Jeruel’s Ayuda
by Oliver Carlos
The ayuda concept isn’t new, it’s already existent decades ago. My wife and I experienced it firsthand when we were newlyweds in the late 1990s. As a start-up married couple, we were living in a small apartment away from our parents. We were learning how it was to live independently for the first time. Being on our own was fun, it was like playing bahay-bahayan. It was difficult though, budget-wise.
We had our respective jobs. I was a high school teacher and my wife was likewise teaching at the elementary department of the same school. We were earning enough, but just break-even with our expenses. Sometimes, when a big unexpected expense will come our way, like car repairs, we would be on the negative. There were also times when our wallets would run empty a day before payday. During such days, we would rely on whatever was left in our refrigerator for survival. I called those days, “edge days.”
In one edge day, we went home from work really worried. We knew that that there was nothing in the refrigerator, and payday would come only in the next morning. To our surprise, there was a banana bunch waiting for us at our doorpost! It was not a single piling, but several pilings still attached to a half-meter stem. The banana was of the saba variety. Our hearts were bursting with joy upon seeing our ayuda from above. God knew our needs and his saving grace was so true!
We asked our next-door neighbor if she saw who placed the bananas on our doorstep. She said yes, but the guy didn’t give his name. She gave a description, but we can’t figure out who the mystery man was. Nobody fitted such description among our relatives and Los Banos friends. There was no note on the banana bunch. This was the time when cellphones with SMS were not yet invented, and so we really had no way to trace the giver.
It was on the following weekend when we discovered who gave those bananas, when we attended church. It was our old friend from college, Jeruel Aguhob. He was there at church and he greeted us with a wide smile. After studying in UPLB, Jeruel returned to his native Iligan City in Mindanao. We hadn’t seen or heard from him for years. Now, he’s back in Los Banos, and the banana bunch was his pasalubong for us. We told him grateful we were for the bananas, and that it came just at the right time. They were God’s ayuda for us.
I like Jeruel’s name. It came from the Bible. It’s the name of a valley wherein God instructed King Jehoshaphat to go to meet the invading armies threatening his kingdom. There were 3 large enemy armies advancing towards Judah (Southern Israel), one from the north, one from the south, and another from the east. On the west was the Mediterranean Sea, so basically, the Israelites were surrounded and there was nowhere to go. The three armies were about to converge at the Desert of Jeruel. The Israelites were trembling with fear, when a word from the Lord came:
“The Lord says this to you: ‘Don’t be afraid or discouraged because of this large army. The battle is not your battle. It is God’s battle. Tomorrow go down there and fight those people…You will find them at…the Desert of Jeruel.” (2 Chronicles 20:15–16, ICB)
King Jehoshaphat’s response to God’s word was stunning. He assembled a choir and had them march to battle, in front of the soldiers! They sang praises to God as they marched towards the enemy camp. Then God made a miracle happen. When the Israelites reached Jeruel, all the enemy soldiers were dead. They killed each other before Jehoshaphat’s army arrived.
What is your valley of Jeruel? It’s a life situation wherein God will show himself mighty for all the world to see. Do you feel surrounded by troubles and there’s no way out? Just like the choir that marched ahead of the soldiers, face your worries with prayer and praise. Focus on God’s character- he is faithful and powerful. Claim in advance the miracle he will do. Remember that the battle belongs to the Lord.
