SHARING
Edgar Dante, Members, Country Governance Team, CFC Thailand 2024 CFC Theme Weekend Retreat, AIT Conference Centre, 16 March 2024 In December 2023, I returned to the Philippines to accompany my elderly father for two months. While there, I encountered an issue involving one of our farm staff. Before going into the details, let me provide some background about this person. Several months earlier, I was informed that he had been selling farm products without our permission. Also, neighbours raised concerns about his questionable activities. Consequently, my farm manager recommended that I should terminate his services. I said OKAY, if he is problematic, we don’t need him on the farm. I instructed my farm manager to inform him of the decision. The worker complained about his dismissal and sought assistance from a barangay official. He claimed that only the owner could dismiss him personally. The barangay official supported him. Since I was not there, my farm manager could not enforce it and reported to me his frustration. This is the context. When I returned last December, I did not pursue terminating his services but gave him another chance. He continues to work for us. One day, this staff came to see me. He was complaining about his eye infection and needed financial help for treatment. So, I gave money for his treatment. No need to pay, I told him. Anyway, it was Christmas. I was pleased that I could help him and be good with him. One week later, I got a call informing me that the same staff was waiting for me at home. At that time, I was working online in a café in town. I was a bit annoyed and didn’t want to stop my work and go home, and my pride told me to let him wait until I was done. I only stopped my work and returned home 3 hours later, thinking the staff would have already left. But he was there. I was surprised. He was looking quite upset. He said he needed more money to buy medicines. I was suspicious and wondered whether he was abusing me. I told him it was not my problem. I calmed down and asked him to show me the doctor's prescription. I wanted to go with him to the pharmacy to buy the medicines. I wanted to ensure that he needed the money for medicines. But there were no prescriptions. He could not produce it, and he left so upset. I found out later that he was offended when I demanded to see the doctor’s prescriptions because I was suspicious. Anyway, in my morning prayer the next day, as I read a spiritual book, a passage caught my attention. In this passage, Jesus said: "I come to ask you for your reconciliation; go and reconcile with your brother, for in reconciling with him, you are reconciling with Me, your God. Offer Me your peace as I offer you, My Peace; imitate Me and be Holy." These words hit me. I realized that I had sinned against this brother. I let him wait for 3 hours while suffering from a painful eye infection. I told him his problem was not my problem. I distrusted him. By offending this person, I also offended God. So, when I prayed to God, He immediately alerted me. I saw God’s humility in action. Although he was the one offended, he was the first one to seek reconciliation. He descended to my level and came offering his reconciliation. God is truly a humble God. This left me with a very difficult task. How can I reconcile with this person? I knew he was upset with what happened the day before. Anyway, I dared to call him. He answered the call but gave the phone to his wife. You see he was really upset. His wife explained that her husband had been suffering for weeks. He could not do his work and could not sleep because of the pain. He had been upset all these times because of the pain and needed medication. She said the first time they got the money from me, they went to the hospital and waited for hours and hours, but there was no doctor. It happened during the middle of the Christmas holidays, and most doctors were away. So, he did not receive medication for him for a week. They also used the money I gave for other purposes. But now, she said that they were ready to go to the hospital again, and if they got the doctor’s prescription, they would come to see me. Later that day, they came, and the husband was not talking to me. It was the wife you showed me the doctor’s prescription. So, I arranged for somebody to accompany the wife to buy the medicines while the husband, still suffering from an eye infection, was with me at home. So, I spoke with him gently, I served him snacks, and with all humility, I dared to humble myself and beg him to forgive me. He was stunned at first, but shortly after, he started to speak with me. It was a humbling experience but a victory for me that I reconciled with my brother, and by doing that, I also reconciled with the Lord. I felt the Lord was pleased. I also felt His Peace. The staff recovered from his eye infection and has been back to work. God is a humble God. Even if we offend him, he comes running to us, offering his peace, his reconciliation and most of all, his love. God is telling us today to imitate and obey Him. All glory and praise to God. Amen. Comments are closed.
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