Clues in Suffering, Hints in Pain

CEBU, Philippines - They zoomed past stalls, makeshift shanties, breaking, shattering at everything that came their way. Successive fire of bullets pierced the air. Police were in pursuit of two men caught in an entrapment operation of "shabu" and unlicensed guns. They had managed to pull out of the snare. Now, police were chasing them. Here in this morass of makeshift homes, fugitives find sanctuary. The neighbourhood was only momentarily suspended of their chores as they shuddered and dove from the volley of bullets.

Children of ages six and seven merely stood ground as they made a circle with their hands tapping on each other. Here in this place where the pain of poverty, the slavishness of suffering has God chosen to give humanity clues in suffering and hints in pain. Here in this unlikely place has God chosen to emerge from suffering with remarkable efficiency.

There are many children in barangay Ermita who are of school age but are not in school. They scurry around or play hide and seek just like the robbers and fugitives pursued by police. Parents have given up schooling for their children either because they are too poor to afford schooling or they have simply given up hope of schooling for their children.

Because all suffering contains the opportunity for good, there are now six-year old boys and girls who have never dreamed of school but can now speak English fluently in this heap of morass.

Only this year have Bible Baptist Church Katipunan ministry workers have organized Basic Life Empowerment and Support Services or BLESS among the school age children of Ermita who deserve to go to school but are hindered with poverty.

The BLESS education program caters to indigent children of ages 5 to 8. To qualify as a BLESS student, the child must pass the reading readiness test with an 80 percent score. It opens opportunities for schooling needs of children while catering to their spiritual needs. The vision of BLESS is to let every child know that Jesus loves them and that life is worth living with Him. Through BLESS, children impact the lives of parents and their families as they are nurtured in the church and grow spiritually. Children who are beneficiaries of BLESS get their reading, writing and arithmetic lessons for free and actually prepare or give them an edge for regular schooling. All lessons under the BLESS teaching approach are rendered in the English language and hence students actually learn to speak and write English simultaneously with doing the math and learning the Bible.

BBC Katipunan ministry workers Ruthwell Tuazon, Milagros Santillan and Chiky Joy Larita initiated the BLESS program in Ermita in April. It took courage for these women to pull through the program. It is in a pain-filled world that courage emerges. The courage of these women was not shaped with brawn but with the heart of Christ.

In this place where the unlikely happen, Ruthwell, Milagros and Chiky had to talk and negotiate with the barangay captain about starting the program. Then they went door knocking in the community led only with faith that God would lead them to the children of His choosing who would become BLESS beneficiaries. Ruthwell, Milagros and Chiky are all graduates of Bible College, a conduit ministry of Bible Baptist Church Katipunan that trains women in Christian education for full time ministry and missionary work.

Yes it would take a bit of curiosity why three women trained in the sanitized, spirit-filled world of Bible school would choose to labor with "bad people?" This is because while God ontologically created man to be of His image, man on self-will often chooses to deface his being as a masterpiece of God. It is said that pain and suffering are the means by which God brings defaced and rebellious masterpieces back to His care.

Ruthwell, Milagros and Chiky chose to follow the clues of suffering and the hints of pain to minister to children who don't deserve pain in a world of pain. They chose to minister to parents of these children, bringing them back to God's healing in a fallen world.

When fugitives seek refuge in a sanctuary they think is safe from police pursuit, they have not really hidden themselves. They merely expose themselves of their need for God. Where police can't arrest, God corners them to a dead end even without bullets. (FREEMAN)