I would like to glorify God who is eternally great and marvelous. He is faithful in His promises. He is mighty in His deeds.
At the start of the year, I declared that I wanted to have a regular daily prayer time. Vi’s uncle gifted me with a Prayer Journal, and a community brother gave me a “Prayer Guide” to make the prayer time more structured. I really wanted to have a deeper relationship with the Lord, as I’m jealous of people who can sense and discern God’s messages for them and for others. I have decided that my prayer will no longer be a one-way conversation (with me doing all the talking and pleading). This time, I wanted to hear God more clearly and experience His presence more deeply.
It’s not everyday that I can sense Lord’s leading in my life. I still get distracted with the day-to-day worries and preoccupations, and sometimes, sleepiness. But the hopeful expectation of hearing from Him that day is enough to get me to sit up and settle into my daily prayer time. If I don’t hear from Him that day, at least I get to have my daily dose of positive and grateful disposition after reading the Scriptures.
There are times when I really felt that the Lord was telling me something – sometimes in the Bible verses that I just read, sometimes during meditation, sometimes during the mass, and even in a retreat. Sometimes the message may not pertain directly to something that I was contemplating about at that particular time. But as I keep it in my heart, the meaning would eventually become clearer in other days and in some other ways. But sometimes, His message would be direct to the point.
At the start of the year, the word “SURRENDER” suddenly popped up from the text that I was reading – just like in the Da Vinci Code movie. I was flabbergasted. I re-read the passage but couldn’t find the word “surrender” in it. I really felt that it was a message from God. And I decided to make that as my “theme” for this year. I was not disheartened. I did not take it as a negative message of “giving up” or “conceding ” as I was not in any kind of battle. I felt good and even excited that I somehow knew that I was going to go through something different this year, something that I need to “surrender” to His plan, His will. Ano kaya eto? As a response, my prayer was John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Looking back, the first part of the year passed without any major twist and turn in my life. Vi and I were enjoying each other’s company. We were doing okay with our career. We have begun our service in the Ligaya ng Panginoon Community in the registration team for our Friday prayer meetings (We have been looking for an evangelization service for some time now). We did not have any major concern. Our wanting to have a baby is still there, but we have decided to take it easy at this time and let God grant us our heart’s desire in His own perfect timing. (Our fervent prayer for my sister to get pregnant has been granted though! Hallelujah!)
Then July came, the oil spill in our condominium building shook our life from its ordinary-ness. We were forced to evacuate our building on the night of July 21 (Tuesday night). Vi was alone in Manila (I was still enroute from Singapore ) when she packed up our things as the gas fumes had become very strong. (We knew about the gasoline intrusion into our building for two weeks already, but the smell was contained in our basement. And we thought that it could easily be fixed). It was a blessing that one of our choirmates sent her household help to help Vi pack our clothes, and our pastoral leaders came and picked Vi up and moved her to their place. I went straight from the airport to their house and stayed there for one night.
The next day, we asked our cousins if we could stay at their vacant condo for two weeks while the oil leak in our building was being fixed. It has been more than five months, and we’re still staying in my cousins’ condo.
At that time, I thanked God that nothing untoward happened to Vi while I was away. I was also thankful that the building did not blow up (as some imaginative minds were speculating), and we were still able to get some essential things out of the condo over the next few days, even if we had to climb 14 floors, up and down, in pitch dark and with very strong noxious smell of gasoline fumes getting into our lungs. I thought that it’s better this way than doing this while the building was on fire. Vi and I are grateful that we still have each other, and we experienced the love and concern of family and friends in this time of crisis. We see this as God’s redirecting us to another direction in our lives. Where will He lead us? We don’t know yet. But we are willing and excited to find out.
While these things were happening, I was telling myself that this was just an “oppression” from the Evil One, as we were busy preparing for our Choices Seminar (Life in the Spirit Seminar) Friday that same week. We were really preparing for the harvest that God was planning for our Choices seminar. On that Friday, we had nearly 200 participants who attended the Choices seminar.
