Smile at the Storm
by Oliver Carlos
In 2009, we started building our dream house. It’s located in a newly-developed subdivision in Bay, Laguna. During its construction phase, we would drive to the site every weekend to see its progress. We were very excited to see it finished.
We finally moved in on August 21 of that year. It was a holiday, we had time to bring in all our precious belongings from our rented apartment in Los Banos to our dream house. We were so happy we were no longer renting a place. We now have our very own house. Just like in the fairy tales, it’s already a fitting ending for us. We can now say “and they lived happily ever after.”
But there came an unexpected twist in our story. We were just 1 month living in our new house when disaster struck. A very, very strong typhoon rammed thru Luzon in September 2009. The name of the typhoon: Ondoy. International name: Ketsana.
Ondoy brought torrential rains. The water that fell was worth one month of rains, but it all came pouring in just a few hours. Laguna de Bay became so filled with water that its shores extended one kilometer inland. We didn’t know our house was just 800 meters from the natural shoreline of the lake. Thus, our dream house got flooded knee-high inside, and waist-high outside. The worst thing is that the flood waters didn’t recede for more than 2 months! It was almost Christmas when we were able to return to our house and restart our dreams.
During those 2.5 months, I visited our house daily just to check things out. I would wade 200 meters on the murky floodwaters to reach our house. Once in a while, I took pictures of the inside and outside of our house.
When my officemates saw my pictures, they felt depressed. But they pointed out to one particular picture that puzzled them. It’s the picture of me on the flooded street waving to the camera with a sincere smile. They couldn’t comprehend how I can still manage to smile despite being submerged in floodwaters together with my most cherished material possessions.
Honestly, I really didn’t notice that I was in such state until they told me. I guess it was so natural for me to have that disposition. I believe it’s the result of having a long-running personal relationship with Jesus. After I have accepted him in my heart decades ago, he has taught me to be strong and to smile at every life storm. I view hardships as just fleeting events, they are only temporary. But Christ’s love for me is permanent, that’s why I can smile at the storm. I remember an old kindergarten song which says, “With Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm, until he takes me home.” That’s exactly what I’m living out instinctively during that crisis.
That song was derived from a Bible story about Jesus calming the storm while he and his disciples were in a boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee: The disciples were so afraid and they woke up Jesus from his sleep. We see this in Luke 8:24–25 (NIV):
“He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. ‘Where is your faith?’ he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, ‘Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.’”
The disciples’ response shows that they do not know Jesus well enough yet at this point in time. But later on, after spending years with Jesus, we see their faith had developed by leaps and bounds. They were transformed into great men of faith when we see them in the Book of Acts.
We too may be in the same boat. The strong winds and giant waves of life storms may be too terrifying for us because we don’t have a deep personal knowledge of Christ yet. But by spending more time with Jesus daily, our faith will surely grow. Bond with Jesus more, and one day, you too can smile at the storm.
