I was supposed to go to Cardinal Santos Hospital in Greenhills for a magazine shoot. Brought the whole family with me to take them to my parents house. We left the house at 10 am, the rain was just starting to pour. We got to Mindanao Ave., and seeing the traffic turned right to SM North Shopping Mall. When we entered SM, the flood water started to rise. We decided to park but the floodwater was blocking the parking entrance. So we drove around looking for a way out but we were trapped. We just stopped the car on a road with no flood and just left it there. This is what happened next:

(Click thumbnail to watch video)	In the morning, cars were still able to cross this road between The Block and the main building. But the road going to the main parking building was really flooded, so we couldn't find a safe parking. David was enjoying himself watching the cars drive on the water. When we went inside, we found out that the water already got to the basement of the mall. Customers were still there at this time and were rushing up to the 1st floor.
(Click thumbnail to watch video)	Soon, the water level got higher, less and less cars got inside the mall vicinity. Water in the basement got higher too. This time I was really worried that the water might reach inside the car, as I was just parked on the road.
(Click thumbnail to watch video)	Late afternoon, at about 4pm, the rain fall decreased and the flood water started to subside, but the number of people stranded in SM was just too many to count. It was still flooded all over the metro, and the taxis, jeepneys and FXs aren't accepting any trips. And the traffic in EDSA was stand still.
(Click thumbnail to watch video)	This is us in SM. First we had lunch, late afternoon we let the kids sleep while we were thinking how to get home. In the evening, we saw the news and already accepted that we were not going anywhere and prepared to stay there overnight. We bought supplies in the grocery, water, soap, mouthwash. We had dinner after but my wife and I couldn't eat with all the stress so we just ordered soup. At about 930pm, the traffic in EDSA started to move so we took advantage and went out! We were able to go to my Aunt's house just nearby and spent the night there.

We were stranded in SM for 12 hours, while in constant contact with our maid in the house.

What happened to our house was just unimaginable. It has never flooded in our subdivision, but today was a disaster. Started to flood in the street at 4pm. Soon water was coming out of the drains and the toilet! So the maid started moving the electronics to the 2nd floor. The computers, the camera equipment, the LCD TV, she caried them all by herself. The water continued to rise so she and our dog Yoshi went to the neighbor's house. They crossed the road while the water was chest deep. Yoshi was crying as they were crossing the street/river swimming.

The water subsided at about 4am. We got home at about 930am. This is what the house looked like after Typhoon Ondoy-Ketsana

(Click thumbnail to watch video)

jo   aww... wawa naman kayo stuck at sm!
wawa din si yoshi!!! huhuhu
ingat si yoshi, matindi daw ang leptospirosis!

lucky fish ah!

Praise God you guys are safe and most of your equipment/applicances were salvaged! God is sooo good!

Marcel   Sobra ngang blessed namin! Wala na kaming magawa talaga pero wala pa rin masyadong nasira sa amin! Maski yung ref at washing machine na lumutang lutang na at nadatnan naming nakahilata sa floor, parehong gumagana pa rin! 100% God, 0% effort namin!

charles   i read your blog and watched your videos with interest. this is good information, that some people were safe. but I do have to comment on something that might sound shocking to you: "Kawawa kayo" coz u were stuck in SM for close to 12 hours unharmed, dry and safe and maybe even a little bored? "God is so good", and "you are blessed" and your household appliances are intact? This implies that God was not good to the 200+ people that died and the hundred of thousands who lost their homes, got sick or are still stranded and suffering? It begs the question: are you more special in some way than those people? Please be a bit more sensitive to those who aren't as lucky as you. Yes, I say "lucky" because that was all it was. Your car could have been one of thousands floating around the streets. And please thank your maid for her loyalty to you. Thank God another time and for something else. I apologize, but this is grating to the ears (eyes) when I hear or read it from the faithful. It does not make sense. It does not compute.

Marcel   Yes! You are right! We are very lucky that we got more than we deserved. We do not deserve anything good in this life. I, personally, used to live in sin. And still do fall to sin, more often than I'm supposed to. If I was going to pay for my own sins, I would have been dead and living in hell. But I wouldn't say I was lucky, I would attribute it to God's mercy.

I really don't know why God preferred to put us in a better situation than others, only God knows why. But God seemed to have showed us more mercy than others.

But does that mean God is unfair? Because God shows some more mercy and some less? No way!!! Remember what mercy is. Mercy is not getting what we deserve. God is never LESS fair with anyone! God reserves the right to be more than fair with individuals as He chooses.

It is very very wrong to say that God's mercy towards us is our RIGHT!!! If God is REQUIRED to show mercy, then it is not mercy but OBLIGATION. NO ONE IS EVER UNFAIR FOR NOT GIVING MERCY.

The Bible best explains this in Romans Chapter 9, verse 13 to 21. As Paul explains:

"Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' "Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?"

And in Matthew chapter 20 verse 1-16, where Jesus tells the parable of the landowner giving the same amount of salary to those who worked all day and those who worked half day.

What I'm saying is, life is not fair, that doesn't mean God is not fair also. We are not lucky, it's just that, God showed me mercy!

And you can not stop me from praising MY GOD, and giving the glory to HIM!!!

Karen   @charles: You're not allowed to say that God is good because you were safe? Just because one says you're "kawawa" does it mean the others outside aren't?

If my finger hurts because it got pricked and say "ouch!", am I implying that the guy next door who got shot in the leg doesn't deserve to feel pain?

