Woke up the chickens this morning. And my family.
We had to get an early headstart to go to my nephew Enan's wedding in Pulilan, Bulacan. The trip wasn't so bad, although we did end up donating a borrowed wedding barong to an unsuspecting cabbie...
OY!
All that unwanted tension dissolved when I finally saw my nephew and his bride march down the aisle and heard their vows of love to each other. "Ako, si ______, ay nangangakong magmamahal sa'yo..."
He said it to her so formal-like, I thought he was gonna say "Ako, si _____, ay nangangako bilang Pangulo ng Pilipinas..."
I was so happy for my Ate Tessie. Looking at her now, you woulodn't believe she gave birth to my nephew during one of the darkest moments of her life. Oh yeah, she used to live on the wild side, did I tell you? My ate's story is one for the books, or a telenovela. Name it, she's done it - drugs, prostitution, immorality - she's been there and bought everything.
Along the way, she got married, had kids, got separated, met my nephew's dad and gave him two sons, sans marriage. Then they separated and she continued to bask in darkness until God finally cornered her, saved her and got her settled down with the one guy who's loved her still, all throughout her crazy ride on the wild side.
It's okay, she tells her story most everywhere she goes. Now that she's the de facto youth minister in their church, and her many children, and now her children's children, are the majority of the youth workers, her story's not exactly a well-kept secret. In fact her story goes by another name: testimony.
Which brings me to my point: seeing her son march down the aisle, Ate Tess whispered to my ear, "Now I get to see my children given in marriage." Something she didn't get to experience until much, much later, and only by God's Supreme Grace and Mercy.
And what of her erstwhile partner, my nephew's dad? Well, he practically flushed his life down the toilet. But when my sister got saved, redeemed and lifted by the power of God's transforming Love, she turned riught around and ministered to him.
And today, there he was, all cleaned up, in a nice barong himself, and watching his son get married. My thoughts? "Such is the power of God's Amazing Grace."
From that wedding, my wife and I let our kids go home while we travelled straight from Pulilan to Taguig. This time we were going to minister to our forever-secretary, Ate Lolit, by mourning with her and her family for the inevitable loss of her mom, who died at the ripe old age of 80.
In the abruptness of the event, and in their dire financial straits, she had rented a nearby open court / municipal function hall to hold the funeral for her late mom's remains. It was quite clean and orderly, newly painted, freshly scrubbed tile floors, clean commode-and-faucet restroom, bright flourescent lighting.
The amazing thing was the backstory - when they frist saw the place the entire hall was a mess. Dirty floors, drab, soot-darkened walls, filthy restroom, no lights.
Ate Lolit's family and neighbors had actually scrubbed, painted, wired and fixed up the whole place in a record-breaking three hours. When the local officials saw what Lolit and her small army of believers had done with their hall...they didn't have the heart to charge her rent anymore. 'Kung ano na lang po ang gusto ninyong ibigay..."
My thoughts? "Even in the face of Death itself, God's children bring literal light and order to the dark, filthy places of the world. Such is the power of the Kingdom-transformed."
Right now, I am typing these words in Mommy Lorie's home. From the funeral, Rose and I zoomed straight here, to meet with MCP's national leaders and to finalize and polish the plans for this year's convergence, which will be held in Laoag in October.
Already, I have been wowed and blessed by Mom Lorie's amazing post-cancer testimonies of how God has used, and continues to use her to bring strength, encouragement and hope to churches all over the nation and in Asia. To think that when she and I first met I never would have pegged her to be one of the staunchest allies of Master's Commission! Listening to her, one would have a hard time believing she had already lost one breast to cancer.
My thoughts? "Such life, such strength, such a sure hope!"
This morning in the wedding, Mom Lori was one of the principal sponsors, Jesi was the emcee, Charles was the male sponsor for the veil. many of the other wedding participants were members of MC Pulilan, The wedding singer was from MC Light of the World.
Our MC family has grown, in age and in stature.
Tonight, here in Mommy's house, the leaders are at the dining table, hungrily consuming pancit. They've just arrived from Pulilan and are famished. When they're done eating, we shall lay down plans for MC in the near future.
What a good, long, blessed day! So full of life, power and triumph. And hope-filled plans for the future!
Okay, they're done eating. Gotta go! The meeting's starting...
0 comments:
Post a Comment