“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”” – Confucius

“THE STRONGEST STORM ON THE PLANET IS HEADED TOWARDS THE PHILIPPINES.”  With the advancement in technology, predicting the path and the strength of a typhoon has been as reliable as the rising and setting of the sun.  Typhon, the eponymous Greek monster, was described to be the largest and most fearsome of all creatures.  Similarly, tropical cyclones, often referred to as typhoons in  Asiatic regions and Hurricanes in the Atlantic and Pacific,  are feared by many for they leave a path of unspeakable destruction to life, property and livelihood.

Yolanda, a category 5 tropical cyclone, looked so beautiful from space but from where the eye of the storm was, it was  anything but. Houses flattened to the ground, roads blocked with debris from fallen trees and lamp posts, cars strewn on collapsed rooftops, and tankers washed ashore. Thousands of families lost their homes, some even their loved ones; food and water became scarce and communication lines were down. One could just  imagine how harrowing this experience must have been for our brothers and sisters from the affected areas in the Visayas.  However, barely recovering from this, another storm has entered the PAR, once again affecting areas such as Ilolilo, Aklan, Cebu, areas which have yet to recover from the aftermaths of Yolanda.

How can one recover from such trials? Just like the bamboo, Filipinos are resilient. We do not break easily. People wonder how we will survive the biggest and strongest storm on the planet and our answer is simple: Our God is bigger than any storm. It is our faith which sustains us, protects us and gives us strength to move on. It is our faith which binds us as one, urging us to help and be of service to others. This trait is akin to all Filipinos all over the world. Bayanihan is felt throughout the land and outpouring from across the seas.  This is who we are. This is how we get up, time after time – as one people.

In trying times such as these, may it be a tropical cyclone or your personal “storms” which you have to overcome, one must be steadfast in his faith for without it, we are merely like houses made of paper which can be blown away in just a blink of an eye. Let’s build our faith on trust, fortify it with prayer and anchor it on our Lord.

This article appears in the November, 2013 issue of TLA Blaze. Click here to download a copy of this newsletter.