Advent Devotion #4: Joy

Here we are…it is Christmas week! In the final, fourth chapter of Ruth, we see the Joy that results from Faith, Hope and Love. Making good on his promise to Ruth, Boaz meets with a nearer kinsman and offers him the right of redemption. When the man realizes that marrying Ruth is part of the deal, he declines. He is afraid that the union will jeopardize his own inheritance. One commentator said, “God did Boaz the honor to bring him into the line of the Messiah, while the kinsman, who was afraid of lessening himself, and marring his inheritance, has his name, family, and inheritance forgotten.”
Next, Boaz and Ruth are married. It is a household of joy, blessed with the birth of a son. Naomi, once despondent, depressed, hopeless, now busies herself caring for her grandbaby. At one time she told the other women her name was “Mara” (bitterness). Now the women make a prophetic statement to her: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age….” (Ruth 4:14,15) In the story of Ruth, we see that faith, hope, love and joy set in changed the course of history: “to Salmon was born Boaz, and to Boaz Obed, and to Obed was born Jesse, and to Jesse, David.” (Ruth 4:21, 22) These four qualities can do the same for us…they can be the road to changing the course of my history. This week, amid the shopping, wrapping, cooking, visiting, mailing, calling, and other doing, I hope that faith, hope, love and joy invade your life in a new and intimately personal way. Merry Christmas!
In closing, there are some thoughts I had in studying the Book of Ruth that I think are worth sharing.
• The Holy Spirit uses situations of hardship, difficulty, and losses in our lives to expose and/or exercise our faith.
• The Lord can use anyone to accomplish His purposes. There is no ethnic or social pedigree for a humble and trusting heart.
• Even a little faith, if we will act on it, is enough to make a huge difference.
• The blessing and provision of God is not dependent upon the culture around us.
• Clinging in fear to the past or the present may rob us of a future blessing.
• Entrusted to Jesus’ loving hands, even the most bitter of sorrows can be turned to joy.

May your Christmas find your heart at the scene of a manger in Bethlehem, where the King of glory laid aside His prestige and power and entered our world as a tiny baby. Together, I hope we rediscover the wonder of this miraculous event and celebrate in a new way the glorious gift of Jesus, the Savior, Messiah, and Kinsman Redeemer. Joy to the world! The Lord is come!

Advent, Week 3: Love

In this third week of Advent, our focus is love. In Ruth 3, we learn that not only does Boaz have compassion for Ruth; he loves her. Following the instructions of Naomi, Ruth lays at the feet of the sleeping Boaz. There is nothing sordid here. Because he is a close relative, Naomi is within her rights to ask that he become the kinsman redeemer for her. The reaction of Boaz shows that he does not act out of obligation, his heart has embraced this industrious, principled woman of excellence. He takes quick action to become the kinsman redeemer.
The idea of “redemption” in the Old Testament conveys these principles:
1. Redemption is simply deliverance from some sort of bondage, a release of someone or something from an alien power that has a claim on it.
2. The biblical idea of redemption also involves the deliverer and what he must do to effect the deliverance.
3. What he must do, or the price he must pay, is known as the redemption price or ransom.
4. Release from the claim must be effected by someone who, for whatever reason, has a prior or more fundamental claim toward what is to be delivered.
Further, the law required that the Kinsman Redeemer must fulfill four qualifications. He must:
1. Be related by blood to those he redeems.
2. Be able to pay the price of redemption.
3. Be willing to redeem.
4. Be free himself (in other words, a slave could not redeem another slave).
What a heart-rending picture of who Jesus is and what He has done for us! He has released us from the bondage and power of sin by paying our ransom. Because He is the Lord of all, He has the right to do so—He has a “prior claim” over Satan! He is able and willing to redeem us, and because of His sinless, perfect life, He is free to redeem us to Himself! Like Boaz, Jesus loves His bride. The price of redemption is costly, but it has been paid in full.
Think on it… “What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we're called children of God! That's who we really are.” 1 John 3:1 (The Message).
This week, there are no introspective questions. Take some time each day to pause and think of His great love for you. Jesus loves you with an everlasting, all-consuming, tender, redeeming and perfecting love. If you seek Him, you will find Him—if you seek Him with all your heart.
What a gift we are offered! There is no appropriate response other than adoration to the One who lavishes such love upon us! His love covers every sin, every hurt, every doubt, every shortcoming, every mistake, every fear.
Tell Him every day how much you love Him. Think about Him as you go through your days. The delight of His presence is His kiss upon your head.
Your Kinsman Redeemer has come!

