What on Earth Do You Want to Do?

It is only fear that stops us from growing.

Let me share to you what I mostly learned from my experience being an O.F.W at a young age of 26.  This experience is, without a doubt, one of my life’s milestones.

A good friend had asked me just few weeks before I left for Saudi to become an O.F.W. if I could survive there.  I couldn’t answer her objectively, at that moment, if I could be able to survive because honestly, I still didn’t know if I totally could, in body and in spirit.  In fact, that was the exact moment when my fear sank even deeper into my consciousness.  BUT what I firmly held on is this particular faith that I can classify as a supernatural one: God will protect me wherever I go and He knows that the desire of my heart more than anything else is to grow tremendously as His child by experiencing something that only a handful of people dare to go through.  Yes, I was fearful simply because I was going to an uncharted territory and arguably the most difficult one BUT I was also perfectly aware that only fear would stop me from growing.  So I didn’t let fear conquer me so I took that memorable flight to Saudi in spite of the overwhelming presence of natural fear.  I took that flight ALONE.

I worked in Saudi for almost 2 years in a huge arable farm as an Accounting Officer.  It is situated on a desert.  And yes, you have heard it right: Desert.  And I got what I had expected all along: GROWTH in various aspects.  Apart from significant financial provision,  I embraced difficult experiences that made me stronger.  For me, the overall experience was priceless.  I also gained new knowledge for the enhancement of my career.  And I won friends.

Now, please allow me to tell you something about yourself.

If you want to grow, you have to be willing to become inconvenient and try something that only a handful of people are willing to go through.  Life is too short not to take risks.  Life is too short not to welcome changes.  In the aspect of love, you have to say “I love you” in spite of fear.  On the road, try to drive, in spite of fear and possible vehicular accidents.  Just take that plunge, boy.  In business, you have to give up something, money and time, in spite of fear, to achieve an exponential growth or to accumulate serious wealth that only a business can provide.  In your spiritual journey, don’t be afraid to tell people about the existence of God and what Jesus has done for you and me: A renewed life.  Try something different, try something new.  And try something exciting but within the bounds of morality.  Try “hard enough” to experience growth and to fully live your life.

Because if you don’t want to grow, then what on earth do you want to do?

Sincerely,

Rc

Taxi Driver on Being Saved

I hope that you did find wisdom and even a little entertainment from my previous entry about that taxi driver’s lack or absence of faith. I’m glad that some of you who stumbled upon that previous post were reminded of how infinitely necessary for us to increase the level of our faith, even motivated to share God’s message of love to others who especially need it, called back from our present preoccupation to reflect on how we are living our lives, and even inspired to write like yours truly haha. Ok, I’m just playing. But seriously now, not only did that taxi driver pronounce his faith in those earthly things that he can only see particularly in those establishments with flickering lights which anyone can find along Quezon Ave. or the streets of Cubao. But he also emphatically and subtly denied mankind’s need of a Savior or salvation!

He said, “Are we being drowned that we all have to be saved?! Why do we need a Savior?”

Here’s an image why:

Taxi Driver on Heaven and Hell

After another 8 working hours at the office on a day of a relatively fine weather, my officemates and I decided to immediately go home and hail a taxi.  There were four of us in the taxi (all guys). We instructed the driver to bring us to Sampaloc, Manila. By the way, I don’t really reside in Sampaloc. I’ve resided in Fairview, Quezon City since my childhood days. But I had decided, at that moment, to have a little bonding or fellowship first with my officemates at their crib in Manila before I went back home. Besides, I’ve also considered their crib a HOME to me ever since those nights when I USED TO frequent it, downing unbelievable amounts of alcohol in various forms, totally NOT caring at the fact that I’d still have to go home, and doing a little bit of crazy things like shooting a very amateur music video of Spongecola’s “Crazy for You” using a camera phone while shirtless just to fight the effects of hangover. But not anymore, congratulate me for I’m living a totally different life now barring perhaps my “crazy” side. Life is basically a cause and effect thing. There was a series of coincidences that happened and made me suddenly aware of the fact that I was actually pursuing a wrong and even destructive path. But I’ve digressed so let’s go back to that taxi driver thing. So I was having a very fun conversation in the taxi with my officemates mostly about Eli Soriano, a popular minister of a religious organization widely known as Ang Dating Daan, and his peculiar ways of indoctrination by sometimes humiliating the people who attempt to ask questions regarding spiritual truths or faith in general. I even injected in the conversation a very common bible verse in which Soriano made himself grossly “contradictory” by merely basing on those two different bible expositions on his evangelistic TV program that discussed the same bible verse I injected. We were having fun talking about it, I’d like to believe that, until the taxi driver surprisingly broke in our conversation. Apparently, this taxi driver also has a grasp on topics of spirituality like this. He professed that he’s a Christian, though he’s jumped from one church to another seemingly not contented by just one church to immerse himself. I’ve had an enormous respect for every single individual especially in the delicate aspect of his/her faith. I did give my respect to this taxi driver by becoming generally silent and tactful as well as to his spiritual awareness although the latter needs a total overhaul especially when he touched the topic of the eternal reality one would ultimately face after physical death: Heaven and Hell.

