On Typhoons and Time Travel

On Typhoons and Time Travel
June 23, 2008
We are done…sort of. In running one of the greatest spiritual lessons we have learned is to always be content but never satisfied. Having finished this portion of our lives’ course we are content that things have worked out exactly as they should. We know that the Lord allowed us to reach whom He willed, and he prevented my ministry where it was not His will. He gave us all the strength we needed, and if there is anything that we did that glorified Him, it was His strength working inside of us. At the same time our eyes have been opened to what a life of ministry looks like and we are not satisfied with the status quo of our mundane American lives. If you want to experience this same dissatisfaction with your own life then praise, work and pray with men who have received their entire lives from the Lord. Men who have sat in prison knowing they deserved to die for the murders they had committed, but instead now taste daily the eternal mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through my ministry at Arise and Shine Community Church I had many opportunities to see the lives of just such men.
Having completed my initial visit to Cabuyao Laguna on Wednesday I returned their after a day of preparation with my family on Friday. I spent most of Thursday preparing my sermon for Sunday and talking to people back home. This was the only day of the trip where we didn’t go out of the house to do some sort of ministry, and it was a needed rest before the final push to the finish. On Friday morning after breakfast we headed down to Cabuyao for the weekend with a backpack, a diaper bag and two kids in tow. This may sound like meager supplies for a three day trip, but there is no where to stow luggage or children. And everything is expected to rest nicely on your lap, along any with random Filipino who unwittingly tries to sit next to you but finds that your wide American hips don’t allow him to sit four to a two person seat like he is used to. However, these people are friendly and such contact is expected in public transportation. This was our first trip as a family without any missionaries to guide us, so I was somewhat nervous. However, the Lord is faithful and He allowed us to arrive in Cabuyao with little to no difficulties. Our trip did take two hours longer than expected, which was somewhat uncomfortable with all the visitors on my lap, but God preserved us. I can honestly say that all of this travel has truly taught me how delicate my body is. The pain I felt in my legs and hips during these trips was more intense than anything I have ever experienced in any of my long distance runs. This I felt was God’s subtle way of reminding me again that we do not accomplish things with these weak vessels, but it is God who works in us.
Arriving in Cabuyao we went to the school/church where Leah got an opportunity to meet the staff and some of the students, and the staff and students got opportunities to pet our girls (there is nothing quite so irresistible to a Filipino as little blond haired blue eyed Americans). After our daughters finished warding off their adoring fans we made our way to the Alberto’s house where we had merrienda, and I was told I would be speaking in an hour at the youth group. I may have been told this earlier, but I don’t understand everything all of the Tagolish that I spoken to me. So I promptly put together a lesson and went to the church. This group of students seemed to track with me better than on Wednesday. However, several of my stories and jokes were only met with blank stares. I felt as I spoke that I was stripped completely of all my public speaking strategies, I had to instead completely rely on the Holy Spirit for guidance. Once I realized this and put myself in His capable hands I was able to speak in a way that seemed to move my listeners. After this we returned to the Alberto’s for dinner, and we planned our trip for the next day.
The Alberto’s gave us the biggest bed in the house which the four of us shared. This was quite an experience for us, but who needs sleep anyway. The next morning the Alberto’s decided that they wanted to minister to us. We came here to minister to them, but they truly live by the truth that it is better to give than receive. Though they live in one of the poorest towns in a poverty stricken third world country they saw to it that we were treated like royalty. The day started with a trip up to see a volcano in Tagaytay. We made this trek in the church Jeepney along with the Alberto’s and three of the church workers: Ariel (the driver and a man who though quiet is extremely passionate about his walk with the Lord), Ambet (a young convict who has had his life transformed by Christ’s blood) and Richard (a dear brother who has found forgiveness for the terrible things he did in a previous life). Richard spent most of the day trying to get Sophie to talk to him, but she was much distracted with the Alberto’s youngest daughter Xaris.

When we finally arrived in the village we were disappointed to see that the fog and rain completely obstructed the Volcano from view. So we went to a Pancake House for breakfast. We ate pancakes and the Albertos ate spaghetti, chicken and rice (the social restrictions of what is considered breakfast food do not apply in the Philippines). After this we went next door to Starbucks to try to enjoy the view of the Volcano on the veranda. All we could see was fog, but the girls did not mind. We then proceeded down the mountain to a national park were we went for a short hike and were blessed to see the beautiful scenery come into view as the fog and rain gradually cleared. We spent the afternoon enjoying the shops and lunch at an outdoor café. Here the Albertos treated us to much of the island’s most popular foods with fruits, shrimp, snails, chicken and pork all served in traditional Filipino formats.

