Old friends

I haven't had much contact with my high school friends since graduating in 1976 from the Assumption College. Perhaps the only one I've had contact all these years is Pilar Yupangco Pena. We had a chance to meet while we were still working in Manila and when she moved to the US, we continued to keep in touch although intermittently.

Last year, Giselle Valderama was able to trace me through a distant cousin. It was a nice surprise and before long, she became part of our communication network of friends and family. When she found out that I was going to China, she asked if she could share my news with other classmates. I told her that more people praying for me, the better.

So she sent out a letter asking for prayers and since then, I've been receiving email messages from classmates I had never talked to since '76! Some ask: do you still remember me? Of course I do! My husband can attest that I don't have the best memory but I remember the girls I went to school with.

Hearing from them is rather bittersweet. We were 16. Our whole life was ahead of us. We would have careers that would open doors for us. We would travel, maybe relocate to the US. We would marry and have children. We would settle down and live life to the full. We never factored in sickness, difficulties, wrong decisions, broken relationships but life can be a merciless teacher, stripping us of our innocence, jading our eyes. "We are the firebirds of youth..." I remember a line from our annual. Some of us have taken wing and soared; others had to limp along, broken.

But in all the messages I've received, I found friends whose faith in the Lord has become a bedrock for them. Like Job, when we were young we had heard about the Lord but now many of us have seen him with our own eyes! The challenges of life have made us a sisterhood of prayer --- upholding one another, mentioning each others name in the presence of the Lord, trusting that the Lord who has shown faithfulness to one, will show his faithfulness, favor and power to another.

Some have reminded me of our year motto: Dum Spiro Spero --- while I breathe, I hope. I have not forgotten and have often thought how apt our motto is. Hope is the anchor of my soul and that hope springs eternal in our Lord Jesus. When there is nothing else, Jesus is our sufficiency. And in my experience, when he is all I have, I have an abundance!

Thank you dear friends for your response to my need at the moment. I am reminded of an old proverb: Make new friends but don't forget the old. One is silver, the other gold.

In this Olympic season, you are gold to me!