‘Footprints in the Sand’ – A Seafarer’s Journey to the Tides of Life

“Only one thing I thought: jump to death. But before I did that, I prayed, ‘Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be,’” Jimmy confided. Prayer before action and indeed prayer saved him. What drove Jimmy to despair? What made him remember the Lord at the lowest point of his life? How did the Lord save him?

As a young boy in 1976, Jimmy served as a Knight of the Altar at the San Pedro Cathedral. Three months after, he was made a master of ceremony and also taught new knights. Financial difficulties threatened to stop his studies at some point, but his determination encouraged him to apply as a working student in the convent from high school to college. When he became a professional in 1986, Auxiliary Bishop Pueblos accepted him as a permanent and regular employee in the Cathedral as property custodian, purchaser and electrician for almost 7 years.

Marriage and 2 children later made Jimmy realize that his financial income was not enough. The idea of working abroad came to him. He went to Manila to try his luck. “Hugot bakos g’yud,” Jimmy recalls. Distance was such a torment. He missed his family. His two children were very young. The youngest was only a few months old, while the eldest was a year old.

It took some time before Jimmy got a job in a cruise line. His first foreign trip in 1996 was to Greece. “Malipayon kaayo ko na nakasakay ug barko.” It was a good opportunity that will enable him to financially support his family.

The kind of life that Jimmy lived before revolved around his family and the church. Yet, this time Church service was replaced with the hustle and bustle of cruise life. It was surely a different kind of life. “Ang pagsimba nawala for 7 months,” Jimmy regrets. However, he continued to pray. He was able to maintain his devotion to the Holy Rosary and to the Lord of Pardon.

He missed his family so much. Money could not buy the comfort only a family could give. Another threat could come from getting sick. Such was a dreadful challenge. Who would take care of him?

“From worst to worst,” Jimmy called one very strong typhoon his cruise ship encountered in the middle of the ocean on its way to Turkey. Its two-storey high waves looked deadly that he thought he had seen the last of his life ebbing away.

But, God is not done with him yet. Jimmy came home after he finished his four-year contract. However, he was only given a month respite. But what saddened him more was his children. “Sakit sa kasingkasing sa usa ka amahan nga tan-awon ka sa imong anak na daw usa ka stranger!” His children were too young when he left to be able to recognize him now. There were no cell phones or tabs yet in the 90s. The only way to connect was through the telephone or snail mail.

Difficult is an understatement to describe the life of migrant workers. Loneliness, illness, typhoons are some of their enemies. What a joy it truly is to see their loved ones again! But to be greeted with strange expressions, that is just too much! Jimmy was crushed. The one month vacation, however, gave Jimmy and his young family a time to reconnect and build anew.

At the end of his furlough, Jimmy had to leave again. He wanted to extend his vacation until December. That would have been his first Christmas with the family since he left. But no, work had to come first, his employer prevailed.

Jimmy left his family for work in December 13, 2000. Eight days later he called home and got to talk to his family and everyone present in the house. He called again on December 25, US time. In the Philippines it was December 26, dawn.

Later while eating breakfast at a Filipino restaurant in Los Angeles, California, he saw on TV news of a bus falling. Thirty-nine passengers died on the spot. He left afterwards back to the ship. He did not feel something uncanny except that he felt “dry” starting that morning.

He called home. He did not know why he had to make that call and in another terminal not where his ship was. No one picked up the phone until the fifth ring. There were people at home, his siblings, but a neighbor answered instead. It was his kumare.

“Jimmy uli dayon,” he was told. No one on board can leave anytime except on an emergency. But the neighbor was insistent. His family, wife, 2 children, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, 3 other relatives were killed in a bus accident! They were on that fallen bus shown on TV.

Jimmy, shocked, bewildered, cried. The phone on his hand pulled from its socket, smashed, broken.

“First thing I thought, mosaka sa ibabaw kay moambak ko.” But before that Jimmy prayed: Our Father, then Hail Mary and Glory Be. He prayed for strength. When he got to the gangway, he saw his restaurant manager, a Sri Lankan. He told him what happened. “Gikumot niya akong kamot ug iya kong gigakos.”

The Sri Lankan manager did not leave Jimmy alone after that. He brought him to the hotel director. They arranged everything for him, contacted the head office and on that same day Jimmy disembarked the ship. They settled him in the Holiday Hotel. But sleep was elusive. Disorientated, he walked back to that restaurant, where he had breakfast that morning, wearing only a T-shirt and shorts, jacketless on a winter day.

When he saw his footprints on the snow, he remembered the poem Footprints in the Sand. “Amazed ko. Nagpasalamat ko sa Ginoo nga gi-enlighten ko niya,” Jimmy gratefully realized. God indeed carried him through the ordeal. As it was the Christmas season, airlines were fully booked but he was able to leave the following day. Passing through Germany, he waited for 12 hours with no appetite and sleep. Afterwards he had to transfer to another airline.

Jimmy on flight was just crying where he was seated on the window side. His seatmate wondered but he could only express himself through tears. His lone battle was so sadly prolonged for he arrived in the Philippines after almost 4 days.

Msgr. Nards Vicente, Sr. Gregory and Mrs. Luz Llanillo fetched him from the airport. No one from his family had the courage to meet him there. Msgr. Nards had been monitoring him then.

The wake of his loved ones was all held in his in-laws house. He left them alive. He found them dead on his return.

Is that the end for Jimmy? Life like the ebbs of the sea has its highs and lows. April 18, 2008, holy week, he went Visita Iglesia for the first time. It ushered new life for him. Jimmy learned to love again. Easter Sunday is truly a resurrection day.

Jimmy believes that the footprints in the snow he saw that fateful day must be the Lord’s as he carried him through all the ordeal of losing his family until he could accept, surrender and connect with the Lord in a more intimate way. Prayer is Jimmy’s intimate connection to God. Prayer before action indeed steered him to where he is now. He is back serving the Lord. (Nena Quijano | Cheryl Vilog)