I 1 2 know...

Re: Church shut down this weekend

Greetings,

Next week our church will shut down so that all of us will join other Vietnamese Christians at the annual conference of the Vietnamese District of the Christians & Missionary Alliance.  Perhaps you are tempted to play hooky thinking "Why should I care?" If so, hear me out:

You have heard there is no lone-ranger Christian. We were made for community, and we have been redeemed and restored to a community at the local church. And our churches are in a bigger community of Vietnamese Christians in the USA. So come, connect, and be connected to the bigger work God is doing among the Vietnamese immigrants here.

We launched the English Ministry Conference (EMC) running in parallel with the Vietnamese-speaking conference as a way for us to shape the future. I guess once we are totally Americanized, then we won't need to care much about this uniqe immigrant background anymore. But for now, we still long to experience God, renew life in Christ, and nurture our faith together.

This year the EMC will be at Chapman University 1 University Dr. Orange, CA (meet in Memorial Hall, use this parking permit).  MST invited Jason Ostrander as the main plenary speaker for the conference.  He met Jason at Engage09 and was very impressed with the young man and asked him to cast the vision to us, especially in the joined session with the Vietnamese delegates on Sunday afternoon.

Here's the rough schedule:

SATURDAY JULY 4th
9:00am: First session - Bumble on "Drift Not" Heb.2:1-3
12 noon: Youth Workers' luncheon w/ Jason (NOT Sun. as previously state)
2:00pm: Youth game break outs
7:30pm Second session - Jason Ostrander on "Missional God" Mt.19:16-26

SUNDAY JULY 5th
9:00am: Third session - Jason Ostrander on "Follow Me (Journey of Pete)" Mt. 4:18-20
2:00pm: Joined session with Vietnamese delegates - Jason Ostrander on "Prayers for the Church" 1Thes.1:1-3
7:30pm: Summer Conference Break out sessions (one of them is on Heb.2:10f "Perfect through suffering" )

MONDAY JULY 6th
7:30pm: Summer Conference Break out sessions (one of them is on Heb.2:18b "Help for those who are being tempted")

TUESDAY JULY 7th
7:30pm: Summer Conference Closing Concert of Prayer

I hope you can join us there...

Father Day VN Trip - Precious Memory Lanes

I am flying back tomorrow and decided to set my watch to California time and follow its schedule to prevent jetlag.  Right now is passed-midnight and I am down in the lobby to stay up late some more.

Earlier this evening I went to my uncle house with mom to check out the place which he prepares for my dad after he comes out of the hospital.  Then we went to the hospital to relieve my brother for a little bit. Finally I came, said goodbye to my dad, and prayed with him before they close.

Around 9:30pm I went to the supermarket near the hotel for dinner.  I had pizza.  It was pleasantly good, like a homemade one back home.  They closed at 10:00pm.  As I went out with crowd, it was drizzling rain.  I noticed a few cyclo rider were looking for clients, perhaps for their last trip.  I noticed an old man who seems to ask one shopper after another for a trip.

Out of a whim I asked him for the price to go to the center of the city.  He was a bit reluctant, but finally agreed since I made it a round trip.  As we started out, the rain was drizzling, but once we progressed, the rain stopped.  He took me down to Nguyen Trai avenue.  I immediately remembered the way to my childhood home at number 1 Nguyen Trai.  So we passed by that place.  I stopped and went out looking into the yard that I was once played in.

Then I asked him to take me to the old church which I accepted Christ back in 1980.  A week ago Q. Vu took me by the place, also in the drizzling rain, which made the street fairly empty and I enjoyed the ride very much.  But that was on the moped.  This time I had a chance to go at bicycle speed with the cyclo.

