Early Morning Rainbow

I had the privilege to travel to Surigao City, Mindanao, Philippines, last April 15 to 19, 2007, together with two brethren. Surigao City is the capital of the province of Surigao del Norte, and known as the entry point to Northern Mindanao. We were there for about five days and facilitated seminar workshops in Christian Marriage and Inductive Bible Study. Our very friendly and generous hosts were Pastor Herman Diaz, his wife Josephine and two very lovable darling daughters Jazzy May and Princess.

I love to do early morning walks from thirty minutes to an hour and what a blessed opportunity to welcome and savor God's goodness and mercies daily and to see the beauty of His creations in this part of the country. This particular morning of April 19 (Thursday) and the final day of our seminar workshop, I decided to extend the time and distance of my walk. I was able to walk the whole length of the boulevard and made a full round at the track and field oval at the city's sport facility. Together with the beautiful sunrise there was also a drizzle as I headed to our lodging place. Suddenly, a motorcycle passed by me and skidded in the slippery asphalted road approximately fifty yards ahead of me. I rushed to the man and both of us gave a sigh of relief seeing that he just had minor wounds and scratches on his arms. For both of us it was also a blessed time of just praising and thanking God for sparing his life, and even his motorcycle had very minor damages too.

Walking on and as I gazed at the horizon there was a very beautiful rainbow. It was God's way of reminding me first of all that His faithfulness and promises never fail. Secondly, that life is fragile and each one of us should always handle it with prayer. "Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting."(Psalm 118:1)
"In the morning, O LORD, you will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch." (Psalm 5:3)

We left Surigao City that evening by slow boat for Cebu City and from Cebu City will take a five hour bus ride back to Dumaguete City the next day; but not before Pastor Herman and Josephine treated us to sumptuous "sutokil" dinner. If GOD tarries, I'm praying to be back here in Surigao City together with my wife and if possible, our three children, and the seminar team brethren to do another seminar on February, 2009, LORD willing.