"The warrior is a child"

(Our dear Daddy went to the Lord on November 27, 2009, two days before my son's birthday. I just realized I have blogged about other people, but never wrote an inch about Daddy. Here is an interspersed biography and testimony of how gracious indeed God has been to Daddy and to us through him. Thank you very much for all the prayer and support you have given him while he was still alive. He was 69. -che)

"Lately I've been winning battles left and right.
But even winners can get wounded in the fight."

Daddy has been fighting since childhood. He fought for his future when at an early age in Agawa village, his father died. He decided that education is his way out so he traveled to La Trinidad and fought for his education. Washing dishes in the then famous Manila Café in Baguio city was just one of his many bouts. God was gracious enough to use his perseverance, and win him a degree and a first job at Easters’ School (now Easter College) as a teacher. He later moved to the then Mountain State Agricultural College, now Benguet State University (BSU).

When God granted him a scholarship to the UK for a diploma course, he thought diplomas are almost not recognized in the Philippines compared with degrees so while completing the course, he applied for a scholarship to be able to pursue an MS degree. In his words, “I never studied very hard that much in my whole life.” By God’s grace, he got himself a scholarship and went on to get his MS degree at Reading University.

He had his share of flaws. When he was young and not so young, he kept fighting his drinking problem. He was a mess when a drunk. He can be found sleeping in some sari-sari store or outside our door. He always tried to control, but always, he was unsuccessful. It took Christ's power and a redeemed heart for him to finally be able to stop.

He fought and worked hard for our family. At some period, we were five going to different universities all at the same time. How unimaginable for parents this time. “That education is the only inheritance he can leave us“ became almost a cliché for the household because of how often he repeated it. He nailed to our minds the value of getting an education. (He silently wished one of us would take up Law, which was his one unfulfilled dream.) I cannot remember anymore what our discourse then was about, but his teasing voice saying "I thought you are intelligent!" with a triumphant laugh subsequently became a household phrase or punchline, even now in my own family.

At BSU, God raised him through the ranks and allowed him to achieve full professorship some years before he retired. He often fought for the faculty and staff. He had detractors, yet often, when there was something the faculty or staff would like to lobby, he was always urged or entreated to assert or be the spokesperson. I know this from his many accounts of how people can be friends or foes depending on the circumstance, and how so often, people forget. He had shortcomings and made mistakes yet I know in those 36 years, he sincerely served and fought for BSU in many little ways unknown to many. When his stint as VP for research was ending, we were discussing whether he should go for renewal during one of our weekend talks. I opined, "What for, when you can just enjoy life sans the stress and the intrigues."

He fought for the pigs, the chicken, the pig raisers. I remember how he was sometimes sought for by neighbors who had sick pigs. He was often mistaken to be a Vet (Dr.) as he was a PhD holder in Animal Science and called Dr. He fought for indigent communities whom he didn’t know. He facilitated a HELP project, a yearly program where students from some British Universities visit the Philippines for sightseeing, but at the same time establish at least one community project they themselves construct with the help of local folks.

Always, he fought for his kakailian (co-villagers). He was a member of the Agawa people’s organization, and a long-time adviser to the Agawa credit cooperative based in Baguio and Benguet. He has been in La Trinidad for around two-thirds of his lifetime, yet he always cherished the times with his kakailian during lalapet, an old Agawa village tradition of eating lalapet, a sort of rice cake – powdered rice and glutinous rice filled with roasted grated peanuts steamed in banana leaves. He boasts of the small Agawa credit cooperative which now has a million-pesos worth assets. It is both conjecture and prayer on my part, but I think in God's sovereignty, his life story inspired and will continue to inspire our kakailian regarding the virtue of hard work and learning.

Months before he was about to retire from the University, he was diagnosed with chronic renal failure. He had to undergo dialysis twice then later thrice a week. This started his long fight with life. He said, it was painful and tiring, but along with mama, he fought with bravery the frequent dialysis sessions, congestions, and the handful of drug capsules and tablets he had to take before or after every meal. He recognized that death is in God’s time, yet human as he is, he asked God to tarry a little while longer if possible. Every injection, every handful of medicines, every hospital admission was a fight for another week, another month, another year. God was gracious enough to him and to our family in those five years.

In August this year, for reasons unknown, he suddenly lost control of his nerves and muscles. He was diagnosed with a spinal problem and couldn’t move from his neck down. His body was weak, but with his mind still sharp, he tried to reconcile God’s love and his tremendous suffering. This started his fight with his own faith, alternating between his assurance of an eternal life with Christ and his human desire to live for a little time more. He recognized how blessed he was in his lifetime, but in his pain and suffering, poverty in spirit overcame him.

