Starting With Me

Cameron Raphael I. Hernandez, 35, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, major in Music. He works as general manager of Blue Dot Lighting, a lighting design and consultancy company that helps organi-zations and corporations go green in style while saving a lot of money on their lighting bills.
He lives in Quezon City.

His Story

I BELIEVED in God but I seldom prayed. I only prayed when I had problems.

I hardly went to church. Whatever excuse I could think of, I would use. There were even times when I would rather rest at home or go out with my family rather than go to church.

My life was okay until I made a decision that changed my life completely. I resigned from my su-pervisory post at Unilever Philippines where I worked for almost five years to help out with my wife’s business which, unfortunately, didn’t work out.

I became jobless and my marriage had so many issues we decided that the best thing to do was to get separated. It was the lowest point in my life.

I couldn’t get a job because the interviewers didn’t want to get someone who resigned from work to handle a family business, then after a year, decided to come back to the corporate world.

There was a time that ending everything crossed my mind. But I thought about the kids, their future, and how would they feel and react. It was never an option. I could never do that to them.

Straying Away

Because I was feeling lost, I attended other Christian communities to see if I could find God there. But I realized that He’s just been in my heart all along and I didn’t need to explore other non-Catholic churches because a relationship with Him starts within me.

So I decided to pray. I prayed really hard like I was just talking to God. I told Him how I felt, what I thought, asked Him for forgiveness, and asked for guidance. After praying, I had a feeling that better things would come.

After several days, God, indeed, answered my prayer. I was hired as a sales manager in San Mi-guel Corporation and I worked there for several months where I learned so many things. This paved the way to my current job as general manager of Blue Dot Lighting.

Finding The Feast

I have a friend who’s a member of the music ministry of Feast Marikina. I asked if I could join and he gladly welcomed me. I joined The Feast in January 2015. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Joining Feast Marikina has helped me a lot be-cause there, I always feel motivated, energized. And I can apply what I learn from the weekly talks in my family and work life.

The talks have helped me a lot. I related specifically to the talk on Rock Bottom—about hitting the lowest moment of one’s life.

At the time, I just experienced my rock bottom moment and there I was being motivated to be strong, to get up, move forward.

At The Feast, we were encouraged to join a caring group, now called Light Group (LG). I have joined an LG which is a big help for me because I am able to share my problems and goals in life and the group prays over me.

It also helps a lot that I’ve been accepted as part of the Feast Marikina Music Ministry where I now serve as drummer-bassist. When I play music, I forget all my problems and I get to focus on the most important things: to serve God, love my family, and help others.

Back to Church

At The Feast, I’ve also appreciated more our Catholic Faith. What I like about our religion is the tradition, or the practices that I won’t be able to let go– like making the sign of the cross, going to a Catholic church, receiving Holy Communion.