Last night, the church was treated to a spiritual feast. God fed us through Sarah Balabagan, the former OFW in the United Arab Emirates, who escaped death by firing squad in the mid-90's. 

The first thing we had was an appetizer in the form of a song called "I Will Obey", a song composed by a Filipino pastor in California which is going to be included in Sarah's next album. It's a beautiful song which moved many in attendance. Then, the entree came when Sarah shared her life story which was both heartbreaking and encouraging. She recounted her harrowing experience in the Middle East, from the time she was recruited as a domestic helper when she was just 14 to the sexual abuse she suffered under the hands of her 60-year old employer, to her stabbing him with a knife in self-defense when he tried to rape her, to her being sentenced to die by firing squad and to the commutation of her sentence to 100 lashes on her back and to her eventual release from prison through the intervention of the Philippine government. She became famous in the Philippines because of what she went through. Her life was then turned into a movie called simply "The Sarah Balabagan Story" which starred Vina Morales. Eventually, she became a singer and her dream of providing for her poor and hapless family in Mindanao became reality. Yet, the best thing that ever happened to her was when she came to know Jesus and became his disciple. Sarah is a former Muslim who became a Christian through Dulce Amor, who was her mentor in singing. Dulce introduced her to her pastor, who in turn led Sarah to the Lord. Since then, Sarah has remained with the church and serves in ministry. And the beautiful part is that Sarah learned to forgive and forget. The pain she suffered has been replaced by the love of Jesus.

After the spiritually satisfying story that Sarah shared with us, she belted out another song called "My Life is in Your Hands", a song popularized by Kathy Troccoli. It was like a delicious dessert, a sweet reminder that despite the hardships of life and our fear of the future, we can take comfort in the fact that Jesus takes care of us. 

After this spiritual feast of sorts, while everyone was busy taking pictures with Sarah and asking for her autograph on her CD's, God surprised me with one more treat, a "fortune cookie", so to speak. A lady came to me and said excitedly, "Pastor, I thank you, I thank you so much." 

"Why?", I asked. "Because you invited Sarah and I'm blessed." 

Then, she continued, "You know, just this morning, before going to work, I was just praying and asking God to give me all the resources I need to become spiritually strong. You see, I work with this big company and I just can't find fulfillment. I want to my life to make a difference. I feel I need a change. But what and how? So, I said, 'God, please give me the resources I need and I will obey you. And then, I came to this meeting tonight and heard Sarah sing "I Will Obey" and just like that, I cried. I knew that was God speaking to me. And I knew that is the resource I need. I shared this with Sarah and she gave me a CD of the song. You'll see me more often in church now."

I was stupefied, to say the least. Speechless. And when I recovered, I realized that last night was worth it all. Even just for that one soul, all the effort we spent in preparation was certainly worth it. You just don't know when the Lord will show up and surprise you.  That was my good fortune last night.

I was saddened and shocked at the same time by the news of the sudden death of Pastor David Wilkerson, founding pastor of Times Square Church in New York. More than anyone else in the world, he is the person who influenced me the most in my walk with the Lord. Though we never met, he helped me to come out of the spiritual rut I was in.

Actually, I first came to “meet” him when I was 15 in 1976. I remember taking a glance at a book that was lying on top of my eldest sister's bed. The title was “The Cross and the Switchblade” and the name of the author was David Wilkerson. I didn't touch it though and I turned away moments later, forgetting about it. Little did I know that we would “meet” again 15 years later.

It was 1991 and I was in Australia working as a programmer. By that time, however, my spiritual life was in tatters although I was saved in 1980. What happened was that a series of personal setbacks and frustrations damaged my faith and I turned away from God, even denying him, eventually. Without faith as my anchor, I became a nervous wreck and was desperately longing for rescue. So, one Sunday morning, I slipped in the back of a small Baptist Church in the town where I lived and asked God to reveal himself or do anything in order for me to know that he really exists and still cares for me. But he did not. I went home telling myself, “I'll never enter a church again.”

The next day though thoughts of God kept creeping into my mind no matter how much I ignored them. This continued throughout the week. On Saturday morning, I decided to take a walk in the shopping center and when I saw a Christian bookstore I entered the store and glanced around until my eyes rested upon a thin little book perched on top of one of the bookcases. The title looked familiar, “The Cross and the Switchblade”, and I remembered that this was the same book I saw 15 years before. “What is this book about?” I asked myself. So, I removed it from the shelf, thumbed through its pages, and then decided to pay for it.

I brought it back to my “flat”, as what Australians call an apartment, and in the kitchen started to read the book. I found out that the book recounts the story of Pastor David's journey from Pennsylvania to New York in obedience to God's call in his life to preach and minister to drug-addicted youth and other wayward kids. I also found out that every time the author talked about the lives of the youth being changed by the Holy Spirit, I cried. Afraid that my flatmates, who could already be coming home, would find me crying and, perhaps, think that I was reading a romance novel, I decided to go inside my bedroom where I continued reading.

So I read and read until I reached the part where Pastor David said that when he was a young boy, two ministers from their church came to their home to visit and pray for his dying father who was lying on bed. Wilkerson went down to the basement to pray for his dad, too, because he felt shy doing it in front of other people. He didn't know, however, that their visitors heard his prayers through the vent. As he prayed, color started to return to his dad's face until he asked for water. The two men then called him upstairs and excitedly told him that his dad was recovering.

