Time Changes...

...and so do people.

One day a few years back, my usual barbershop was closed for the day, and as I did not want to go around sporting longer-than-usual hair, I opted to go for a haircut at a neighborhood barbershop that I honestly considered my "last resort".

As I stepped in, there was just one barber, and he was finishing up on a customer ahead of me. I sat down and picked up a newspaper to do some reading. As I settled into the soft cushion of the bench, I heard a voice softly call my name.

"Tyne?"

The familiar way it was pronounced could only mean that this guy who called me was from my high school Alma Mater.

I looked up to see the back of the customer's skin head, and switched my gaze to the now familiar face staring at me in the mirror.

"Tyne?", he said again. He smiled and mentioned his name. "Pare, it's me, _____". I smiled back and said "Yeah, I know you".

I couldn't forget him. He was a character at school. Not really a bully, but not also Mr. Congeniality. He was one of the rowdier guys though.

I immediately recalled my days in Zobel. I was an athlete, but not a jock. I studied hard and got good grades, but wasn't a nerd. I belonged to a small group of friends who kind of went our own way. In short, I was just another face amongst the different clicks of my batch.

"How have you been?" His voice brought me back to reality, and we started chatting. I swear, the barber seemed to have slowed down (how much closer do you shave a skinhead?!?), and I really didn't want to chat with this guy too much. Not that I didn't like him, but I always thought I wasn't "cool" enough to merit his attention.

But chat we did. And as we talked, he began opening up about his life, and how he came to realize that he was empty without the Lord. He asked me if I were still speaking about the Lord, and was genuinely surprised to hear me tell him about my days as a full-time missionary for my community.

"I wish I could have heard you speak earlier, maybe I could have known all these things about the Lord much sooner..."

At this point, the barber was already brushing off the remnants of hair from off his clothes. My batchmate stood up and held out his hand. I took it and got a good, firm handshake.

"It was great seeing you, Tyne" he said. "I hope to hear you speak some day".

We said our goodbyes, and I took my place in the chair he had just vacated.

Yes, people change. And in many cases, for the better. Never give up on people nor hold them to the mold you first saw them in.

Never forget that God is always constantly working on each one of us.

The Pruning

Yesterday, after months of getting around in a wheelchair or walking around with a four-legged walker, my brother stood up and walked on his own two legs again.

Make that on one old leg and his "new leg".

My brother couldn’t get his prosthetic leg earlier owing to the fact that he had to be very careful – another wound might cause more trouble for him. Since his amputation in September last year, I had the honor of driving my brother to church almost every weekend. As he sat beside me in his wheelchair, I could feel the pain that he held back at not being able to walk around freely as he used to.

But I tell you: Yesterday, I had to swallow hard and hold back my tears.

Once his new leg was strapped on, he stood up and made his way to the parallel bars to take his “first few steps”. I whipped out a little surprise I had for him: a brand new brass-colored alloy cane. “Ang sarap tumayo!” ("It feels good to stand up!") he said, a huge grin occupying all of his face.

“You’ll need this”, I said with a smile. He smiled back – and then let go of the parallel bars to walk unassisted for the first time in months.

I laughed and said “I hope I can get my money back for this – you’re not going to need it after all”.

It was indeed a miracle. No, my brother’s foot did not grow back (now that would have been a miracle).

The miracle was how life suddenly and immediately flowed back into my brother’s face.

The Lord does this to us. It is called pruning. Some of us are pruned more than others.

And then there are those who are literally pruned.

My brother was one of those.

Any gardener would know this: pruning is done to remove any excess branches that may be taking the nutrients away from where it is needed the most. The Lord prunes Christians to take away the baggage that keeps us away from the source of our nutrients: the Lord himself.

My brother has always been(and still is) a stubborn person. He has a tendency to “close out the whole world”. His pruning made him more reliant on others – and on God even more. Now he speaks more about how God has changed his life through the loss of a limb. His pruning was painful, but it has completed him in the manner that God has chosen. He was forced to be more open to others – to us, his siblings. And he has come to realize that he must live in communion with all of us for him to feel the fullness of life.

