The Philippines had experienced an 8-day period of intense raining and thunder storms particularly the National Capital

Region last August. This was caused not by a typhoon but rather a strong movement of the Southwest Monsoon which was aggravated by the pull of Typhoon Gener from August 1 to August 3 and was further strengthened by the Typhoon Haikui. Although, the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat) was not actually a typhoon, the damages that it caused were that of a typhoon. This was reported to be the heaviest damage done by intense raining since the Typhoon Ondoy last September 2009 causing at least P604.63 million worth of losses throughout the country. Here is an overview of the effects of the Habagat over the last 8 days of the Habagat: Before the Habagat broke out on August 1, typhoon Gener struck the Philippines which initiated an immediate clean up of the Manila bay. When typhoon Gener left the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), a large mass of wind that was on the West Philippine Sea was left on the PAR causing immense rains. By August 3 and 4, there had not been massive storms but the winds kept on blowing causing the La Mesa Dam to be near its spinning level. By August 6, the typhoon Haikui, located a hundred miles from the Philippines, further increased the effects of the southwest monsoon upon Luzon causing the Marikina River to reach the 19 meter level by 7 pm. The La Mesa Dam opened its two gates to the Tullahan River causing it to overflow which in turn flooded North Fairview, West Fairview and the Sta. Lucia District. Earlier that day (8 am), a landslide happened in the hilly parts of Commonwealth. This was an unusual event in the Metro Manila area. By August 7, the most severe flooding took place along the Marikina River as it reached a height of 20.6 m (68 ft) which was well beyond the maximum flood level of 16 m (52 feet) and about 3 m below the record level set during Typhoon Ondoy. It also caused flooding at Espaa and Roxas Boulevard. Because of the much flooding that happened during August 7, chain messages started to spread around text messages and trend on the Social Media Networks saying Date today is 8-7-12; Noah's Ark - Genesis 8:7-12 without even having the exact and correct reference to the Scripture. By August 8, more than 1 million families were affected. The National Capital Region as well as the other 9 nearby provinces was affected by the severe flooding.

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In this light, the Lord of the Nations church made efforts to reach out the others especially with our members. The LOTN church gave relief goods to those affected areas particularly in Marikina, Pampanga, and Laguna. The LOTN Main Church as well as our international church such as LOTN Hongkong, LOTN London, LOTN Canada, and LOTN Pennsylvania extended their support to about 200 families in Pampanga (Apalit, Guagua, San Fernando, and Floridablanca), about 200-300 families in Marikina, and about 50 families in Laguna. Aside from this, the LOTN Main office in Marikina and the LOTN church in San Fernando served as evacuation sites to come of the affected families. Moreover, the area pastors have been contacted and group sharing was done to encourage everyone.

Some of the relief goods

Pastors taking out the goods from the box

Pastors and workers preparing the goods

LOTN in-action (Marikina)

Preparing for the relief operation in Pampanga

Victims in Guagua

Bishop Romy handing out the relief goods

People in Floridablanca

We all need to unite in prayer for our country not to experience such calamities again. Moreover, we need to have concern with each other especially during times of need. The most important thing to remember is that God is our safest refuge and our help in times of difficulties. If we call upon Him, He will surely answer. Our God is able to quiet even the most violent storms. Remember that in Mark 4:35-41, with just a command from Jesus to Be Still, all the wind died down and became calm. Let us all remember Gods promises that never again will He destroy the earth with flood and that He has a covenant upon His people. Also, both physical and spiritual storms are inevitable. However, God is true to His promises that those who know His name will surely trust in Him for He has never forsaken those who seek Him (Psalm 9:10). Our God is always able and even if our problems are big, we can always say that our God is bigger than any circumstance.