The God of Manila (Re-post)

There were times when a pastor needs to preach a sermon without a title, without an outline, without a manuscript or sermon notes, and without the luxury of the usual ten hours of so or preparation. It happened this Sunday morning in our church.

I was supposed to preach on Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to “preach the word” based on 2 Timothy 4:1-5. That was my plan, but God has other plans. He led me to preach on the whole book of Esther, and lead the church in reflecting on the God who is at work, even in times of calamities.

I have enough reasons for doing that.

Yesterday, Manila and its neighbor cities were surprised by tropical storm “Ondoy.” The six-hour rainfall from 8 am to 2 pm was the largest in more than 40 years. Flash floods were all over many cities. As of this time