The taxi driver claimed that heaven is located somewhere along Quezon Avenue. He might have been pointing at that building I saw with a billboard of a woman caressing the chest of a man and the ad on it says somewhat like this, “Touching Generations.” And hell, according to him, can be found in Muntinlupa City where the murderers, rapists, and thieves are confined.

Company Outing

Two weeks ago (this entry is way overdue haha) was our ‘company outing’ and I really had a blast.  Just two days before the outing, an e-mail came up on my computer screen signaling the start of ‘The Amazing Race’ to our outing destination.  We had NO idea where we would be going and that’s when our excitement soared to an entirely different level haha.  We just knew that we would be going to Batangas but we hadn’t known the exact place, the exact venue of our outing.  The e-mail said that there’s a jigsaw puzzle piece carefully hidden somewhere in our area.  We have to look for that piece first in our workstation and then search for the correct pieces from the other employees across departments in order to assemble a meaningful image.  The image, as it turned out, was a photo of the person who would be our ‘driver’ for the first leg of the race.  It really got me hyper haha.  I couldn’t wait for the race to begin.  It was a huge carpooling.  All the drivers were our ‘bosses’ simply because they all have cars that were mostly issued by the company.  I could hardly believe that our driver (she therefore occupies a high position in the company) is just within my age bracket! This pretty executive whom I believe makes business plans for a potential Petron station is way beyond my reach haha.  She’s obviously as young as yours truly but you could easily tell that the unseen boundary was there in the way she carried every conversation.  She’s damn reputable and so I behaved myself (not my usual self actually haha).  So anyway, our meeting place was at a 7-eleven store along EDSA Central at 5:15 AM.  We were five in the group including our highly-reputable driver.  The first pit stop was at PEC3, just a huge-ass Petron station along the Expressway.  At PEC3, there was another jigsaw puzzle to be assembled and consequently, our drivers changed.  All of a sudden, the real race began from PEC3.  I began hearing slams of car doors and quickly followed by a chain of swooshes.  After assembling another image of a brand logo which was anything related to Petron at PEC3, series of clues were deliberately distributed at every pit stop.  Every pit stop had a ‘challenge’ waiting for every single member of the group with a distinct strength who was willing to accept it.  We had to complete a certain challenge (mental and physical) that represents our strength before getting the next clue.  It was definitely like The Amazing Race and we all finally deciphered, one clue after another, that the FINAL pit stop would be the place where we would be spending the rest of our weekends.  It was a race towards our outing destination.  We came out 3rd (I think haha) at the final pit stop, our outing destination.  The final pit stop was at the Little Bridge Resort in Taal, Batangas.  It was a Cinderella finish.  Our driver was simply awesome and he deserves to be the boss.  The HR Department definitely deserves major props for making our company outing not only meticulously planned but for also making it more fun and interesting.

