Imagine the hype and it's Superbowl Sunday, or you are in Louisiana and
LSU is playing for the national championship... that is what it was like for the Filipino this Sunday. Manny
Paquiao is the pride of Philippine athletics and might be the best, pound for pound, fighter of all time. When the "
Pac Man" fights there is no crime on the streets even though you can't find a policeman anywhere, because everyone is watching the fight.
They said that even up in the mountains, where the communist rebels are fighting a bloody war with government troops, there is a truce while the fight is going on.
I wondered how the crowd would be at church since the fight was to be going on at the exact same time as Sunday Morning Service. It was happening while I was preaching. Yet, the place was packed out. They had Jesus on their minds, the altar service was great with people on their faces and I laid hands on many... as if this was the only thing going on today.
However, when the service was over, and the food was served and eaten, they found a place to watch the fight by tape delay. Though they already knew the outcome, they cheered with pride when the
Pac Man knocked out his challenger's lights.
A few interesting things about the feast.
There was a whole roasted pig, slipper lobster, sweet and sour fish, noodle dishes, fried chicken and all kinds of deserts. The coconut macaroons were incredible! It was all so good.
In fact, there was sea food of all kinds. Cebu is located near some of the most plentiful fishing locations in the world and the church has some members who own fishing vessels, and one member is actually one of the main suppliers of the Cebu fish market. So there were things most people never see.
There was one thing that Brenda and I didn't try... we probably should have, but I am not big on fishy tasting stuff and... did these things ever look fishy. Not only that, they just didn't look like food.
Sea shells of all kinds. Beautiful shells of all color, shape and size. It was like a
crawfish boil, only the bucket was full of boiled sea shells.
The animals came out easy once you
grabbed hold of them.