Patrick Tan

I had a very trying day today. I had a strenuous meeting this afternoon. And this morning the neighbor's daughter is celebrating their wedding and they've decided to turn our street into a mini-street party. So as we went home, dad calls telling me the car can't pass through and I have to find another parking place. The search for a parking place in this very cramp community proved to be very stressful. I suffered a headache and intense perspiration trying to find one. It's five minutes walk from to our place, where the wedding party continues as drunk men sang on the karaoke. I was fuming hot. Even on the third floor we can hear their drunk revelry. Buti kung ang gaganda ng mga boses, I thought. I tried listening to music: gospel songs and nature sounds, to no avail. Until suddenly a familiar voice, hurting and tired. And through listening and ministering to that beautiful soul He came to purge my fuming coals of anger into a heart of compassion and self-denial. A reinforced commitment: Lift others and be lifted yourself. "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." I'm taking a hot shower.