The following is Thay Ha's sermon given to us on August 27, 1995 at Buckner Baptist

Children's Home during the celebration of the 20th year anniversary of our (the staff and
"children" of the former Cam Ranh City Christian Orphanage) exodus from Vietnam. His
message is still relevant for us all today. May his soul rejoice and may God be pleased in
how we live our lives today.
~ LoiBeth King aka Nguyễn Thị Lời ~
The picture above was taken at the Day Care Center in the Orphanage at Cam Ranh City,
Vietnam, courtesy of Diane Gryseels

I want to take this opportunity to express my personal appreciation as well of that of the
whole group to Mr. Larry Mercer the administrator of Buckner, Misses Tracy Hughes, Laurie
Rose and Johanna Edwards of the Buckner Community Relations Service, Holme Oltrogge and
Van Bui for all your efforts to make this reunion realized in a meaningful way. It is always my
pleasure to come back to Buckner, our home for many years when we first arrived in the U.S.A.

There are many physical landmarks which we will always cherish in our hearts: The
Pires dorm where we lived under the same roof, the Mana Hall where we ate, the medical clinic
where we got our checkups, the laundry room, and the different dormitories. Some of these
physical landmarks have now been removed, but the spiritual landmarks: the chapel services,
the love and care of the Buckner staff will remain with us for a long time.

When we left our homeland twenty years ago we were under hostile fire; now the hostile
party is no longer our enemy; they have become our allies instead. What kind of allies we don't
know yet, but the U.S. now has its own embassy in Hanoi and many people have gone back
home to Vietnam to visit. Many U.S. companies are doing business in Vietnam, and
communication between the two countries is no longer a problem. Many former Vietnamese
residents of Buckner Children's Home also have returned to Vietnam for a visit or two. I,
myself, also long to go back to see the country. There have been many changes among us
during the twenty years. Most of you are now married and have your own children and career.
My own family has undergone many changes as well: my two big boys are now married.
Hoàng is a medical internist at a hospital in Utah. His wife will finish her medical education
this year to become a [Nurse Practitioner]. Hưng was married last June. He and his wife now
live in our home in Dallas. I lost my Hương, our daughter, the youngest of our three children,
to lupus three years ago. We have now moved to California to live. Ministry-wise, after I left
Buckner I worked as a home missionary for the Baptist Convention of Texas, planted and
"pastored" the Faith Baptist Church in Dallas. Now I work for a small church in California,
planting a Vietnamese ministry there. Education-wise, in addition to my MBA, which I got in
1978, I obtained my Master of Divinity degree from Southwestern Seminary in 1990.

Amid these changes and achievements among us, let us go back to the Words of God and
find some of the teachings He has for us for the years ahead. When I was asked to preach this
morning, I felt that I am not adequate to preach. When I pastor a church, I feel that I am a better
doing-pastor than a preaching one. When I heard you talk yesterday about the values you have
learned in your life, I know that my sermons have been heard. We were a community of faith
and still are. We should always rely on God's Word to guide our lives. This morning I borrow
Moses’ prayer and his sermon to the Israelites as a basis for our study. His prayer is from Psalm
90, with emphasis on verse 12; and his sermon, found in Deuteronomy chapter 28, is about the
blessings and curses for the Israelites as they occupied the Promised Land. Moses in his prayer
asked God "to teach us to number our days." Moses compares our life with the eternity of God.
He sees our life as very short; as he said in verse 10 of Psalm 90, the length of our days is
seventy years or eighty, if we have the strength. In this sense, He does not mean for us to count
our days as 1, 2, 3 and so forth, but that we have to evaluate our life in relationship to God. He
meant that we should be accountable to God for how we use the time He has given us in this
life.

In his sermon, Moses recounts the blessings and curses that will come upon the Israelites.
These blessings are conditional upon their obedience to God's commands. As you all know,
Moses lead the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land, a land of milk
and honey. You are no Israelites, but in some ways you are like them. You are like the Israelites
because you are the chosen ones. Out of the thousands of Vietnamese children who suffered
during the war, you were sent to Cam Ranh City Christian Orphanage to be taken care of. In
that environment, you were taught about God. You were imbued with the values of faith in
God, and you were actually led through the valley of the shadow of death in faith. You are like
the Israelites because you were lead out of the bondage of war, poverty, hunger, not through the
desert but through the vast ocean, which was no less a hardship than the desert. Finally, you are
in the land of milk and honey of America.
 Moses told the Israelites that:

 They would be blessed in the city and in the fields.

