Sa unang pagkakataon siya ay aking nakita.
Nasa loob nang simbahan magara ang suot niya.
Puti na ang kanyang buhok ngunit maayos ang mukha,
Magkahalong saya’t lungkot sa puso ko ay nadama.

Daming beses kong inakay na pumunta sa simbahan,
Ngunit siya’y tumatanggi ang dahilan di ko alam.
Kagalanggalang ang kilos, ang ugali’y hahangaan,
Nguni’t hindi ko nakitang pumapasok sa simbahan.

Minsang kami’y nag-uusap, siya ay aking tinanong,
“Sa tanang buhay mo kaya, sa simbaha’y di natungtong?”
Isang mapait na ngiti, sinukli sa aking tanong,
Mapait na karanasan ang sa aki’y ibinulong.

Nang siya daw ay bata pa mahirap ang buhay nila,
Nagkukulang sa pagkain, pananamit lubas sila.
Isang araw siya’y niyaya sa simbahan ay pumunta.
Siya raw ay tuwang-tuwa sa mga narinig niya.

Sa kanilang Sunday School siya daw ay isinali.
Sa narinig niyang turo, siya daw ay wiling-wili.
Nguni’t laking pagkagulat nang sila daw ay pauwi,
Siya’y tinawag nang guro, may masakit na sinabi.

“Anak, huwag ka nang bumalik na ganyan ang pananamit,
Pagka’t sa tahanan ng Dios, dapat magara ang damit.”
Marumi ang kanyang paa, damit niya’y gula-gulanit
Kaya ang kanyang sinagot, “Ako’y di na po uulit.”

Hindi na nga siya umulit na pumasok sa simbahan.
Puso niya ay tumigas nang dahil sa naranasan.
Kahit ano pang sabihin ayaw nang paniwalaan,
Kaya pag-ibig ni Jesus ay hindi n’ya naranasan.

Di ba hinirang ng Diyos ang dukha sa sanlibutan,
Nang sa pananampalataya sila naman ay yumaman?
Bakit tayo nagtatangi, namimili nang mayaman,
Ang dukhang sulsi ang damit ay ating tinatanggihan?

Sa unang pagkakataon siya ay aking nakita.
Nasa loob nang simbahan magara ang suot niya,
Puti na ang kanyang buhok ngunit maayos ang mukha,
Ngayon isa na siyang bangkay, kaya ako’y napaluha.

Today, September 18, is my youngest daughter’s birthday. She’s now 15 years old. But there’s something different when you are a pastor’s kid. Somehow people expect them to be good models or examples of what a Christian child ought to be. This can be challenging and stressful for pastor’s kid. I therefore tell church members to treat my children just like the way they treat the other children in the church. They are children too after all and they do make mistakes too.

Pastoral Moves Numerous Times

But what is even more stressful for a pastor’s kid is when a family is transferred from one place to another. In my personal experience in full-time ministry, I have been transferred nine times from Luzon to Mindanao and back. In God’s dealing with me, he brought me to this challenging path along with my family.

Pastoral Transfers: Difficult for Pastor’s Kids

It was hard on my eldest daughter to be uprooted from her close friends, from a familiar place moving to another strange place with different cultures and different dialects. One of the most difficult one for her was when she had already developed close friendships for 3 years with her high school classmates in San Fernando, La Union only to move to Cabanatuan City for her fourth year high school. That can be traumatic for a teenager.

A Maturing Experience for Pastor’s Kids

Then we moved to Manila just in time for her college. It was again difficult for her to be left in Manila for college because we were moved to Mindanao and she was left behind. Thankfully, she matured out of all the experiences that she went through.

Prayer for Pastor’s Kids

And now, my youngest daughter. She’s now 15 and on her third year in high school in a new environment. Another teenager. The previous year, she was in a different school in a different place. And previous to that, we were all in Mindanao for seven years. Three different places for first year, second year and now, third year in high school. I pray that she would also be able to adjust, adapt and mature out of all these traumatic changes that she’s going through and feel more and more at home in her new environment where we have now been moved.

Hopefully, she would also be able to face up to the challenges she’s going through and come out a mature person just like her elder sister did. This is our prayer. Please join us in prayer for the well-being of my two daughters especially for my teenager who is celebrating her 15th birthday today.

Never in my life did I plan something like this. It just sort of—happened. Who would have thought that a Russian consul would call me on the phone and meet with me personally! This was really amazing to me. So unexpected and a once in a lifetime experience—at least for me. He called me because I am the senior pastor of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) local congregation in Pampanga.

This morning, the Pampanga prison ministry team of WCG escorted the Russian Consul as he made a courtesy call to the city mayor of Angeles City. Days before, he invited us (insisted) that we go with him so that he can explain and express to the mayor his gratitude to us in the WCG Pampanga prison ministry team for helping his fellow Russian citizen who was wrongly imprisoned at the city’s district jail for about 5 months. It was actually WCG Pampanga’s prison ministry leader, Ed Estrella—whose passion is to reach out to prison inmates— that got into contact with this Russian citizen who was unjustly imprisoned.

Russian Consul Receives Symbolic Key from City Mayor

The visit was cordial and the two dignitaries exchanged pleasantries. The mayor gave the consul a symbolic key to the city. The Russian consul also thanked the chief immigration officer who also extended help to his fellow Russian citizen whose visa expired as a result of being unjustly imprisoned.

At the end of the meeting, I had the honor of leading in prayer for the city mayor as well as for the Russian consul. What a “once in a lifetime” experience that was! Surely, God was with us and was directing everything that happened. We just sort of—enjoyed the ride haha!