Dear God--I just went through Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit and decided to address all of You by saying "God"--I am aware that the charge of "hostile working environment" has knocked me off balance and has distracted me from the big issue of sharing You with Tue this weekend. I think often of the Screwtape Letters play that we just attended earlier this month, and I am grateful for the reminder that the Enemy can, and does, use such distractions to keep me from PRAYING!
Prayer: Please, God, do something awesome and miraculous for Tue's saving faith this weekend. Please soften his heart to ask deep questions, and perhaps more importantly, prepare my heart to share Your love clearly and boldly. Relatedly--please help GN to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. This is, of course, in large, large part our fighting for our daughter Julie; however, it is also in pretty large part fighting for Tue and his eternal life and relationship with You.
Can You (of course You *can*) or perhaps better said, will You help me understand the Buddhist faith? I want to know how to be respectful and aware of its importance to Tue.
Prayer 2: HWE? Really. I can't even. But help me to bounce and get back to business.
Maranatha, Lord Jesus. Soon. But not until we--You and I and GN--have a shot at Tue? :)
Amen!
Thursday, August 29, 2019
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Continuing to Pray for Tue
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, what will it take to get Tue's heart to turn toward You? I am trying to "fast" from my phone games :) (which is such a silly thing (but harder than I thought it would be) to show You that I am serious about this prayer. Please soften his heart and pave the way for GN and me to talk effectively and lovingly with him on Saturday.
I don't know what else to say or what else to ask. You know.
In Jesus's name~~please. Amen.
I don't know what else to say or what else to ask. You know.
In Jesus's name~~please. Amen.
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Beginning a Letter to Tue
Dear Tue,
I think I knew it would come to this. You are a good man! My daughter Julie has not been loose with her affections, and when we learned that she was dating someone, we knew that he had to be a special guy.
Then we met you. You were so nervous. (I think?) You were also so sweet. I remember that somewhere along the way I heard that in past relationships the more difficult parent for you was the mother. I don't want to be difficult, and it is my hope that you don't see me that way.
I really love you, not just because of your relationship with my daughter, but because you are an amazing person. I have watched you over the nearly three years that you and Julie have been dating, and I see a person with the biggest heart I think I have seen in a person of your generation. You love, and you love deeply and sacrificially. You don't let go of many friendships. You are tenacious. You set a goal, and you go for it. You are respectful. You think critically and analytically.
So. Here we are, and the most important thing on my heart is your relationship with Jesus. I have no doubts about your relationship with Julie; you need to hear that, know that, believe that. It is not because of some poorly-exegeted passage of the Bible that I have this concern on my heart (that is, the verse 2 Corinthians 6:14, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers."). It is completely because I want you to know how much Jesus loves you--and secondarily, because the Word of God says that a husband is supposed to love his wife THAT MUCH. I want Julie to be loved that much! But as I said, that is secondary although very, very important to me.
Primarily, though, I want you to know Jesus. Not just know about Jesus, but know Him. I want you to imagine His wearing a baseball hat backward on His head, watching the Eagles with you and saying, "You know, Wentz is a personal friend of Mine." I want you to feel that you can ask Him hard questions and complain to Him about His people (I do, often). I want you and Julie to have a common, firm, unshakable foundation for your life (singular) together, and your lives (plural) together, because Biblically speaking you two will become one AND you two will continue to have your own personalities and purposes. And, looking forward as I often do, I want to know without any question in my mind that when Jesus comes back for His people--which I believe is coming at a faster pace than I have ever before imagined in my 60+ years--you will be coming with us.
I am crying right now. I didn't expect to shed tears when I began this letter. I cry when God touches my heart, and I think that is why I am crying right now.
Tue, I would be honored to have you as a son-in-law. I hope you know that the *only* reservation that I have about your marriage to my daughter is your relationship to Jesus. It is all about Jesus. All.
(PS I do see your respect for your father, your deep love for him. What does he say about your intention to ask Julie to marry you? (If you have talked to him about this?) I have long had a feeling that your father is more accepting and, if I may say so, more like Jesus than many of my so-called brethren who call themselves Christian. I sound judgmental when I say that, and for that I am sorry, but I believe that. In my own relationship with Jesus, He has surprised me with the people who are not traditionally "believers" but have more love, more Christ-likeness, than many churchgoers. Your father is one of those people.