Now: "what happens after a tree is pruned?"

Life nutrients flow where it is needed the most.

Just as life flowed back into my brother as he took his “first few steps”.

(I would like to express my gratitude to SGG Orthocare, owned by Paul and Glaze Sta. Maria (http://sulit.com.ph/3322927). You gave my brother a reason to literally “walk on”.)

He Knows Me

Hearing Mass last Sunday, I was thinking about a few concerns that were on my mind lately. Realizing that I was so distracted from the Celebration, I said a short prayer to God asking him to help me keep focused on his Word.

Shortly thereafter, I found myself distracted once again - and again I asked the Lord to help me be at peace, as the thought of my concerns kept me from the essence of the Celebration.

Finally, after catching myself a third time, I apologized in prayer. I have been searching for the Lord for years, but I have never felt as far from him as I did in recent months. I said "Lord, if you were just any other ordinary person, I am quite sure that you would have forgotten about me by now: I am not as active in the service as I used to be nor as I wish I could be; I do not have a Community I could serve with like I used to; even my own prayer time has lost the quality I believe it had once before. Surely, I do not merit your attention, for there are many others who do. All I ask, is that you help me find you again. I pray that I may know you once more, so that you may know me again."

Shortly thereafter, my family and I stood up to receive communion. I have to admit that at this point, my mind was blank of any thought. Looking back now, I would even say that I was just going through the motions of lining up for communion. We lined up with a Special Minister of the Eucharist who was far from familar to me. We were, after all, hearing Mass at a different church and parish, and therefore the servers there were not familiar to me.

When I got to the Minister, he presented the Host to me and said with conviction: "THIS is the Body of Christ". I was surprised and moved at such conviction, that I answered a loud "AMEN". He placed the Body of Christ on my tongue, and just as I was about to step away, he leaned forward, looked me in the eye and said: "Brother TJ".

All I could do was stare back at him. And as he smiled, I found myself smiling back.

He knew me.

I swear, I still cannot recall where I met him or when I met him. He was obviously from my former Community, but I swear (as if I could or should), I cannot, for the life of me, remember him at all.

But he KNEW me.

And that was all I needed to know.

The Lord heard my prayer of despair. He knew I needed affirmation and confirmation. In the two words spoken by the Minister and the smile he gave me right after, God was saying: "I DO know you. You were never out of my mind. I know you, I hear you, I see you. I know your fears, your concerns, your worries. I love you, and I will see you through. Be at peace, for I KNOW YOU."

If that Minister ever gets to read this, Brother, do drop me a note. I want to say thank you for being God’s voice of affirmation to me when I needed it the most. May God Bless You!

Peel it Off

Today, I just became my daughter's official nail artist.

Julia had received a couple of bottles of Barbie's kiddie nail polish: one in pink and the other in blue.

And for some reason, Julia wanted me to paint her toenails in alternating colors. So as she wiggled her toes in preparation for my artistic touch, I shook both bottles to make sure that the consistency of the polish was just right. After all, I didn't want my first customer to complain, unless I wanted that to be both the start AND end of my new career.

The instructions were simple: "1) Shake bottle; 2) Apply evenly on nails; 3) Peel off to remove. No need for acetone or nail polish removers."

"Peel off to remove". That simple.

If only more Christians would realize that turning back to God is as simple as "peeling off the past", what a more beautiful world this would be.

I believe in many things, one of them being that life is a result of decisions we make. If you boil it down to basics, we decide what happens to us in life.

We decide to move on, or sulk about a problem.

We decide to change things for the better, or accept the situation we create for ourselves.

We either find solutions, or live in the problem forever.

We decide our life.

God gave us that power. It is called "free will".

And he also gave us a simple solution for turning back to him: "Peel it off."