In the last two weeks of July, I got news from my mother that my relatives in Butuan was affected by a fire catastrophe. That their house was totaled and their entire life's possessions were all gone. I didn't believe it at first, but when I arrived I saw from the outside of their gate that their roof was bent from fire. From the looks of it, I thought that it was just the roof that got affected and everything else was good. Their neighboring lots were absolutely zeroed. So when I came down from our car, and knocked on the gate, I saw an empty burnt house. Titles were destroyed, wall paints are gone, glass windows are gone, everything is gone! They were totaled! And from the description of my uncle, the fire was as big as 2 floored house and it felt like they were burning in hell. The fire was so big and so fast that it reached the homes from the adjacent road! The fire was really big it felt like hell and it burned everything down to ashes. They were only able to save the children and no items were secured. So, I had a major thought about my life's possessions and earnings. Anything you have can be taken away from you in just a blink of an eye. I had to rearrange my life and my priorities. We were able to give them some things that we don't need anymore but those that we brought them were never enough to get them back on their feet and to continue to live on. We will get back to them soon and bring more things and money.
In the last week of July, in my home town Cagayan de Oro, my computer enthusiast group was invited to a Mindanao wide event. It was the Mindanao Cyber Expo 2015. I was in total doubt to join because of what happened and saw from my relatives in Butuan. In the end, I decided to join and to keep my mind off of such tragedy. It was selfish but I also figured I need to enjoy things while they last. I will be posting photos of the event in a separate blog post.
In the first Sunday of August, I went to church and we had the topic of the Cost of Discipleship. It is about how we prioritize things in life. Absolutely in line with my experiences in the past 2 weeks. Our speaker talked about how we prayed to God about the things we wanted so much in life. I know I did pray for these things and somehow He gave me more that I could have ever imagined. Now the cost of it, the speaker told us that yes we did pray hard for it and now that we have it, do we still have time for Him? Are these things that we asked from Him keeping us away from Him? One of the examples our speaker gave us is in the Bible:
He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." Genesis 22:2In this example, Abraham prayed for decades to have a child with the woman he loved so much. And now that he finally got him (Isaac), God wanted to test Abraham for his commitment to Him. This took me to the core. He was willing to give up his son to serve God. Can I do the same?
I prayed to have a job, for I have been jobless for few months. I got it, He gave it to me and I am being payed well to do so! Am I being a good servant to Him? I figured last year that I need to give back and be on the church always on Sundays and join life group weekly as well. This year, I am doing it better. But is it really enough? After the signs He gave me for two weeks. I figured, He can take away anything that's keeping me away to serve Him. Imagine all your life's possessions gone in an instant where you get to save nothing but yourself and your love ones. I mean you are lucky enough to save the people that mattered to you. But the things you worked hard for? It's just too painful. But then again, in the Bible the book of Job says it all. His faith was tested everything he has was taken away from him. His wealth, his family and even he was sick to the ground. He was down and he doubted God but in the very end, he repented and everything that was taken from him was doubled. What Job did in his life, in his faith, we must do, I must do. I will not get too attached to worldly things but to keep faith in God and be close to the people I love.
After all, it is a life worth living. :D
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