I Came For the Trash

I have had a fair share of parables in my life—most of them were from my Teacher. One day, I never thought I would be a part of a great one.

One day, my mother told me that someone has called my father to deliver hardware goods to some faraway place I knew nothing about. Unfortunately, my father was in USP Mabini gathering unused cartons for extra cash. Because I don't have anything to contact him, I was sent there with sore knees, still wearing my pajamas, riding a small bicycle under the heat of the sun.

When I arrived at the school, I told my father about the new delivery so I went home with him riding his multi-cab. Just after we arrived home, he sent me out again to USP to continue what he had started. That meant I had to bike my way up again.

Then I arrived in the school still wearing my pajamas. I saw the students in uniform staring at me as if I'm a trash collector. Others didn't notice me at all. Then I thought to myself, they didn't know I was valedictorian in elementary, rank thirteen in the graduate class of the most prestigious high school in Cebu and a civil engineering student in USC.

That time, it was different. I didn't go there to study. I went there to continue what my father had started. I went there as a trash collector. I came not for the students but for the trash.

I remembered my Teacher that time. He had also been a trash collector as I was. Maybe when He came down, He may have somewhat similar thoughts as I had when I arrived in the school. He was and is the Prince of Heaven after all.

After I finished doing my task, I remembered His very words: For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.