What you dare…

Back in ’86 when I was living in Westport, Connecticut, my good friend Bianca gifted me with a piece of polished glass with the inscription: “What you dare to dream, dare to do!” I’ve carried the reminder through time and try my best to apply. I always remember my father Louie Beltran telling me: “When you (Cito) put your mind to doing something, you often succeed at it.” In the toughest of times or in the face of challenge and doubt, those two messages have carried me through. I’ve also learned that for those of us who have worked on building a closer relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, at least half of our ideas, dreams, desires or wants are actually divinely inspired for a purpose or a mission.

As a former car restorer there were many times when I would start thinking of a particular car I had never been interested in, never on my list but would come to mind and before you know it, the car suddenly becomes available. On one occasion three unexpected projects turned up in the garage and the stroke of extraordinary good fortune was unsettling for my latero or metal fabricator because he has the mindset that when you come into a string of good fortune, the payback or bad luck is just around the corner.

I, on the other hand, was so overwhelmed I had to intently ask God, “Why all the blessings?” The answer was short, sweet, and awesome: “Wala lang, natuwa ako sa iyo ( No special reason, I was just pleased with you).” Those who want to over sanctify things might call this heresy, but as a parent and father to my daughter Hannah, the truth is she doesn’t have to be a high achiever to please me. She doesn’t even have to ask because my love is sufficient reason to provide for her and more. The same with God! Sorry, but if we are made in his image and likeness, then we obviously got our generosity, love, even our sense of humor, from God.

Recently, I have been on a quest to get very old breeds or bloodlines of chickens as part of my replacement therapy after losing all our pigs to ASF – or so I thought. Not only have I dared to dream of such a project, I have become almost shameless in my pursuit of acquiring the rare and sought after bloodlines from the old days.

When I started, people thought of it as a silly idea, out of character for a “Christian” or me returning to my lineage of sabungeros. It certainly does not make sense to replace my small piggery with a game fowl farm, especially since I never really fought chickens, hardly ever went to the cockpit and have not sold a feather since 1978. But in a matter of months, people have come to realize the method to my madness and the wisdom in building up what would be the equivalent of a gene bank for these old bloodlines.

To be honest I also struggled with the ethics and morality of getting back into the game and for several months I sincerely sought God’s direction on the matter. In hindsight, I was reminded of the fact that my dad Louie and I were never sabungeros. We were chicken men, breeders who loved our game fowl but never made them into idols that got priority over God and family. What was a sport to many was temporarily our source of livelihood for at least six to eight years after martial law was declared and prevented my father from working, and years after to get a decent job. It was so part of my life then that when a lovely mestiza made me choose between having her as my girlfriend on the condition I give up the chickens, I asked if she could feed me and our family?

Reflecting on recent history, I also realized that “God works in wondrous ways” indeed. He places us in situations to prepare us for his plans or to do his work however off tangent or out of the normal things may seem.

While living abroad, I landed a job with a company that took over failed development projects. It was a whole year of familiarization and exposure to construction that served me well in building two resorts in northern Palawan. While living in the US I found it strange that my small circle of friends were primarily people from Europe, but that prepared me for my lifetime partnership with my wife Karen who is from the Netherlands. When I landed in media a year after my father’s death, I thought that was the end goal, but instead God used it as my platform for acceptance that allowed me to minister, pray or share the word of the Lord to national leaders, even a 4-year Bible study with president Estrada during his detention in Tanay. I have had the privilege to pray over four living presidents and countless national leaders and businessmen. That was followed by my fancy for car restoration and the Fast and Furious. When God granted my desire for a real “Skyline GTR,” little did I know that it was my passport into a circle of young racers as their kuya, personal adviser and Bible study leader. Today those young guns are middle-aged businessmen serving the Lord.

In the same way, I have found open doors among the country’s top chicken men and breeders who all have a yearning for the Lord but no one really dares to talk about God and “spirituality” with them. Because of my “lineage” and bloodline, I can talk to them about God and talk chicken as well. Any rooster man loves to talk Chicken; I love to talk about both. God bless y’all.

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