But that is off topic. Is your father's faith so important to him that your possibly embracing a relationship with Jesus would hurt him? I would love to talk about this with you. It somehow seems to me that your father has put you in the path of Jesus since enrolling you in a Catholic school--funny, but in the deep spiritual level of life, perhaps meaningful? I also wonder if on that deep spiritual level of life your father's journey out of Vietnam and to "the City of Brotherly Love" and to a job at a Catholic school is a sign of God's loving hand on him and on your family. Just wondering....)
I may well continue this letter at another time. I have learned to let ideas percolate and simmer; this is so important that I don't think I can do the entire subject justice in one sitting.
And if you didn't get it yet, allow me to repeat that I love you--like a son, like a wonderful human being!
I think I knew it would come to this. You are a good man! My daughter Julie has not been loose with her affections, and when we learned that she was dating someone, we knew that he had to be a special guy.
Then we met you. You were so nervous. (I think?) You were also so sweet. I remember that somewhere along the way I heard that in past relationships the more difficult parent for you was the mother. I don't want to be difficult, and it is my hope that you don't see me that way.
I really love you, not just because of your relationship with my daughter, but because you are an amazing person. I have watched you over the nearly three years that you and Julie have been dating, and I see a person with the biggest heart I think I have seen in a person of your generation. You love, and you love deeply and sacrificially. You don't let go of many friendships. You are tenacious. You set a goal, and you go for it. You are respectful. You think critically and analytically.
So. Here we are, and the most important thing on my heart is your relationship with Jesus. I have no doubts about your relationship with Julie; you need to hear that, know that, believe that. It is not because of some poorly-exegeted passage of the Bible that I have this concern on my heart (that is, the verse 2 Corinthians 6:14, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers."). It is completely because I want you to know how much Jesus loves you--and secondarily, because the Word of God says that a husband is supposed to love his wife THAT MUCH. I want Julie to be loved that much! But as I said, that is secondary although very, very important to me.
Primarily, though, I want you to know Jesus. Not just know about Jesus, but know Him. I want you to imagine His wearing a baseball hat backward on His head, watching the Eagles with you and saying, "You know, Wentz is a personal friend of Mine." I want you to feel that you can ask Him hard questions and complain to Him about His people (I do, often). I want you and Julie to have a common, firm, unshakable foundation for your life (singular) together, and your lives (plural) together, because Biblically speaking you two will become one AND you two will continue to have your own personalities and purposes. And, looking forward as I often do, I want to know without any question in my mind that when Jesus comes back for His people--which I believe is coming at a faster pace than I have ever before imagined in my 60+ years--you will be coming with us.
I am crying right now. I didn't expect to shed tears when I began this letter. I cry when God touches my heart, and I think that is why I am crying right now.
Tue, I would be honored to have you as a son-in-law. I hope you know that the *only* reservation that I have about your marriage to my daughter is your relationship to Jesus. It is all about Jesus. All.
(PS I do see your respect for your father, your deep love for him. What does he say about your intention to ask Julie to marry you? (If you have talked to him about this?) I have long had a feeling that your father is more accepting and, if I may say so, more like Jesus than many of my so-called brethren who call themselves Christian. I sound judgmental when I say that, and for that I am sorry, but I believe that. In my own relationship with Jesus, He has surprised me with the people who are not traditionally "believers" but have more love, more Christ-likeness, than many churchgoers. Your father is one of those people.
But that is off topic. Is your father's faith so important to him that your possibly embracing a relationship with Jesus would hurt him? I would love to talk about this with you. It somehow seems to me that your father has put you in the path of Jesus since enrolling you in a Catholic school--funny, but in the deep spiritual level of life, perhaps meaningful? I also wonder if on that deep spiritual level of life your father's journey out of Vietnam and to "the City of Brotherly Love" and to a job at a Catholic school is a sign of God's loving hand on him and on your family. Just wondering....)
I may well continue this letter at another time. I have learned to let ideas percolate and simmer; this is so important that I don't think I can do the entire subject justice in one sitting.
And if you didn't get it yet, allow me to repeat that I love you--like a son, like a wonderful human being!
Friday, August 23, 2019
Trying to Be Faithful in Prayer
Lord, not very long ago I confessed (in the journal Julie gave me, at that) that I had stopped praying as fervently and regularly for Tue's salvation. Well, I got surprised that ... that ... I guess that the relationship went farther and faster than I anticipated. Why that should have surprised me is another issue for another post, though.