After that we enjoyed a trip back down the mountain to the Alberto’s house in Cabuyao. Here most everyone enjoyed a quick Siesta then Pastor Noel and I headed out to the hospital to pray for the sick with the other pastors. As we headed down the rains began to get stronger and stronger. We pretty much waded to the Hospital. Arriving there we were stopped by the guards and not allowed to enter. This was an interesting experience to me, for prior to this we had not experienced obstruction in any of our other ministries. After leaving the hospital it was explained to me that we were not allowed to enter because there were a couple cases of a highly contagious disease. I had been praying as we went for the Lord’s protection so I guess this was His way of protecting me. Since that did not work out we went back to the school and prayed anyways. It is amazing to me how the Holy Spirit can cause unity in prayer even when we are praying in different languages.

After prayer we went back home for dinner, and then Pastor Noel told us to go to the front yard so his congregation could serenade us. We then went to the porch and sat in two chairs as a large part of the Church body gathered around us and sang to us. They then thanked us for the work we had done and prayed for us. After this we ate some more. Then with full belies, and even fuller spirits, we went to bed.

The next morning we woke to a typhoon. What this means for those who have not experienced it, is that torrential rain is combined with extremely high winds to produce an awesome display of God’s power. The only way this really affected us was that we did not have electricity or running water to prepare for church. Also, we did not have electricity at the church. So we had a somewhat soggy dark service. Nonetheless, this did not dampen the spirits of the Filipinos who love to sing praise whether they have electricity or not. The poring rains did limit the number of people who could make it to the service, but I am fully convinced that God brought the people whose hearts He had prepared to hear the message I had delivered. During the service I spoke through a translator which was not the original plan. Pastor Noel told me that his parishioners understood English and I would not need an interpreter (I wrote my sermon with this in mind). However, on Sunday morning Pastor Noel went to speak at a different church, so Pastor Alan was in charge and he realized I would need a translator. Though this drastically changed the amount of time I had prepared to speak it gave me time to whittle my sermon down as my translator was speaking. I was once again convinced that this forced me into a new kind of reliance upon the Spirit that I had not experienced before. As I spoke the congregation grew and the electricity came on. At the end of the service there was more excited singing and sharing and the Filipinos sang to us one more time (did I mention that they love to sing). After Church there were still torrents of rain coming down so Leah, Sophie, Aubrey and I all rode in a motorcycle side car to stay out of the rain (the first time I saw these in the Filipines I thought that there was no way I would ever take my family in one of those…however experiences change your proclivities). Back at the Albertos we ate lunch and waited for Pastor Noel to return so that we could say goodbye. Upon his return we loaded one last time into the Church Jeepney and were then chaperoned to our bus with Ambet and Ariel. As we rode back to Manila in the FX I reflected on the work god had allowed us to do.

We came to Cabuyao to observe the ministry and to encourage the ministers, but instead the Lord increased our ministry beyond anything we could have ever imagined. I spent most of my time preparing for this trip in putting together the trip to Bagabag and had viewed my visit to Cabuyao as an afterthought. Perhaps it was because of this that I was more reliant on the Spirit and was able to minister to so many people in various ways. Altogether I believe that this ministry gave a more rounded perspective of what God is doing in the Philippines. I had witnessed much of the international ministry in my interactions with the SIL missionaries, but in Cabuyao I was able to see how nationals are ministering to their own people. Both ministries are vital and effective, and within both of them I can see how I could add to the ministry. However, the Lord has not specifically called me to either of these ministries at this point.

It may have been coincidental, or spirit led, that as I was doing this trip I was reading George Muller Biography. I had picked it up sometime ago, and had not yet been able to read it. One of the things that stood out to me as I read was that George Muller felt called to the mission field from early in his Christian life. He pursued several avenues to make this happen, but none of them ever worked out. As it played out God had plans for him to stay where he was and create an amazing ministry to orphans. During all this time he maintained his passion for missions and was quite effective in raising word about missions work in the East Indies. Altogether he raised millions of pounds to finance the ministry there primarily through his faithful prayer life.

As I meditated on this I realized that there are many ways God can use a heart for missions. That said my passion for missions has only grown stronger through this trip, and I will be faithful to pursue whatever avenues the Lord leads me down. However, for now I know that my ministry (after my family) is to the Jr Highers at Faith Community Church and my students at Rosamond High School. However, I now have a new fervor for these ministries, and I think I can bring to both of them a more global perspective of what the Lord is doing…Paalam! (I found out upon leaving the Filipines that this word is actually not used to say goodbye. It means goodbye, but it is not common to say it. Instead different guttural abbreviations of other words that I can not remember are used. If you were wondering we survived the Typhoon, made our flight [barely], and are now home in the good old A.V. after enduring a 39 hour long Monday in which the sun rose and set twice.)