At this point of my reading, I started to cry again and this time, uncontrollably. Since I couldn't continue my reading, I tried to stand up and wanted to close the book. Suddenly, I fell down and found myself hunched against the wall in a fetal position. I was sobbing heavily and wondered what was taking place. Realizing that God was trying to take a grip of my heart, I asked, “Lord, what is happening?” Gently, he said, “Because you ignored my Son Jesus for a long time.” I confessed my sin of ignoring the Lord but I still couldn't get up. It's as if a big hand was keeping me down on the floor. I asked again, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” There was a long silence and then, I heard myself saying over and over again, “Yes, Lord, I will follow wherever you lead” until my tears subsided. Then, peace came over me and I was able to stand up. The next day, I was back in church.

God uses people to help us in our spiritual journey. They may be someone close or someone distant, someone we know or someone who may not even know we exist. But God uses our lives to be an influence to someone else's life. It's a privilege to be in this position. I hope I can be someone who'll influence someone the way Pastor David influenced me. And I pray that my life will be worthy of emulation.

Someday, I'll meet Pastor David again. And when we do, I'll give him a big hug and say, "Thank you!" Right now, I'm sure he's part of the great cloud of witnesses that are surrounding me and egging me on to run with perseverance the race that is marked out for me. I hope I'll finish well the way he did. And he did because he fixed his eyes on Jesus, "the pioneer and perfecter of faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2). I hope to do the same always.

What has happened in Japan is truly heartbreaking. I'm sure many are asking, “Why did this happen?” “How come there are disasters like this?” “Is there a God?” Like this guy who sat beside me in an airplane twenty years ago one springtime. I was on my way back to Australia after a brief vacation here in the US. It was just a few days after a powerful cyclone hit Bangladesh that claimed about 150,000 lives in that tiny nation. I struck a conversation with this guy, who was a businessman from Atlanta, talking about different topics until we veered toward spiritual matters. That's when he said that he didn't believe in God. And the reason why he didn't is because of natural disasters like the one that devastated Bangladesh. To him that was proof enough that God didn't exist. If he did, he wouldn't allow such violent natural calamity to occur. 

I don't remember exactly how I responded. But I think I told him what the Bible says about how God created everything perfect at first and the fall of man resulted in evil and imperfection in the world. I believe I mentioned, too, that a time will come when God will put things back in order and, therefore, there is hope for everyone in this world. The man seemed mollified afterwards because he looked more relax and I was able to get his address in Australia so we could converse some more.

That man's faith was shaken because of a major calamity. Yet, it doesn't take a cyclone or tsunami to affect one's belief in God. It can be affected by the loss of a loved one, a financial breakdown, or a series of personal setbacks. Been there, done that. God, however, is in control as I found out. He is still on his throne and will put things back in order just like what I said to that guy. Psalm 46:1-3 gives us this assurance, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 
though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”

Let's continue to keep Japan and its citizens in our prayers. Let's pray that this event will bring many of them to call on the real God.

Last night, around 10:30 pm, I had the most awesome experience with my children. I was ready to put them to bed when Ally, my six-year-old daughter, asked me something about a booklet she was holding. I looked at it and saw that it was one of Chick Publication's Gospel tracts which a friend gave me and I left lying around in the house. She pointed to me the picture of hell on one of its pages. So I tried to explain to her, in the most gingerly fashion, what hell is, that it was a place for bad people, a place for people who don't like Jesus. Then, immediately, I also told her about heaven, where good people go, where people who have Jesus in their hearts go. 

Realizing that it may be one of those "God-moments", I proceeded to explain to her God's plan of salvation. Eze, my four-year-old son was also all ears as I shared the good news of Jesus with them. Throughout, Ally kept asking questions like, "What is sin?", "How do you know these things?" In the end, I told them that daddy and mommy and Nanay Monet are going to heaven. Ally asked, "Is that where Daddy Lino is now?" I said yes. Then, I followed up with, "Do you also want to go to heaven?" Both of them said "Yes" with an excited look in their faces. And I asked again, "To go to heaven you must ask Jesus to come into your hearts."  They said "Yes" again, smiling. I said that receiving Jesus meant allowing him to make them a good girl and a good boy and they readily agreed. But first, they must ask forgiveness for their sins. When I asked whether they knew what forgiveness is, they said they knew and so I didn't have to explain. 

I then asked them to kneel on the bed, fold their hands in prayer, close their eyes, and to repeat every word I said. They followed to the letter. When they uttered the final word, "Amen", in my heart I thanked God for the opportunity to lead my children to Jesus. It was a great feeling. Then Ally asked, "How about Eza?" She was always concerned about her younger siblings. I assured her that when Eza gets older, she'll have the chance to ask Jesus in her heart as well. But if anything happens to her before that time, she would surely go to heaven.

Now, I really know that God uses anything and any moment for his glory. I'm not really a fan of Chick Publications because of their sometimes in-your-face, sensational, historically-inaccurate pamphlets. But tonight, I praise God for them. And I'm keeping the booklet that Ally was holding as a souvenir :)