Nguyen On Earth

photo credit: Caleb George On June 17, 2017, I received a Facebook message about attending the 40th reunion for the Navy destroyer, USS John Young.  I was blown away because this was the ship that rescued my parents and me after we escaped Vietnam in 1981.  I was only 17 months old at the time.  After realizing it was not a joke, I happily accepted the invitation and for a year, I greatly anticipated the reunion. I never imagined meeting the men of the USS John Young.  I didn't think it was possible.  And now, they have found me.  For so long, I have shared my rescue story and now I would get to meet them.  No words.  To read a little bit about my rescue, view here . For the road trip a year later on June 22, 2018, I invited my friends Yelena and Mari.  Our first airbnb was in Sunset, Louisiana.  Our highlight was getting to visit a nearby horse farm.  The handler, Rusty, was so sweet to give us a tour and let u...

pexels.com     Last night after dinner, my mom was holding our family dog Mango and I heard her say, "it's in the little details".  She was referring to Mango's crochet sweater that he was wearing.  These days, I feel Mango has better fashion sense than I do.  Mango had on a beautiful sweater and my mom was admiring it.  Earlier that day, we had a guest come to the house and Mango was dressed to be the host with the most.  What my mom didn't know was when she said those five words, it made me prick up my ears.  This made me think of this past semester when my teacher Will Ford taught us the Hebrew word "qashab", which means to prick up the ears, be attentive, listen.  More on this word later.  First, let me explain why these five words meant so much to me and were the perfect seal to end the day.   Rewind to earlier that day, about 1:30pm....

Today I went to Target because I was running low on food for the apartment.  As I was waiting in line to check out, (there was only one person in front of me) I felt the cashier wasn't very happy.  She had a frown on her face and was fumbling with the divider bar (that stick that separates one customer's items from another), eventually tossing it on the conveyer belt.  I admit I wasn't looking forward to being her next customer.  When it was my turn, I started to put my items on the counter and avoided eye contact.  I know I should have greeted her instead of feeling like she needs to be professional and acknowledge me.  I need to stop that.  I then hear her ask me how I'm doing.  I told her I was good and asked her the same thing.  She gave me an honest response and said she wasn't feeling well.  She said she still made herself go to work and was trying to hang in there until...

photo credit: Alex Block A year ago I started school at Christ For The Nations Institute.   I chose a journal that was a gift from my friend Crystal to document my experience while at CFNI.  I knew big things were going to happen because God sent me to this school, away from my comfort zone, to strengthen me spiritually. For my first journal entry I wrote, "I want these next 3 years to strengthen me so I can go + be sent out to the nations".  That following summer, I, along with 23 other students, went out into the mission field in Southeast Asia.  Please read my entry  "Wise Owl"  to see how God led me to go on this destined trip.  In that blog, I talked about how God left me an owl feather on the ground on a day when I was overwhelmed about my future.  This owl feather was a symbol that God was still with me and to trust Him while I'm on the path that He led me on.  I also realized th...