Another is the MSU-IIT Gymnasium. Going there last December 22, the estimated number of families was put at 2500 (around 12, 500 people).

Aside from these, smaller buildings (churches and basketball courts to name two) are also housing those who have no homes. Some are staying with relatives while hotels and inns are also packed with people coming from flooded areas.

Some of those you see have experienced the terror of Typhoon Sendong personally (some have escaped with only the cloths they wore that evening) and yet they joyfully do what they can to help others.

More striking, they haven’t lost the automatic Pinoy response of smiling at the camera.

Call it what you want, to me that is spirit.

This day the 20th of December, volunteers of Ikthus Iligan went over to some of the areas greatly affected by the disaster.

This is the interior of Barangay Hinaplanon. For the past days mud from the river has not allowed road vehicles to enter the area. (Dates in these and the following pictures are incorrect as we forgot to set the camera’s time clock).

Not only is the surroundings unpleasant to look at, there is also a stench in the air. Members of the army where able to retrieve 5 bodies from this area today and it appears there are more to be found. Despite that there are still people who have decided to remain here than go to the beyond-capacity evacuation centers.

Our volunteers gave out provisions donated to the church, particularly food, clothing and water.

Clearly though there is still a lot that needs to be done.

I think that it is grace on grace
To go through much, this time and place
The Lord designed and weaved your way
Providing that in your short stay
so many blessings make

Like the comic guru I wonder
How responsibly comes power?
Like the apostle were you meant
To be a chosen instrument
…for His name’s sake?

What once was solid’s now impermanent
Vivid light was quietly extinguished
The world we knew departed like a breeze
Except for one clear sign among the trees
Your faith in the forever

Did emotion die with the event?
I think not, for your children testify
You kept them as the apple of your eye
As if to say “See how I love my wife!”
Love never was so practical

And oh! the joy of times that we have spent
Your mind applied to all that could be seen
Household chores and exquisite cuisine
Almost as full of days as Job had been
You’ve held your daughters’ sons and daughters

But would you call magnificent
That era that continued when she’d gone?
Although there was much more that could be done
Where once was two of you, there is but one
She is the missing puzzle piece

Still it was blest, if that were the intent
And then the journey took another twist
Irritations became signs of dread disease
Proving all too true that life just like a mist
Is only temporary

Was she on your mind at that descent?
When you began the path of sorrow here
When simple worries turned to raging fears
Did thought of who you walked with all the years
Bring calm respite?

And no, the plan we did not comprehend
Though there were signs you would be on your way
You persevered with strength while it was day
Complementing our lives with your own shade
Of sunset colors

It was sudden on the day you went
An hour or so, before or after night
You struggled so against it with your might
For freedom from your slow and painful plight
Was through your life-blood’s pouring

And though the trip was imminent
There’s certain sadness to the joy we feel
For all the world’s become more pale, more still
And you have gone and ventured past the veil
And all we have’s conjecture

But I think that she would meet you then
Your loved one whom the Lord has saved
More beautiful beyond the grave
To lead you to the One who makes
All journeys have a meaning

Today, it seems the tree loves the attention we give after this recipe became famous to our foreign and local visitors. I’ve seen restaurant menus that serve Kamias shake, but have never tried one. Probably because I was prejudiced to the taste or maybe I am not really fond of sour-tasting shakes like green mango or green apple.

Kamias  a.k.a. Iba in my local dialect or ginger lily is a tropical tree that bears generous fruit almost all year round. So if you have one in your backyard, you might want to try this one!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Kamias, around 10-12 big fruits. (my husband likes dominant sour taste, so you may reduce the amount if you like subtle sourness)
• 250 grams Alaska Condensed milk (the one in the carton)
• 4 cups crushed iced
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions

1. Wash, cut both ends, and slice the sides of the fruit (the center is bitter tasting).

2. In a blender, put the fruit and the milk. Blend for 1-2 minutes.

3. Add the ice with half cup of water.

4. Blend until desired consistency is achieved (5 minutes at least).

5. Serve immediately.

Makes 5 tall glasses.

Estimated cost is P38.00 for the milk, 3.00 for ice, zero for Kamias if you have it in your backyard

Approximately P8.25 for a glass of fresh and healthy Kamias shake!

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” ~C.S.Lewis

I talk not today of promises I hope that God would keep
Though many prayers have I for my daughter, some immediate, some deep.
Instead I tell you of grace we’ve had before our daughter turned a year
To marvel at the Lord God’s ways and combat all our future fear

We went to the amusement park, to loop-de-loop the coaster
This was to celebrate a friend’s birthday, 5 months before November
And though I wanted one with her, Ethel never took a ride
We later learned that Piper Gail had been conceived inside

It was grace that I saw my daughter come into this world
Her shoulders spread, her body curled
Her little cry, her searching eye—
My heart was granted hotter flame.
My life has never been quite the same

I thank God for the month I’d work with little Piper on my lap
I brought her to a training where I’d take a break and watch her nap
So to those who would be nurses and attorneys
Think twice you might be better missionaries

Coming home I stumbled on the path beside the street
By God’s good grace I managed still to land upon my feet
A hairbreadth from disaster, for tucked within my arm
My daughter trusted that I’d keep her safe from harm

Our year has not just been the petals of the rose
There have been days we’d almost come to blows
There have been months where we have had our fill
But those days are ours and I’ve treasured each one still

I talk not today of promises I hope that God would keep
Though many prayers have I for my daughter, some immediate, some deep.
There may be trials up ahead but I’ve marched to the beat of his drum
And as He’s been good in days long past, I laugh at the days to come

For truly as my Lord has died, all battles have been won
‘Tis grace has led us safe thus far and grace shall lead us on

With what limited insights I gain from the media, here’s my take:

There’s been a lot of bad vibes toward the Heat even before the season started, possibly due to the off-court blunders of Lebron, the sense of betrayal by some in Cleveland (walang utang na loob! would be the Filipino cry if it happened in our context), the fear that our favorite team just might lose, or just the desire to gleefully see some proud individuals fall flat on their face.

Still, when you remove the hype and bluster of some pro-Heat fans, it seems to me a group of friends with God-given talents for basketball have come together to change the way things always have been. Their eyes are set on a prize that requires not just amazing talent but unbelievable circumstance too in order to obtain.  They are going for the prize. They are chasing the dream.

The profession I am in, youth ministry, is like NBA (minus the fame and the money). There are guys who are doing it because it is a job, or because one day it will be the ticket to their success, there are guys who are doing it because they have the talent for it and there are guys who are in it because they’ve really loved it from the start and have a great big vision for it.

Me, I’m chasing a dream too.

And that, my reader, is why I’ll be rooting for the Miami Heat this season.

—-

Image is from Rafe Bartholomew’s book Pacific Rims.

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.