Father Damien, a true hero

When I lived in Hawai’i I was aware of Damien High school. At first, all I knew about them was they were never very good in football. Then I heard about “Father Damien” the priest who ministered to the lepers in Molokai. I didn’t know a lot about him, but there was just a positive vibe connected with Father Damien.

Over the years I learned a little more about the man, enough to have him become a hero to me. I recently read Damien the Leper by John Farrow. This book further established that notion.

He was born Josef De Veuster in Belgium, but when he became a priest, yes, a Catholic Priest, he changed his name to Damien. He was sent to Hawai’i as a missionary and was serving effectively on the Big Island when he heard about Molokai. Actually, he was attending a conference, heard the need for someone to minister to the lepers exiled to Molokai and volunteered himself.

At the time, this leper colony was a hopeless, lawless place. Leprosy was spreading like a plague and lepers were being rounded up, dropped off, and left to die. Damien knew that by going to this place, he would contract leprosy and die himself. Still, he went.

He visited them, cared for them, washed their open sores, built their houses, built a chapel, fed them, ate with them, created an orderly society, built their coffins (probably, nearly a thousand!) and dug their graves, and buried them. All of these lepers were Hawaiians. He was the only white man among them. Yet, he was so beloved by these folk that he was given a Hawaiian name, Kamiano.

I am not ashamed to act as mason or carpenter, when it is for the glory of God.  These ten years I have been on the mission I have built a church or chapel every year.  The habit I had at home of practising different kinds of work, is of immense use to me here." - Father Damien in a letter to his parents.

Listen to a leper describing him, "He overwhelms us with his...care, and he himself builds our houses.  When any one of us is ill, he gives him tea, biscuits and sugar; and to the poor he gives clothes."

Damien is to me a hero, a person to look up to and emulate.

I know, there may be people thinking, “But, he was Catholic.” And others, even more strongly, “He was a stinking Catholic! You know how those Catholics believe all that heretical stuff. He was probably trying to earn his salvation by going to Molokai. Catholics are like that, y’know.” There were people in his own day who offered the same objections.

I only see out of one eye, but I am not so blind as to know that he and I might have disagreed on some things. But, listen to his heart:

I wish to give myself unconditionally to the poor lepers. The harvest appears to be ripe here. Pray, and ask others to pray both for me and for all.

My greatest pleasure is to serve the Lord in his poor children rejected by other people.

I make myself a leper with the lepers to gain all to Jesus Christ.

Here was a man who was full of the love of God. His love for Jesus moved him to give his life for these lepers.

Queen Liliuokalani spent a day visiting him in Molokai. As she was preparing to return to Honolulu, she told Damien it was hard to believe anyone should stay in this tragic place of his own free will.
“It is my work. You see, Madame, they are my parishioners.”
“Your parishioners . . . and my people.”

He led a worship service every morning. He usually began with, “My brethren…” one morning he began the service, “We lepers…” He had so identified himself with them that he now had leprosy and he eventually died of it.

Having no doubts about the true nature of the disease, I am calm, resigned, and very happy in the midst of my people. God certainly knows what is best for my sanctification and I gladly repeat: ‘Thy will be done.’

He was a man and had his own peculiar faults etc. but I don’t know that I have ever even met anyone as full of the love of God as he was. One of the charges against him was “he had fallen into something of the ways and habits of thought of a Kanaka” – that is, he lived and ate like a Hawaiian. He became one of them. I think this is more a compliment!

Eventually, Damien died of leprosy. He gave his life in loving service to the Lord and for these people. What an example! I fully expect Damien to shine brightly in the kingdom of Christ. Because of all his work and sacrifice? No, because of the grace of God. And it was this very grace that empowered him to labor so abundantly. He is a testimony to grace as well as a trophy of grace.

What an interesting post a couple of days before Christmas, yet, I think a fitting one. Christmas is the celebration of the love of God and the gift of His Son. Damien is the story of a man who knew that love and lived out that gift.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Today is my first born daughter’s birthday

Today is my firstborn daughter’s birthday and I was reminiscing last night. The only date I will mention in this post is the year we got married, which was 1975. After Mary graduated from Nursing School we moved to Memphis. She worked at Methodist Central and I attended Mid-South Bible College.

