The year 2001 was
really a year of blessing for us. Our Church's extension work in San
Felipe Zambales continued to be without a permanent Pastor and our church in Batasan decided to support the brethren in Zambales by sending preachers round
robin every week. I was one of the preachers who volunteered to travel the 370
kilometer trip every Sunday to preach there and for a while, Jane and I have
been concerned about the roadworthiness of our still reliable but already
old-beyond-measure Toyota Corolla. The car had seen better days and I would say
that the only thing that kept it going safely so far was the fact that we never
refused any chance to use it for the Lord's work. But during rainy days, we felt
that the car was really begging for retirement as we got drips of rain on every
window, despite all the creative methods I tried to plug the gap between the
door frames and the roof. Silently, I prayed to the Lord for a better means of
transportation. Besides, the gas was also killing us every time we traveled as
the car ran only 6 to 8 kilometers per liter of premium gas.Then the Lord heard our prayer. While working for an advertising company in Makati, my wife's cousin who works in a figurine/decor-maker/exporter called me if I would be interested in joining his company as they needed somebody to supervise them setup a network and a manufacturing system. At first, I was hesitant because the ad company was global and way much bigger. Then the Lord intervened again and made the choice clearer for me. Little did I knew then that my transfer would pave the way not only for financial blessing that enabled me to buy a brand new car to replace our old one, but also to finally restore me to a more active instrument of the Word. It wasn't very long after I joined Casa Mikael that I f
ound myself inspired to share God's word to the people there. I
approached my boss - the owner of the company - to ask for permission to hold a
regular bible study and she immediately consented. And the Lord be praised
because since I started doing so last December, our bible study is still going
strong with no less than our General Manager regularly attending our sessions.
These days, my whole family gets to enjoy more the travels that we make in comfort and reliability courtesy of the Lord and Ford Lynx Ghia, although we don't get to drive to Zambales that much anymore because one of our church Elders voluntered to permanently work there as long as necessary. But even the short drives and all the pleasures that go with it (including the booming sounds as I have done some upgrades in the car's audio setup) tend only to serve as a constant reminder of the Lord's goodness despite my occasional erring ways. I couldn't claim the blessing was well deserved but the Sender deserves all the praise and thanksgiving.