{"id":47,"date":"2012-10-04T07:12:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T07:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/"},"modified":"2012-10-04T07:12:00","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T07:12:00","slug":"can-you-take-the-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Take the Heat?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Before they married, Mama told Baba she wanted to raise her children as Christians.\u00a0 He agreed, neglecting to tell her until after their wedding that he was actually an apostate. \u00a0Throughout my childhood, Baba\u2019s apostasy brought out the energy in him.<\/div>\n
\"Baba<\/a>\n
Baba and my son at Tuanapalooza 2012\u2013a Disney cruise celebrating Baba\u2019s 80th birthday<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI,\u201d he would proclaim, pointer finger in the air, chuckling with glee, deep dimples carving grooves into his round cheeks, \u201cam an APOSTATE!\u00a0 Ha ha!\u201d<\/div>\n
I never understood why he thought this was so funny, or what an apostate actually was.\u00a0 Yet that this word merited not only the raised finger, but chortles and a devilish glint behind his tortoiseshell glasses, didn\u2019t bode well for his eternal life in heaven.<\/div>\n
When I found out that apostates purposefully leave their faith, presumably because they\u2019ve lost all faith, I was even more horrified.\u00a0 For while there may be some grace for those who backslide, for those who purposefully turn their backs on Jesus\u2013chuckling no less\u2013surely only damnation and the fires of hell await?<\/div>\n
Then, when I was in 8th<\/sup>\u00a0grade Baba came back to Jesus.\u00a0 And I began to learn his faith history, a great story I don\u2019t have space to give justice.\u00a0 In sum, as the first Chinese to win an Open Scholarship to Oxford, Baba dreamt of becoming the first Chinese Oxford don (professor).\u00a0 All this internal pressure led to a near nervous breakdown during his finals at Oxford.\u00a0\u00a0 A lady campus minister who loved internationals prayed with him and introduced him to Jesus.<\/div>\n
4 years later, when his mother died of pancreatic cancer,\u00a0he rejected the same Jesus who had saved his mental health.\u00a0 Although the doctors saw no hope, Baba spent all night in the hospital chapel beseeching God for his mother\u2019s life. \u00a0She made a turn for the better.\u00a0 And then she died.<\/div>\n
It felt like God didn\u2019t just stab him with a knife, but twisted and turned it with glee.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t stop believing God existed.\u00a0 He just didn\u2019t want to follow a God who allowed such pain. \u00a0So he became an apostate for over 20 years.<\/div>\n
Tomorrow, I direct a graduate student retreat with 201 attendees where we\u2019ll study the story of Daniel and his friends with the theme \u201cCan You Take the Heat?\u201d \u00a0Sunday we\u2019ll focus on Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego who are thrown in the fiery furnace for refusing to bow and worship the idol King Nebuchadnezzer creates out of gold.<\/div>\n
Baba says if he had read or understood the faith of these 3 friends, he would never have become an apostate. \u00a0Like Baba, these men were international students living in exile. \u00a0Like Baba, they\u2019d been extraordinarily successful. \u00a0But when faced with a crisis, they said:<\/div>\n
\n
King Nebuchadnezzar. . . if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it. . .\u00a0<\/strong>But even if he does not. . . we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. Daniel 3: 16-18<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In the same exuberant way he used to wave his forefinger and proclaim his apostasy, Baba now proclaims, \u201cThat\u2019s what I didn\u2019t understand! \u00a0Their God is ABLE to deliver them, but EVEN IF HE DOES NOT!!!!\u00a0 They still will not bow.\u201d<\/div>\n
God sometimes says yes and sometimes says no. \u00a0But no matter what He says, the good news is God shows up in the furnace\u2013the fourth figure in the fire. \u00a0In the story, the 3 friends can \u201ctake the heat\u201d because God shows up to bear it with them.<\/div>\n
55 years ago, Baba\u2019s fragile faith couldn\u2019t handle God saying no. \u00a0It\u2019s hard for me too. \u00a0 But 55 years ago, in the furnace of grief, Jesus stood with Baba in the pain even if he couldn\u2019t see Him. \u00a0And 35 years ago, Jesus welcomed Baba back\u2013raised forefinger and all.<\/div>\n
This was first published on What She Said<\/i><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before they married, Mama told Baba she wanted to raise her children as Christians.\u00a0 He agreed, neglecting to tell her until after their wedding that he was actually an apostate. \u00a0Throughout my childhood, Baba\u2019s apostasy brought out the energy in him. Baba and my son at Tuanapalooza 2012\u2013a Disney cruise celebrating Baba\u2019s 80th birthday \u201cI,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCan You Take the Heat?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Before they married, Mama told Baba she wanted to raise her children as Christians.  He agreed, neglecting to tell her until after their wedding that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can You Take the Heat?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Before they married, Mama told Baba she wanted to raise her children as Christians.  He agreed, neglecting to tell her until after their wedding that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wordy Nerdy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-04T07:12:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/whatshesaid\/files\/2012\/10\/IMG_7423-300x257.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kathy Tuan-MacLean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kathy Tuan-MacLean\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/\",\"name\":\"Can You Take the Heat?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-04T07:12:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-10-04T07:12:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/6c6dda68d7ed6c26af1b35b058709a90\"},\"description\":\"Before they married, Mama told Baba she wanted to raise her children as Christians.  He agreed, neglecting to tell her until after their wedding that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can You Take the Heat?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/\",\"name\":\"Wordy Nerdy\",\"description\":\"Musings on faith, motherhood and thriving in our multi-cultural modern world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/6c6dda68d7ed6c26af1b35b058709a90\",\"name\":\"Kathy Tuan-MacLean\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/298d6554af3ccf7dc0d5c597a5c183d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/298d6554af3ccf7dc0d5c597a5c183d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kathy Tuan-MacLean\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/author\/ktuanmaclean\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can You Take the Heat?","description":"Before they married, Mama told Baba she wanted to raise her children as Christians.  He agreed, neglecting to tell her until after their wedding that","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can You Take the Heat?","og_description":"Before they married, Mama told Baba she wanted to raise her children as Christians.  He agreed, neglecting to tell her until after their wedding that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/","og_site_name":"Wordy Nerdy","article_published_time":"2012-10-04T07:12:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/whatshesaid\/files\/2012\/10\/IMG_7423-300x257.jpg"}],"author":"Kathy Tuan-MacLean","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kathy Tuan-MacLean","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/","name":"Can You Take the Heat?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-04T07:12:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-10-04T07:12:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/6c6dda68d7ed6c26af1b35b058709a90"},"description":"Before they married, Mama told Baba she wanted to raise her children as Christians.  He agreed, neglecting to tell her until after their wedding that","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2012\/10\/can-you-take-the-heat\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can You Take the Heat?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/","name":"Wordy Nerdy","description":"Musings on faith, motherhood and thriving in our multi-cultural modern world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/6c6dda68d7ed6c26af1b35b058709a90","name":"Kathy Tuan-MacLean","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/298d6554af3ccf7dc0d5c597a5c183d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/298d6554af3ccf7dc0d5c597a5c183d2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kathy Tuan-MacLean"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/author\/ktuanmaclean\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}