Another call to prayer

I don’t know what plans God really has for us.  The coming storm is another challenge we have together.  But let me just reassure you that OUR GOD IS IN CONTROL.  There are many things that may happen around us that we, in our meagre understanding may now really fathom, that is why we need a God like ours.  Powerful, omniscient, and omnipresent.  For that, it means we can call Him anytime of the day.  And HE WILL LISTEN.

My favorite verse as of late is that found in Jeremiah where God promises that He has great plans for us.  Plans for a prosperity and a future.

Through all these calamities, I have seen the reality of our worn out statement “Bahala na si Lord!” although I know like you, there is that nagging, niggling, sense of our wanting to take control.  But He has shown us, WE CAN DO NOTHING, without Him.

There is only one thing we can do though.  One very urgent and necessary thing.  Is to submit to God in prayer and ask Him to take control of our fears, our anxieties, ourselves.  In our panic, sometimes, we forget, there is a greater being who can orchestrate our safety, and His way is the best.

So yes nation!  Let us all pray.  Reflect on why God has allowed these things to happen, even to the very best.

Many people have come out the way God intended them to be.  Helpers. People who have the heart to help and ease other people’s pain.

Some of my friends in the corporate world have — no, ALL of my friends, in the corporate world have shown how God has moved them.  Unselfish demonstrations of that desire to help in taking some of  the relief items to the highly affected areas in Bohol.

One has to travel by land, by sea and even on foot just to reach the remote places in Bohol where people badly need help.  “You would really be touched by the way people react to their situation there” my friend Clayton Togonon shared.  “They are even willing to cook and share what they have for you.  They do not fight over the relief goods that are sent.  They lineup in an orderly manner.  And even when you just pass by a place, they ask you if you have already eaten, and offer their food.”

My other friend Marylou,  experienced the generosity of the Bol-anons when she went to distribute some items in the area and was offered “humba” as the people still had some animals left. 

The way they have coped with the situation shows how people are bound by a sense of community that is spurred only by a good God.

Those experiences reminded me of the Widow’s Might where all the widow had was  enough for her own meal and yet she did not hesitate to share it.  The attitude of the Bol-anons has discredited the long standing  label of “ija-ija, ajo-ajo” (what is yours is yours, what is mine is mine), which is often misinterpreted as being selfish, but which in reality shows that they are just grateful for their portions and even wish to share what else they have.

In the office, my workmates,  have tried to pool in some resources in order to give to Bohol.  We followed the call of the Department of Education and asked for goods and water from every employee so we could share what little we could for those who need our help.  Still we see that the need remains so great as all these things are consumed daily and unless the road networks are restored, then access to basic things like food and water would be difficult.

So  let us continue to send them food and water and with those, you can also send a few sheets of plywood and GI sheets so they can start rebuilding  their homes.

Items like these can be sent through Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry for those in Mandaue City.  Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry for those in Cebu City, and various media outlets or the Office of  Civil Defense located at Camp Sergio Osmeña in Cebu City.

And again, I call for us to pray, every 8:00 a.m., before we set ourselves to work, and ask for the healing of our land.