“I remember you crying twice in high school…”

In one of our Execom Meetings for the upcoming 25th anniversary of our high school graduation, Noel came up to me and started telling me things that he remembers about me in high school.

” I remember seeing you cry in highschool” he started.

“Really?” was my astonished response. My crying during my highschool years was the last thing I would want to be discussed. But here was Noel, opening these things up to me for the first time.

“The first time you cried was when our YDT teacher cut your hair…… and she felt bad because you cried that she tried to fix it…”

“Oh yeah!.. that was during our freshman year” – I agonizingly recalled. Amazing how the flood of emotions were still there. I explained to him that I did not cry because of the bad haircut that followed, it was the sense of “violation” and the injustice I got from her. Back in those days, the teachers can cut a student’s hair and really just make a small awkward spot which the barber would really just try to alleviate. Usually, it would end up almost looking like a very high military cut.

We talked about that sense of injustice that I felt. No one had the right to just snip off my hair without my proper permission. Yet this YDT teacher Ms. Fernandez, just grab a handful and cut through my hair.

“When was the second time you saw me cry?” – i asked, wanting to move on to something else.

“After your conversion…” and Noel smiled. “It wasn’t in our room but you had a talk with one of the teachers and when you came back, you were crying and you told me that you had been born again…”

I smiled at that thought. Wow… I still recall Ms. Mila Concepcion sharing the gospel with me. At the age of 16, my eyes got blinded by the tears that fell that afternoon after I first heard the love of Jesus. I cried. I groaned alone in the editorial room of our high school paper.

Amazing how 25 years had passed yet my classmate Noel remember me crying in high school. Well after 25 years, I still cry over the same things.

I still cry when I see injustice and cruelty done to the vulnerable among us.

I still cry at the amazing grace of Jesus for all of us.

Lord, grant my desire to see Ms. Mila Concepcion again. I want to thank her for sharing the gospel with me. You used her to make me understand fully your love. I want to thank her personally for obeying your call to minister to me at that time. There in that old high school building (now demolished), I first heard clearly the gospel call of Jesus. Thank you for the people you have used to look after me, even for a moment. I still carry the imprints of their lives.