Good Friday "Humor"

I don't mean humor in the funny sense.  That connotation is all wrong for the solemnity and tragedy of that special day.  I mean humor in the sense of indulging someone.  Tue indulged my desire to have him attend one of the Easter weekend virtual services with The Journey.  "Tue Ho checking in from Philadelphia.  Hi, Patricia."  I have no idea if he watched any or all of the service, but he humored me.  Gotta love the guy for that.

Father God, when?  He (Tue) is such a great, high-quality man, and there are not enough of those kinds of men in Your family (for some long-standing reason).  What will it take?  Do people ever convert anymore?  It seems like everyone I know has grown up in "the church" and there are not many who come to faith later on in their lives.  Please keep us faithful and gracious in our loving Tue as You would love him--as You do love him!  It needs to be the Spirit's work in him that brings him to You, not our work.  Just help us not get in Your way.  This is for You, and him, and our daughter and whatever children they may have.  In Jesus's name~Amen.

Slow Going, But Going

Father God, forgive the long failure to write my prayers and thoughts.  As You know, I don't like to journal with DH in the house; he is somewhat "nosy" about my communications, and I need some super-private space.  In addition, life is busy of course, and in all honesty, I waste too much time on games and news.  

However, I have seen progress in Tue's life.  I think.  He is working hard to finish up law school and to study for the bar exam.  (I am pretty sure he is taking time for fun and games; he and Julie took salsa dancing lessons and are now on to swing dance lessons.)  I have not had a deep conversation with him about You in many months.  He gave us (DH?) the book titled The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby for Christmas, and stated that he was considering re-reading it.  His comment: "When I realized that I was serious about Julie and that Christianity was going to be part of my life, I read this book."  

If only he had chosen The Book to read!  If only he could see that it is not Christianity but Jesus Christ who is going to be part of his life!  But he is correct that Christianity is a part of his life, and mine, and our family's, and the nation's.  Unfortunately--no, more correctly, tragically--toxic Christianity it is.  I( did not coin that descriptive adjective for the version of "Christianity" (air quotes intentional) that is associated with evangelical, Biblical Jesus-following faith, although I did think of the adjective before I researched and found that others had used it earlier.)

Back to Tue, I still yearn to see him embrace, and in the embrace of, Your saving love.  Culture seems to be a hurdle but perhaps not a stumbling block.  Is it?  Is the version of faith that I envision for Tue so white-American-culture-based that people from other cultures turn away?  I do not see many Vietnamese who follow Jesus, although Lauren Nguyen, our medical student co-teacher at church--who is moving to California to do her residency--comes to mind.  The Catholic Church is the sole, maybe better said the major, Christian influence in Vietnam.  In fact, it was the Catholic Church that rescued Tue's parents--and him--from Vietnam in 1990.

Wisdom and patience, Lord God, for me.  I know that You want Tue in Your family, too.  I almost wish it could be inevitable, that he could just give in because he will be convinced finally if eventually.  But You respect his intellectual and spiritual integrity, and You do pressure but not force people to love You.

More pressure from You and more prayer from me seems to be the deal.  May I live to see him (Tue) turn his heart to You in a real, deep, pure way.  In Jesus's name~~Amen.