WORTHY

"We constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling" II Thessalonians 1:11.

It is a sad thing when those who are given certain status in our culture,  fail to "live up to" or live in a way unworthy of their calling. We feel disappointed when a Member of Parliament is found guilty of betraying his/her country's trust; her/his calling. We are angered when someone called to teach our young people is not worthy of his calling and abuses the trust of children and parents. We expect our medical doctors to act in a way worthy of their calling.
How much more should we expect of ourselves and of each other - we who have been adopted into the family of God; who are called to be His representatives, His ambassadors; that we will take our high calling seriously.
It is not just pastors and missionaries who are "called by God." No, every Christian is called by God. So Paul prayed, and so we should pray for each other. When next tempted to sin; when next you are about to react in anger or selfishness; when next you start toward something or someone that you know will cause you to act in an unworthy manner - remember Who has called you. Remember who you are and how high is this calling; how sacred it is to be a child of the King, to be His ambassador.

COMMUNICATION IS CHALLENGING

These past couple of weeks have been quite busy for us. It has been more challenging to maintain a six day a week blog. In fact this week I failed - but not for lack of trying. We are in a Bangkok hotel for a week attending a seminar. The first day I managed to get on the internet and blog. Then for three days I could not access directly due to internet connection problems. We are all thankful for the wonderful communication tools available in the21st century, but we sure miss them when they malfunction.
Speaking of failing to communicate, we are in process of moving from southern Vietnam to northern Vietnam. As in many countries, the difference between how the common language is pronounced varies greatly from north to south. For example the letter "D" in the south is pronounced with a "yuh" sound. However in the north, where we will now live, it is pronounced with a "zuh" sound. We have learned only a little Vietnamese, and now we have to relearn it if we want to communicate. We in fact will need to work harder at the language because less English is spoken in Hanoi and there are fewer English speaking expats in that city. So communication has become more difficult.
On the other hand, having just celebrated our 43rd anniversary (we were both 12 when we married), I can testify that communication in a happy marriage does get easier - not perfect - but better.
I still marvel that our Great Creator communicates with us, and listens to us when we speak to Him.

CHRISTIAN MOTIVATION

Many things motivate us to do good deeds - some pretty selfish, some common to most humans. e all recognize mixed motives in some or much of the good we do. But how do we keep doing good when we are tempted to discouragement; or when we are just simply weary?
Remaining optimistic about the future seems very easy for some who appear to be born optimists. They expect every cup to be at least half full and every tomorrow to be sunny. For others, optimism about the future depends on their confidence in the government; or the latest stock market trends; or if they have been ignoring daily news reports.
In a very pithy (I don't use that word often) sentence the Apostle Paul summarizes both the motivation and the optimism of the young Christians in Thessalonica. He brought the Good News to them is writing to them within not many months after they came to faith. This is how he remembers them:
"We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." I Thess. 1:2
May this be what motivates and keep us serving people and our God: Faith in Christ and his call to serve others; the love of God for us and working in us causing us to love others; and the strength to endure because we know that our future is assured: we will live with Christ forever.
Of course much more could be said about Christian motivation and what helps us to endure. However for a one sentence summary, it may be hard to beat this one written about those early Christians.

MOVING TIME AGAIN

We lived in our Richmond Hill, Ontario house for 15 enjoyable years. We moved to Calgary, thinking we would live there for five to ten years. There we bought the nicest of the five houses we have owned - and to our surprise sold it less than four years later because we were on our way to Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived in HCMC and found a very nice apartment where we expected to spend the next 3 or 4 years. Again to our surprise we were on the move ten months later.
We are getting older - why are the moves coming faster? :) Well here we are in Hanoi with a two year lease on a very nice apartment in a good location. We hope that if the Lord wills, we will actually live in this apartment for three years. But we will move, as before, when we believe God wants us to move.
Actually we are not in Hanoi tonight. We spent Saturday night in Hanoi. I preached there this morning (Sunday) but we caught a 4:00 pm flight (less than 2 hours) to Bangkok. We are gathered here for a week long seminar with some fine folks from SE Asian countries. Following this seminar we will return and move into our new Hanoi apartment.
If ever we feel tired of moving, we need only to talk to some of our International friends who for a variety of reasons have moved far more often. Or we may speak with one of the many business people (like a new Korean friend in Hanoi) whose company sends them on a one or two year contract to another country. Sometimes the company does not provide a housing allowance large enough to allow the employee to bring his family with him;  or his spouse is in a career that is hard to leave; or their children are at a stage that uprooting them for a year does not make sense. So they come for a lonely and stressful year or two. It is hard on them and hard on their family.
We will be serving among international people like these in Hanoi. People who are on the move - and often because of this, they are open to moving ahead spiritually at an accelerated pace. Think about biblical characters. Many of them were people on the move physically as God moved in and through them. I hope you are available if God wants to move you.

