WARNING: Very personal letter. Not in a funny mood. Let’s joke around next week.

I woke up just before 6am Friday (Philippine Time). I walked into my Dad’s room and his caretaker and his house help were huddled around him in disbelief. The house help mumbled something that I didn’t understand but when I saw Dad’s lifeless body, I knew what she was trying to say. I reached for his chest. He was no longer breathing. His heart had stopped beating. Dad had passed on to eternity. Both of them looked at me for instructions. I knew there was a lot of work ahead.

I had rehearsed going through this moment ever since I arrived here over 2 weeks ago. And now that it’s here, it’s a little different. I started to go through the checklist in my head: First, have a video conference with my sisters, then inform the Kapitan Del Barrio (the Barrio Captain), get the doctor’s death certificate, inform the city registrar, inform the funeral home, get a priest, inform the cemetery, wrap up his finances, inform the relatives, etc. It’s the end of the long day and I still need to make arrangements tomorrow. My surviving sisters are giving me advice and moral support but they can’t come so I’m doing this with the help of the people around me.

I have not shed a tear yet. I think it’s the Adrenalin that put my emotions aside. I remember that this also happened when my Mom passed away. It was months later that I found myself sobbing uncontrollably. “I’ll weep for you Dad, but today is not the day. Today, I have to make sure you have a good final goodbye.”

I appreciate all the kind thoughts and prayers. There are a lot of you. And for that, my father and I are truly blessed. TGIF people!

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
—- John 11:25-26

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Gone Home

WARNING: Religious content

I didn’t think I’d be affected this much but a cloud has been hanging over me since Tuesday. A good friend of our TGIF family passed away last Monday. Don of Kelowna, B.C. who had consistently sent the funniest jokes of the week was found dead in his bathroom apparently due to a heart attack. What a shocker!

Don was not shy about his politics. He called a spade a spade. He had a witty mind and a funny bone to match. He loved puns. He loved irony. He sent jokes and videos. He loved his wife. He often shared their adventures to faraway lands. The pair would listen to sermons and speeches and shared the really good ones to his own email community. He would share pictures of snow-covered Kelowna. He invited me to visit several times. It was through him that I connected with his brother-in-law Rodney of Manitoba, B.C. who is another heavy contributor to our TGIF collection of jokes. He loved classical and choral music because he used to sing bass with the choir in Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, CA. I had only spoke to him 2 or 3 times in The Marketplace (a church-based job search support group which I co-managed) some 15 years ago. The last time I saw him was crossing the street wearing a tie — his bald head exposed when the wind from the bus blew his locks away. I assume he was dressed for a job interview. The next thing I know, he was getting married and moving to the “jungles” of Kelowna, BC to be with his wife, Betty. Surprisingly, our real friendship developed through our joke emails. It’s so 21st century how many friendships are born out of digital correspondence. Hey, that includes you and I, doesn’t it?

I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this phrase “I accepted Christ” ad nauseum. Do you even know what that means? I know Don had “accepted Christ” a long time ago (as did I) and so I am confident we will meet again in heaven. Some might think our meeting in heaven is a flippant claim but the Bible is replete with passages assuring believers of our eternal home in heaven. It’s what you call “sound doctrine” or “reliable doctrine.” I don’t make these things up.

I used to think that I needed to be a good person, do good things, earn points to be good enough to enter heaven. But after studying the Bible, I realized that it isn’t about me and the good that I do. The universe does not revolve around me. It’s about Jesus Christ and what he did for us. I/we only come into the picture of his grand master plan when we believe in him … when we become part of his team.

“But for all who did receive and trust in Him, He gave them the right to be reborn as children of God” — John 1:12; ergo, it is our faith that saves us and not our “goodness.” The goodness follows as a result of our changed perspective.

Jesus said “There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you.” — John 14:2; ergo, there really is a heaven and there is a place ready for us in our next life.

This is a very difficult truth that takes time to sink in. And not everyone will understand this. A lot of prayer is involved. One needs to open one’s mind to the paradigm shift.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you;” — Matthew 7:7; ergo, IF you sincerely want to know the truth, God will reveal himself to you. The operative word is “IF.”

So I declare this Friday to be Don’s Day. All the jokes today are from him.

Thank you for your friendship Don. Thank you for all those many many jokes you shared. You helped brighten the mornings of so many people. Can’t wait to hear your heavenly jokes..

No disrespect. This is just me. Is this also you? TGIF, people.

Raoul

Joke of the Week

Thanks to Don of Kelowna, B.C. for this joke.

Thanks Don for the Videos of the Week

A Funny Young Mohammed Ali
Don loved this video of Ali’s sarcasm about racism.

The Hazard of Marrying Later in Life!
Don loved clever lyrics. Here’s one he shared with us.

Hallelujah – G.F. Handel.
Don loved choral music especially during the Christmas season. Here’s one of the music he shared.

Parting Shots

Thanks Don of Kelowna, B.C. for these jokes.

Good ‘bye Don. We will miss you. Time to rest old friend.

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