Jillian's 11th Birthday

Dad and Jillian at Bread of Life for Birthday Breakfast

"It's a blender!"

A jacket for a young lady.

Jillian is delighted with Chau's gift: a Dove chocolate bar!
Hello, all-
I wanted to record some details of Jillian's 11th birthday, which was
yesterday, December 9. Eleven! I can hardly believe it! She is quite a
young lady now. Part child, part pre-teen, part Yoda; part little girl,
part pop star, part Einstein. I am in awe to be her mother. Thank you,
Lord.

About the gifts. Tony and I gave her a certificate to attend a cooking
class in the ancient city of Hoi An with me. It is a 5-hour experience
with a boat ride, visit to the local market, and two hours of cooking,
culminating with lunch.

From Grandmom, a lovely brown jacket and scarf. It looks great on her!

From Faith and Joy: A small "brief case" that she admired at a local
bookstore. I had to talk them into it, and as a compromise, I let them
each choose a smaller gift. Joy got a little plastic music box with
flowers that spin as a song plays. It lights up. Joy thinks it is so
beautiful. Faith had her heart set on getting Jillian a teddy bear. We
found a small one with pants and a shirt on. Faith likes it so much she
has requested one for her birthday (which is this coming Wednesday, Dec.
16).

From Anna Mei and Elizabeth: A blender. It may sound odd, but Jillian
has wanted one forever. They had to pool their money to do it. I am so
proud of them. They talked for quite awhile about what to get their older
sister, but they were so excited when they came upon the blender idea.
Needless to say, several milkshakes have been enjoyed by all.

Breakfast with Dad: Like last year, Tony is treating the girls to a
birthday breakfast at a western restaurant called Bread Of Life. It is
owned by our pastor and his wife. Bread Of Life employs deaf Vietnamese
teenagers and young adults. It is a great place with great food.

Cooking with Bee: Jillian's party was a family/staff affair at lunch. The
menu was all Vietnamese, except for the cake I made with the girls. For
dinner, Jillian had requested hamburgers and french fries. Bee had never
made hamburgers, so we cooked them together. As we started to make the
patties, she coated her hands with cooking oil. I followed suit, but I
was glad to use just a small bit...not long before, Bee had used that oil
to make the french fries. It was still quite hot! One funny thing: I
had asked Bee to pick up some ketchup at the store. When we were setting
the table, I could not find it. Bee looked perplexed and then pointed to
a bottle of red sauce..."Chili sauce." I showed her the picture of
tomatoes on the nearly empty ketchup bottle we had, then the picture of
the small red chilies on the new bottle. Bee's mouth dropped open.
Apparently, she shops only by color. The name of the sauce was in
English, both sauces are red and she didn't pay attention to the pictures.
Interestingly, I had also wanted onions for the burgers. Bee came home
without them...Big C (one of the biggest grocery stores in Danang) had
none.

A few other gifts: Jillian received clothes from Duc and Linh; some small
electric lanterns for her room from Enoch and Mariss; a beautiful handmade
card from Quyen; a genuine Dove chocolate bar from Chau; and from Bee,
underclothes. True to her practical joking nature, Bee had wrapped the
underwear in a box that once contained a clock. My unsuspecting,
mortified 11 year-old almost showed the unmentionables at the table in
mixed company. Bee, of course, was chuckling the whole time.

What a privilege to see this little girl grow into a loving young lady. I
could not be more proud of her. We are blessed too know that so many of
you join us in praying for her!

Grace and peace!

