... Because you don't know

This week was a "roller coaster ride" for me. Starting off last Sunday, I had an awesome time at church when we gave one of our friends and our Kids Church Admin, Ate Shay, a birthday surprise. The night was full of laughter that I almost lost my voice because of laughing too much and too hard (imagine!?). The next day Monday, again I'm with my sister and the rest of some of our Victory-UBelt Kids Church friends. It was a holiday, and we spent our morning at SM-MOA Seaside Blvd. for our bonding. We jog, we laugh, we took pictures, we ate there by the sea and we celebrated (again) some of our friends' birthdays on that day.


The next day, I felt like God urged me to pray for salvation of my friends... So I prayed for them. I prayed for my college and highschool friends right there and then because the feeling of urgency was so strong. Then Wednesday came, it was the birthday of our ever-dedicated Tita Myng! But another news came to me through some text messages from Ava, a highschool friend of mine. She told me that our friend and her boyfriend Kit was already dead.


What? Kit? He's young, about just my age of 22. He... dead?


He went camping at Daraitan with his brothers and some friends on Sunday and spent a night there. Monday when they are about to leave the place, he went to the river to wash his hands and feet. But the current of the rushing waters was so strong he was carried away with it. His brother tried to save him but he can't because he also might be carried away by the waters and he also lose sight of his brother in just a matter of a second. They looked for him for 2 days and on Wednesday, they saw his lifeless body stuck on a rock, 3 KM away from where they last saw him.


I can't believe it. Until now the fact is still in the process of "sinking in" on me. Jake, who is also our friend, celebrated his birthday last Saturday and Kit even managed to come to his house to celebrate.


Then I realized this once again, now in a different magnitude... LIFE. IS. SHORT. And it's not only short but it's also quite unpredictable. Cara was also a friend of us. She also died several years ago and I think she was only 18 or 19 years old. She's a friend of mine and also a teammate. We were both part of our HS futsal varsity team and she was waaay more promising in this sport compared to me. She died because of brain tumor, but her death was not really so sudden.


This one I also realized... Since life is short and it's pretty much unpredictable, what should we do? This was my post then in my FB wall concerning my realization of my friend's sudden death:

"Choose to forgive over holding grudges. Choose to smile over frowning. Choose faith over fear. Choose love over hate. Because life is short, and you don't know when it will end...  AT THE END OF IT ALL WHAT JUST MATTERS IS HOW YOU LOVE GOD AND OTHERS. Live on love & in love.." 

Do you have Jesus in your life? So whenever you leave this life you know you are prepared. Have you love God with all of your being and loved others as you love yourself? When we die and meet with God, what do you think He would say to you? Ponder on this and live the life that God intended for you-- a life lived to the full.