  

PROVING THE PROMISES

Like many of you, Philippians is a favourite biblical book. The encouragement and challenges come through so clearly and are so practical. I am certainly glad God kept Paul in prison long enough to write this book.
In chapter 4 today, I noted two familiar, wonderful promises. I've often shared them with others. Today I paused to thank God. To thank Him that Jan and I have proved the reality of these promises over many years. They have been kept promises in our lives.
"Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, 7
During the past several months while we waited and wondered where our next step would take us, we found it tiring but relatively easy to keep giving concerns about our future location to God. We  experienced His peace as we waited for direction to be made clear. It was kind of funny to hand in a our one month rental notice, still waiting for confirmation as to our future placement. But He can be trusted - we know that.
The second promise: "And my God will meet all your needs, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:19
We have not always had what we wanted or even what we thought we needed. We have certainly been stretched in some situations. But God has been faithful and supplied so much for us in a variety of ways. We look back and say "Yes" that promise has been kept in our lives.
Of course we have never been down to our last meal (last $100 yes, but not last meal). We have not had to endure the tragic losses or painful testing some have known. Yet having spoken to mature Christians who have endured much more than we, they too have attested: you can always count on God and His Word. His promises are really, definitely true.

ALL NATIONS

There is great diversity within the international community here as is true in so many world cities. We who live in Canadian cities are constantly exposed to great ethnic diversity. It is the same here in Vietnam except different. Different because I am not a Canadian in Canada opening my arms to those who have immigrated. I am one of those who are "away from home".
Today I sat at a table with three expats who are all involved in the foreign Christian community. They were from the US, South Africa and Singapore. None of us are nationals, all of us are foreigners. We don't need to be reminded that God is at work around the world - we ourselves represented three continents; all of us enjoying the opportunity to represent Jesus in Vietnam.
I was again reminded of God's promise to Abraham that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him. Reminded that the Gospel is the power of God to everyone who believes - no matter the country, ethnicity, language or social status. Reminded that the strength of the worldwide Christian church has shifted from Europe and North America to Africa, Latin America and Asia.

ANGER ON THE ROAD

Jan and I normally travel by taxi in Ho Chi Minh City. Averaging several taxi rides per day, we have observed up close a lot of different drivers and many traffic jams. After all there are about 7 million people officially and perhaps a total of 10 million estimated unofficially. With 5 million motor bikes and increasing car traffic; with rules of the road clear and often obeyed, but exceptions allowed and common, it is interesting that we rarely observe angry drivers.
Most taxi drivers are pretty quick and aggressive here. Some of the left hand turns they make you would never see in Canada or the USA. Sometimes we see annoyance when a motorbike cuts across from the inside lane in the front of a taxi to make a sudden left hand turn. There is plenty of honking - some as gentle warnings, some just out of habit that makes no sense, and some when stuck in frustrating line ups. But we've never seen anything close to road rage.
Of course the Vietnamese are much more accustomed to things moving slowly than we are. They have learned patience, although they don't like to line up in an orderly fashion - and they don't wait for elderly foreigners to exit an elevator first. But evidence of anger through words or actions is pretty rare in the culture as we have observed it.
Growing in patience and learning to deal with anger in a godly way has been a lifelong process for me. I've seen the sad results of anger uncontrolled to motivate me to control it and I've known conviction from the biblical teaching that is very clear on the subject.
The Bible tells us to deal with anger quickly; nursing and rehearsing our anger does not please God; it gives opportunity for the Evil One: "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." Ephesians 4:26
The Bible tells us that love "is patient" and "is not easily angered." I Corinthians 13:4, 5 We are told in James that we are to be "slow to anger". Perhaps the most sobering words are these: "man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." James 1:20
I want to live a righteous life that pleases God - and so do you. So lets cooperate with God's Spirit and not allow anger to prevent us from pleasing God.