Feb 25th, 2021: Doing What is Good

 Bible Verses about Life - King James Version -

Many years ago, I met a Vietnamese pastor who had been imprisoned by the Communist Government in Vietnam for ten years after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. The ministry he was with told him to leave Vietnam just a few days before the collapse of the South Vietnam government. Their American counterpart even sent him a plane ticket and told him to get out. He didn't, and he sent this message back to his people in the US: "When the sheep are scattered, the Shepherd doesn't run away." 


His first daughter was not even one at the time, and she didn't know him. He was released from the concentration camp because he was too dangerous to the Communists there. Many people became Christians because of his teaching in the camp. He faced another challenge when he arrived in the US. He didn't know how to relate to his teenage daughter. He asked me to help him. Fortunately, she was more open to me than her dad at the time. I was directing a summer camp for senior high students, so I invited her to come to Canada for that. She had a great experience. That was the first step of the healing process in some ways.


I am sharing this experience because it taught me something. It was about serving a brother who sacrificed tremendously because of his faith, conviction, and people. God opened the door for my relationship with his kid, and that was how God wanted me to care for him. I could not imagine what he had had to go through. What I did was very simple. I just approached it with the willingness to listen and to understand his daughter. God somehow spoke to her through these conversations. I didn't have to say very much.


Sometimes we just need to be aware of the relationships God put in our lives. These encounters are holy moments because God has ordained them. We should not take them for granted. We should avoid complaining about what we have to do. Most importantly, don't think too highly of ourselves. Just be and learn about the power of God's presence.


Galatians 6: 9

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

 

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