Hope

The workmen rebuild a wall. Notice the helmet "hardhat."
The front courtyard. Workers use a rope and bucket to move sand and other materials.

This will soon be a laundry area.

Hello, all--
A couple of things have happened this week that have made me think more
about the relationship between faith and hope.
The first is the renovation work on the new orphanage here in Danang that
we hope to see in operation by January. I wish I could describe it to
you. It is a blessing from God! There are four buildings in the
compound. One building will house the Orphan Voice offices. The second
has rooms for the residential staff, the boys and a study
room/library/computer room. The third building includes the kitchen,
cafeteria and boys bathrooms and showers downstairs, with the girls'
rooms, a caregiver's room and their showers/bathrooms. The last building
is mostly a gymnasium, with a storage area. There are two courtyard
areas, one with a brick floor, the other with grass. It is going to be
welcoming, cozy and pretty. To see it today, that is a statement of
faith. Right now, the paint is chipped, dirty and mismatched (we ordered
paint today). Broken bricks, debris and trash are everywhere. The trees
in the courtyard are sparse from damage left by Typhoon Ketsana. But
faith gives us a vision of what it can be--what in fact it is becoming day
by day as a crew works (wearing motorbike helmets for hardhats!). Faith
has the ability to look past the current circumstance and surroundings and
understand "becoming."
The second incident that really got me thinking happened yesterday. I had
taken Anna Mei and Elizabeth to the Big C shopping center so they could
get Jillian a birthday present (she turned 11 today!). On our way to the
check out, Anna Mei spotted a pair of roller blades--the item on the top
of her Christmas wish list. She was at the point of tears. She does not
have enough money from her allowance to buy them. The store has one pair.
What she does not know is that another pair is here, safely hidden for
her to unwrap on Christmas morning. She was so distraught it was very
hard for me not to tell her. (I was so glad that we had not told
Elizabeth about Anna Mei's gift--I know she would have HAD to tell her!)
Finally, I told Anna Mei to trust in the love of her mom and dad for her
to provide good things. I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me. That is exactly
what He asks of me. When the desires of my heart seem unattainable, faith
in His unfailing love will cause hope to blossom that whatever He has for
me is good.
May your faith-full relationship with the Lord give rise to unshakeable
hope. You and I have a heavenly Father who knows how to give good gifts
to His children. If we ask Him for bread, can we really think that He
will give us a stone...or a snake?

Years ago, a friend of mine sang a song at our church in Virginia. After more than a dozen years, I remember one line in particular: "When you can't see His hand, trust His heart."

Grace and peace!

PS Someone sent us a link to the website for CBN Worldreach. They have
an article about their involvement in partnering with other ministries to
provide typhoon relief in Vietnam. We are one of those "others" and the
picture in the article shows our staff member Duc delivering aid. If you
would like to take a look at the article, the link is
http://www.cbn.com/worldreach/articles/article_typhoon_vietnam_dec09.aspx

