Miracle On The Sea

Hello everyone.  Praise the Lord!

I had just returned from a group hospice volunteer trip to the Holocaust Museum.  I had popped into the volunteer office to review the current patient board.  That is a board in which they have a list of patients, their age, ailment, and room number.  Notes are added like, “no volunteers,” or “volunteers requested,” or “isolation,” or pet’s requested. 

            Some patients like to have visitors and volunteers.  Other patients just want to be left alone.  We have volunteers to fix the patient’s hair or nails.  We have guitar playing and singing volunteers.  We have volunteers that give massages.  We have folks that bring dogs and cats of all kinds, all specially trained for it.  But most volunteers, like me, just come in to visit with the folks.

            I noticed from the patient board that the Vietnamese patient was still here and in the same room as last week.  So, I thought it would be a good idea to return for a second visit.  I grabbed my badge and headed there.  It was the first room on the right on the second floor.

            I walked into the open door and said hello, the patient’s daughter was sitting on the couch and immediately smiled when she seen me come in.  She recognized me from last week’s visit.  The patient was still unconscious, and his condition looked the same.

            She was very happy to see me and come to see her.  She has been in our hospice for three weeks now and was very bored.  She was happy to have some company.

            Our first visit last week was a bit formal and stiff because she did not know me and therefor, she stayed a bit reserved.  Now that she was now more comfortable with me, she was much more open. 

            After a few minutes she shared how her family arrived here.  They were originally from the Republic of South Vietnam.  She was born in South Vietnam in nineteen-fifty-nine.  Her childhood was a life of continued violence in her war-torn country.

            In nineteen-seventy-three, the American Army evacuated the country, and South Vietnam was on its own.  Two years later, North Vietnam invaded the south.  The South Vietnamese Army fought back but soon started to run out of ammunition.  The United States, for political reasons, refused to resupply the South Vietnamese.

            Low on ammunition and overwhelmed, the South Vietnamese Army fell back, and the Republic of South Vietnam collapsed and was conquered, by the communist North!

            This kind lady before me was only sixteen-years-old at that time.  Her and her immediate family decided to flee the country.  Other members of their family had a small fishing boat available and helped them escape in the middle of the night!  It was a very scary time for everyone!

            They sailed in the night into the open ocean.  There they encountered a larger ship.  They were at first overjoyed, they thought that they were getting some help!  They soon discovered that they were pirates!  With so many people fleeing, the pirates in the South China Sea took an advantage of the chaos!

            Her entire family were Catholics, so they started praying when the pirates took hold of their little fishing boat!  They thought that they would be raped, murdered, or kidnapped and sold into slavery!  She was a sixteen-year-old girl and was afraid that she would be raped and sold into slavery, and her family murdered!  That is what the pirates had been doing!

            She said that her Catholic family were praying as the pirates came aboard.  Their prayers had a big effect!  The pirates took all of their valuables, but did not harm them.  They even gave them food and water and directions to Malaysia! Prayer works!

            The family made it to the country of Malaysia where they lived in a refugee camp there. There, they all received refugee status and was allowed to come to the United States, where they all live today.

            When the family was escaping certain death or imprisonment, they were guided by unseen forces, and a way was made out.  When they were captured by the pirates, unseen forces protected their lives and kept them out of harm. It was clear to them the Holy Spirit was moving and protecting them along the way.  Prayer really does work

Do you know a refugee?  Can you tell me about it in the comments section?

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Brother Roop
Oct 15, 2011

My website:
www.billroopministries.com

My other blog:
www.biblicalhermeneuticsposts.blogspot.com

Apostolic Theological Seminary
www.atseminary.com