by Ric V. Avelino
September is Labor Month here!
My resignation from the financial services company I worked with there has took effect August 30, 2011, a decision that should have been finally decided until December but time is gold and the signs were making sights and sounds. While, how many long months have I been wasting ink and the inkling to go back writing, on the other hand?
Since it’s time to get back into swing of things, allow me to quote a page from the Beatles. It was January 1969 and the group was at a mess with personal problems among themselves and George Harrisson was walking out of the band. Not known whether it was a drama or not, the Beatles got together again that same month and on the 30th of the same January 1969, Paul, John, Ringo and George performed with Billy Preston at the key board on the rooftop of their headquarters, Saville Row, London singing the now classic songs “Get Back” and “Don’t Let Me Down,” that 42 minute gig brought Central London to a standstill.
Get back to work from doing nothing or else I will be joining “The Biggest Loser” next year. How will you package a 58 going 59? Can he still do it and able to pull the trigger?
This is a typical Filipino story, a father, a worker resigning from his opportunities in the Philippines to start all over again as nobody in USA and with a laugh of loud as an older man. Am I a wine that as I aged the more I become sweeter to connoisseurs? Did it not that the actor Ronald Reagan was the oldest to assume office as US president at age 69 and even have his second term? Is it not that George Burns career as an actor resurrected to a better and brighter limelight when he was 79?
This writer is no wine, no Ronald Reagan or George Burns but Filipinos as we are, younger or older, it doesn’t matter wherever we are. What matters is that our God is not only the God of the Philippines or Singapore but He is the Creator of the universe, the One and Only Supreme Almighty God. Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” This means God is on our side yours and mine. God is to help us when we need it. God is cheering on us. God is on our corner. God has our back. Great news, don’t you think?
The rhetoric of the verse (Romans 8:31) does not mean that we have no enemies, literally. At times, people will oppose us. Jobs and opportunities are there but how and when can we find them. More profoundly, in life, we are in a spiritual battle with sin and the powers of darkness (sounds like in a movie huh but true). So, yes, there are forces that are against us. But when we consider the fact that God is on our side, the power of our enemies shrinks. We have no need to fear because God is with us.
Of course, the fact that God is for us does not mean that He blesses everything we choose to do. God is not some blind force that we yield for our purposes. He is not a genie. The God who is for us does not send us to the world’s merry way. Rather, the Almighty God seeks our very best by leading us back to the right way.
Now, I definitely know why I am here. Why I need to get out of my comfort zone in the Philippines. I am no longer afraid. I am a father to five young professionals and when I try to understand God being for me. I think of how I feel about and am committed to my own children. I want the best for them. I cheer them on. When they go astray and tend to give more time to other matters than God, I advise them to get back on the narrow but straight path, that when my children suffer, my heart breaks. A father and a mother would give and do anything for their children to flourish in this life.
So, it is with God the Heavenly Father, the Creator of all seen and unseen. God is for me and you in the most exquisite way. This great news gives me confidence to live and work here boldly and write as well. See you around!
Email: ricavelino@ymail.com
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