 They would have many children and ample crops.
 They would have large flocks and herds.
 Their enemies would be defeated; their enemies would come at them from one direction
but flee from them in seven directions.
 The Lord their God would bless them in the land He was giving them.
 The Lord would establish them as His holy people and grant them abundant prosperity.
 The Lord would open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rains on the land
at the right time and bless all the work of their hands.

All these blessings on the Israelites will be ours if -- yes, there is a condition -- if, as Moses
said, we fully obey the Lord our God and carefully follow all the commands He has given us.
Moses taught us to pray so that we would be accountable for how we spend the years that we
have ahead so that the blessings will be everlasting on us.

To be accountable to God for the time you have in life, first of all means that you must
visualize God's purpose in your life. You must ask God the question, "Out of many thousand
others, why did He choose to save you and bring you to America?" You have heard the story of
Moses, how he was saved from the hands of Pharaoh, got a royal education and a field
education in the desert. Moses was saved for a purpose: God chose him to lead the Israelites
out of the bondage of Egypt. God has saved your life. Definitely, He has a purpose for each of
your lives and you have the responsibility to find out what that purpose is.

Second, to be accountable to God for the time you have in your life means that you must
make the most of what He has already given you, for His benefit. You know the parable of the
talents which Jesus taught in Matthew 25:14-30 (TLB):
The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going
into another country, who called together his servants and loaned them
money to invest for him while he was gone. He gave $5,000 to one,
$2,000 to another, and $1,000 to the last -- dividing it in proportion
to their abilities -- and then left on his trip. The man who received
the $5,000 began immediately to buy and sell with it and soon earned
another $5,000. The man with $2,000 went right to work, too, and
earned another $2,000. But the man who received the $1,000 dug a hole
in the ground and hid the money for safekeeping.

After a long time, their master returned from his trip and called them to him to account for his
money. The man to whom he had entrusted the $5,000 brought him $10,000. His master
praised him for good work; ‘You have been faithful in handling this small amount,’ he told him,
‘so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Begin the joyous tasks I have assigned to
you.' Next came the man who had received the $2,000, with the report, 'Sir, you gave me
$2,000 to use, and I have doubled it.' 'Good work,' his master said. 'You are a good and faithful
servant. You have been faithful over this small amount, so now I will give you much more.'
Then the man with the $1,000 came and said, 'Sir, I knew you were a hard man, and I was afraid
you would rob me of what I earned, so I hid your money in the earth and here it is!' But his
master replied, 'Wicked man! Lazy slave! Since you knew I would demand your profit, you
should at least have put my money into the bank so I could have some interest. Take the money
from this man and give it to the man with the $10,000. For the man who uses well what he is
given shall be given more, and he shall have abundance. But from the man who is unfaithful,
even what little responsibility he has shall be taken from him and throw the useless servant out
into the outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

In the same way, God has given you your career, your family, your church. You are responsible
to put forward your utmost effort to make them a profit center for God. You must ask yourself,
"How can I make my career profitable for God?" "How can my family serve God?” [“How can
I use the skills and talents God has given me to serve Him through my church and help
others?”]

Third, to be accountable to God for the time you have in your life means that you must
continue the race that you are already involved in. I am not a "sports" person, but what I mean
is that you are already in a relay race. You must pick up the stick and continue the race. Father
Buckner had a vision for God more than 100 years ago and many others have continued to carry
out his vision. Recently, you have seen Dr. Campbell, Mr. Hine, Mr. Locket, Mr. Moyes, and
now Mr. Mercer. The younger generation should pick up the baton and continue the race. I
have hoped that the vision that God gave me to minister to needy Vietnamese children does not
stop at Cam Ranh City Christian Orphanage. It must go on because now the need is greater
than ever. I need some of you to have the same vision and grasp the stick and continue the race.
Recently, I have heard some of you mention something like that. I hope you continue in that
vision.
I have heard and witnessed the many success stories of your lives. Among Vietnamese
communities in the U.S., there have been many success stories, but there also have been many
stories of disaster. The message this morning is that the blessings from God are conditional
upon obedience to God's commands. Otherwise, the same blessings will become your curses.
Moses, in his prayer, stated that he knows the power of God's anger is great. Amen.