The old man admitted that he doesn’t know the street very well since he often operates in the Cho Lon area.  So I directed him through Thai Binh market, passing by my old High School (which were now a shopping mall).  We went on to Ly Tu Trong through the back of Ben Thanh Market, then up Nguyen Trung Truc to Nguyen Du.  Amazingly Nguyen Du street is still exactly the same at night as I remember (especially since they don’t have any shops setup on the sidewalk.  Since we were on a one way street, I hopped off and walked two blocks between Tao Dan Park and (what I think was) Gia Long High School.  The old man pushed his cyclo behind me.  It was such an awesome sense to have the whole sidewalk for myself; the way I remembered it before mobs of automobiles and motorbikes invaded Sai Gon.  And the fresh air after the rain was such a treat.

We turned left on Pasteur, then a right into the Turtle Circle.  Then I hit the one-way street as they turned Tran Cao Van into.  I walked another three short blocks, passed Hai Ba Trung and Phung Khac Khoan, and stopped right in front of 7 Tran Cao Van.  What used to be a church now is used as a day care center.  But all the building structure is still the same.  I look through the fence to the base of the tall tower (which used to have a cross on top).  Right there I sat one Saturday night in May 1980, talking to a parking lot attendant named Liem, who himself were 2-years-old Christian at the time.  Liem shared the gospel to me (all the stuff I have heard before since I was born into a Christian family).  But his witness had unspoken power (he sensed demons in me and prayed to cast them out – long story I will get into sometimes).  And the prayer we prayed together that night was the start of something good for the rest of eternity.

I stood there at the birthplace of my spiritual life and marveled at the grace of God.

Then we headed back.  I guided the old man through the same old street I and my youth group friends used to travel home after every weekly evangelistic meeting from that church.  We were a pack of friends, passionately experience God freshly in the midst of the great revival starting from Tran Cao Van church in the early 80s.  We were teens back then, have nothing to do but going to every church meeting we could go to night after night. (Hey, when you lived under persecution, you took all your chances, since each church meeting could be your last).  We used to travel home through Tran Cao Van, then Tran Quy Cap (Vo Van Tan), to Cao Thang, then each of us parted our own separate ways home.

O the dark empty street, underneath the trees on both sides.  These streets which I could not ever find elsewhere.  Such precious memory.

My friends now are scattered all over the world.  The last time we connected, we realized that we all drifted apart so far.  Some of them is no longer care about the matter of faith.  One of them immigrated to Midway church within the last year and I didn’t even talk to.  Twenty five years apart and we are all strangers.  I had my own version of my precious memory of them, which no longer match any reality.

May be that’s why the center of my pilgrimage was really the church; the base of that tall tower which give birth to me. To the faith that defines my reality.  Now and forever.

Goodbye Vietnam.  It was precious to relive our memory.

Father Day VN Trip - Brotherhood

My parents have only two kids, both boys. I am older than Lee almost three years, although he is almost a head taller than me. We grew up together in Vietnam. Then by the time we escaped the country, we do so together. He was 14, I was 16. For a year and a half, we migrated from one refugee camp to another, until we set foot on the US under the sponsorship of our aunt and uncle.

When I was 18, I moved out and led my own life in community college. But 2 years later, as Lee entered the university, he moved in with me too. Just the two of us, splitting rent, trying to make ends meet.

For the few years rooming together, Lee changed my life.

I used to look down on my "little brother". But times and times again, he began to challenge my view with his life of faith. Lee practiced what he learned from InterVarsity, and eventually compelled me to come and checked out the small groups of IV. The rest is history. I discovered Jesus afresh through Lee's gateway.

Then I got married and moved away on Lee's last year of college. A few years later he got married too. Our lives ceased to intersect much since we don't attend the same church, although for a brief time he shared rooms in my house too. Some would even be surprised to find out I had a brother, who live in the same city; I was in one end and he would be in the the other end.

Perhaps that distance was more than just physical. I and my brother, each of us is in extreme opposite of the personality spectrum. I am an extreme Analytics, and he is on the other end of Spontenaety. I think that might have affected our theological preference as well. I am more attracted to Reformed theology, while Pentecostal influence appeals more to him. The last few times we talked, it involved much theological debates.

