In the early 1980’s we opened a congregation of our church in Linda Vista, a community in San Diego, California. It was comprised largely of Southeast Asian refugees from the Hmong tribes of Laos and Vietnam. These souls became members of our small mission church in Mira Mesa that met in a pre-school. With over 200 refugees attending services in our little mission, moving to larger quarters was mandatory. The presence of our Asian members presented a rare opportunity to not only teach them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but also to help them assimilate into the American way of life.
One family of the Cha family clan had four girls but no boys. For a Hmong family this was not desirable because girls left the family when they were married. The boys on the other hand remained and provided a source of support when the parents became aged. When Mrs. Cha gave birth to her fifth child, it was a boy. The event prompted a great celebration. As their minister, I visited the family to share in their joy of the birth of their first boy.
During my visit and through interpretation by her eldest daughter, Mrs. Cha explained to me that since her new baby was a boy, she would no longer be able to attend church services for a long time. I learned as our conversation continued that Mrs. Cha felt that with her girls she had control over their behavior. Hence, the girls were quiet in church during the sermon. Now with a boy, she felt such control was not even possible. Boys were much more unruly and noisy and so she wouldn’t be able to bring him to church until he learned to listen to her.
I carefully explained that it was important for her to bring her baby boy to church where God would bless him and teach him. But Mrs. Cha answered saying that her baby didn’t understand Hmong or English so how would God be able to teach him?
I explained that God would teach her little boy not through language but by His Holy Spirit. This seemed to make sense to her and Mrs. Cha accepted it in faith. She agreed to take her son to church.
Over the next nine to ten months Ms. Cha, her children and husband faithfully attended services in our church. Her boy grew strong and before he was a year old he was walking. As with most little boys he was very active but tended to stay quiet during services.
On one Sunday morning when this little boy was about eleven months old, our Bishop from Los Angeles visited San Diego and the members from our six congregations in the area came together at one of our larger churches.
The church family packed chapel with not an empty seat to be found. In fact, a row of folding chairs were lined along the back wall of the church to accommodate the large crowd.
The organist began to play and the congregation stood to sing the opening hymn. I followed the bishop and other ministers and walked up the center aisle to take our places at the front of the church. After a short personal prayer, I opened my hymn book and began to sing along with the congregation. As I sang I surveyed the crowded church. To my great concern, I saw that Mrs. Cha, her four girls and her little boy, were seated in the second row of pews. I instantly began to worry that the little boy would soon be acting up and become a distraction during the sermon.
For most of the sermon, to my great relief, the little boy was well behaved, sitting on his mother’s lap. But then my greatest fear became a reality. The lad stood up in his mother’s lap and began to jump up and down. I watched as Mrs. Cha struggled to quiet her boy but to no avail. Suddenly she reached into her pocket and extracted a 25 cent coin and gave it to her boy. I surmised that she did this in hopes that his fascination with it would cause him to sit down in her lap and quietly play with it.
The boy, his eyes open wide, stared intently at the coin. His mind seemed to be momentarily transfixed on this unexpected treasure. Quickly, coin in hand and broadly smiling, he wriggled off his mother’s lap in pursuit of his own personal mission. To my surprise and well as his mother’s, he weaseled his way past his sisters till he reached the center aisle. A momentary glance between Mrs. Cha and me revealed her dismay couched in a weak smile.
Once into the aisle, the little guy made a beeline down the aisle and abruptly stopped at the offering box that sat upon a pedestal at the last pew. As I observed his journey, I secretly hoped that his father, sitting on one of the folding chairs along the back wall, would see his son and scoop him up and take him on his lap.
The boy stood before the offering box for a brief moment. Then he turned and reached as high as he could to put the coin into the slot on top of the offering box. The whole church heard the loud clangs created by his tapping the coin on the side of the offering box as high up as his reach allowed. He was simply too short to reach the slot in the top of the box.
Now his father jumped into action. He rose from his chair, quickly ran to his son and lifted him by his legs high enough to allow him to reach the slot and drop the coin into it. When his father put the boy down and before he could react further, the lad twisted out of his father’s grasp and raced back up the aisle, wriggling past his sisters and into his mother’s lap. There he sat, a big grin on his face, his pride over his accomplishment beaming from his face.
After the service was over, I spoke with Mrs. Cha and asked her, “Who taught your son to offer that coin?”
She replied, “I wasn’t me, because he does not understand Hmong. It wasn’t you, because he doesn’t understand English. It was God, just like you said, God would teach him by His Spirit!”
Turning Points
The acts of God in our life have profound implication in the lives of those He chooses us to serve. He subtly puts words in our mouth that become turning points in our understanding of His ways and in the lives of others. These turning points change not only the course of our lives, but also the understanding and faith we have for God. I find that faith and trust in Him are deepened and a grateful heart and mind are created. This experience with Mrs. Cha and her baby boy illustrated how the Word of God can have a powerful impact on the life of even a mere child. Further, I see how the faith of a mother can produce a lasting blessing on her children. We can’t underestimate what God can and will do for those who love Him.
COPYRIGHT © 2014 ALLAN EDWARD MUSTERER