By Bo Sanchez

I’ve been traveling too much. I sometimes wake up in the morning wondering what city I’m in. Am I in Davao? Or Bacolod? Or Toronto. Or L.A.? Or Jakarta? Or Cebu?

Everything is a giant blur.

But at moment I step outside into the sunny day and inhale the heavy, poisonous, potent, mutant, radioactive, genetically –altering, tuberculosis-causing, cancer-inducing fumes of the air...

Ahhh...(Cough.)

Instantly, I know I’m back in Manila. This is my city. Where else are you forced to trust God every time you inhale? Only here.

And many people complain of its absurd, insane, foolish, traffic jams. (It’s phenomenal how we cause our own traffic, I think it ‘ll become one of our major tourist attractions.)

But I call it sweet traffic, this monstrosity causes me to do an extra fifteen decades of the rosary in the car. Cool, hmmm?

While doing so, I try to avoid a mad rush of death machines swerving left and right beside me. (Ummm, I think they were called public buses a few years ago.) I say a prayer for the crazy drivers, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing...” My patience is tested and stretches, and little by little, my soul gets love-trained for Heaven

And when I walked through Megamall, and see the crowd that rivals the sands of Pinatubo – it becomes the perfect place for earnest intercession. I walked around, praying for that happy couple eating ice cream, that crying child on her mother’s breast, that bored saleslady, that punskin kid...

I pray for hundreds of people that day

Suddenly, God becomes very close to me. If given a choice, I can decide to live somewhere else – tomorrow if need be, I can escapes it all and move to Dumaguete. Or Palawan. Or Baguio. Or Canada.

I’d escapes the heat, the smog, the madness...

But deep in my heart, I believe God wants me here. In Manila. This is my mission place. And my home is where God is. And He’s here. I feel Him in every breath I take. (Cough)

P.S. Listen. Any place can be your home. It’s not the location. Or the ambiance. Or the scenery. It’s where God is calling you, pure and simple. Do you feel Him where you are? If not, you’re not yet at home. (Kerygma)