Checkpoint

The United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Sibulan, Oriental Negros, celebrated United Church Men Sunday and it was a good time to reunite with friends and make new ones. It was also an opportunity to share some thoughts on taking time to voluntarily pass a checkpoint toward self-improvement.

It is sad to see fellow citizens gathered to evade the police checkpoint because of their fear or refusal to be inspected. We can surmise that they have documentary deficiencies, are subject to warrants of arrest. On a positive note, it is always worthwhile to critically check one's self to initiate the needed correction. This practice is one lesson we can learn from the biblical story of Naaman's being healed of leprosy. The humility of the boss in accepting advice from a domestic helper is a key ingredient to the healing. We do need to be sensitive to our faults, or our very own “leprosy”.

Tomorrow the world will observe Eid al-Adha an Islamic festival to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim (also known as Abraham) to follow Allah's (God's) command to sacrifice his son Ishmael. Muslims around the world celebrate this event. Christians could best take note of the religious story's commonality shared with the Muslim. We know the happy ending to the story.

We also have to relate to current efforts of our government to find peace in the conflict in Mindanao. There was a time when the conflict was mistakenly regarded as a religious fight. The war was peacefully turned into an agrarian issue that is currently being discussed toward an understanding of good governance with the mutually agreed creation of the Bagsamoro. We do share the responsibilities of supporting this peace effort as our contribution to building a unified nation.

We then shared a video clip of the last scene of the movie The Last Samurai. When Capt. Nathan Algren was asked by the Emperor of Japan to tell him how Katsumoto died, the response was, “I will tell you how he lived”. Indeed, we should “live to tell” with our own lives.

Let us end with an attempt to smile and be encouraged to be sensitive to our own faults, do peacekeeping work, and live our lives to tell with the following anecdote. There are three types of men. Some decide to remain single and make wonders happen. Some have girl friends and see wonders happen. The rest get married and wonder what happened.*