Worries and anxieties would still creep in once in a while. As the head of my family, it’s my responsibility to make sure that I provide a home for my family.
Three days after the incident, this Psalm put my mind at peace: “As the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest to settle her young, My home is by your altars, Lord of host, my king and my God!...Happy are those who find refuge in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrim roads.” After reading that, I shed all my anxiety at that time. I knew that God is on our case. My journal entry read: “My physical home may be in danger, but my spiritual home is firm”.
At that time, I was totally convinced that we would return to our building in two weeks’ time. But the water and the oil continued to flood our basement (with wastewater submerging two levels of the basement at one point!). We were barred from entering our building. The lights and water were cut off. There even was the threat from the City Hall that it would declare our building as “condemned”.
A few days before the City Hall’s deadline for us to take water out of our basement (without flushing them into the sewerage system) or risk being declared “condemned”, some of the unit owners decided to hold a prayer outside the abandoned building. We were all anxious at that time (as nobody was helping us out. We still couldn’t find a hauler that could take the water out of our building and the deadline was looming). We prayed hard and loud! We did it outside the building, and we couldn’t care less if people were watching us. We cried to the Lord for help. And He helped us. A day later, we were able to convince the City Hall to extend the deadline for another week. We finally found a DENR-accredited hauler by chance (or should I say, by God’s grace) who was willing to charge us with a lower rate. During that time, I had a vision of angels surrounding West Tower in one of my prayer times. It was yet another reminder the He is taking care of us and the building.
But as days went by, doubts and anxieties came back, as the water and oil kept intruding our building. As the hauler was taking water out, the intrusion became much stronger. The unit owners were getting desperate. We were having regular meetings, but only few would attend, and the mood was usually very gloomy. There would be disagreements within the group.
But I would be reminded by the Lord in my Scripture readings (Don’t be anxious. Be patient. He is my refuge. Have faith. Don’t cling on to material things. Having nothing, yet possessing everything. He is my God, are just some of the readings). There’s one that stood out in my prayer time, Jeremiah 30:18 – 19: “See! I will restore the tents of Jacob, his dwellings I will pity: City shall be rebuilt upon hill, and palace restored as it was. From them will resound songs of praise, the laughter of happy men. I will make them not few, but many; they will not be tiny, for I will glorify them.”
After a month had passed and there’s still no sign that West Tower would be restored, Vi would tell me that we should have a plan B. I would always tell her there’s no need to worry. But deep inside I was worried. We were looking for a condo to buy, even if it would mean that we would incur more bank debts. I needed to find a permanent place for us soon. We were looking at condos for almost three weekends straight. We were contemplating on some of the units that we saw even if we knew that the place was not quite right for us.
But one Sunday, while we were praying inside the church, I suddenly felt that God spoke to me. My heart heard these words (not verbatim though): “Why are you anxious? Why don’t you just enjoy what I’m giving you right now”. I was caught by surprise, and at the same time, felt some tingling inside (I always have this sensation when I’m sure that I got some sensing from God). Right there and then, I decided to stop our house hunting. I even began to enjoy the perks of living in The Fort – like brisk walking in Serendra early in the morning or sometimes, at night.
In early September, I attended a men’s retreat conducted by our community. One of our speakers challenged us to “pick a holy fight”. My curiosity was piqued by that exhortation. I’m not a violent man. But it struck a chord in me. I thought that it may be another message for me - I should have a cause that I should be passionate about. I should not only think of myself and my family. I need to be fruitful for the community.
The first thing that came to my mind is our building. At that time, we, the unit owners, already knew that the FPIC pipeline was the culprit of the gasoline leak (even if FPIC was still vehemently denying it). And for the leak to have happened, the ground of Bangkal should already be soaked with gasoline. We vaguely knew that there’s an environmental mess under our community. But I didn’t want to get involved in the situation. I was just happy to stay on the sideline and “support” our leaders in leading the fight. I thought to myself: “I’m already busy with other things in life.” But the retreat jolted me out of my complacency.