Is it computing yet? Hellooooo....

Leo   Appreciating how God works in one's life does not equate God being cruel to the rest of humanity.

Well for this world that badly wants to be politically correct in everything and in every way, then thank God when they aren't looking or listening. Then again, why should you care? Thank God!

Karen   "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matthew 5:45

Amen and AMEN.

Anne   charles, if you knew the God of the bible, you would even fall on your knees that you were able to turn on your pc, browse the internet and comment on marcel's blog. marcel is right - we DO NOT deserve anything by the things we do in this world. God's wrath IS upon the entire world for rebelling against Him. how do you expect God to show us favor when we've taken Him out of our lives, replacing Him with idolatry of self and other false gods. how can one expect Him to show favor on a world that knows nothing but sin and when trials come, TELL Him what to do? Yes, PRAISE GOD for HE IS GOOD and He still showed us favor by sending His Son to die for us and our pathetic lives. And He still continues to show us favor through His grace and mercy. We are not saying that we don't feel for all those who were greatly affected by the floods. our hearts do go out to them and we are doing our part in helping (we just dont go announcing it to the public). But with our own situations, we cannot help but PRAISE OUR GOD! TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY!!!!

The wife   Unfortunately for you, we don't believe in luck. Luck is not a kosher word. It is of the devil. It is superstitious. When something good happens, we are blessed. when something not so good happens, we are also blessed. Nothing comes our way that God hasn't allowed. All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.

As for Johanna's comment, yes we may not be "kawawa" but who are you to dictate to her whom to bestow compassion? If she sympathised with us, then does that mean she didn't have compassion on the others who didn't end up "lucky"?

We would rather risk being called insensitive to people than being ungrateful to our Creator. And do not worry about our maid. We did thank her and even apologised to her even before you suggested it. And may I remind you, saving those equipment did not only benefitted us, it benefitted her as well, kasi pag nawala yon, wala na rin kaming ipapasweldo sa kanya, then mawawalan na sya ng trabaho. I just wanted to point that out to you because you made us sound like a bad employer. And it begs the question, why is she loyal?

Leo   The wife said: "We would rather risk being called insensitive to people than being ungrateful to our Creator. "

Hahaha I love that. Well said.

Paul   Sorry to say, but this in fact is another prove that god doesnt exist... What's the reason to let 250, 300, ? people die in the floods? Was it their destiny? People that are safe just got lucky, nothing to thank someone/something called god for... Please dont believe in god, believe in yourself.

Marcel   K.

sam   salamat dahil ndi poe dumapo ung bagyo sa amin,,,,,....

salamat poh tlga..,,

Anne   paul..... er.... haven't you read any of the things we've been writing????? regardless of what you believe or think, it doesn't change the TRUTH that God does exist and we will all face Him on judgement day. believe us, you wouldn't want His wrath upon you....

Anne   oh, and paul, this is not another PROVE of what you believe. it is PROOF that GOD exists and He is heeding us a warning!!! The heavens declare the glory of God. Only He is able to command nature to do as He wills.

jo   @ charles
We give credit to whom it is due. It was the Lord who kept us safe and our material belongings. Why shouldn't we praise Him and give thanks to Him?
Please don't generalize when I sympathized with marcel and his family. I know them personally and would want to give them comfort because of what they went through. As friends and brothers/sisters in faith, you Do you tell your friends who got flooded, "di ka kawawa. mga nastranded lang ang kawawa", I don't think and hope so. Or maybe you did, that's why you're commenting on a stranger's blog instead of your friends'.

Job 1:21 says
21... Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

The Lord gave us our lives, our family, friends, belongings, and this world we live in. Who are we to not thank Him for everything?

teeraspippere   Hi People
How are you doing?

Karen   "...they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord. They rejected my advice and paid no attention when I corrected them. Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes. For simpletons turn away from me — to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.” Proverbs 1:29-32

That's what happens when you believe in yourself.

diane   naku sobrang nagaalala ako sa mga nasalanta ng bagyo
our school help our familoes who are suffering the ondoy and pepeng the name of my school is Christ the king college, san fernando la union city


god bless you all
we are doing some prayer for all of you

passingby   @ charles and paul
"Your approval means nothing to me, because I know you don't have God's love within you. For I have come to you in my Father's name, and you have rejected me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them. No wonder you can't believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don't care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God." - JESUS (John 5:41-44)

chonnavae   thank you for sharing this article!!!!!!!!!!!!

chonnavae   thank you for sharing this article!!!!!!!!!!!!
@lways pray 2 GOD

hazel   hi 2 all
thanks for sharing ur knowledge
GOD BLESS!!!!!!

stephanie dawn   amen! amen! amen to all of you! (except charles...) GOD IS SO GOOD! HE IS THE BEST! GOD IS SO GOOD!

charles, you say these things and it only proves one thing: YOU ARE IGNORANT OF WHO GOD REALLY IS. quit reading too many oprah-prescribed-books and get a hold of the bible and start reading it...and have Jesus save your soul. God loves you! Read John 3:16, Acts 4:12, Romans 10:9-10.

  I just wish you call "the maid" by her given name. Para may identity siya other than being a maid.

Marcel   Yes. Good point. Although I try to avoid writing any specifics.
Cheers!

www.singleshutter.com   Index44.. Slap-up :)

Jeffrey   God is good ALL THE TIME!