Advent, Week 2: Hope

For this second week of Advent, we will focus on the quality of Hope. At the beginning of chapter 2, we find Naomi and Ruth in Bethlehem. The outlook had to be a bit frightening for the two women. But, faith has kindled hope. Ruth decides to look for work “gleaning” in the fields. Gleaning was a way that the Lord had instructed Israel to allow the poor to get food. A portion of the harvest was to be left, easily accessible to the poor. It was not a career. In fact, laws prevented gleaners from taking extra food to store. Gleaning was considered humiliating. For a young, single woman at this time, it was also dangerous. Yet Ruth does not despair. She does not scheme to devise a way to engage in more “honorable” work. She goes in hope. And she is not disappointed. One writer wisely pointed out, “Sin is a thing below us, but we must not think anything else so, to which Providence call us.”
The Lord leads Ruth to a field belonging to a wealthy man named Boaz, who just happens to be a close relative of Naomi. He takes note of Ruth and learns of her situation. As a result, he provides for Ruth’s safety and success in her work. The kindness of Boaz is noteworthy in its own right. I couldn’t help but wonder if his compassion for a courageous woman of questionable background was learned as a child from his mother, another courageous woman of questionable background. Her name was Rahab.
When Naomi learns of all that has happened, her own hope is rekindled. When she and Ruth first returned to Israel, she told the other women that the Lord had witnessed against her. Now, she recognizes that the Lord has not withdrawn His kindness from her.
Hope was Ruth’s response to hardship. Bible commentator Matthew Henry writes, “It is not affliction itself, but affliction rightly borne, that does us good.”
This week, as we think about hope and what it means for our own lives, here are some questions to reflect upon…
• How do I respond to the hard situations in my life right now? Is my “affliction rightly borne”?
• Have I let faith ignite hope in me?
• Am I being asked to do something that I consider to be “beneath” me?
• Am I jealous or resentful over the position, accomplishments, or abilities of someone else?
Hope is a great sustainer in times of hardship and dark uncertainty. The faithfulness of God tells us that hope is not stubborn foolishness. We have experiential evidence that God will not abandon us, will not allow us to suffer more than we can endure. The Psalmist knew it well when he wrote,
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence. (Ps. 42:5)
As we approach Christmas, let’s hope in God with confidence in His great love. We have every reason to expect that, like Ruth, we will not be disappointed.
Grace and peace!

Advent, Week 1, Faith

Welcome to the season of Advent! Where I sit, it is a balmy 70 degrees. It looks like anything but Christmas. The large department stores are displaying holiday decorations and playing “Jingle Bells”, but from street to street, there is not a hint of the Yuletide. Still, I know it is coming! Experience has bolstered my faith. More than faith in the mere fact that a date on the calendar is coming (and with it all the holiday decorations and traditions) I have faith that I will experience Christmas in my heart. How about you?

In the first chapter of Ruth, we find a foundation of faith. An Israelite man named Elimelech moves with his wife, Naomi, and two sons to Moab. They are driven by hunger, for Israel is experiencing a famine. In Moab, Elimelech dies. Both his sons marry Moabite women; one is named Orpah, the other, Ruth. When both men die, Naomi, Orpah and Ruth are left to fend for themselves. They are hungry again. But this time, their hunger is not the only thing driving them on...Naomi has heard that in Israel, ”the Lord had visited His people in giving them food” (Ruth 1:6). Faith, though perhaps small, rises in her heart and she decides to return to Israel. Orpah and Ruth love Naomi, and both set out with her. She discourages them, giving them no promise of a better life or future husbands. Reluctantly, Orpah eventually bids a tearful good-bye and returns to Moab. Ruth, however, clings to Naomi. Faith has somehow become her own. With no promise from outside of her own heart, she presses on with her mother-in-law. Faith strengthens and motivates Ruth to leave her culture, her language and her people.

Faith is the vessel of courage. Just read the great “Faith Hall of Fame”in Hebrews 11: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Rahab, Gideon, David, Samuel and more…”who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength after being weak, become mighty in battle, and put armiesto flight” (Hebrews 11:33, 34). Faith, it seems, is powerful stuff.

During this initial week of preparing our hearts to receive Christ-mas anew, this first chapter of Ruth brings us to some important questions to consider:
1. What am I hungry—really hungry-- for?
2. What situations are driving my thinking, my attitudes, my decisionsright now?
3. Where is God at work? Am I moving toward that place?
4. Have I made faith my own, independent of the faith of others around me, or my heritage, or my culture?
5. How does “faith” respond to the difficulties I am currently facing? Am I willing to do whatever it takes, leave whatever should be left, let go of the past (good or bad), and go forward, perhaps to an uncertain outcome?

May the Holy Spirit grant us faith to let Him examine our lives, and may faith give rise to courage to surrender everything to Him!

Grace and peace!

