The Largest Pineapple in the World
by Oliver Carlos
In one of my blogs, I wrote about the largest salted egg in the world. It’s a large-scale concrete model that can be found in Victoria, Laguna. Incidentally, just a few kilometers south of it, we can find the largest pineapple in the world. It’s around 20 feet tall, and likewise several feet in circumference. It’s located at the public square of Calauan, Laguna.
There’s a running joke that the giant duck and the giant egg of Victoria, together with this giant pineapple of Calauan will all get cooked in the giant banga (cooking pot) of Calamba. Once upon a time, there was also a giant bottle of Ajinomoto and a giant bottle of Soy Sauce along the Bay-Los Banos highway, and these would be used to add flavor to the dish being cooked in the giant banga!
Seriously, the giant pineapple in Calauan was built to serve as the trademark or landmark of that town in Laguna. Pineapple is the main product of Calauan. The pineapples from that town are extra-ordinarily sweet. Some say it’s because of the rich volcanic soil on where they’re planted. Calauan is in between two famous volcanoes- Mt. Makiling, which is a dormant volcano, and Mt. Banahaw, which is an extinct volcano. Their prehistoric eruptions must have caused the soil in the area perfect for growing crops like pineapples.
In the Bible, there’s a story about a fertile land that grows giant fruits too. These are real fruits, and not a concrete statue like the one in Laguna. This is the story of the 12 spies who surveyed the Promised Land before conquering it. We can read this in Numbers 13:23 (NIV):
“When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.”
Imagine a bunch of grapes that needed 2 strong men to carry it on a pole? Those must be very big grapes! Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, admonished the Israelites to exercise their faith in order to enjoy the benefits of the land that grow giant fruits. They said this in Numbers 14:7–8 (NIV):
“The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.”
Take note of the phrase, “if the Lord is pleased with us.” In the book of Hebrews in the New Testament, it says there what makes God pleased with us. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) says:
“And without faith it is impossible to please God… he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
First order of the day is we must seek to please God. We please God by having faith in him. We can’t have those giant fruits if we don’t have faith. Same thing in life. If we don’t exercise our faith in God, we’ll end up just holed up in our corner and fail to witness the greatness of his power working in our predicaments. If we want to experience prosperity, we must understand what faith is, and put it into action. We must believe what God can do. We must trust God and do not doubt.
What giant fruit are you yearning for these days? Big fruits need big faith, so enlarge your faith today. Seek God, seek what pleases his heart, and then expect to receive what you asked for.
