‘Priceless’ gifts of love

This has to come out as a blind item.

I was waiting for the traffic light to change at the corner of Roces Avenue and Tomas Morato Ave. in Quezon City the other day when a yellow Porsche zoomed by. I recognized the famous guy behind the wheel so I texted him, "Wow, ang yabang," I teased him. "Ikaw ‘yon, ‘no?"

It was him, all right. Asked how much he got it for, he texted back, "Wedding gift sa akin ni misis. No, it’s not brand-new. Second owner ako. Don’t ask how much. I don’t want to start another controversy."

So I asked him instead what he gave his misis in return.

"A heart ensemble diamond, plus a pink diamond ring."

Worth how much?

He texted back, "Ay, naku, ayoko nang mag-name ng price."

Well, that’s love. You give without expecting anything in return.

You know: Love means never having to say... how much?

If you see a yellow Porsche zoom by, you know whose it is.

Right, J?

‘Travelling’ with Ka Roger

Roger "Ka Roger" Pullin (husband of Tessie Tomas) has just come up with his first album of all-original Gospel songs, entitled Travellers in Time (released by Artist House, Manila AHICD 0301 and distributed by BMG Records Pilipinas), and you must listen to it.

What to expect?

Here’s Ka Roger himself on the story behind the album:

Dear reader/listener:

I’ve been on a long road to get to writing these songs: a road of peaks and troughs, but always blessed and guided from above. Here’s a short story about a recent, pivotal example.

One cold January weekend, I was in Memphis at a Blues Foundation event. There were more than 60 blues bands in competition in the Beale St. bars. On the Sunday morning, my good buddy Barry Costa-Pierce and I went to Al Green’s church (the Full Gospel Tabernacle, Whitehaven). The music soars higher there: great Gospel voices, after the Saturday night blues.

Back at the Holiday Inn, Union Ave., I looked at a Gideon’s Bible – always out on the table in hotel rooms in the "Bible Belt." It had a bookmark at Isaiah Chapter 9, from where the "good and great" Mr. Handel took some of the words for Messiah. I sung lines from that wonderful work in my head; then I looked at the bookmark. It welcomed me as a guest, wished me a pleasant stay, "beneficial for you and for society…" and then it hit me with this thunderbolt of a line:

"We are all travelers between two eternities"

As a Christian by faith and a biologist by profession, now working mainly in the field of biodiversity and genetics, I’m never far from battlelines between science and religion. I’ve no conflicts within myself over, for example, the reality of evolution versus the biblical account of creation. I see evolution all around: in microbiology, in new kinds of domesticated plants and animals, in the fossil record and the astonishing diversity of the millions of species, ancient and recent, with which we share this extraordinary plant. It’s clear to me that God, who engineered the Big Bang and the "two eternities" between which we all travel, also set in motion the inexorable laws of nature, under which we have free will, and the beautiful mechanisms called evolution, the genetic code, etc. Sadly, this area of the battlefield still divides folks–even some who are on the same side! So back to basics…

That phrase "between two eternities" struck me as a very powerful description of a human life span and as a proclamation of the existence of God. Each life is indeed a tiny silver of time (or "space-time") between two eternities: the eternity that was and the eternity to come, for each precious soul.

How then could anyone–scientist or non-scientist–be so arrogant or self-centered as to deny a higher purpose to the gifts of consciousness and free will?

How can these gifts not indicate the reality of the Giver, and our obligation to use them in His service and in preparation for the eternity to come?

The idea for this album began when I read that bookmark. I saw it as a new tool to help in witnessing that scientists can indeed be Christians. I put aside my continuing attempts to write more rock, ballads and blues, and to focus on writing and sharing songs about my beliefs.

As I’ve had very little recognition or commercial in music, I can’t claim that this change, from secular to sacred, matches those of some my music heroes–for example, Bob Dylan, whose beautiful Christian albums, Slow Train Coming and Saved shocked a lot of his fans and delighted some, including myself.

But this change was still a big for me. Some voices in the grapevine of scientific colleagues around the world whispered that "Roger has gone all religious." This amused some of my fellow singers in the Chancel Choir of Union Church of Manila. Some close friends and family said "did you really write this stuff?" Well, yes. And, God willing, I hope to write more.

The songs draw unashamedly on rock Gospel and blues structures. They cannot be, of course, from this pale British imitator, real "roots" Gospel – but they are offered in the same good faith.

I’m blessed to have had help from some of the best musicians and engineers around. If anything in our music brings a message to you, I’ll be overjoyed. If not, well I’ll just say Amen I guess, press on and ask for grace to do better.

I thank, now and everyday, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Those who helped me to put this album together are so many in number that I can thank here only a precious few by name: Michael Allen, Sammy Asuncion, Bob Aves, Gianni del Popolo, and Davide Pistoni, I’m humbled by your talents and I treasure our brief times together. To my wife Tess, to all my family and friends, and to all fellow travellers between two eternities… God Bless! – Ka Roger

(E-mail reactions at [email protected])