FROM THE HEART

In light of the recent flashflood that devastated a portion of the city of Davao, I am asking all of you, to first of all, listen to the Lord in prayer. I agree the situation is urgent…so is our ‘listening to the Lord.’ It is important to be sensitive to God’s Spirit so we can help in ways that are guided by God and grace…not by guilt and pressure. When we take time to listen, our response to those in need is more productive. During our prayer meetings last Wednesday and Friday, we all spent time praying and listening to God… and as a result, a team of church members went to help clean the houses of some of the flood victims. As we worship God today and take communion, let us continue to listen to the Lord.

Pastor Bobby Narciso and family were also badly affected by the flood. Thank you for your concern…he is now recovering from the loss. We are in the process of identifying other parishioners who were also affected; so we can extend the necessary assistance. As of the moment, we are appealing to you to help the victims, both from our church community and the community outside our walls, by way of a special offering. We are also thankful that the Baptist Community Response Team vehicle, though in the midst of the flood, was not wrecked. The mission team will be mobilized next week to distribute more relief goods and it is in this regard that we are asking you to share goods…especially bottled water, soap and mats for our team to take to the affected areas.

As we do all these, let us continue to be prayerful and sensitive to the Lord’s leadings, for truly, more than our goods and donations, people will be seeing our attitudes. We pray that they may sense our Christ-like attitude which, in this messy times, will be tested. Again, as we seek God, let us be open to what God is revealing regarding our spiritual state. The relief goods we have collected will all go to the flood victims of Davao City instead of Cotabato City. As you pray, you can also connect with other agencies undertaking the same efforts. What we do as a church is just a fraction of what still needs to be done.

Let us all spend time to listen to God…so we can do what He wants us to do.



Prayerfully,

REV. ARNEL TAN