Complexities of a prince\’s life…

It’s nice to be back and all but the city feels foreign. I guess at the back of my mind, I know it’ll be over soon..

But boy, I am having a blast so far!!!! I just hate the idea of checking my bills when I get back. Gasp! I blame shopping.

Manila Science High School. Nope, never heard of it back in 1998. I seriously wanted to go to Philippine Science High School but my mom didn’t want me to. Her reasons varied from, it’s too far, too many squatters near the campus, to the recent stabbing of one of its students. I told her I just wanted to take the entrance exam but she wouldn’t give in. She knew that if I passed, I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.

Anyway, back to Masci. It was a different school. For one, academics were the only priority. The athletics, the foreign languages, even the music department were almost non-existent. Ok, maybe not the music. We had a Masci choir anyway. There wasn’t even an art class! And for the first time in my life, no religion classes. Now, my alma matter is deemed worthy of a separate and elaborate post so I wouldn’t dig deep about the specifics for now. But just know that it was geared towards intellectual development into the Sciences and Mathematics.

Having a 7 a.m to 7 p.m. Tuesday schedule one school year, sleeping at the wee hours of the night, and waking up before sunrise, I needed an escape from Physics, Biology, and Calculus. I joined the Tennis and Volleyball varsities, joined the French club (became the president of it without learning a decent sentence), joined the school paper and became a writer/reporter. I even participated in other extra curricular activities but for some reason, I still felt something was missing in my life.

My mom knew about the pressures of high school and she thought of bringing me to her bible study to meet other teens. It was held in San Lorenzo Village in Makati, at the house of a lovely American couple. According to my mom, it was a mixed denomination but that we were all Christians. That was the first time I’ve ever heard of our Christian brothers and sisters that were not Catholic.

My mom would go to the adult bible study whilst I joined the youth bible study. I can still recall those Fridays. Boy, was it fun! We were just being kids (or teens, but really acting kids) and we would ask Kuya Mark, our youth pastor, if we could just chill for a while. Of course, after sleeping, goofing around the room (just imagine teens having their bible study in a room with a big bed, TV, and full blast AC—chaos! Haha!), and sometimes passing by Park Square or Glorietta for some frappe, we eventually listened to him and actually have a bible study. One night though, we actually almost got locked inside Park Square because it was closing already. Good times good times.

At that point in my life, I began to learn more about God. I knew then, how little I knew about his words. Sure, I have been trained to sing songs, recite prayers, observe Christian holidays, but I didn’t quite grasp yet the intensity of what it meant to be a Christian. It felt as if I was trying the pool for the first time. Scared to see how deep it is, shivering because of its temperature, but eventually learning how to swim, and body adjusting to the temperature.

But it only gets better….

Matthew 6:33 – “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”