Renato Austria

I only knew Renato Austria as a face and a name on Facebook when brother Sonny Catalan introduced him to us. That was more than a week ago. Chito Cusi wrote about him. Gigi Carranza wrote about him. But I never knew him much. These last few days, however, tidbits and short notes kept adding to the scarce and limited information that I have of him, giving me in a way an almost complete profile of the man.

Atong (as he was fondly called by close friends and fellow disciples) was an active member of Midtown church in Baguio, a teammate in the church action group called MARCH for Christ, and had for many years been involved in the work of the Lord in many lands of Asia. At one time I and some brethren in Cebu did some follow-up of the mission MARCH had begun in Kalibo City, Aklan, but our paths –Atong’s and mine—never crossed.

But Atong, like the rest of those MARCH people, had done a great job in places perhaps too many to mention. If the church had wings to fly and feet to walk, Atong and the rest of them were those wings and those feet, flying to the heartlands of the heathens, walking on paths rough and muddy, on raging rivers, under heavy rains, from daybreak to daybreak, in a bid to turn these heathen hearts into heartlands of God. If the church had hands and lips, Atong was one of those, reaching out their hands to these men without God, with offers of food for the body, and proclaiming with their lips the food that could nourish the soul.

While Atong and the rest had been waging a war to win the hearts of men and women for Christ, he had also been waging a silent war in his own body. It is a terrible war. For the war in the cancer wards is a war we could lose, since science has not yet found a potent cure for it, like it did for TB. Cancer is our modern blight and our only way out of it is an early prognosis that can be done in labs by doctors skilled in the job. For brother Atong, it was too late to know he had caught it.

Death and cancer however must be understood in the light of God’s plan for man in general. For man, the creature whom God had molded from the dust of the ground and breathed into with the breath of life, is not meant to dwell in this domain of dusts forever, in this habitation corrupted and defiled by so much sins, by so many wrongs man did against his fellow man. Atong knew so well the face of unbrotherliness because he too had gone to Myanmar and China. This world has gone a long way since the day God created an Eden in the heart of it. We have forgotten that we all came from one womb, and that every man is in fact a brother to everyone. Eden, the former home of the first human family is too close to the Arab and Jewish lands where the hateful war of brother against brother has been waged since time immemorial. Atong with the rest of our brethren had tried to change what outlook everyone had had with others of their kind, by taking to them just that message of brotherliness that God has wanted them to see.

The only cure for death and the blight of death is hope in Jesus. In His great mercy, God allows us to weep and view the death of a loved one as a loss for us. But God also wants us to understand that death is a gain. Death is the closing of one door and the opening of another--the door to glory. Atong had served God well and enough already. God wanted him to come to his glorious home, a life there that is a lot better than the life here.

Our prayers are for those whom this dear brother has left behind—his dear wife and two kids. God always loves His own. And so while we remain in this land of tears and sorrows, we still feel secure and well. Why? Hear God speak:

“Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained strangers unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you.’ Hence we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid; what can man do to me?”’ (Hebrews 13:1-6).

Paul G. Allen

Paul G. Allen. Well, who’s he? An American computer programmer who, with Bill Gates, founded Microsoft in 1975. Helped nurture that company from its humble beginnings. Now’s he’s definitely reaping the fruits of his labor. Allen is on the list of the world’s fabled rich. Forbes has ranked him the 42nd richest man (as of February 11, 2008), being worth an estimated $16 billion.

Paul Gardner Allen was born on January 21, 1953, in Seattle, Washington, USA, to parents Kenneth S. Allen and Faye G. Allen. His father was an associate director of the University of Washington libraries. Paul attended Lakeside School, a private school in Seattle, and befriended Bill Gates, who with him shared a common enthusiasm for computers. For a start they used Lakeside School’s teletype terminal to hone their programming skills. After graduation Allen attended Washington State University, dropping out after two years in order to work as a programmer for Boston’s Honeywell. It is said that it was Allen who convinced Gates to drop out of Harvard University in order to create Microsoft.

You’ll hear about Paul Allen today vacationing in style on Hvar, in the Adriatic sea, off the Dalmatian coast, Croatia, aboard his super-yacht The Octopus. The fabled rich and his fabled yacht. The Octopus, 126.18 meters long, in 2003 was the world's largest. Built at the cost of $250 million, it was the priciest yacht ever. It has two helipads for its two helicopters, a movie theatre, and a studio capable of professional level recording production. Because of her very huge size, Octopus cannot dock at most ports, but she has a 60 foot tender to service her. And inside Octopus, there are seven other smaller boats. It also carries a fuel-cell-powered 10-person submarine capable of staying submerged for two weeks.

The Octopus requires a crew of 60 to operate her. First launched in 2003, this super yacht has been seen in Portugal, St. Martin, and New Orleans. She was designed by Espen Øino Naval Architects.

Allen also owns the Tatoosh, his second yacht, the 12th largest in the world, which tours Galapagos, Palau and New Zealand; a third yacht slightly smaller than Tatoosh, named The Méduse, the 65th largest in the world; and two Boeing 757s.

Seven years after they had founded Microsoft, Allen was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a form of cancer. During those radiation treatments that lasted a year and ten months, Allen continued to work part-time at Microsoft. In March 1983 he retired from the company, bought a number of yachts and two Boeing 757s and spent the next two years traveling, scuba diving, yachting, skiing and spending time with his family. "To be 30 years old and have that kind of shock - to face your mortality - really makes you feel like you should do some of the things that you haven't done," he told Fortune. Having retained a 13 percent share of the company, he continued to serve on Microsoft's board.

Thought for Today: "There is great gain in godliness with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world; but if we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and hurtful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs... But as for the rich in this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous, thus laying up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life which is life indeed" (1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19).