3 Consecutive approaches

My eldest son slept late on May 19, 2010. He told me over breakfast the following day, that at about 1130pm, he heard footsteps at the back of our house, behind the dinning room window.  The ground where he heard the footsteps is cemented and therefore, it's easy for any member of my household to hear or know if someone walks at the said area. My two sons and I were the only people in our home that time.  My youngest son and I were already sound asleep upstairs.  Our residence is securely enclosed with some 9 to 10ft bricked walls. So,  it was not possible that another person was inside the vicinity of our home. My son went to bed later and didn't bother to check as he felt it was just one of those " unusual occurrences" again.(He's used to these occurrences since he was a child and he is not bothered or afraid of it).

May 20 evening. My eldest son went to bed ahead of me. When it was time for me to rest, I noticed that he
was still a little awake when I checked him. He was lying on his side with his back at me. So, I decided to touch his shoulder lightly to say goodnight. Without turning his head, he replied with a loud and commanding voice, "Are you my Dad?....because if not, get away from me and out of this room." Boy, was I surprised hearing that! I responded asking if he's having a bad dream. With a calm voice he said, "No...somebody is bothering me."I was immediately concerned thinking that maybe during the day he had a misunderstanding with a friend or a classmate. So, I asked further, "Who's bothering you?" He responded, "Can we discuss  it tomorrow?".  I didn't insist.

The following morning, I pursued my interest on what transpired the other night. My eldest son said that somebody poked his back when he turned to his side to sleep. He felt a "presence" was behind him. He didn't bother to look and just ignored it until I came to say goodnight.. A thought crossed my mind that a soul might have asked for prayers.. Who could that be?  Based on our experience and past encounters, We knew we're in for another surprise from the Lord...and any time soon, He will reveal who the soul is. So, we paused for a while and said a short prayer.

May 22 morning past 8 am.  I was cleaning the kitchen floor. I had the kitchen door opened as the summer heat would have delivered a heat stroke. My eldest son came down from his wake-up call and greeted me. My son was still at the kitchen area checking the food for his breakfast as I continued my cleaning at the dining area(4 feet away from my son), he said that he saw a man in blue shirt walk past the grounds outside the open kitchen door.  The "person's" direction was from the wash area towards the side of the dining window(the area where he previously heard footsteps, late night on the 19th). So, I looked. No one was around. My son said the sighting was only a glance and the "person" disappeared fast before he had a good look at him.  I asked him to describe what he saw and if he knew the "person". He repeated his words: a grown up man wearing blue shirt and he didn't know the "person".  Being both of us graphic artists, he gave a detailed description of the shade of the blue shirt.

May 26. Washday. We have a woman helper(she's about 40 years old, married and has children) who comes once a week to wash and clean our clothes.  This day was her schedule. I woke up about 630am and heard that the helper was already at the wash area. I was surprised of her being this early. So, I asked. She replied that her husband, Ruben passed away last May 22 and she still has to take care of the wake after washing our clothes.  Ruben was a diabetic and have been bed-ridden and paralyzed for about 8 years or so. He was brought to the hospital a week before he died.

I admired the helper for still coming to work despite her family's situation. She was even honest enough to hand me a 1K bill which she found left in one of the pockets of my eldest son's pants. Amidst our conversation, the 3 consecutive encounters my eldest son experienced flashed through my mind. So I shared  my son's encounters. I mentioned the blue shirt with its particular blue color shade. I saw tears from her eyes when she said that Ruben was wearing the described color when he passed away at the hospital. For all of us, the shirt's color was more than a sign of confirmation that it was the soul of Ruben who had been giving my son the consecutive close encounters the past days. Except for the poking incident, the rest of the encounters happened around the vicinity of the wash area.  Ruben knew that his efforts to get in touch with my family will never be in vain as he will surely receive offerings and prayers for his soul.

My wife is my prayer-warrior-partner.  She was in Manila that time so, I texted her about what transpired Prayers were then offered.. Without hesitation, my wife told me that she believed that the money found was meant by God to assist our helper's present needs.  With mutual joy in our hearts, we returned the 1K to the helper.(Please read the first post of this Blog.  The sharing here is not to boast our help to the needy but to encourage us to extend charity, however small to the needy... all for God's glory).

Since then, Ruben's name has been included in our list.  Friends, once again, I'm asking you to say a short prayer for the repose of the soul of Ruben. May God bless you and your family and most of all, the Souls whom you pray for.