For now, please allow me to redouble my prayer commitment for Tue's salvation. I am recalling that Julie once told me, only two short years ago, that she would not marry Tue unless he became a Christian. Moreover, I found journals in her room that bemoaned her loneliness for a boyfriend and also her desire/decision to await a Christian man. (Boy, are they in short supply--but that, too, is an issue for another post.)
So, here we are. I am not surprised that they are so compatible. I am not surprised that they are attracted to, and attractive to, each other. I want badly for Tue to become a Christian, a child of Yours, not only because he may become my son-in-law but also because I really like and respect this young man. Even his faithful filial love for his parents is so honorable. It reminds me of the Scripture:
Maranatha, Lord Jesus! Please come!
For now, please allow me to redouble my prayer commitment for Tue's salvation. I am recalling that Julie once told me, only two short years ago, that she would not marry Tue unless he became a Christian. Moreover, I found journals in her room that bemoaned her loneliness for a boyfriend and also her desire/decision to await a Christian man. (Boy, are they in short supply--but that, too, is an issue for another post.)
So, here we are. I am not surprised that they are so compatible. I am not surprised that they are attracted to, and attractive to, each other. I want badly for Tue to become a Christian, a child of Yours, not only because he may become my son-in-law but also because I really like and respect this young man. Even his faithful filial love for his parents is so honorable. It reminds me of the Scripture:
Many people were traveling with Jesus. He said to them, "If you come to me but will not leave your family, you cannot be my follower. You must love me more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters--even more than your own life! Whoever will not carry the cross that is given to them when they follow me cannot be my follower. (Luke 14: 25-27)Would You please redouble YOUR efforts to pierce that wall that keeps him enslaved?
Maranatha, Lord Jesus! Please come!
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Dang
So, Heavenly Father, it has all but happened. Tue called my DH to ask to have dinner with us next week, ostensibly to discuss a marriage proposal to Julie.
BUT we don't yet know about his salvation, his relationship with You. That's important. I am so conflicted about my own feelings on the issue. I *know* how important it is--to You!--that Tue is saved. I know that You prefer, or command, that believers not be unequally yoked to unbelievers. (I admit I don't exactly know what that entails, but I do know what the Christian church has interpreted it to mean in the context of marriage.) I review the many "Christian" marriages that I have known that have fallen apart, some very quickly and others later on. I ponder the numerous "believers" who profess Your name but somehow my spirit, and perhaps the Holy Spirit in me, doubts the reality, the depth, the sincerity of their relationship with You. They know doctrine; I am not certain that they know You.
I respect Tue's honesty. I find myself thinking that if I could just get him into an Alpha group, or into the YouVersion daily reading plans for Your Word, or some other venue in which he can 1) be exposed to Your Word regularly and personally and 2) ask honest and hard questions in a safe and accepting (are those the same?) environment. But it is not my game plan; it is Yours. What is Your "big idea" for him? I want to help. I *don't* want to mess it up.
So, my (haha) short prayer is for discernment. Please lead me into what to say, and perhaps more importantly, what not to say. This is critical not only for Tue but for Julie's long-term happiness. I am not sure if one is any more critical than the other.
Please, Father, save this young man for a number of compelling reasons, not the least of which by far is Your great love for him.
Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
BUT we don't yet know about his salvation, his relationship with You. That's important. I am so conflicted about my own feelings on the issue. I *know* how important it is--to You!--that Tue is saved. I know that You prefer, or command, that believers not be unequally yoked to unbelievers. (I admit I don't exactly know what that entails, but I do know what the Christian church has interpreted it to mean in the context of marriage.) I review the many "Christian" marriages that I have known that have fallen apart, some very quickly and others later on. I ponder the numerous "believers" who profess Your name but somehow my spirit, and perhaps the Holy Spirit in me, doubts the reality, the depth, the sincerity of their relationship with You. They know doctrine; I am not certain that they know You.
I respect Tue's honesty. I find myself thinking that if I could just get him into an Alpha group, or into the YouVersion daily reading plans for Your Word, or some other venue in which he can 1) be exposed to Your Word regularly and personally and 2) ask honest and hard questions in a safe and accepting (are those the same?) environment. But it is not my game plan; it is Yours. What is Your "big idea" for him? I want to help. I *don't* want to mess it up.
So, my (haha) short prayer is for discernment. Please lead me into what to say, and perhaps more importantly, what not to say. This is critical not only for Tue but for Julie's long-term happiness. I am not sure if one is any more critical than the other.
Please, Father, save this young man for a number of compelling reasons, not the least of which by far is Your great love for him.
Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
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