Day: 11

Christmas Came Early

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

James 1:27 (NIV)

We met in a secret place with limited time to talk. My guests were very worried about a visit from the secret police!

The women who sat in front of me were worn out from two days of travel by motor bike and bus. The incredible stress and strain that they lived with every day showed on their faces. They came to see me because their husbands were in prison and wouldn’t be coming home for a very long time.

In fact, most wouldn’t be coming home at all. The average prison term for a pastor in Vietnam at the time was three years, but their husbands were facing terms of nine to twelve years.

For many of them, it was a death sentence.

Their husbands weren’t in any American prison. They were crammed into small cells with 30 to 50 other men. There was so little room that they had to sleep laying on their sides. Their waste was piled up in the corner, carried out every few days. There was light from one dim bulb and no air conditioning. The air was putrid and stifling, the heat oppressively humid.

The prisoners prayed that they would not receive a splinter or cut on their hands. They’d witnessed other prisoners return with fingers and hands amputated after infections and gangrene set into the little cuts.

The men typically work for 12-16 hours, tending the fields or making bricks. While doing this incredibly taxing level of labor, their diets consisted of two small bowls of rice per day. If their families bribed the jailers, they could get a bit of extra vegetables or a small portion of meat with their rice.

As I sat with the wives, I asked each of them to tell me their story. I asked how many children they had. “I have three children… five children… seven… nine,” they replied.

As I asked more questions, I realized that almost all of them had pulled their children out of school (even as young as 10 years old) to work in someone else’s rice field. This would earn a few dollars extra per month so the family could survive.

A Little Goes A Long Way

I gave each of the wives enough support to sustain them for the next six months so that they could see their husbands in prison. The money came from donations to ICC’s Suffering Wives and Children Fund. But even though it was a God-send to them in the moment, I was troubled. In six months, when the money ran out, they would be in the same situation.

I decided to that we needed to help them as much as we could for the long term, given the situation of their husbands.

We provided each of them with money to purchase three goats. The goats would provide milk, and along the way their flock would grow and multiply. In essence, we gave them a little financial engine that would pull them out of the mouth of the financial nightmare they were facing.

To my amazement, three goats only cost a total of $200. That amount sounds so small to us as Westerners; but for these women, it was a fortune.

The look on their faces said it all–their children and their families would survive!

I sat there, stunned, realizing that we could literally save an entire family for $200. I gave all the funds ICC had in our Suffering Wives and Children fund, but we still needed more.

At that point, I gave $500 of my own money to help. I may lose my heavenly reward for mentioning that, but I want you to know the pure joy that welled up in my heart as a result.

My eyes were filled with tears as I sat with these broken women. They were so filled with gratitude. I realized even though I am not rich by American standards, this small amount of money could do so much good. I truly felt I was not worthy to help them and receive such a blessing.

If Only

I thought of a scene from the end of the movie, Schindler’s List. World War II had just ended, and the Jews came to thank Oskar Schindler for helping them escape. As each rescued Jew thanked him, Schindler breaks down as he realizes if he had sold his expensive coat or luxury car, he could have purchased more lives. The lives were so precious, yet he had clung to material things that gave him status and enjoyment.

This was my experience with those wives in Vietnam. I gave, but I was so humbled by the experience and so aware of how, in giving away, I came away richer.

Every time I’ve been presented with great needs like this that depleting my bank account I walked away hugely enriched.

New Glasses

Coming into contact with the persecuted is such a blessing because it gives us another pair of glasses through which we can view the world. These glasses orient us to the reality of God’s purpose, our lowly status, and to the great wealth of the persecuted.

Our lives in the West are all about frantic activity and the pursuit of status and wealth. Our lives are too often a frenzied rat race, constantly trying to amass wealth and things, without a broader context

Many cultures around the world look at our lives and think we are crazy. They center their lives on relationship, family, or quality of life.

Jesus tells the rich man in Mark 10, “You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’”

“Teacher,” the man declares, “All these I have kept since I was a boy.”

Jesus looks at him and, according to the text, his heart wells up with love for this broken, “blind” man. Out of this deep, unfathomable love, Jesus gently admonishes him:

“One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

The gospel is not a message of “doing.” Jesus doesn’t end his command to the rich young ruler with “give to the poor.” Jesus’s desire was ultimately not for the good action itself, but for the heart of the wealthy man. Helping the poor was a means to throw off what had entangled him and an effort a call to treasure Him above all else.

A Bit of Treasure

In God’s upside down economy, in giving away we gain richly. So, whether it is the persecuted or some other cause dear to you, ask the Lord for opportunities to give to those who are on His heart and your own. What things, causes, and needs, move you to tears or to a place where your heart hurts?

The opportunities will come if you are on the watch.

And when they do, simply invest, sit back, and get ready to have your heart filled up. . . with joy and with life.

For Further Reading

“The kind of fasting I want is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to those who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.

Then my favor will shine on you like the morning sun, and your wounds will be quickly healed. I will always be with you to save you; my presence will protect you on every side. When you pray, I will answer you. When you call to me, I will respond.

If you put an end to oppression, to every gesture of contempt, and to every evil word; if you give food to the hungry and satisfy those who are in need, then the darkness around you will turn to the brightness of noon. And I will always guide you and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry.”

Isaiah 58:6-11 (GNT)

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Acts 20:35 (NIV)

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