But I have to admit, my brother is much more pious than I. The first night he landed here, he stayed up to inform me of God's heart as he perceived it, attending my seminary graduation. Sometimes I think God must have us two mixed-up. My brother desired to attend Biola even right from his highschool graduation (but the tuition was too high, and no miracle occurred, so Lee took on Psychology from CalState Fullerton instead). And when Lee went on a Mission trip in Europe, some of my friend came visited him, expected to see me on the Mission field. Now, rooming with him in the last few days and his piety puts me to shame. Lee woke up with his Bible, he busted into prayer spontaneously, he led people to Christ (as I previously reported), he hears God's voice, and he even experienced vision and miracles on a regular basis.

No, I am not jealous of my brother (his expressions of faith is not my preferred ways to express my faith -though I admit that he has much more excitement). I am proud to be his brother, and welcome the challenge to live out our faith from him very much.

Like Keller observed, perhaps God talks to Pentecostals like Lee a bit less than he claims, and God might have talked to my "huntches" more than I like to admit. But what's good is the diversity of the Christian life; how God also accomodate our personality's bends to help us live fully in Him.

Father Day VN Trip - Future and Reality

Today is Tuesday. I have been home for a week so far. Dad seems to stabilize so far post ICU.

I was sleeping in the hospital last night as mom's request. Well, not exactly "in" the hospital, for only mom could stay underneath dad's hospital bed. I slept on the outside balcony facing the street, on the walkway leading down to the shared restroom of this 4-rooms unit.

I thought it was quite an accomplishment when a patient asked me where I am from (for people can easily recognize expat here just by the way we dress and the way we talk). I put lots of mosquito's repellent lotion on my arms and legs and managed to get some shuteye despite the foot-traffics in and out of the restroom.

That is until 2am when a chain smoker settled down next to me and started to pollute the humid air. I woke up and could not fan the smoke away, so I stood up in order to breath. Just then my mom came out and asked me to help her to care for dad's bowel's movement (she simply could not lift him up to care for him).

As I engaged in helping mom and dad, I think a lot about the future. The marital vow "for better, for worse, in sickness, and in health" becomes much more weighty in this reality. I learned early on from Jn.3:16 that to love is to give ("for God so love... He gives..." not just a feeling) but I am also aware of the reality of many who gives without love (1Cor.13:3).  So I and my brother pray a lot this morning for the reality of love in the future.  In the short run, I am also concerned about how my brother would watch my dad after this Saturday, when mom and I return to the States.  He would stay after us one week and then return home.  My dad will be in the care of our relatives for another week after that; and then my mom would return to Vietnam on July 13 for another 4-weeks stay.

In the long run, it should be better if my dad could come and stay with my mom in the US.  And that would hinge a lot on his willingness to sell the remaining of his house in order to cover for the much needed medical insurance cost in the States.  But at least the Lord had provided some mean through my dad’s diligent hard work over the years.

Well, I am going to take a shower and heading back to the hospital, trusting that whom God loves, He loves to the end.

Father Day VN Trip - Out of ICU

I am in the hospital and journaling on my Blackberry. My dad was released from ICU to a post-operation room earlier this afternoon. He's doing well so far, only requiring IV and oxygen hookups. Thanks to the tip from a friend, we got a pillow for him and help him hold against the cut in his chest every time he is trying to cough, so that it would be less affected.

I tried to sneak a picture on my blackberry before the nurse complains, so it’s very blurry.  But at least you can see my tall brother Lee there.

Tonight Lee and I are fighting about who will be sleeping in the hospital.  Basically mom will be sleeping underneath Dad’s bed.  But she needs someone outside incase the hospital call for anything.  The last time (before we got home) they called up the family to pay money at 2am.  Strange but true.  This is like the whole society/culture on its own, which reminded me of the time Lee and I was thrown in prison when we failed our escape out of Vietnam in 1980s.  It has its own system, and new comers must learn to adapt.

But the Gospel advanced today too.  Lee witnessed to a man today and led him to Christ.  I will write more about my brother later, if I ever get to it.  Now we are grabbing some dinner and then decide who will be at the hospital tonight.