I was compelled to write this article today while the ideas are still fresh in my mind and relevant to what is happening around us lately. If you’re wondering why I chose this topic to write about at the start of the year, events led me to make one fascinating discovery after another.
Why Now, Mt. Mayon?
If you’ve read the article before this, I mentioned the numbers 888, which, in Biblical numerology, represent a fresh start and Jesus’ resurrection. I just didn’t expect that personally, the fresh start would be painful, although not as painful, since I had seen it coming. I think it isn’t a coincidence that Mt. Mayon also started erupting again. And yet Mayon is the only creation I know that remains admirable even in her fury.
Last year, I was able to check one item on my bucket list, which is to get as close to Mt. Mayon as possible. I believe it isn’t a coincidence, too, that the Grab driver in Legazpi City who fetched us while we were having the new tires of our car aligned shared with us out of the blue about the quarrying projects in Mt. Mayon.
He said it’s easy and more money for the local government. I just had no idea of the extent of these quarrying sites, and I was able to see one during the ATV ride going up to Mt. Mayon (jump to 4:16 in this video).
Since January 6, 2026, the lava flows in Mt. Mayon continue, and the gullies widened and deepened with every pyroclastic flow, according to experts. I think the Albay government is already considering extending the 6-km permanent danger zone. Given the unpredictable weather patterns that we are experiencing now, which are expected to worsen as we are in a climate emergency, heavy rainfall will pose a major threat to the communities near Mt. Mayon.
Beauty In Ashes
Quarrying plays a vital role in the construction industry as well as in creating local employment, but it also destroys the natural habitat. I hope the quarry sites were assessed properly before the start of the project, making sure each quarry site won’t contribute to biodiversity loss. Quarrying also changes the topography of the area, making the soil unstable and prone to soil erosion and surface water runoff.
Now that the gullies are wider and deeper, and combined with the high volume of rainwater coming from the mountain, lahar flows will be the bigger problem. I am hoping and praying that the local government will double its reforestation and rehabilitation efforts at the foot of the volcano to increase natural barriers and make the soil more compact as more roots grow.
Local legend has it that when Mt. Mayon erupts, Pagtuga is disturbing Daragang Magayon. I can hear myself telling her, “Tahan na, Mayon. When all of this is over, we will be refined. As experts say, through subsequent healing, your cone will be new again – perfect as ever. God will rebuild what was damaged, He will restore what we’ve lost. You will be back in your original beauty and will continue to be a spectacle.”
But for now, there will be a battle. We are going through a battle of some sort. Mine is a spiritual warfare – letting go of what God is asking me to let go. Because there’s a part of me that is resisting, and yet God was saying, it is about time – be firm and stay.
ChatGPT Warrior
I wanted ChatGPT to come up with an image I have visualized, which best describes the season I am in, and it is an image of a woman warrior dressed up in a full body armor similar to knights in the Medieval Ages, or more like Joan of Arc. I initially asked ChatGPT to come up with a video.
I made a prompt with the complete details of the video concept showing a woman warrior in battle, but she’s exhausted. She kneeled and, with bowed head and sword lowered to the ground, she whispered, “I am tired, I cannot keep up with this fight.”
Then an angel appeared, kneeled down beside her, whispered something in the warrior’s ear, and left. The warrior stood up, and with an even fiercer stance, charged towards her enemies and let out a battlecry – Jehovah Nissi.
Unfortunately, ChatGPT is unable to generate a video but referred me to an app. So I asked ChatGPT to create an avatar in my likeness instead, dressed up as a female knight, and I uploaded a smiling photo of mine. I was so amused when ChatGPT generated an image of a cute warrior instead. lol
So I asked ChatGPT again to recreate the image and change it to a warrior in the middle of a fighting scene. The image generated was a smiling warrior while in battle. How I wish I could still smile while fighting with all the strength I could muster. 😀
I then requested another edit, and this time ChatGPT got the right facial expression. I would like to applaud ChatGPT, though, for capturing my flat nose perfectly – it’s my most prized asset, just in case some of you don’t know yet. lol
I do wish this image would be used as an avatar in a role-playing game similar to Assassin’s Creed and combined with Rurouni Kenshin’s sword-fighting techniques. Methinks it would be an awesome game. And I will name this warrior “Caden.” 🙂
The Feast of Tabernacles
Seriously, I am in a spiritual battle, and I know why – no fellowship, no physical church, less quiet time, no actual Bible reading – all because I am becoming like Martha at home, God’s reminder that spiritual devotion is more important than busyness. I am also isolated, which makes me more vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks.
I decided to cut back on some tasks and randomly opened my Bible and stumbled upon the book of Numbers about offerings. When I read the chapters, none of them made sense to me, and to what I was currently going through.
