, Cavite

Back of postcard for promoting early morning devotional service

Rev. Allen Vander Pol, who visited us in 2009 (above), approved Mars Hill Study Center as a MINTS study center

I’ll be trying a “new” concept: 15-20-minute Wednesday morning devotional services for people before they go to their workplace. More details here.

As we plan to move into this building, we have the following needs:

• One-time: A-C unit ($600), 2 bookshelves ($75), table, desk & chairs ($100), whiteboard ($75).
• Monthly rent and utilities: about $200.

I finished a couple of sermon series, 1 & 2 Thessalonians and the Servant Songs of Isaiah, and am now in the middle of the Book of Isaiah (Chapters 34-35), a book filled with messages of judgment and restoration.

In February, Mars Hill Study Center officially became a study center affiliated with Miami International Seminary (mints.edu), so I’m now teaching a few pastors and elders on Saturday mornings.

After the two morning classes, I drive about 1.5 hours to a city called Imus in Cavite province to teach a new Bible study group. It’s still a small group, but we pray that God would bring more families in when we move our study to a more accessible venue.
To this end, I’m keeping an eye on a Filipino pastor whom I pray will be called by God to lead the ministry to this new group. Lord willing, in the next several months, they will start morning worship services.

Financial Update:

To date, our monthly support for this year has averaged only 47% of our budget. For this reason, we haven’t met our income tax and medical insurance obligations the last two years.

So we are praying that God will provide our needs. If you would like to become a ministry partner, please send your check payable to: MEANS, P. O. Box 8434, Bartlett, IL 60103. Please write “R1612 (FEURM)” on the memo line.

Thank you for your continuing prayers and support. ~ Nollie, Evelyn and Rachel

Nato was born on May 27, 1960 in Hagonoy, Bulacan to Ireneo S. Aguinaldo Sr. and the then Ma. Asuncion Guanson. He graduated from Philippine Polytechnic University with a B.S. Commerce degree, major in Banking and Finance.

On May 12, 1984, he married the then Elizabeth M. Roxas from Caloocan City and settled in Malolos, Bulacan. He and his wife and son Jacob have been faithful and active members of Atlag Unida Church in Malolos, Bulacan since they started their married life.

He first worked at the National Telecommunications Commission, then at various shipping companies, and was last employed by Marlow Navigation Philippines, Inc.

He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Elizabeth Roxas-Aguinaldo, son Jacob, daughter-in-law Analyn, and grandson Gabby; mother Ma. Asuncion Guanson-Aguinaldo; sister Ma. Luz A. Lucman (Bong); brothers Florencio (Nelita), Ireneo (Sheila), Marcos (Nerissa) and Enrico (Sarah).

To view the memorial service in his honor, click the images below.

The Aguinaldo Family extend their gratitude to all who offered words of comfort and sympathy.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever
(Psalm 73:26).

To view the thank you card, please click on the images below.