A prophet's dream: A steel box opens in the desert

Photo by Michael Hansen

[Blogger's Note: I have a friend by the name of Don Stewart, a non-Catholic minister, who dreamed about me some years ago that came to pass only this year. The following is his dream written in his own words. -Gio C. Tijano.] 

I was overwhelmed by this DREAM. 

I saw a sharply defined picture of a desert for miles and miles. I could see the dry, parched wasteland spotted with cacti and tumbleweeds. 

Further out in the desert were several broken-down cars in need of repair. The cars were parked outside a ramshackle, decaying house. There were signs of termites, insects and rotten wood around the edges. 

Outside of the house, it was as if I saw YOU, Brother [Gio], looking very discouraged.Then, I saw a mechanic with a tool box fixing the cars. 

I saw carpenters fixing the house. 

I saw a cart loaded down with food. 

As I watched, you looked around and didn't know quite what to do. 

Then I saw you take a shovel and start digging and there was a steel box that you could not open up. It was then that I saw a hand reaching down from the sky and opening up the steel box. 

Then I woke up. 

I must tell you what this Prophetic DREAM means, Brother [Gio]. IT IS VERY GOOD. 

[Blogger's Note: Please click this link for the fulfillment of this dream: 

http://poet-of-soul.blogspot.com/2011/07/at-last-opening-of-steel-box-dream.html -Gio.]

I, a complaining toy as Job!

Please, God, don't treat me as though I'm dead.
A corpse that cannot react to any stimulus. 

Though limited is my knowledge, I know I've had enough.
Time and again, You've said, "You have suffered long enough." 

And yet, I'm still suffering. 

You should, please, give me a lift -- if burdened is what You see in me. 

But You haven't. 

Why so, God, why so? 

Is this the lot of those You've given graces? 

Is being special synonymous to being cursed? 

But I'm cursed already -- in fact, piles of curses are upon me because of my ancestral sins. 

To the best I could, I've done whatever You say would release me from bondage. 

But You choose not to set me free. 

Or, is it how cursed my family is? 

But I should have been freed by now -- even from a curse or two! 

Or, is it You Who choose not to give me this freedom? 

Am I Your toy? 

Yes, You can do with me as You please. 

But -- please! -- I ain't as saintly as Therese of the Child was. 

She who gave herself to You as Your Own Toy. 

I, too, am Your toy -- but a complaining toy as Job!

'Rey' and kids: Casting fish nets at the wharf

Seasonal fruit vendor 'Rey' is ready to cast fish nets into the sea at the local wharf here for a night catch.

It's his second time to be photographed while casting nets at the wharf. 

Rey had his first picture taken by a journalist who published the photo at the local newspaper.



He was able to get hold of the newspaper, see the photo and read the caption -- but...

...Rey was a bit disheartened because the caption tells of his unsuccessful catch that night. It reads: 'God, be merciful! All this man got was garbage!'

But with me taking pictures of him this night is different!

With son and daughter and two kid neighbors helping to take entangled fishes from the nets, Rey is game to pose for pictures.

 

 

 

The catch! Fishes of different sizes and kinds!

Rey Jr. takes shelter from the coldness of the night in a docked wooden boat while taking a bite or two of the fish meat they have caught!

Stunts on the ropes: A dream fulfilled in four days!

Photo by Bob Willits

[The following is my diary entry of June 22, 2008, 7:43 a.m., Sunday -- four days after my dream. At first, I never knew that what I was writing about in that entry was already the dream's fulfillment. --Gio C. Tijano.]

Lord, forgive me -- I did not do anything to save a youngster who fell to the violent seas at the seawall last night.

You know that I wanted to rescue him, but I was not in my right mind because nervousness attacked me.

Two men rescued him, but the neighborhood was furious of me.

A man in the distance even got a bamboo pole and struck it on the pavement several times while looking at me. The neighbors persuaded him to stop it, but he was very angry.

It was dreadful.

I felt I was white as ashes.

But I mustered courage when realization came to me that I did nothing bad, and so I thought, "Why should I be afraid?"

I walked towards the group that was having a drinking spree.

I faced them.

I was oozing with courage -- I know You were with me at that very moment.

The bamboo-wielding guy was, suddenly, out of sight.

The men fell silent at my presence.

I know my heavenly friends surrounded me at that moment.

I talked to them.

Somebody said I shouldn't be frequenting the seawall as I do not know how to swim.

I replied, "But I am only sitting on the seawall, and not on the waters!"

He fell silent again.

Maybe, what he was driving at was that, he was ordering me to stop frequenting the place.

But I just came from there this morning.

O my God! -- the fulfillment of my dream! I realize it only now.

Slanted ravine, the slanted seawall... skilled rescuer, the adept man in the dream... three guys forming a chain to help rescuer and the victim get on top of seawall, the ropes in the dream... I was on top of seawall as I watched in amazement at their adeptness, especially the human chains...  The  people  there applauded the rescuers; and I have become the talk of the neighborhood because of my display of courage in the midst of furious men... I was alone... A  stranger in the place...

"WHEN THE enemy SHALL COME IN LIKE A FLOOD, THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD SHALL LIFT UP A STANDARD AGAINST him." --Isaiah 59: 19.

 

Stunts on the ropes: A dream in 2008

(From the album 'Bigtec Day Out.' Photo by Tara)

[The following is entry from my diary of June 19,  2008, 8:18 a.m., Thursday. -Gio C. Tijano.]
.

I had a dream last night.

I found myself on top of a slanted ravine.

I was holding a special kind of ropes fastened to the trunks of coconut trees on the slope.

In the middle of the ravine was also a man having ropes on his body, somersaulting in the air and other stunts to the applause of people below.

I never knew what to do with the ropes; but as I grasped and held to feel it, realization came to me that I could do it.

Then, I found myself standing on the ropes and somersaulting in the air and landing my feet on the ropes again.

People applauded my stunts to the bewilderment of the adept man because he himself learned it after a long time of practice.

[Blogger's Note: This dream is symbolic. And four days after the dream, what it symbolizes happened to me. I wrote this experience in my diary entry of June 22, 2008. I will post that entry in my next blog post.]

Low tide between the Island City and the Big City



The mountain of the Island City and the Big City's black-sanded beach and the low sea in-between and a young man being chased by another through the waters of low tide.

The boys playing on the beach amidst remnants of pillars of sea houses.

And the men wading their way through waters for home after a 'plunge' to the low waters. (Photos by Gio C. Tijano)

One of my dreams happening: 'Pac-man' wins over 'The Golden Boy' in 2008

The smiling Manny 'Pac-man' Pacquiao with trainer-coach Freddie Roach

A showdown was in the offing.

A bout between a son of a small torn nation and a son of a great one land.

As it neared, seven thousand and more islands trembled. And fifty and more States triumphed at the coming event of the clash.

A fight of fists of a David and a Goliath! Of island-born "Pac-Man" and mainland-born "The Golden Boy!"

I, too, am a son of islands and seas and I began to do something for a brother -- daily, I prayed; daily Masses, I heard.

And on the seventh day, a vision came to me in a dream.

A clean and fresh-faced, a fair and pinkish-skinned, a smiling and chinky-eyed, a focused and faith-oozing Manny Pacquiao!

Seven more days and the fight would begin.

And so the fight was on.

And the rest is history -- his story.

Seven and one rounds were more than enough proof.

And a towel fell from the camp of the giant, Oscar De La Hoya!

WBC lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao throws a left to the head of Oscar De La Hoya during their welterweight boxing match in Las Vegas, Nevada, Dec. 6, 2008.  (AP Photo)