Breaking News..

I was on my downstairs, finishing up before going to church and I saw my sister who just got out of bed and we had this quick conversation...

Do: "Magdadala ka ng sasakyan?"
Me: "Oo. Bakit?"
Do: "Wala lang. Mag-ingat ka lang." (but her facial expression says something else.)
Me: (becoming a little bothered..) "Bakit nga?"
Do: "Alam mo ba nangyari kay AJ Perez?"
Me: "Hindi. Bakit?"
Do: "Patay na siya."

Though I don't know him personally, not even close in meeting him personally, I really felt like there's something valuable that was lost that I become really troubled. I happen just to watch him on ASAP and Showtime. The last time was when he's the featured artist for Cinema One and from what I saw, I think he's a really nice person.

This incident brought me back to the days when the whole country was shocked on Rico Yan's death. Seriously, I even cried. I'm really sad whenever I hear people, who has so much going on for them, who has so many things to prove for, who were at their prime.. died on such early age. In Aj's case, he was only 18.

I'm sorry to sound a little emotional or "OA" but the reality is, When I heard the news, I can't function properly early in the morning. I can't smile. I can't praise and worship on the Church. My mind was elsewhere. I was gloomy for a certain time.

Then I remembered in one of my devotional reading, it said: "Just because difficulties come our way, or troubles happen; It doesn't mean that God fell asleep or lost track of us, we're living on an imperfect world."

We can purely question why this happened but we serve a God who is not bound by time. He was never taken-aback on things about you. He knows it. He will never be surprised. It only proves that God is sovereign among us all. That if He says our time is up, it's done. Over.

What happened to Aj Perez made me realize two things: One, is that how in awe I am of God's grace. That it's not my effort, or my own strength but His mercy that gets me through during the day. I thank Him for the protection and security that He gives me and my family everyday. That I know, the will He has for us, it is good, pleasing and perfect.

Two: Life is really too short. We'll never know when. So I took time to reflect if I'm doing things that are with utmost importance and glorifying to my Father in heaven. Whether I'm neglecting the purpose of this life God lent me. Such queries made me think if I'm doing fine in being His daughter. Life has offered so many endeavors, which is not bad, but sometimes they conceal and deviate us to what our purpose in life really is. I realized I need to take serious action when it comes to spreading God's Word, in every possible way I can. I realized I need to cultivate relationships with people who never met Jesus and who don't understood what He did. I realized I need to hug my grandparents more. I realized I need to tell my parents and siblings how much I love them. I realized I need to exercise more on giving. I realized I need to fix broken friendships. So many meaningful things that needed to be done actually. Life is really short. We must do things that really matter before it's too late.

Before I end this blog, I encourage each of us to include Aj Perez' family on our prayers tonight. Words cannot fully describe the sorrow they are facing right now. Let's all pray that they may feel God's love and embrace in this situation.