If you say “yes” to the Lord, He will open the door for you. After the retreat, in one of our regular unit owners’ meetings, the leaders decided to set up a “media team” as our situation was dragging on without any progress, and the government was not interested in our situation, much more help us. FPIC was still denying that the leak came from them, and we had no technical expertise to refute its statements.
We needed to raise our profile in the press. So I raised my hand to volunteer. I became more involved in our fight. I realized that this is no longer about West Tower alone. This is about the environment being desecrated by the oil spill. We had night meetings which I didn’t really relish. I started calling up reporters to set up interviews, proactively writing press releases, and sending them to the editors. It was not easy, as there was hardly any news to speak about. The leak has not yet been found. The UP-NIGS was not yet involved. But after some days, the Makati City government decided to establish a Task Force with UP-NIGS as the lead to look into our situation.
Days before the declaration by UP-NIGS that the spill was coming from the FPIC leak, this passage came out very clear in my Scripture reading: “Truth will spring from the earth; justice will look down from heaven.” I got a strong sense that our West Tower situation is going to turn for the better. I wrote in my journal that day: “Be prepared for His abundant blessings and His unexpected gifts!”
And the tide did turn. The source was pinpointed. The leak was found. The press was now on our case. We found a lawyer who finally decided to take our case. We had a Senate hearing. We filed a case for the environment, and got the temporary restraining order against the pipeline. FPIC was forced to apologize. It is now talking to us. I have also set up a Facebook page called “Save Bangkal” to rally the people of Bangkal and Filipinos in general to be aware of the situation in Bangkal and help push the case of Bangkal in the national arena.
But the battle is not yet over. In our fight for justice, there have been some obstacles that are thrown our way. FPIC had decided to divide and conquer. It approached some of the unit owners to offer them money. Some took the money, without care for the environment clean up. There were some dissensions even in our group on whether we should still take the cudgel of the environment, or we should just focus on our compensation. Vi and I are of the belief that we are stewards of God’s creation and we are men for others. We should take the cudgel of the environment and even fight for the right of the people in the community. Should we settle for less, as we don’t know if FPIC has enough money to give all of us. Are we ready for a long battle? Maybe we should be “realistic” and accept whatever will be given us. Are we being greedy for not accepting the initial offers?
But we got this verse from one of the readings to remain steadfast: “Look to yourselves that you do not lose what we worked for but may receive a full recompense” (2 John 1:8). The next day came this verse: “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.” (Luke 18:7 -8).
Two weeks have passed since those readings, and I was getting anxious again. FPIC has signed up a clean up firm to do the remediation of the soil in Bangkal. Well and good. But what about us? Some of us (who did not care about the environment) have received some sort of compensation. Why is FPIC dragging its feet in making us a good offer? Two offers were made. And we rejected them both. What now?
Last Sunday, during the Advent mass and during our District Gathering, the priest and the speaker talked about “the joy of waiting for the Best”. It was a soothing reminder from God that we should just wait for the best is yet to come.
We are holding on to these promises. He never failed us before, He will not fail us now.
Many trials have happened in my life this year. They are all good trials, as they made my faith stronger and my personal relationship with God deeper. During the retreat, we were told: “Suffering and hardships can be good for men. Hardships give us understanding, patience, kindness, faith, hope, love and the power of God in our lives.”
Amid all these, I’ve been getting this prodding from the Lord: “All your works give you thanks, O Lord and your faithful bless you. They speak of the glory of your reign and tell of your great works. Making known to all your power, the glorious splendor of your rule. Your reign is a reign for all ages, your dominion for all generations (Psalm 145: 10 – 13).”
That’s why I’m writing this so that you may know of the great things He has been doing in my life.
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