The title reminds me of tutorial sessions with my father when I decided to join him in his trade after graduation from High School. Unable to pursue college immediately in the university of my dream (Central Philippine University), I did not entertain any other alternative. Hence, I decided to be trained by my father on the mechanics of numbers games, Daily Double, popularly known as jueteng in the our country.
He was considered mayor koredor during that period, supervising all the game collectors under him in our town. It was sort of lucrative job except when, periodically, the government stepped up its drive against illegal gambling. Ironically, my father was not a gambler. It was his means of livelihood that raised us 5 children who are all professionals, now, sans our youngest brother who went ahead in the beyond.
I could still recall how he meticulously taught me the mechanics of the trade every night. From equating the bettor’s win with the amount of bet and the number combination to the interpretation of dreams. He gave me a dream book which I read and memorize like a bible or dictionary in order to interpret the dreams of a bettor into a winning number combination.
My father, indeed, was a good mentor because I easily mastered the craft and together with my elder brother became his disciples for some years. In fact, I learned to love the job and would have considered it a profession, had it not been for two major accidents that forced me to enter a bible school. Details of these will be included in my Dream Book.
Such recollection took place early this morning when I reviewed previous posts on my first blog which celebrated its first anniversary yesterday. Dubbed PADAYON: Our Life Journey, it serves as journal of my experiences to inspire readers to continue the commitment in service, no matter what.
PADAYON is an Ilonggo term which means continue. In deeper sense, it connotes moving/going on (or never give up) despite adversaries or adversities. PADAYON encompasses my life’s story. The word served as Journey Framework as posted exactly a year ago today on my pioneer blog. While reading it, my motivation to write the book has been revived.
PADAYON was the slogan that capped my successful 6 year- stint as president of our national association of Baptist pastors, the Convention Baptist Ministers Association (CBMA). It was conceived a year before the culmination of my term. Inspired by the overwhelming responses of pastors on the CBMA leadership and governance, as well as the advocacies on changes in the CPBC politics, systems and governance, I was looking for a punch line/ clincher to sustain the momentum in delivering the concluding remarks for that particular assembly.
Then came the message from my *Ihado when the worship leader innovatively asked the participants to write on the provided piece of paper, message to a particular person of choice. All of the notes I received have common message of encouragement to “keep up the good work.” My ihado gave me a note with one word which captured all other messages. Subsequently, I used it to officially close our national assembly. Thereafter, it has become our by word or slogan.
PADAYON serves as framework or acrostic of my life’s experiences and the lessons learned from life. This will be the content of my dream book. Each letter represents the title of the seven chapters of the book. Incidentally, 7 is my lucky number, a manifestation of how I have internalized my past experiences in the world of gambling.
In life’s journey, I realized even those unlikely experiences in past life were similarly useful. Like risk taking, from gambling, and the skills in arranging/organizing cards, mahjong tiles to win despite their weak/losing state. Likewise, calculating combination and predicting occurrence in the numbers games like jueteng. These were further honed and given social component in my involvement with the people’s struggle and in practice of social work profession.
The seven chapters of my dream book will include the following:
Personal circumstances: Life’s experiences and transformation.
Antipodes of life’s journey: Pains and Gains in the ministry and service
Doing God’s will is dangerous:Perils of standing for the way, truth & life
Adversities: Stepping stone towards wholeness (blessings in disguise)
Yardstick of living: The relevance of bible in life’s journey
Opportunities come in the fullness of time: How to grab them
Networking: Essence of the Church as Body of Christ
*Wedding godson
(to be continued)
