Inspirational
Shookt
The first time I heard shookt and how one person used it, I was appalled. Then I heard it again and read it on social media posts—sometimes spelled “shook” to actually mean “shocked.”
“Where have you been?” my friend W, who loves and uses gayspeak-and-millennial-trendy-words-in-one, asked.
“From a deep sleep or freeze, I guess,” I replied facetiously.
But words, if used often enough by people around you, become yours too. And now I am using it to describe how I felt during yesterday’s earthquake (6.1 magnitude in Zambales province, west of Manila).
It was a lazy afternoon and I was leisurely writing some ideas creeping inside my head when my computer chair swayed. I thought it was the second coming and I was ready to rejoice, but the swaying went on for a few more seconds.
That was when I was shookt.
Frazzled, I felt many emotions all at once. I ran to the garden, where Tony was watering the plants to warn him, “Earthquake!”
Calmly, he replied, “Is that what it is? I thought I was losing my balance again.” (The last time he lost his balance, we rushed him to the hospital.)
Posts on social media were frantic and many wrote, “Shookt!”
But many were prayers, too, asking God for grace to spare lives and properties.
The photos above (borrowed from news websites) show why people were shookt. Many more of these will leave us shookt as the end times near.
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” Matthew 24:7 9 (ESV)
(Note: As of this writing, a stronger earthquake, 6.5 magnitude, rocked the Philippines. This time, the epicenter was traced to San Juan, Easter Samar.)