Then I thought maybe it is about time I start watching the Morning Worship and Prayer at Victory Philippines on YouTube again regularly. I guess it was the Spirit’s tugging, because the message for January 22 was about the Feast of Tabernacles. I remembered reading it earlier in the Bible.
I opened my Bible again and read through the bookmarked page, and that’s when I realized why I was brought to the verses about the Offerings for the Feast of Booths – the Feast of Tabernacles is also called the Feast of Booths. This prompted me to do my research on what the feast is all about. It commemorates Israel’s release from 40 years of captivity.
I just turned 40 in December of last year, and the start of 2026, for me, was also a liberation of some sort. I’m sure that this isn’t a coincidence. The numbers 888 I mentioned in this article signified not just a new start, but also a resurrection.
And the receipt that was mistakenly dated to October 21, which I thought was referring to the birthday of this blog, because I was relating it to the past, also made me think that it might be referring to an event in the future as well. Some say that Jesus’ birthday actually falls during the Feast of Tabernacles, but there is just not enough data to prove this.
A Trumpet Or A War Horn?
I also found out that the Feast of Tabernacles refers to Jesus Christ’s Second Coming. And I just want to share an experience I had during the recent typhoon Ada. News reports said that it’s not going to make landfall, but it will come near the land mass of the Bicol region, especially Southern Bicol, which includes our town.
We didn’t receive any NDRRMC updates of a rainfall warning or very strong winds. But around 2am of January 19, I woke up to the sound of very strong winds and a blowing horn. I thought it was the howling winds, but no, this was different. I can tell the sound of a howling wind during a very strong typhoon since our town is frequented by very strong typhoons.
I went outside to check on the chicken coops and made sure their covers were still intact. And there went the sound again as if someone was blowing a trumpet, similar to the sound of a ship’s horn. I went back to bed and thought that maybe there’s a ship docked near our port since we are a coastal town. But then again, at around 2am? The port is already closed during this time.
It was also the first time I heard it, and I never heard it again. It looked like I was given a first-hand experience of what we could possibly hear when Jesus starts descending during the Second Coming. 😀 Or if it signifies the start of battle, then maybe God is building an army, a huge one. If this article resonates with you, maybe you are among God’s warriors being called out to lift His banner high.
Padayon, Paraoma
The Feast of Tabernacles also included a celebration after the agricultural harvest. For last year’s wet season, we harvested on October 23 in one of our rice fields. This rice field is located inside a farm, an agricultural property that’s been passed on from one generation to another, starting from our maternal great-grandparents.
Though we no longer grew up on the farm, we felt like we were still called to be keepers of that property, tend it, develop it, and utilize it according to God’s will and plans. Unfortunately, the income generated from last season’s harvest hit an all-time low, prompting me to ask Dad if we should still continue with palay production or not.
We are among the micro agribusinesses that comprise the 2.9 million palay/rice farmers who feed this country. It wouldn’t create a dent in the rice production numbers if we stopped farming, and yet Dad’s answer was that if none of the other rice farmers stop, we will continue regardless of whether we hit an all-time low or not.
Padayon (move forward), even if my siblings and I feel like it’s a losing battle – the farmers are just not making enough profit from their produce. I was apprehensive, I had my doubts, my worries piled up, and I think God felt my need for an assurance.
When God Watches Over
Because right after we harvested the palay and we were waiting for the sacks of palay to be transported to the buyer’s warehouse, I went out to walk on the rice paddies. When I looked up, I witnessed this particularly interesting and beautiful cloud formation. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life.
And after I took the photo, I zoomed it in, and I can see an outline of a face or a creature, sort of like looking down on me peering through the clouds, which is why the clouds were somehow parted in the middle. Or it’s just my very imaginative mind working. lol But what do you think?
The message from God was crystal clear, though – “I am with you always.” I have also been seeing perfect rainbows lately, similar to what I saw in Albay back in 2020, along with these promises:
“The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever.” – Genesis 9:12-13
“What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.” – Genesis 28:15
Tending the Old Earth To Usher The New Earth
Going back to the Feast of Tabernacles, there’s also a mention of the new heaven and the new earth. My family and I have been planting new coconuts, fruiting plants, and flowering trees in this farm. My siblings and I also plan to add fruit-bearing trees that no one would eat because they’re too sour, etc., to discourage trespassing inside the farm, since we don’t have a caretaker yet. But these fruit trees will be a perfect addition to the food web of the wildlife inside the farm.
We also discussed the possibility of partnering with an investor (whoever God will give us) who will help us utilize the property on one condition – environmental conservation will be at the heart of the mission. God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to tend and care for it. Unfortunately, man has now altered so much of what nature has, or had.