When we learned that Mary was pregnant, we signed up for Lamaze training (a natural birth method). Two things I remember most about Lamaze: (1) “They are not labor pains, they are simply contractions; and by controlled breathing you can control the contractions.” (2) Our instructor informed us one night that her house was haunted, which they didn’t mind. The only issue was the ghost was afraid of the Christmas tree!

We decided to name all our children with names that signified what we were trusting the Lord to do in them. We chose Anne Katherine for our first one: “pure and full of grace, mercy and prayer.” We were informed numerous times that our chosen name was backwards and just wouldn’t work, “Everyone knows that it should be Katherine Anne.” We seemed to be the only ones who did not know this! But for us, her name was Anne. Katherine was her middle name. And it was to be Anne, not Ann. They just sound different to me.

We prepared for the momentous event: the nursery was decorated, diapers were bought, Pampers were bought for the first little bit. We were ready!

I recall two sad instances while we awaited her arrival. The first, I made Mary cry when I got a little frustrated and said, “I hope when this baby is born we can talk about something other than the baby!” The second, while Mary was still struggling with morning sickness, we were sitting outside, enjoying the evening, and she asked, “How many children do you think you want?” I replied, “I don’t know, five?” She got up and went inside!

Anne’s due date was December 11. That Monday came and Anne did not. Nor the 12th, or 13th, or 14th. A whole week passed and no baby. I had a final exam on Monday the 18th and Mary went up to the school with me. While I took my test, Mary had it out with the Lord. She spent the entire time walking around the football field. Actually, in her own words, she was “stomping” around the football field! That night she went into labor.

I woke up around 5:30 and found Mary in full labor. She had been up most of the night and had made the classic mistake of not waking me. And when I woke up, I was not able to help her get in control of her contractions. This was not setting up too well. We called the doctor and he said it was indeed time to go to the hospital.

This is shortly before 7 AM in Memphis, TN and the hospital is downtown. We safely arrived at the hospital around 7:20 only to see a fire-truck parked outside the Emergency Entrance. Somehow a laundry chute was on fire! Great. But we made it in and got her admitted.

The doctor came in and almost immediately announced he would have to do a Caesarian section. This was news to us! We learned later that this was a common practice for him. That rascal knew all along that he was going to do a Caesarian…

Anne was delivered that morning. And a beautiful baby she was! I can still remember holding her that morning. When the overhead lights were on, she would squint her eyes shut, but when they were turned off, her eyes would pop open and she would look around. Amazing!

In those days you stayed in the hospital a few days after giving birth and add a day or two for a C-section. One day Mary called me and was frantic, “They have the medicine to dry me up at the desk!” Her intention was to breast feed, but you can’t do that when they dry up your milk. So I ran up to the hospital to stop that!

Then the day came to bring the baby home. We loaded everyone and everything in the car and came home. We brought her into the apartment and placed her in her bassinet in her own room. We both looked down at her and said aloud, “What do we do now?” We must have figured something out! One thing I can recall is the doctor or someone telling us to feed her every four hours. But from the beginning we determined we were not going to wake her up in the middle of the night to nurse her.

My heart was full of love for my baby girl! So much so that the thought of having another child was deeply troubling, “How will I have any love left for another one?” I learned a tremendous lesson about love when we did have another child, and a third and fourth – Love is not a quantifiable ‘thing’. It’s not something that has to be divided or shared, so that one gets more and another gets cheated. I can love my first born with all my heart. And my second and third and fourth born too! And even as I love each daughter with all my heart, yet it is still a specific love.

Anne grew up to become a beautiful young woman. And now she has a family of her own. And her first born, another girl, doubles as my first born grandchild! Anne is an amazing woman, wife and mother.

I have truly been blessed: I have Anne (and her sisters) as my daughter(s). But I admit, it’s not a fair or equal blessing, I get Anne but she gets me! So pray for her (and her sisters)!!

Happy Birthday, Anne!

