GLOBALLY STRANDED June 25, 2020

For a day and a night seven years ago, after Supertyphoon Haiyan devastated our towns in Leyte, I and my mother too were stranded at the port (after almost a week of having no sleep under the stars and the rain, since our roof completely flew away), waiting for a ride to Cebu, for a chance at relief from the misery I saw and experienced, to reconnect with loved ones here, and to try to settle down my thoughts and emotions and keep hold of sanity and faith.

I can only imagine what the locally stranded people in our country are going through right now: they who must endure weeks and months living nowhere, enduring the heat during the day and the monsoon rains at night while sleeping under the stars, not getting enough to eat, not being able to do their proper toilet necessities, not enough money to buy anything or afford more proper accommodation, not getting any nearer to home and loved ones, and not getting any farther from the risk of contracting the CoViD-19 disease and the probability of dying alone and in misery.

I can understand too, why the LGUs they are meant to go to are hesitant to accept them.  For lack of security, sufficient facilities and preparation, they are afraid that these people might unknowingly bring the disease with them and infect many others back home.

The desperation is something I have only just skimmed at the surface for while stranded in my case, I spent it inside a roofed (albeit very hot, dark and stuffy) enclosure with hundreds of miserable, traumatized, sick and weary people, with the horror and tragedy past, and only the totally destroyed houses and buildings, felled coconut trees, drowned rice fields, and the stench of the dead (drowned, bloated and blackened) in the air--a reminder for several months after of those swept by the deluge and ended up lying rotten and decayed under the debris by the roadside along the towns we passed by.  This time, the tragedy is ongoing, and the horror is still long being drawn out even as we write.

There is a great deal of anxiety not only in our land but in many other countries too, for they too, have stranded communities and desperate, jobless people who are struggling to go home for safety.  One more miserable scenario would have to be the millions of worker-immigrants in India who had to walk for several days home because they were laid off during the lockdowns.  And to endure the heat, the dehydration, the harassment, abuse and maltreatment of people along the way who brand them as infected (even if not proven and tested)—no wonder hundreds died during their exodus. 

During the exodus in supertyphoon Haiyan’s time, thankfully for the thousands who walked for days along the more than a hundred kilometers from Tacloban down to Southern Leyte, or west to Ormoc, or North and East to Samar, virtually no reports were received of people who were abused and who died.  Instead, many testified of receiving help from strangers and good Samaritans, who were also survivors themselves.

These experiences alone would banish hope and faith were it not that we have assurance in GOD’s Word.  We read in Proverbs chapter 18 verse 10 that, “the Name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it, and is safe.”  Indeed nature and the microscopic kingdom may unleash its malevolent force upon us, for causes that we might be partly to blame, but it could never overpower the legacy that our Creator has given to us—that He is our refuge and strong tower.  Yes, we might sleep under the stars, but we are still under the canopy of His mercy and grace.

We also read in verse 12 that, “before destruction the heart of man is haughty [proud], and before honor is humility.”  The sufferings we are experiencing now are trials to test our faith and to humble us, teaching us to depend on our Maker and not our own fallible strength.  He alone has power to deliver us from misery and desperation, and if in humility we acknowledge Him in our lives, He will have mercy and bring us honor.

We must only remain strong and make sure that we do not lose courage, for verse 14 warns us that, “the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity [sickness—of the body, the heart, or the mind]; but a wounded spirit who can bear?”

We too must make daily declaration of His power and strength over our lives, for in verse 21, it says that, “death and life are in the power of the tongue: and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Yes, we may be stranded for a time, and that is a little matter, for indeed, we are all pilgrims on earth, and while alive, we are all stranded for a physical lifetime.  But we mustn’t forget that we have a GOD who protects us, cares for us, remembers us, and will always sustain us.  We may be globally stranded, but we are His children, citizens of His kingdom, and His heirs for eternity.