Right after reaching our outing venue which was at the Little Bridge Resort in Taal, we played a couple of games on the beach.  I can’t really describe how fun the games really were especially the first game wherein we have to cross ourselves to the other side of the beach just using two folders.  The rule in that particular game was pretty straightforward: Don’t step on the sand.  With just a single rule, strategies came into play and our team won that game.  After the games, I went straight to our room and took a bath.  I felt so clammy.  A hot chocolate spilled over my pants and the lower part of my shirt while we were heading to PEC3.  The resort was so spacious that you could barely notice that we were actually more than 80 who joined the outing.  After taking a bath, I went out for lunch and then took a catnap in our air-conditioned room.  That quick siesta energized me for my favorite activity (for any outing) and that is drinking session haha.  I was gladly invited.  One of the POS guys actually opened a beer for me.  I sat down with a beer on hand and enjoyed little talks with the guys.  I was definitely a newbie in THEIR drinking session as I come from the Finance Department where girls have been abundant and they come mostly from Operations.  But it really doesn’t matter for a guy who has a high tolerance level to alcohol, does it haha?  I really have no idea of the exact number of beers I consumed but I think it went double digit in the whole duration of the outing.  But I didn’t get drunk.  I was sober most of the time as I was still very much aware of what I was doing.  I didn’t send ridiculous text messages to anyone on my phonebook nor did I dance like a macho dancer on the bar table haha.  So I was very much sober.  I was, most of the time, hanging out with the guys, drinking booze with them, and playing basketball with them.  It was quite funny that we could still play basketball while there was already an alcohol in our system haha.  But still I made 4 points, a follow-up and a lay-up respectively.  I wasn’t actually rusty at basketball even if I was a little intoxicated haha.  That was a good discovery.

I was frequently absent in most photos of the Finance people.  They were actually dismayed by my lack of appearance as I was hanging out with different people haha.  But I think there’s nothing wrong about stepping out of my shell while they were just staying inside their comfort zone.  But of course, I made a conscious effort to finally be with the Finance team in the swimming pool.  You still have to love your own haha.  I enjoyed swimming with them but technically speaking, I really don’t know how to swim haha.  I was actually a laughing stock during swimming lessons in my 4th year high school.  My Finance pal taught me how and I was a fast learner.  I just have to employ effective breathing techniques.  I was sporty back in the day but swimming isn’t simply my thing.  I believe I have to be tossed into an open sea so that I could learn how to swim.  I think my brilliant athleticism will come out under an unforgiving predicament haha.

After dipping myself into the swimming pool for just a short time, we ate our dinner.  Shortly after eating dinner, my Finance pal and I went to the videoke area.  For me, an outing without a videoke is a terrible outing haha.  It’s like a cone without the ice cream.  Videoke, therefore, is logically the Cookies ‘n Cream haha.  Personally, it’s still the most enjoyable thing to do because I love singing.  I was quite surprised when my Finance pal and I arrived at an almost DESERTED videoke area.  Almost all people were on the swimming pool and some were probably in their rooms having bondings.  My friend and I just spotted two people at the videoke area.  One is our Marketing Manager and the other is his very captivating Marketing Assistant.  Believe me, that chick, the Marketing Assistant, is a topnotch.  She’s a Serendra Mall type of beauty who usually strolls on a Saturday with a poodle haha.  If given a chance (which probably won’t arrive haha), I will not only seize the stars for her, I will also give her my cute pitbull (no pun intended).  Yes, I didn’t get the chance to seize the stars for her nor did I even loosen the leash on my pitbull’s neck but when “Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang” splashed on the videoke screen, I asked her if that’s her song.  She said it’s not hers.  And then I asked her if we could sing it together since that song is a duet.  I was quite surprised when she consented haha.  I really could not believe why and how I did it especially in the presence of her manager haha.  Perhaps, the alcohol in my body had already taken effect.  Or perhaps, I was just depressed that night.  I’d like to believe that it wasn’t really the alchohol that made me confident to ask her if we could sing that song together.  It was mostly my love for singing.  And besides, I already had experienced singing in duets before.  And so we sang together and boy was I amazed by her pleasant voice.  It was a cool duet song and she knew how to blend.  I was blown away haha.  Eventually, more people arrived at the videoke area.  I sang three more songs and yes, I felt their love haha.  People from the swimming pool even clapped their hands after I had sung a Stevie Wonder hit haha.  I also saw the pretty Marketing Assistant clapping her hands while she was browsing songs on the song book.  After the outing, I was teased profusely by my officemates if I could sing another song haha.  At the washroom in the office, I bumped into my Finance Manager and he said that I’m such a singer haha.  Then I replied, “Really sir?  Am I?” Then he answered, “You were probably too drunk to remember.” Hahaha.  Thanks really for appreciating my little talent.  I’m so grateful, you may not have an idea.  But seriously, I’m not that exceptional haha.  Sometimes, I tend to pick songs NOT right for me and as a result, I sing poorly at times.  But most of the time, I know what song is right for me haha.

Overall, our company outing was a blast.  I even forgot that I was down on those days.  It was rightly timed.  It was an infinitesimal part of His plan.