Advent and the Book of Ruth: An Introduction

On our recent trip to the US, one of the first things that grabbed my attention was the rapid speed of daily life. Most of the time I found it tiring, at times annoying. On one occasion, Jillian and I found it humourous.We had only been in the States for a couple of days and we were driving with the twins early in the morning. We decided to renew our acquaintance with an important reality of American culture: the McDonald’s drive-through. I pulled up to the miked ordering screen where a voice greeted me withwords that flew out like fire from an automatic weapon:
“WelcometoMcDonaldscanItakeyourorderplease?”
“Yes. I would like 3 small orange ju…”
“OK” The answer interrupted me before I could get out the whole word. Hmmm…
“A small cof…”
“Cream and sugar? Do you want to put it in yourself, or do you want us todo it?" The voice sounded almost annoyed, like an adult who is hurried and doesn’twant to take time to listen to the elongated story of a toddler.

I finally got the order out. When I pulled around the corner of thebuilding, I could see the two windows, the first to pay, the second to receive the food. As I approached the first window, the view ahead made me want to by-pass payment and step on the gas. There, from the first window, emerged a bodiless hand, precariously clutching between two fingers and a thumb, the neatly folded golden-arched, white paper bag that held our food! It hung in the breeze with a taunting little swing. Only partly in jest, it threatened, “Hurry up or your breakfast is road slop!”

Alas, one person’s efficiency is another person’s high-pressured breakfastexperience.

It is easy for us to live at an ever-increasing pace. Perhaps that’s one reason I love the “seasons” so much. Not only the seasons of wind and weather, but the seasons of our Christian calendar. In a world where text messaging reduces the spelling of words to single letters, and where new technologies give us our food, news, and email at the touch of a button, God’s priorities and methods seem at odds. Here is One who is never in a hurry—who created the earth and everything in it in a step bystep orderly fashion; who set history in motion with generations of babies, youngsters, adults and the aged; whose years pass with the regularity of seasons.

We all know the Scriptural truth: “Man’s ways are not God’s ways…” Nowhere is that more evident than with the events of Christmas. I have a feeling that if it were up to me and you, the events at Bethlehem would have been recorded in Genesis 4, and Genesis 5 would be renamed“Revelation.” But the will, the ways and the works of God cannot be rushed. His plan will unfold as He ordains, no matter how we desire to rush it on more quickly. Sunday, November 29, is the beginning of the Advent Season. The word“advent” means “coming” and these four weeks of Christmas are an annual opportunity to focus upon the coming of the Son of God to our world. If we will let Him, the Holy Spirit will take us all on a journey toBethlehem to wonder and celebrate in a new way the glorious gift of Jesus, the Savior, Messiah, Redeemer. Just think of the years of longing, looking, hoping, seeking…that were fulfilled in that Holy Night. Many tried to “hurry” that up, too. Israel was always looking for a leader, or a prophet, or a king, or a judge that would be THE Son of David. No matter how much they hoped, or how good a king might be, the peoplewere disappointed again and again. It seemed as if the true Son of David would never come.

And then, He did. Sixteen times throughout the Gospels, Jesus is recognized, hailed, and implored as “The Son of David.” Apparently,the people who reached out in faith to Jesus for every kind of need had no trouble surmising that He was indeed, the long-awaited Son of David. Matthew’s Gospel begins with these words…”The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). Some may think that Matthew’s record of the ancestry of Jesus is chauvinistic—tracing the Savior’s line through Joseph. Luke’s record traces the genealogy of Jesus through the line of Mary. Remarkably,though, Matthew’s account mentions five women in the ancestral line of Jesus (Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, Ruth and Mary), while Luke’s mentions none, not even Mary herself. The story of one of the women named by Matthew is found in the Old Testament Book that bears her name, the Bookof Ruth.

In Ruth we read a beautiful story of growing faith, of hope dashed and rekindled, of love lost and found, of joy thought out of reach, then fulfilled beyond measure. It is a rich, challenging story of spiritual truth. Ruth paints a picture of Jesus, our Kinsman Redeemer. It is a perfect story for the season of Advent. Ruth’s four chapters fit neatly into the four weeks of Advent. But more than the number, the book can be anchored in four themes that can strengthen our relationship with the Savior: faith, hope, love and joy.

Welcome to this Advent journey in the Book of Ruth.

Grace and peace!