Lemme share the story of an unexpected friendship between brothers and sister in faith.
January of 2017 when we all first met, except for Olan (leftmost guy) since we're both in the same small group before and Chris (guy in the middle) as we are colleagues at work and badminton buddies, as we joined hiking all the way up to Mt. Ulap, one of the wonderful mountains in Benguet, Philippines. Rome, the only girl in the group, was my VG leader's girlfriend during that time. Cody (rightmost guy) was with Olan and they are together in a victory group as well.
I know them and I see them 'cause we go to the same church in Robinson's Galleria, Victory Christian Fellowship Ortigas. Yeah, we're all believers and followers of Christ.
Even before we star the trail, we easily got along together while waiting for our tour guide. We weren't even close but something clicked when we sat down to take our lunch first. In an instant we were laughing as if we knew other for a looong time already, seriously.
We started the trail around 1 in the afternoon and as we move up, we go deeper into conversations of a long list of topics of our lives. Sharing while walking going up to the peak. Punch lines thrown away to ease our weary legs.
And in betweens are picture takings be it solo or group.
Good thing we all travel a lot and we know how to capture that grammable pose and scenery.
We reached the top and our bonds grew stronger over that night in Mt. Ulap. I know because it was orchestrated by God.
Now we meet up to celebrate birthdays.
Go some place where none of us have been to just to explore the Metro.
Dine to some resto and satisfy our cravings.
Attend the Sunday services together and even during annual Prayer and Fasting in Victory.
And more importantly, we meet to catch-up despite our busy lives, sit in a coffee shop, share our ups and downs to each other, discuss the Word of God and pray for each other.
Now I firmly believe that there are no coincidences, only planned meet-ups orchestrated by God. He lets people cross the same road at same time simply because He knows they will help each other grow in faith.
All photos are mine