Tie a yellow ribbon

Being a momma takes balls of steel. And I don't have balls of steel. I do have an amazing all powerful God though which is even better.

Today at MOPS, I was reminded that in Him anything is possible. It really is.

We listened to a message from Christopher Yuan. He is a Taiwanese man who knew at the age of 9 that he was gay. He came out of the closet when he was 22 and shared the news with his parents. His mom gave him an ultimatum to choose his family or to choose his sexuality. He chose his sexuality. At that time his mom and dad also had a terrible marriage and were heading towards divorce. His mom decided to make one last trip to see Christopher before she killed herself but the day before she went to see him, she went to see a minister. This minister gave her a small pamphlet about how Jesus loves us in spite of our sins and how nothing we can do can make Him love us less. His mom read this pamphlet on the train ride to visit Christopher and gave her life to Christ. That day she also chose to love her son in spite of his sin.

Christopher was in dental school getting his doctorate when he started selling drugs. He was also living a life of promiscuity on the gay scene. When the school found out, he was expelled.

From there he continued to sell drugs and have numerous anonymous sexual partners. His mom would send him cards every other day filled with verses, sermons, and hymns that she liked. Each was signed, "love you forever". He never read them and threw them out.

His mother prayed a bold and specific prayer that Jesus would do whatever it took to bring her son to Him and that all his friends would desert him. This prayer was answered one day when the Feds and 2 search dogs knocked on his door. They brought him to a detention center where none of his friends answered his collect call. His last call was home and his mom answered, "son, are you ok?"

He was sentenced to 6 years in prison and it was there that he learned more abt Jesus. The last thing holding him back from giving his life over to Jesus was his homosexuality. It was who he was. His identity. Then he read the verse "be holy because I am holy"- that was life changing for him. He realized that God didn't say be heterosexual because I am heterosexual or be homosexual because I am homosexual. He said "be holy for I am holy". He then chose to give his life to Christ.

He felt called to seminary and in prison applied to Moody Bible Institute. He was accepted and a few months after being released from prison (they lessened his sentence to 3 yrs), he began. After finishing at Moody, he went to Wheaton and completed his graduate degree.

Christopher's mother fasted every Monday for 7 years for her son. One time she fasted for 39 days straight. She asked many people to pray on behalf of her son. She kept running after her son despite his constant rejection. This is as much her story as it is his.

At the end of his talk, he read the last chapter of his and his mom's book. He shared how his parents came to pick him up from prison and upon arriving at home he saw a yellow ribbon. As he opened the door he heard the song "tie a yellow ribbon". His mom said it was playing on repeat since they had left to get him. She wanted that to be the first thing he heard upon coming home. When he opened the front door, he saw tons of yellow ribbons in the room. Each had a message written by someone that had been praying for him all those years.

Amazing.

I was so encouraged by his mother who chose to love her son despite it all. I was reminded that it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance. Not His anger. Not His wrath. In the midst of having some tough times with my SP, I was challenged to pour out more grace, more love and more kindness upon her. I was also challenged to pray ever more fervently for her (and us) and to persevere.

His story touched and spoke to me as I'm sure it will for you.


*what I shared of Christopher's story is what I remember from this morning so some parts may not be fully accurate. I tried to relay the general idea of his points.