Time For Some Good News

Halleluiah! There’s always a silver lining after a storm. A hope of a new day. And as we are being drowned with sad news, there is definitely a time for some good news.

The Philippines’ Pambansang Kamao Manny Pacquiao arrived Manila with the whole nation rejoicing over his latest victory over Mexican boxer David Diaz. The Pac Man is an epitome of the Filipinos’ fighting spirit in the midst of problems that has punched the nation left and right. Fuel prices ALWAYS going up. Rice shortage. Typhoon devastations. Grief-stricken families of the Princess of the Stars victims. Unreliable Government officials. Inflation. Self-centered Business owners. And just as this list goes on and on, a hardworking boxer shows us the road to claim victory through faith in God and faith in oneself. His homecoming is a silver lining after a storm. A hope of a new day. A promise that good things are on our way.

Indeed, it is time for some good news. I just came home from a hospital confinement, and thankful that I agreed to have the procedure after putting it off for quite sometime. My anxiety for what-ifs over ruled my capacity to arrive at better decisions, undermining my state of health. I always kept myself busy with work and with a lot of other things, that putting my health on top priority was nowhere in my list. But no matter how we neglect ourselves, God always have a way of carrying out His plans for our good.

There I was, sitting on an operating table, bent like a shrimp.

I was praying when that cold spray on my back and the gauge 27 spinal needle was tapped onto my lower spine. In a few winks, the general anesthesia numbed me from waist down. I complained difficulty in breathing when they placed me in a lying position, so they had to immediately put me back in a sitting position. Nurses took turns asking me questions to maybe check if “I’m still with them”, to which I mustered to mumble some answers in a slow motion way. In less than 5 minutes, hearing the anesthesiologist mentioning my hemoglobin count, I suddenly felt a gush of air inside me that “refreshed” me and made me say “I’m now okay”. I was completely awake during the whole procedure which was done in less time than I expected. Afterwards, the whole two hours went by with me having the chills, feeling unpleasantly cold, apparently the effect of the anesthesia in my system. Gladys, my OR nurse, kept asking me how I feel, and as soon as I was able to slightly move my feet, and told her that I’m okay, I was brought back to my room to sleep and rest.

Now I’m here at home resting very well. Although I’m still comparatively moving slower than usual, and moving extra careful especially of my back (lower spine area), I can say that everything is going well. I have to go back to my doctor next Friday for the biopsy result, and I believe that more good news will come my way.

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man and said, “I will. Be Healed!” Matthew 8:3 ….. Oh the power of a godly touch. Haven’t you known it? The doctor who treated you, or the teacher who dried your tears? Was there a hand holding yours at the funeral? Another on your shoulder during a trial? A handshake of welcome at a new job?... Can’t we offer the same? Many of you already do. Some of you have the master touch of the Physician himself. You use your hands to pray over the sick and minister to the weak. If you aren’t touching them personally, your hands are writing letters, dialing phones, baking pies. You have learned the power of a touch. But others of us tend to forget. Our hearts are good; it’s just that our memories are bad. We forget how significant one touch can be… Aren’t we glad Jesus didn’t make the same mistake?

– Max Lucado, Just Like Jesus