13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
The Great Divorce is one of the many books written by C. S. Lewis. I just have known recently that he is a Christian and some of his books deal with idea, philosophical, or spiritual views of Christianity. Growing up, I have known him for the movie series The Chronicles of Narnia which based of the book he wrote.
This is the first book I finished reading this year 2025, thanks to our reading date I finally made a little progress to my books to read backlogs.
C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce is a classic Christian allegorical tale about a bus ride from hell to heaven. An extraordinary meditation upon good and evil, grace and judgment, Lewis’s revolutionary idea in the The Great Divorce is that the gates of Hell are locked from the inside. Using his extraordinary descriptive powers, Lewis’ The Great Divorce will change the way we think about good and evil.
The book style of story telling got me confused at first. I did not know who's who. The point of view had me questioning what was happening in the story. In the quarter part of the book, I finally realized that it was being told in the first person point of view. There were ghost, bus ride, hell, heaven, life on earth, and after life on earth throughout the story.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
I stayed with the book despite of being confused and totally lost at the plot of the story, since it was giving me a sense of promise about the great divorce between heaven and hell which the book title strongly suggested.
The ongoing war between good and evil has been existing even before human race realized it is actually happening. The Great Divorce will give a refreshing view of good and evil. At one point while reading the book, I was reminded that what may be considered good on earth may not be good in heaven, and sometimes what humans may consider bad or evil on earth is what is right in heaven.
The bus ride with C.S. Lewis maybe one of the rides you may be needing right now. I enjoyed reading this book even though I had difficulty in the beginning of the story and was able to reach the end. Life is the same. No matter how hard life is we just have to keep moving towards the end of our story. The end that is orchestrated by the most powerful being. He is in our story, God is in this story. I just pray and hope we all make it according to His purpose.
Woe to those who call evil goodand good evil,who put darkness for lightand light for darkness,who put bitter for sweetand sweet for bitter.
Here is a list of places we visited on the second day in NY:
The Brooklyn Bridge. It was a long walk. The bridge looked so vintage. Wow!
Staten Island Ferry and Statue of Liberty. We got free rides back and forth on a boat ship. We saw the Statue of Liberty from a far. We did not get to explore the island and I wished we could have.
Wall Street. The New York Stock Exchange building was impressive. Wow! It was a street for stock exchange.
Charging Bull. The charging bull statue was also at Wall Street. I was not so fond of taking a photo with it, so I decided not to, and I was fine with it.
9/11 Memorial. There were two huge water fountain or waterfalls in place of the two tall building in memory of those who died on the 9/11 bombing of the twin towers.
New York Public Library. It was closed and just took a picture outside for posterity sake. Yay!
Grand Central Terminal. It was big. So huge! So vintage! Wow! So grand!
Time Square. meh :( rainy :( cold :( I have to say it is a Divisoria of New York. In the Philippines, we have a shopping district called Divisoria and it is somewhere in Manila.
The foods we tried:
Churros. They were cold already. It cost me $5 to buy 3 pieces of Churros. I had been curios how a churros would taste like and finally got to try it at the Brooklyn Bridge.
Nathan's Chili-dog. Cheesy and meaty hotdog in a bun. Yum!
Mcdonald's. Fastfood for y'all! hehe We wanted Jollibee, but could not get into the closed parameter around Time Square because of the ball drop. So we just settled for Mcdonald's that day.
Starbucks. Yey! Chocolate chip creme frappe hehe
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ~Matthew 6:19-20
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New York is one of the many top destinations of most of the Filipinos I know. Like everyone wants to mark it check on their bucket list. I was not prepared of what was in store for me in New York, yet I was so looking forward to what it could offer. I had this impression that NY was an amazing and magical place, maybe like Disneyland or Universal Studio. That's the kind of expectations that I had even though I was aware that NY was not a theme park.
I never thought that New York would be a state I so badly wanted to go and I am not saying that I just forced myself to go there. I was in for it more to experience and had a say that I got to visit one of the most famous cities in the world.
