Second and Better Part of Life

This Day …February 27, 2009

I would like to thank God publicly and praise Him for his faithfulness throughout the years to me and to my beloved family.

He has shown His faithfulness in many ways, most importantly by revealing Himself to us as our Lord and Savior. In the various aspects of His character and personality, He has been many things - the Jehovah Nissi that protects us; the Jehovah Jireh who provides for all our needs; the Jehovah Shalom who gives us peace and quiet; the Jehovah Rapha who heals our diseases; and Jehovah Tsidkenu who clothes us with His own righteousness that we may spend eternity in His joyful presence.

Today, February 27, 2008, I celebrate my birthday of three scores and two, and in grace, wisdom, humility, and in hopeful expectation of the many years of His continual blessings.
My prayer, for sure is not merely to accumulate years, but to spend the second and better part of my life building His Kingdom, spreading and teaching His Word, working in a ministry of helping the poor, the aged, and the disadvantaged and, above all, doing His will. Yes, I shall seek His will, as always.

This month, Elvie and I celebrated one of our finest Valentine's Day together, as well as our 35th year anniversary as a couple under God's grace, love, spiritual and material blessings, and protection. His blessings gave us a bundle of joy called family - two wonderful children in Christie Ann (Chop) and Emmanuel David (Dave), a loving son-in-law in Brian, a precious jewel of a granddaughter in Anna Elise, and an excellent and loving soon-to-be-added daughter-in-law in Koritha.

In March, I will have had 40 years of professional experience in the financial field that God led me to, reckoned right from the year I graduated from college and passed the (dreaded) CPA examinations at the end of those scholastic years. Forty years may seem to many an eternity, but in this case for me, time just flies so fast. It has. Tempus fugit.

In May, our little precious jewel, now-the-focus-of-joy tiniest member of our family, Anna Elise, turns one year old, surely giving us more joy, joy.... and joy.

In May, Dave completes his university schooling at Cal, a dejavu of what his Ate Chop accomplished some 11 years back, and will turn to reality for Elvie and myself that precious dream and prayer every couple has for their children - an excellent education. Vivid still in my mind is what I told Christie in May 1998 after getting her Berkeley diploma, "Free at last." I was referring to the financial costs that went with her education, of course, not realizing that the cycle would startup again with Dave 11 years later. This time, in May this year, the cycle will have ended in closure for those necessary financial burdens .. for good. And with something good to show for it in the lives of our children.

This June, I will have accumulated 30 years of government service in the states, a blessing not normally obtained by many, but which came my way only because God gave me the strength, health, abilities, and the faith and wisdom to persevere against all odds, riding out those bumps and wrinkles along the way. Not that I am (or was) special vis-à-vis others, but only because God is gracious to all who seek Him, including an undeserving soul like me.

This June, Dave will start a new chapter in his life and will get married to Koritha. I will always cherish the moments Elvie and I have spent praying with David and his bride, telling them unequivocally that we want them to be blessed of God in all that they plan to do as a couple, in their vocations, and as ministers of the Word. As we have always assured them, we are not losing a son, but we are gaining a daughter.

In August, I will have been a resident for 33 years (and a proud citizen for 28 years) in this wonderful and blessed United States. In retrospect, I cannot help but always look back in amazement – for many times in awe of God's providence - how blessed this 29-year old CPA (then) has been, wherewithal starting only with measly $500 in his pocket when he deplaned onto the American shores on August 14, 1976.
All blessings came my way only through God. Yet an even bigger miracle than my migration to this great nation happened five years after my arrival - I found Jesus in a personal way and shed off all religion in me, accepting Him as my personal Lord and Savior, surrendering my life and all I had to Him, and entrusting totally to Him my family, job, finances, and everything else. Since then, my prayer life and my appetite for reading the Word, both as a devotion and as a systematic scriptural study, have never been the same. My spiritual life has made a quantum leap by giving me a release from being identified with a religion, to having a special, personal relationship with Christ Jesus …in spirit and in truth.

Also, sometime in the middle of this year, I will have retired from 33 continuous years of government service and 40 years of professional life. But active life for me will not come to a screeching halt. Retiring will take on a different meaning. It should probably be called re-tiring and re-firing. I shall put on a new tread on my "wheels" and get fired up more inside as the second and better part of my life begins - teaching the Word and spreading the Gospel, and helping the needy in my community.
In retirement, all those years in my chosen profession will have dimmed into oblivion, but my profession of faith and of the Word will grow under a brighter light and guidance from Him henceforth.. The real work - one with deeper meaning and eternal value - will have started. Doing that will be an awesome honor privilege.

Thank You Lord for everything!

Elmer L. DeLeon February 27, 2009