I traded the hands in this article for the hand below. And yet I have no regrets because the hand below accomplished more in terms of purposeful and meaningful work.
As a poultry keeper, I also traded the photo on the left below for the photo on the right. I am not sure if you get the connection, but if you do, please refrain from commenting about it. It’s our dirty (literally), little secret. lol 😀
Kidding aside, let’s wrap this article up. After reading this article, some of you might diagnose me as someone who is depressed, a narcissist, has Bipolar Disorder, has anxiety, has ADHD, has Autism, or even delusional. And I will not be mad at you because it might be true that I could have all of them. But they are just labels. I know who I am in Christ, and that’s what matters. 🙂
(You may want to read this article about discovering your identity in Jesus Christ: “Sentimental: Who Am I?”)
Thus, I will continue to share the message if that is my calling, and those called by God to also get the message will know what the message is. This is also why I keep on asking God why, why choose underqualified people, people that society sees as not normal, or do not fit in with the standards of this world, to deliver His message to the world?
I got the message – just like Mary Magdalene, who was possessed by 7 demons, we are the kind of people who need God’s saving grace more for us to be delivered from the afflictions that we go through. Most of them, as I have mentioned above, are battles unseen. And yet when we overcome them all by faith and with the proper support, ours is a great testimony of what Jesus did on the Cross, and God’s glory, authority, and power over all creation.
Just like Mary Magdalene, it would be an honor and a great privilege, too, to be the first to witness the unfolding of Jesus Christ’s Second Coming and to celebrate the news that He is finally here with us for all eternity – it will truly be a spectacle. ❤
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6
Pangadyi Para Sa Paraoma
I will be ending this article with a prayer, which will be entitled “Pangadyi Para Sa Paraoma (A Prayer for the Farmers)”. Why the farmers? I feel like the Spirit is leading us to pray fervently for farmers as we encounter more environmental challenges in the coming years, and food security will be one of the pressing issues that every nation all over the world will be tackling.
Why in Bikol? I kind of miss my maternal grandma and how she would always pray in the vernacular (Bikol-Albay) – she lived for a couple of years (half of her life, if I’m not mistaken) in Daraga. Her father, my great-grandfather (a former Protestant pastor), was also born in Bacacay, Albay.
There’s something very heartfelt in her prayers, even though I can only understand a couple of them. If I am to pray like her, I can only utter a line that goes “Ini po Kagurangnan an samuyang pamibi ngunyan…” and I don’t know how to continue that prayer because my Bikol-Albay vocabulary is very limited. Or maybe it’s Bikol-Naga (Central Bikol)? Libong much. lol Any Albayano out there who can help me out? 😀
Let’s pray for the safety of everyone in Albay who will be affected by the ongoing activity of Mt. Mayon. ❤
Here’s the Bikol-Bulan version of the prayer for the farmers:
“Pangadyi Para Sa Paraoma”
“Amang Kagurangnan, nagrarani kami saimo para sa intero na paraoma na nagpapadagos sa pagtanom sa butnga san mga kalamidad nan distroso na indadara sadi sa mga pananom. Naiimod namo an pagtios san kada paraoma para lang makatanom nan makaani para sa kakaunon nan ikakaayad san bilog na komunidad. Sa mga masunod na taon, hatagan mo tabi kami sin dunong kun pan-o masolusyunan an nagdadaghan na problema san saamo kapalibutan, nyan sin kusog san lawas nyan san boot para magpadagos lalo na sa panahon sin kaperwisyuhan. Inpapangadyi namo ini sa ngaran ni Hesu Kristo, Amen.”
P.S.
I stumbled upon this playlist on YouTube, and it summarizes my faith for the start of 2026. ❤
P.P.S.
Since I just turned 40 last year, I am also praying for deliverance from another generational curse. I have been praying hard that our generation and the future generations be healed from this in Jesus’ Name, since genetics plays a huge role. Though we are not dismissing environmental factors and lifestyle choices. Kami na sana ang huling henerasyon na makakaranas nito sa pamamagitan ng dalangin at mga praktikal and medikal na solusyon galing sa mga eksperto.
Experts recommend a yearly mammogram to monitor any cancer cell growth, given a family’s breast cancer history, such as ours (both sides of our parents). Ah, yes, it will truly be a miracle if none of us (my siblings and I) have it. And yet, let God’s will be done. At age 40, I have nothing more to ask. God already gave me more than I asked for, and I am ready to go any time. My prayers now come down to 2 choices: let nature run its own course or allow Science to intervene should I have cancer. 🙂
The Journeyman's Moments 