Remission of sins, just the beginning

When my pastor asked me to preach for him on December 1, we talked about that being the beginning of Advent. I asked him what his theme was going to be and he said that he had not yet decided. I thought about it and offered a couple of suggestions. The first one was to go through Luke 1 & 2. He decided to go in a different direction. Well, I’ve been sorta thinking about Luke 1 & 2 ever since. 

And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,

Blessed [be] the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,
And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy [promised] to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;
The oath which he sware to our father Abraham,
That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
To give light to them that sit in darkness and [in] the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Amen. What a wonderful prophecy! I was struck by one particular verse:
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins

Remission or forgiveness of sins. What a sweet word! Christ came, He died on the cross, so that our sins could be forgiven. As a person who has a history of sin, I find this glorious!

I have ceased from my wand’ring and going astray,

Since Jesus came into my heart!

And my sins, which were many, are all washed away,

Since Jesus came into my heart!

Ah, but notice, To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. The forgiveness of sins is the doorway to salvation. So often we have reduced salvation to forgiveness. Yet, the Holy Spirit says remission of sins leads to the knowledge of salvation. In other words, there is so much more to salvation than just being forgiven. And Zacharias provides an amazing description of salvation.

Forgiveness of our sins is not salvation, it is the grace of God that opens the door to salvation. It is like buying a house. You sign all the papers and the house is yours. But you don’t stop there. You bought the house to move into it! Forgiveness of my sins is awesome! Thank you, Lord, that you forgave my sins and restored me to You that, being delivered out of the hand of my enemies, I might serve You without fear, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of my life, and then enjoy eternal life with You! Amen.

Remission of sins is awesome beyond description, but it’s only the beginning. That’s what I thought about when I meditated on this prophecy.

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins

They just seem the same

When my pastor asked me to preach for him on December 1, we talked about that being the beginning of Advent. I asked him what his theme was going to be and he said that he had not yet decided. I thought about it and offered a couple of suggestions. The first one was to go through Luke 1 & 2. He decided to go in a different direction. Well, I’ve been sorta thinking about Luke 1 & 2 ever since. 

Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.

How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

Two seemingly similar questions, but they received very different responses.

The first question was asked by Zacharias. He was a priest and was married to Elisabeth. They were child-less and were now both well stricken in years. While he was in the temple, executing the priest’s office, an angel appeared to him and gave him great news:

Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

The angel announced that John would go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah . . . to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. His son, the forerunner of the Messiah!

Zacharias and Elisabeth wanted children. They had been praying for God to bless them with children. And now, in a dramatic way, an angel told Zacharias that his prayer was about to be answered. And this brings us to Zacharias’ question: Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.

The angel then struck him mute for 9 months!

The second question was asked by Mary. Six months after speaking to Zacharias the same angel came to her and announced:

And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” He told her that her child would be the Messiah! And her question? “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

This time the angel offered her an explanation of how this would happen.

Why did the angel answer Mary and smite Zacharias??

Gabriel’s announcement to Zacharias is in Luke 1:13-17. He offered him great detail about the birth and life of this promised son. This is no fleeting feeling - God sent an angel to him to tell him his prayer was answered! And this is what the angel said about Zacharias’ question, thou believest not my words. Ah, even though Zacharias knew how babies were made and had been praying for a child, he did not believe the report. To be fair, they had spent many years trying to have a child with no success and now they were well past child bearing years. They were no doubt discouraged and this is a hard thing to believe. But, while we may excuse him, God did not. Zacharias did not believe God.

Mary was a virgin. She was engaged to be married, but was not yet married. She was still a virgin. When the angel announced that she would have a son her question was understandable, “Uh, how can this be? I’m a virgin.” Zacharias responded, “Yeah right, we’re too old to have children.” He had enough information (he knew how these things happened), he just didn’t accept the Word from God. Mary, on the other hand, simply needed a little more information (how could this happen?). And how do we know this? From her response to the angel’s explanation, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.

Amen. Mary walked in faith, Zacharias did not. Did Mary completely understand the how of all this? I doubt it. But God said it and she believed it. Zacharias on the other hand, heard the Word and did not believe it. He knew his Bible. He knew the story of Abraham, who against hope believed in hope . . . And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Zacharias staggered at the promise of God.

