The second week my team was in the Philippines, the worst typhoon to ever hit land swept across the country’s islands. Being so close to the devastation, my squad felt compelled to find a way to help provide relief and remind those affected that they are loved and not forgotten by God.
While some members of our squad were fortunate enough to catch a flight to Tacloban, the city hit hardest by the Typhoon, our team wasn’t feasibly close enough. However, after discussing our desire to help with our pastor, we made plans for the following week to wake up early and venture to the southern part of our island, an area in need of some disaster relief. We didn’t know how our help would take form, but we were prepared and excited to do so in any way possible, from repairing homes to cleaning the streets to praying with people.
But as the Lord works, the night before we left, our plans changed. Our pastor met with our team leaders and after prayer and discussion they decided that for just one day, our investments of time and money could be better spent doing something else.
The following morning our team trekked thirty minutes “Jingle Bells” style: over the river and through the woods, and then up a mountain, to reach the small, humble home of Maribec. Maribec is a lovely, tiny woman that works part-time cleaning our church. Once we arrived, breathing heavily and glistening with sweat, Kuya Al (our pastor) explained that we would be laying a cement foundation to replace their feeble dirt one.
If you know a bit about architecture, you know that having a strong foundation is extremely important to a stable home. Jesus even compares those who hear his words but do not put them into practice to a foolish man who built his house on sand. Matthew 7:27 says, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” I know it was an analogy, but Jesus knew what he was talking about. The dirt foundation made her home a dangerous place to be during rain storms, and especially during typhoons.
So that afternoon, we spent three hours hauling forty-pound bags of sand from the river up the mountain while Kuya Al and Maribec’s husband used it to make cement. The work was tiring, and the muscles in my arms and back ached as I lugged those bags up the mountain; the path was steep and sometimes I had to hold onto trees or roots to pull myself up. But as I dropped the final bags of sand off at the house and began to walk away, my eyes welled up with tears.
This little act of love was just a glimmer of all the wonderful and infinitely more perfect love that our Father has for us. He wouldn’t just carry forty-pound bags up a steep mountain. His love has no bounds. He would carry the weight of the world, bearing the cruel pains of a torturous death, so that we could be houses with strong foundations. So that when we are hit with harsh storms, when winds blow against us, we will stand strong. We will be safe. We will not fall.
Even still, Maribec was so touched by this small act. So touched in fact that she cried tears of joy when she heard what we were going to do that afternoon.
So instead of helping with the aftermath of a typhoon, we helped prevent destruction by creating a cement foundation for Maribec’s home. And while I got to unveil just a glimmer of His love, I also got to experience in a tangible way, a shard of His sacrifice.
Some of my teammates with Maribec & her family & Kuya Al
