Then maybe we will go on with our lives and we will be fine....
But what about extraordinary? What about an extraordinary life? What if fine is just not enough?
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Christianity today has been downsized to something like this - weird nerds who don't have any fun. When someone says "I'm a christian", they always think of a monk who doesn't get his share of excitement. Some lame loser who always gets trampled on because he is too shy and quiet from all the "aggressiveness" around him. Good guys, apparently finish last.
Since when did guys who were considered God's children as dull? I don't think parting the red sea was dull. Hell, i mean, heck, that must have been pretty exciting. How about calling fire from heaven? Or walking on water? Or having the whole army of heaven back you up whenever there's a fight? How about knowing which way to go everytime there's a fork on the road. The last chapter in the bible talks about a war, between evil and good where everyone, used to be dead or still alive, angels and demons, will participate. It conjures up images of Lord of the Rings versus the Orcs, not some weird men in white with harps singing while being slaughtered. No no no. Cannot be.
The thing is, those people we call christians, of whatever denomination, sometimes, they aren't christians. So the floozy label, doesn't apply. I think that when i first became a christian at fourteen, i kinda sidetracked later on and found myself not really a christian until about a year ago when things took a massive turn around and i had a major heart surgery. I suffer from an ugly heart but God is good, he likes trash and is a major recycling artist.
Anyways i dunno why it took me a long time to realize that my life does matter. That i do have a purpose. I mean purpose as in real purpose, not some forced mantra chopra where i look at the mirror everyday and try to convince myself i have one by saying "cheen you have a purpose"... I'm talking about i could feel it in my guts, i don't have any explanation for it, but miracles after miracles happen and i am always at awe of his power. IF this happened a year ago, i would have been puffed up with pride, but things are different now. Every blessing is a humbling experience for me. Now i understand what "God will make a way" means. Starstruck ako. Talentless me is winning. Wingless me is flying.
So there i was at 8 am hanging out at Starbucks UN avenue, the one in front of the US embassy. Today was the day i got interviewedd for a US visa. You have to know that when i took this USMLE thing, i took a leap of faith. I had no money to my name, i had no means of getting a visa, no land titles, no cars, no hefty bank account. My profile fit that of a person who would be an illegal alien. Worse, i only hear of horror stories of people who took the USMLE but were denied a visa to complete it.
While preparing the necessary documents, i realized i was you know, not eligible. I only had the following:
1. Pimples. Shoot. If i had a dollar for every pimple of this forsaken adult onset acne, i'd be a billionaire. The humor and the irony of this...
2. An unction. Like this is something i was meant to do and beyond all logic, i will go after this.
If i get denied, then that would be like burning a couple of thousand dollars, and me lagging from medical training for one year. Those were the thoughts that competed with my faith on that stormy morning at starbucks. The weather was reflective of my inner turmoil. I fidgeted with my coffee. I drew on the napkins. I had two hours to kill before they allow me inside the embassy.
But then peace came. I was reminded that it was just a visa. No not the type of reminder that "my life is not over if i don't get a US visa", but it was the type of reminder that said "if God could part the red sea just so moses could live, if this same God is the same one who died just to get me eternal life, what's a US visa?" So there. In the midst of coffee beans, i remembered that i was favored. That i could never fall. That defeat is not in my vocabulary. That in my blood runs the blood of the miracle worker and at my beckon, at my prayer, mountains move, the impossible becomes possible.
I didn't even have my parents' bank account. Not even our car registration. Not a land title with me. I felt naked, like a guy who goes into battle without an armor. Pangahas.
There were like several booths in there and there was one particular booth that stood out. Mostly because the persons the consul was interviewing were all denied. I was near it so i heard all the begging... I was like, huwag sana ako dito please please please. Naku, sa saya nga naman, dun ako napunta. Ten minutes of torture ata ang interview sa kanila.
David refuses the armor. Saul asks him, aren't you going to wear an armor? David looks up at Saul and says, the battle is the Lord's... Today the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel... and with one stone, David killed Goliath.
Good morning. I said.
Consul says good morning. I hand him the letter from ECFMG and my usmle grade.
So who is going to pay for this exam? He asks
My parents.
Where are you going to stay?
With my aunt?
When do you plan to come back?
Before christmas.
Have you not worked before?
I did but i quit. I want to train in the US. (After i said this honest fact, i felt like i shouldn't have said that. I was advised to talk about "Disneyland" and to act startstruck about going to the US. Obviously i forgot about that).
He gets a paper and tells me, okay see me before Christmas when you get back from the US. Is December 15 convenient for you?
Sure I said.
Then he tells me, you got a pretty good score here huh?
Sort of. i said.
Then he hands me a slip. Approved.
Less than a minute. No bank accounts asked. No nothing asked.
Thousands of years ago a shepherd who believed in someone greater than him experienced miracle after miracle. That same God still lives and is showing a young doctor miracle after miracle.
And you know what? It's not that i'm special. I'm a kid with a bad heart who realized i wanted something extraordinary from life. I'm a kid who traded in my "fine life" for an exhilirating extraordinary life. Offer still stands. It was offered in the past, still being offered today. Sabi nga ni Gary V, you have nothing to lose but everything to gain.
*
And you know what, you'll see me one day, in front of the battle, drawing my sword, fighting the greatest battle there ever was in history. And i assure you, i won't be wearing a white dress, i won't be playing a harp.
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