Inspirational
Opulence Is Over and Out
Two years ago I was in Leyte province for a series of talks. One of the must-see places to where our host took us was the grand Olot mansion of the Marcoses.
The 17-room residence with an 18-hole golf course, which my friends and I toured with matching “ooohs” and “aahs”, has lost its grandeur. It is now totally unrecognizable.
After super typhoon Yolanda, Leyte is one of 44 provinces that suffered untold losses. These include the mansion that used to proudly stand on a 42-hectare beachfront property, which Imelda Marcos considered her family’s ancestral home.
All gone in seconds.
It was reduced to a pile of rubble, according to the Phil. Daily Inquirer. “The destruction of the controversial estate came nearly three years after the Supreme Court allowed her to retake the property, one of the assets of her husband, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, which the government had sequestered, on suspicion it was ill-gotten.
Bongbong Marcos on the foreground (Image Credit: www.mb.com)
“Leyte, which bore the brunt of the most destructive typhoon ever recorded, is one of the poorest provinces in the country . . . the caretaker recalled that a wall of seawater swallowed the entire property. Alas, this grandiose structure—a testament to Imelda Marcos’ wealth and power in her home province—is now gone.”
The quick, enormous destruction in many places wrought by this killer storm reminds me of the quickness of change that can happen to earthly us. This verse about Christ’s second coming parallels the hurricane’s velocity.
“It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.” 1 Corinthians 15:52 (NLT)
Nothing we have ever earned or hoarded on this planet—neither power nor riches—will remain. Everything is ephemeral and could be over and out in an instant.
But by His grace, those who have clung to Jesus in turbulence or in peace will be raised up.
We continue to cling to this Hope.
