In Great Number

Here in the Philippines, whereas blessings come in trickles, these past few weeks disaster come in bulldozer magnitude.

Just two weeks ago, more than 70 people died in a stampede just because they wanted to take a shot on the prizes in store in a noontime game show. Of course, a lot of personal reasons could be behind the effort... unfortunately it ended in disaster.

Yesterday, more than a thousand people are feared dead because of a land slide that happened in Leyte.

Why this is happening is something that may or may not be answered. Anyway, deep inside we know, don't we?

When I say life is full of surprises, I realize it is not always on the happy side. These news are surprising as well... in a devastating way.

But as we can only take good surprises in stride, so must we take the other side of life's surprises. In my heart, all I have to believe is that things happen for a purpose that I may not need to undestand them right away but that it will inevitably unfold in the future.

For all those who lost family and loved ones, condolence. For all those who are in the helm of their sanity trying to recover and figuring out how to start anew, keep the sanity - you will need it. Hope does not exist outside. It is in what you believe in ... in Who you believe in. All these things are temporary anyway, what hurts us the most right now is the way our loved ones left us... but it would have happened anyway, at a time maybe just as inappropriate...because there is no appropriate time to lose someone we love.

For us, onlookers... pray. Pray for those who are grieving. Pray for us who are being awakened in the expense of others. Pray that we may be stronger everyday so that when it's our turn to bear the cross, we can survive it.

For those who have already passed through... Good for you.