My NY experience was okay. I was glad I got to visit the place but it would not be something that I would be so keen to visit it again. We did a lot of walking and for me it was a form of exercise so I was fond of it. My friends and I heard from one of the people who were passing the Ray's Pizza place that in New York you never stop walking and I definitely agree with whoever said that. We did thousands and thousands of steps on the first day. Our feet got sore from walking.
These are the places we visited and truly in New York we never stop walking:
The Central Park Manhattan. Wooooooooow!
The Mall and Literary Walk. Wow!
Shakespeare Garden. It was closed and under renovation.
The Belverde Castle. We just saw it from a far.
The Bow Bridge. The floor of the bridge is made out of wood.
Alice in Wonderland Statue. It is made out of wood, I think. The children seemed to enjoy the statue as they climbed on it.
Fifth Avenue. It is where the luxury stores are and some of the historical landmarks. It looked so classy.
Roosevelt Island Tramway. We had a view of the city, bridge, and river as we rode the tramway. We need a two-way ticket to go back where we came from. The price ticket per ride was three and twenty five cents US dollars. The view was magnificent.
St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was huge and we saw a number of few Filipinos.
The Rink at the Rockefeller Center. We did not do the skating, but we saw the huge tall Christmas tree. There was a luxury chocolate store too nearby and the price was a little expensive and beyond my budget at that moment.
Broadway. Only one of us had the budget to watch a broadway. I was not that one. Maybe, next time I would be able to watch a broadway musical. God willing.
Foods we tried:
Hotdog in a Bun. At Central Park, tasted like New York!
Gongcha. Pearl Milk Tea with Coconut Jelly. Favorite!
Ray's Hawaiian Pizza. Yum! Tasted like island experience.
Chinese Restaurant. We were craving for rice and satisfied it at a Chinese Resto for our lunch. It was okay and pricey.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
New Jersey was not I expected it to be. It looked like a setting of an apocalypse movie and I did wonder if some of the end-of-the-world films I watched were actually shot there. It was not as vibrant as I anticipated it would be, probably because we visited during winter. As I landed on Newark International Airport late at night, I realized it was a humble airport. I had to ride a train to leave the airport just to bring me to another train station. I thought the places I saw seem old and experienced. I could sense the mark left by humans who used or maybe abused the place. The New Jersey Transit reminded me of the Philippine National Railroad I used to ride on when I was taking my master's and doctor's degree at PUP Santa Mesa, it felt nostalgic.
New Jersey was our entry point to our main goal, New York. With my friends, we did not do much exploration in New Jersey. We stayed in a hotel located in NJ throughout our trip. It was only on the last day that we decided to see at least one tourist attraction from our entry point.
Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park
On the last day of our New Jersey X New York trip, we visited one of the historical parks in New Jersey. That visit gave me more joy than any exploration we made in the famous city of New York. I tend to enjoy more. of the nature rather than man-made attraction. Thought the temperature was below freezing point, it did not hinder me to enjoy the magnificent sight of the falls. There is always something relaxing and calming with water, but waterfalls have that relaxing and exciting effect on me.
I also got to see a statue of Hamilton where the Paterson Great Falls were and I only have a vague idea about him. The statue looked poetic and diplomatic, so I thought he must be involved to something literary or like politics. He must be a writer, that was my thought.
Athens Coffee Shop
You are not wrong. The coffee shop sounded Greek, but we were still somewhere in New Jersey. We decided to have our lunch, and for me it was more like a brunch, my breakfast and lunch. I ordered a regular American breakfast, pancakes and sunny side up eggs with coconut cream iced coffee. It was a sumptuos amount of breakfast and lunch that I badly needed to get me through the travel going back to Austin.
Newark International Airport
It was mid afternoon when we decided to head to the airport. Newark Internationa Airport appeared more bright and new in the broad day light. I judged to soon when I said it was old and not so vibrant, it was a nice airport I must say. We were comfortable waiting for flight back to the different states we all came from.
I am glad I got to experience New Jersey even as a side trip. I have another state marked check on my bucket list. Thank You, LORD!
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the powerand the glory and the majesty and the splendor,for everything in heaven and earth is yours.Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;you are exalted as head over all.
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