I love October as my birth month but not at all the nightmare of many Filipinos that also happened this month when the deadliest typhoon hit the Philippines and prayed that nothing more would come. It brought unspeakable misery as its devastation was huge and massive as it covered many provinces in the Philippines.
It was a sad and heartbreaking and frightening typhoon that once again devastated and ruined the lives of the Filipino people. The agriculture, infrastructure, houses and properties are equally destroyed and ruined. We can see floods as high as rooftops. Fields and roads are like rivers. People are pleading for help to be rescued. Sadly, many lives have been lost and many people are missing and injured.
Many families are living in desperate conditions in evacuation centers, some are just moving along the roadsides for temporary shelter. Surely it is really hard for all the victims to start a new life or to cope with their traumas. Especially at this time when people are experiencing typhoon after typhoon, flood after flood, and landslide after landslide.
After Typhoon Kristine, here comes Typhoon Leon and Marce and Nika and there are still weather disturbances forming and threatening in a vast ocean.
The typhoon is a natural phenomenon even in the time of Jesus, the storm is already happening and his disciples were so frightened and troubled by the storm that they tried to shake their faith in a dark and stormy sea. We just keep the faith because as long as Jesus is with us, he has all the power and authority to command and everything just obeys.
Climate change is one of the reasons that has increased the strength of typhoons and many abnormalities that happen in our nature. As we can see and experience at some points, typhoon Kristine was not categorised as super typhoon but the devastation and damage cost was as bad as the super typhoon. I think these tragedies happen to open our eyes and awaken our senses to become more sensitive to the needs of nature.
Victims cannot do so much to help their fellow victims, but those who have been spared from this wrath of natural and man-made suffering can do so much to help build the lives of those Filipinos in desperate need and to help them see the rays of hope behind the dark storms.
Surely the storm will pass, for God’s faithfulness is new every morning. We pray for all the victims and the grieving who have lost family and loved ones, that they will find comfort and consolation through the help of kind and generous people, and that God will welcome the departed faithful into his kingdom.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
Lynn Salinas-Batoliño
The Philippines