What’s all this to me today? I want to walk in faith like Abraham and Mary. I need to accept God’s Word over what I see or hear. The twelve spies all saw the same thing: a land of abundance with giants! Ten saw the giants, Joshua and Caleb saw the Lord. Amen.

This is also a reminder that God is not opposed to questions. Basically, Mary said, “Lord, you are promising me great things but how can this be? How can I have a baby, I’ve never been with a man?” This is a fair question and God provides the answer. The prophet Habakkuk is a great example of this. The book begins with a serious question, O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? God answered him, but the answer was even more difficult to understand than the current conditions, so Habakkuk cried out, “Lord! What? How? I don’t understand.” Then he did the wisest thing he could, “I will wait for his answer.” And God did answer! The just shall live by his faith. There is much more in chapter 2, but this is the essence, “Trust me.” Habakkuk got the message and he did trust the Lord - chapter 3 is a prayer/song that ends with a great confession of confidence in God!

And speaking of examples! Habakkuk was a man so full of love for God that he was not merely saddened and distressed by the terrible spiritual conditions around him, he was moved to intercession. And he fervently persevered in that intercession until he heard from God. And when he didn’t understand that word, he waited until he heard again. Is this not the violence God delights in? (Matt 11:12)

And back to Mary. By faith she responded, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. We don’t get it. In our day a single woman having a baby is no big deal. It’s almost the norm. In fact, if you don’t have sex before you get married, you are the odd duck. So we merely see the struggle of believing she will give birth to the Messiah. But Mary knew the stigma this would bring. Even though believing God would increase hardship, she said, Be it unto me according to thy word. Ah Mary, Blessed art thou among women.

Finally, a note to myself, if I ever have an angel appear to me and give me a Word from God . . . believe it!

The desire of my heart

There is a desire of my heart, a request of God, that I think about, contemplate, and pray over often. Several week ago I woke up early one Saturday morning and the cry of my heart was, “How can I do this?” That is, What steps can I take to see this come to pass? The Lord ministered to me very clearly that morning about only receiving the things God brings into your life. I said, Yeah; Amen; Hallelujah! And rested in Him to bring this to pass. And He began!

The last couple of days I have returned to thinking of ways this could be realized, even how I could indirectly raise the subject and offer suggestions. I realized I was scheming! Psalm 37:4 came to mind, Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. I knew there were other instructions surrounding this verse and since I couldn't exactly recall them, I looked up the Psalm. Here they are: †

3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 
4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 
5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 
6 And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. 
7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him . . . 

Wow! Instead of scheming, plotting, arranging, God tells me to Trust Him; Delight in Him; Commit my way to Him; Rest in Him; Wait patiently for Him.

Ouch and Amen!

3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 
No schemes, trust in the Lord and do good. So shalt thou dwell in the land – trust in the Lord and you will dwell in the promised land, the abundant life.

4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. 
Delight, not in my desires or my plans, but in the Lord. Not as a means to my desires, but just because he is the Lord.

5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
How this contrasts with planning, plotting, scheming! Commit your way to the Lord and trust him; he will bring it to pass.

7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him . . . 
How do I deal with the anxiety of how and when this could come to pass? Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently.

I was summarily dealt with! If you want My blessing, then it will be My way.

Why is it sometimes so difficult to trust, rest, and wait for the Lord? I don’t even know what the rest of the day holds, He knows everything!

Father, you know the desire of my heart. Give me grace to trust You. Teach me to delight in Thee. By Thy mercy help me to commit my way unto Thee, to rest in Thee, and to wait patiently for Thee.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, 

thoughts of peace, and not of evil, 

to give you an expected end.

Then shall ye call upon me, 

and ye shall go and pray unto me, 

and I will hearken unto you.

And ye shall seek me, and find me, 

when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

And I will be found of you:

and I will turn away your captivity. . .

† I know the context of these verses is the prosperity of the unrighteous as set in v 1, Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. But I am persuaded that these are fundamental principles that can be applied to many and various circumstances. And I am just as confident, that what God spoke to the nation in Jeremiah 29:11-14 above, the principles apply to me the individual,