ENJOY THE RIDE

The sleepy town of San Mateo did not have a Baptist church. There's been a Methodist Church since the early 1900s, and a Baptist Church was started in the 1930s that dissolved during the war, its members joined the Methodists.

When my dad took on the challenge of starting a Baptist church in San Mateo, Rizal, he also took his whole family with him. When my parents started the church in our large garage, a good number of folks came. Some just wanting to know what Baptists are, and others came from neighboring churches- particularly, the Baptists from the Methodist Church, and a family whose church was in Quezon City.

My dad pastored that same church for the next 25 years, and in many ways, planted our family's roots in that sleepy little town.

One of the realities that my family had to face as we grew was the commute! My mom ran a real estate firm in Quezon City, my dad went with her and held office there because our church neither had an office (just a chapel and a Sunday School Room) or staff. We all woke up early- siblings who were in college left earlier than my parents. Parents drove me to school, etc.

Those were the days when cell phones were heavy like weapons and laptops or any device that made it particularly easy to get anything done while you were traveling were status symbols. What it meant in practical terms is that many parents left for work before their children got up in the morning and returned home often after they had gone to bed.

The morning and evening commute were always horrible experiences. As a college student, it meant waiting for a bus, a jeepney or a cab for at least an hour, not to mention the huge crowd that went along-- more like tackling with you on your pursuit of public transportation. Oh, how could I forget instances when I witnessed pickpockets, snatchers, and road accidents.

What it meant on the psyche of all of those commuters I cannot claim to know. But if I were to guess, I would say it drained something from them. But if there's anything I learned from commuting, it is this: enjoy the ride! Yes, I can make a few phone calls and stuff, but that won't stop me from enjoying the ride.

I recently bought a DVD, Into the Wild, where a young man who just graduated from Emory University decided donate his $24,000 savings, trashed his car, burned all his cash and tramped around America. From his home in summery Georgia, he ended up in the bleak Alaska. He wanted to live a simple life as he could, and he did.

Henry Thoreau, whom we know as a poet and essayist, a deep and practical thinker, lived in the mid-1800s, from 1817 to 1862. When we think of those days, we see them as simpler—not as complex and rushed and hurried as ours today. No cars, very little machinery. There were no telephones, no electronics. We think it must have been a calmer and easier time. Yet people in that era were uptight. They were overworked. They felt rushed, they felt troubled. It seems to be part of the human condition. Out of his own century Henry Thoreau spoke to this:
Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life? We are determined to be starved before we are hungry.
As you know, he withdrew from town life and went to live on Walden Pond to learn how to live simply and naturally. In those quieter sur­roundings he became attuned to nature, and much of what he taught and wrote about later he learned from the natural world at Walden Pond.
We need to learn to live in the moment—to be present to the present. To live in each day as each day happens. To be aware of the now, but with a sure hope for the future.
This is a very hard thing to do.
If I were to count the number of years that I have lost because I was anticipating something in the future, I am sure I would get depressed. And as I have talked to many people over the years, everyone has the same problem. Such a hurry, such a hurry, going so fast. Always in the future, always thinking about what is going to be, always dreaming, dreaming, thinking ahead, not living in the present.
There are two words we need to avoid if we are going to live in the present. One word is someday. Someday I’m going to do this. Someday I’m going to do that. And for me it was, “Someday I’m going to spend more time with my family, more time with loved ones.” And you know what’s happened? Some of them moved away, and some of them have died. Someday—I short-changed life.
The other word is when. When, when, when. But what happens with the whens? We spend time out there, and we miss what is going on in the very moment.
Ever wonder how many people right now, at this very moment, are present to the moment?

In this Christian Life, it is better to sit back in our chairs and enjoy the trip, take in the view passing the windows because we know where we're going. There is no need for hurry. The only moment we really have is the present moment. All we have is the moment. No more somedays; no more whens. One step at a time. And thank God for the moment!

(jlas.dking.acaliandro)