We are finally back home in Texas! Thank GOD, we made it to retirement and look forward to our “Sarap ng Buhay (zest of life)” with our family friends and loved ones.
I realize this is a blessing many people never get, but it isn’t the way I had imagined it would be. After a long flight from Beijing, our family met us at the airport. We went to our favorite Chinese American restaurant for dinner. I tried a little of my limited Chinese vocabulary on the waitress, but discovered she was Korean. When we finally made it to bed, I was exhausted but only able to sleep for four hours.
During this first week, I have been busier than when I was working full-time. I have to complete the thousand and one things it takes to “live” here and I am still trying to work out some issues with my retirement pay. Our airfreight was delayed, so we haven’t gotten the things we were assured would arrive shortly after we did. To further complicate matters, we are trying to fix up our house before our stuff arrives from storage and Beijing. I will have to learn some patience, because it seems nobody is in a hurry to help us “retirees” settle in.
Most of what we are doing is only preparation for our new life. Yes, these things and benefits are important, but they are not our “buhay (life).” We find our life in the Lord because “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV). Because of GOD’s love, we believe in JESUS and accepted Him as our Savior. Our life is found in knowing and doing His will. That is our “Sarap ng Buhay.”
Wayne Lance (2016)