A week before he died, he told mama he is tired, and asked to be given a week.

"He drops his sword and cries for just a while.
Cuz deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child."

(I am currently writing up my thesis which i thought has no story to tell (It deadlines on Christmas day!!). After writing Daddy's story, I don't think that now. I think my thesis might have an interesting story after all, albeit behind the lines. Whether I finish or not, I thank him for inspiring me to strive for learning. Because although even education and learning are immaterial in the next life, God, in His sovereignty, can use them for His divine purposes.-che)

An encouraging devotional

"We do not know all that awaits us in the remaining todays of this perishing world. Yet we can be sure that there are trials to come—deprivations, dangers, failures, tragedies, broken relationships, disappointments, and persecution. How can we face it all? We persevere in the strength of Scripture’s assurance that heaven’s victory will come...

Heaven does not make earth’s trials vanish, but it shrinks them from their giant proportions with the perspective of God’s ultimate provision...

We spend too much time stressed out over what eternity will make incidental, defeated by ephemeral setbacks that heaven’s magnitude will dwarf to microscopic proportions... "

(from a devotional article at Covenant Seminary's LivingChrist360 ministry. Hehe we have no time to write so we just upload encouraging and interesting articles whenever we can. Please read the whole article below if you are interested. We hope this will encourage you as it has encouraged us tremendously. - che )

Immortal--and Undaunted--in Christ
(downloaded from http://www.livingchrist360.com/dailymessages/devotionals/?date=2009-08-17)

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

-- 1 Corinthians 15:53-58

We do not know all that awaits us in the remaining todays of this perishing world. Yet we can be sure that there are trials to come—deprivations, dangers, failures, tragedies, broken relationships, disappointments, and persecution. How can we face it all? We persevere in the strength of Scripture’s assurance that heaven’s victory will come. Paul says, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality,” heaven’s realities will blossom (1 Cor. 15:54). Note how definite these words are. There are no “ifs” but a definite “when.” The mortal will have immortality in Christ. This perspective is our source of hope and renewal in the face of any disaster.

Heaven does not make earth’s trials vanish, but it shrinks them from their giant proportions with the perspective of God’s ultimate provision. If we know we are safe eternally, then what threat of man can intimidate us? What challenges of this world have the power to detour us from God’s purposes? C. S. Lewis advised that when Satan attempts to frighten or paralyze us with this world’s trials, we should answer his threats with this retort: “Pish, posh. What can you do to me? I am an immortal being!” We can say: Death, be not proud; decay, do not exult; disaster, do not claim victory over us. For though you may seem to conquer our bodies here, our Bible says that all of this life is but a hand’s breadth of time compared with the infinity of eternity that spreads before Christians in God’s Kingdom (cf. Ps. 39:5).

We spend too much time stressed out over what eternity will make incidental, defeated by ephemeral setbacks that heaven’s magnitude will dwarf to microscopic proportions. Embarrassing grades, frustrating finances, ministry failures, relational mistakes, life’s terrible injustices—all these carry legitimate pain. Yet with heaven’s perspective we have strength to endure all these earthly trials without buckling to despair. This trouble will pass, and the matters of eternity alone shall last.

Of course, merely enduring trial is not all Paul wants for us or from us. It has been said that hope hears the music of heaven, but faith dances to it. If heaven’s claims cause us merely to endure this world, then we have not heard the angelic strains clearly enough. When we understand that resurrection realities provide joy for tomorrow (so it need not worry us) and strength for today (so it need not intimidate us), our hearts should begin to beat for higher purposes than the rest of the world can even consider. Heaven rightly perceived results not in retreat from this world’s concerns, but in wholehearted commitment to the purposes of God. When we rest assured of future blessing and present security, there is nothing to hold us back from committing ourselves fully to the work of ministry. An uncompromising heart on fire for God’s purposes is the inevitable result of heaven’s realities fully grasped.

May the Lord grant us all such heaven-empowered zeal, and may he use us mightily for his Kingdom work.

This material is adapted from chapter 8 of Bryan Chapell’s book The Wonder of It All: Rediscovering the Treasures of Your Faith (Crossway, 1999). Learn more about the glories of God's grace with our free CD of Studies in Romans, featuring Bible teaching by Bryan Chapell and Scripture readings by Max McLean.