We just returned from a fantastic weekend in Phoenix with some FOTB (fresh off the boat) Vietnamese friends of mine. One of my friends is a leader in the Vietnamese underground church. He recently found out that the government there wants to arrest him, so now he is stuck in America. I can't put his name on the web, so I'll call him "Tran". Tran has a remarkable outlook on life. He believes without doubt that God can do anything. It was so refreshing for Kristina and I to be in the presence of such people. Even though I call myself a Christian, I fail to recognize God's action in everything -- or even in most things. I realized that I only think of God acting in a small sliver of my life.

Tran has been married for only a couple of years and he has two children -- one of whom was born just a couple of weeks ago. He told me a story about how soon after his first baby was born, he was tempted to stop going to underground churches. He was tempted to stop risking arrest and/or torture/prison for the sake of his family. However, he ultimately realized that there was no reason to fear prison... "God is in control of everything," he told me...,"I can serve him in prison, I will serve him out of prison, I will serve him if I die. He is in control of my family too." Once Tran had this realization, he no longer feared prison.

This understanding of life -- that God is in control -- permeates Trans entire life. Even his view of the war in Iraq. It was refreshing to hear him. His view was simply that God is in control and so we should keep the Iraqis and the Americans in prayer. So simple -- believing that God is in control -- but so far from my newspaper and internet soaked mind.

A few years ago when I first met Tran in Vietnam, he told me, "we need the persecution, otherwise we would not be as strong in the Lord." Perhaps we need some persecution in America ... or perhaps I do.

(I posted the Vietnam chapter of my book here for anyone who wants to check it out)