This present darkness

The mood of the country as it goes into the weekend, feels just like the calm before the storm. Despite being busy with our puny, miserable lives, people everywhere wait with bated breathe on how PGMA’s 5th SONA will affect us all.

Personally, I feel as if we are, as the renowned Christian author Frank Peretti says, in “this present darkness”. And how we get out of it is the greatest challenge facing us all right now.

It’s no surprise that I remembered Peretti’s book given our situation these days. Peretti’s “This Present Darkness” (here's a good link for a review) is about how a small, unassuming town in middle America becomes the battleground between the forces of good and evil. Its principal human characters are a veteran & skeptical newspaper journalist and a young passionate Christian pastor who are up against promoters of a New Age plot to take over the world. Our heroes are backed up by their guardian angels who slug it out against the evil spirits guarding the villains.

The scenarios may be markedly different but many of those who read it would agree that there are many parallel situations that mirror the country’s present situation, especially from the Born-Again Christian’s point of view.

I read the book in less than 3 days. I’ve read it many times since, until it burned down in the fire that hit my friend Garry’s house years ago.

I first came upon it after my Economics class wrapped up for the day in our Ellinwood campus during college twelve years ago. I remembered I was the last to leave the room when I spied upon the book under a chair. Instinct told me to return it immediately; that is until I saw it had no name on it. Since I had a vacant period up next and I had nothing of worth to do, I just simply started skimming through the book.

An hour later I was hooked. Even after I finished the book I tried to ask around who lost it, especially before, during or after our Economics’ class but without success. It was as if the book was left there for me to find out and read. I lent it then to my buddy Garry, whom I shared a lot of similar interests in novels, comics, graphic books and movies.

Sadly, his house burned down, along with his extensive comics and graphic book collection. I still recall that day when we heard the sirens of the firetrucks rushing to the scene. We were at school just shooting the breeze in our favorite corner. When Garry saw thick smoke coming from the direction of Sta. Ana, he instinctively rushed home; we even dissuaded him, saying the fire could not possibly affect them. I ate my words a few days later when he told me the fire did burn their house down. But in no time though, Garry and his family got back on their feet and rebuild their lives. His comics’ collection is now as extensive as ever. But Peretti’s book remains only a memory.

There were lessons learned from what happened that time. But what I vividly recall is the book and how its brave heroes triumphed over its “present darkness”. I just don’t know if we will in ours today.