The Day that was not My Day

Thursday, June 25, 2009. I was prepared to go to school and pass through the day with a breeze. I studied for my Thermodynamics and Physiology quizzes, which were to be taken at 8:00 AM and 9:40 AM, respectively. I even went to the LRT earlier than usual so that I will be on school at an earlier time. Then, everything went wrong. SO WRONG.

After a few minutes of waiting for the train to arrive, the LRT temporarily suspended its operation at about 7:30 AM, and I started to panic. There was no way I'm going to ride the jeepney because the road was flooded with people. So, I called my mother and asked her to take me to La Salle via our car, for the first time ever.

On my way to school, I was really tired because of wondering how I will take my quizzes (especially since there was that "No quiz, you get the lowest grade of all your quizzes as your quiz grade." policy). My hands and feet were clammy, my heart was being squeezed and my stomach has butterflies in it.

When I finally stepped foot in school, I wanted to cry because I did not know how to fix this mess... But then again, I remembered to "Give thanks to the Lord in all circumstances for it is God's will for you, in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:18)" because "...God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28)." IT WAS CRAZY TO THANK GOD BECAUSE I WAS IN SUCH A DILEMMA, BUT I DID IT, ANYWAY... Out of that thing called faith.

I ended up showing up to my Thermodynamics teacher so that I can plead on taking my quiz. Thankfully, he did, but on one condition - I needed to take the quiz by 9:40. I went to look for my Physiology teacher, but I can't find him. I decided to take things moment by moment and took my Thermodynamics quiz. After that, I finally found my Physiology teacher and he talked to us (Nico Ng and I, because we were in the same situation) about our "problem." After giving us suspense on whether he decided to give us a quiz or not, he concluded that "We all have our fair share of bad days" and "S*** happens," and that we were allowed to take the quiz, but on a shorter time span.

I CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW HAPPY I WAS. No wonder God has a reason for us to thank Him even in REALLY CRAZY situations.

The day went by smoothly after that, and though it was really NOT MY DAY (It was proven during my 2:40 PM Digital Electronics subject, when I dropped my file case and it was heard througout the classroom... and my teacher, who also happened to be the one teaching my Physiology subject, declared, "Kamae, it is really not your day." Haha.), I must say it was GOD'S DAY of giving me first-hand, short-term experience of "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps (Proverbs 16:9)."

P.S. Remember how God lets people experience things so that they can preach from the heart? That happened to me that day as I was assigned to give a nugget talk during Archer's Call (CCC's weekly prayer time and fellowship) about having a Revolutionary Walk (one of the points is "Living by Faith"). Haha.

Grace

If there is a thing called Last-Song-Syndrome (LSS), there should also be one called Last-Verse-Syndrome (LVS). These are the times when God's word really strikes me as a "double-edged sword," and I just want to repeat the verse over and over in my head. Right now, it's in Romans Chapter 5 (focus on verse 20b).

"12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 5:12-21

Like every other person, there are times when I feel out-of-tune with God's signals, and I begin to do things I know I would be better without. (These are the times when you really should NOT depend on FEELINGS, BUT rather on God and HIS WORD.) It's just awesome to know that He is always there to welcome you back into His arms.*