Jesus, My Strength and Stay

October 22, 1844, was the Great Disappointment to the Millerites, but for Jason Nebres, my husband, and me, August 12, 2021, is our great disappointment.

Not having gone home for two years, we excitedly headed to Suvarnabhumi airport. It takes about two hours to travel to Bangkok from Asia-Pacific International University (AIU) in Saraburi, Thailand, so we left earlier to have plenty of time to check in and do all the paperwork that needed to be done.

While approaching the check-in counter, a guy met us and said that we could not fly to Cebu via Hong Kong because the Philippine government had banned ten countries, including Thailand. We knew about this travel ban, but with the assurance of our travel agent that there was no problem with our flight, we thought everything would be all right. We tried to convince the gentleman that Cebu knew we were coming and showed him the QR code to prove we had registered for quarantine. He was willing to accommodate us if someone in authority could assure him that we could go home without any problem.

With the help of our son, Jojie, we received a copy of the travel advisory, which states that citizens are allowed entry provided they haven’t been to any of the ten countries within the last fourteen days. We felt like the full-blown balloon pricked by a needle. High hopes of going home vanished. What do we do now? We called the AIU human resources director to tell her of our predicament. She called our travel agent, who assured us that she would rebook our tickets. Our children Jun and Kaye invited us to stay with them in Bangkok but warned that we would stay in the room all day because Bangkok was locked down. We hired a taxi to take us back to AIU. Fortunately, we could still go back to our empty apartment. Praise the Lord for a place to stay and for friends who eased our disappointment by providing for our needs —pots, pans, bedding, towels, curtains, and food! This hard experience could have easily driven me to depression.

But I cling to God’s promise for peace to the one whose mind is stayed on Him and who trusts in Him. With Jesus as my strength and stay, I have decided to live one day at a time and let Him lead.

Forsythia Catane Galgao