Trips

Back then, I went to the Banaue Rice Terraces, with my brother and my mother. We took the bus. I remember vividly not caring about getting from Point A to Point B, but I cared very much about the journey. I loved the bus stop at 1 AM somewhere in the mountains. The “gotohan” was covered from the moonlight by the shadow of an ancient tree. Tall as a 3 story building, it’s branches and leaves hovered on top of us like a roof of a mansion.

When we got to the hotel, every morning I would go outside to a local eatery. It would be the same every dawn; in the middle of a hazy navy blue sky, the sun would slowly rise in the middle of the mountains, brightly lighting mountainsides. The terraces were dancing in light, as green as they can possibly be. The reflection of the sunlight on the watered terraces were like diamonds sewn across green blankets. Clouds enveloped certain parts of the mountains, and sometimes I felt their cold breath within my palms.

It was so beautiful that these words cannot even do justice to what I witnessed in my 1 week stay over there.

Have you been to such a wonderful place that all you could do was just be stunned at it’s beauty?

Wanderlust: a strong desire for or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world.

The term “Wanderlust” has been associated with “romanticism”. Romantics in the 18th and 19th century have been generalized to have the feeling of “longing to be far away” and a “melancholic drive for exploring and witnessing beauty”. No doubt that a lot of us are romantics at heart, witnessing something beautiful reminds you of a lot of things.

Because there’s something about beauty that changes a man.

Beauty

Let me bring more examples to the table:

Photo taken by the Apollo 8 mission

Isn’t this beautiful? Counting only those who have traveled to the moon; 24 people have seen earth in low earth orbit. Only 12 men have walked on the moon. The 12 men that saw the earth like this had such a profound effect on them, that they returned not being the same again. 

The amazing thing about the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia is that the ground is so perfectly flat, that when it rains, the water levels rise in perfect symmetry with the ground, which creates a mirror effect so heavenly, it’s like you’re walking on infinity. Sunrise videos at this place will leave you breathless.

Like how you pay for a ticket to see this movie that everyone has been talking about, how you pay and move schedules to join a retreat or event at church that made an impact on a lot of your friends, or how you go to great lengths to climb a mountain — there’s something about witnessing something so breath-taking that you’re willing to give up a lot of yourself to endure the journey just to see something great. 

There’s something with beauty that changes a man.

So I asked myself: “How much am I willing to pay to get to a place that will leave me stunned?”

The Couple

and I had an answer, “for the price of a plane ticket to CDO to witness the wedding of this beautiful couple.”:

Its (the girl on the left) got married to Job (guy on the right). I’ve known Its for a handful of years, and like any friend God gives — she is one of my sisters in Christ that God blessed me with to uplift, encourage and take care of, a real Proverbs 31 woman: who was single. Now both of them are classified as “Married People”

“Married people are boring”

Actually they’re quite the opposite. They’re the craziest and most interesting people you will ever meet. Crazy for love, passionate for God, and courageous enough to commit to a new adventure in marriage.

(Riva and Kevin, Teri, Ate Joanne, Its and Job: I know for a fact that you guys are definitely crazy)

Excitement ran through me as the date neared, I knew that I was definitely going to have a lot of fun exploring a new place, catching up with some acquaintances at CDO, fellowship with friends, meeting new people and getting to witness another glorious wedding. So I packed my bags and went to the airport.

The wedding

A friend of mine has a relative who lives in CDO. So me, him and 2 other friends stayed over there for the duration of the event. We stayed over in a room on the second floor. The alarm clock we had was in the form of a beautiful sunrise. Staying over with his relatives and meeting such a beautiful family was a refreshing break from the usual routines back in Manila, I feel that my thanks for their hospitality was not enough.

We toured around the city thanks to Kat and Pat. We had lunch with Tatit’s family. I met up with Joppet and met new CDO churchies. We also had a lot of great times raiding the city together as a group and checking out downtown places. The rehearsal dinner was great (it really felt like a wedding was no longer needed! The stories over dinner were beautiful, it was sufficient and more than enough to say that these guys are definitely meant to be together hahaha) Altogether, the days leading to the main event were really fun!

The thing you need most to make a wedding beautiful is the presence of God. It was undeniably visible that day. The storm passed over, leaving 2 lovers on an aisle, overlooking a majestic view swabbed by the mighty faces of numerous cliffs. The scene was blanketed with the light from a fading sun; everyone knew that this was something good. God is good. 

So where’s God in all of this wedding thingy?

Experiencing CDO, fellowship with new people and old friends, witnessing a great wedding; and just by connecting the dots I knew along the way that the entire trip was a thing of beauty. It was carefully crafted and designed by God Himself to remind me of the beauty in weddings, using the stories God masterfully wove in the communion of these lovers. 

A wedding itself is not as glorious as it can be when the presence of God is not magnified. A lot of people just know the story of the relationship, the “one-time-big-time-proposal” but have you ever tried knowing the story of the lovers and the many hardships they went through before they met?

Don’t get married people wrong, they went through a lot before God gave them the blessing of marriage, that’s why they met where God has deemed them to meet. Married people sought God out.

“One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.” - Psalm 27:4 

The core of the relationship is not anymore based on unstable ideas such as emotions, “me+you=we”, “kilig” moments, “soulmate”, “completing each other”, or “money”.

Marriage in itself is only a tool for God to be glorified. A tool that will make the most of Jesus in their lives. God uses this to let the world see how beautiful it can be when the core element of a relationship is Jesus Christ. You can twist the worldly mindset of people on marriage.

Then and there people get to witness the true value of seeking God. The true value of waiting (I’m not endorsing the True Value store, mind you). And there’s no place in this earth more beautiful than to be in God’s presence, to gaze upon Him, to seek Him in his temple and to dwell in Him all the days of your life. A God-centered marriage is beautiful and breath-taking —

Because there’s something about witnessing something so breath-taking that you’re willing to give up a lot of yourself to endure the journey just to see something great.  

There’s something with beauty that changes a man.

So let’s ask ourselves: “How much devotion to Him are we willing to joyfully seek to get to that beautiful place where He wants us all to be?”