Lindsay Blake

When Jim Brewer said yes to being a part of Christ For the City International’s Asia vision team, he expected to serve and support others—not to be undone by a dinner cruise.

Thailand was wonderful, just as planned. But Vietnam… Vietnam was different. What was meant to be a peaceful evening on a boat in Saigon turned into a collision with 50 years of buried pain. Jim and the team had unknowingly stepped into the middle of the country’s official celebration: the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. The war was over, and they had won—and they were partying.

Uniformed Vietnamese soldiers filled the boat. There were toasts, speeches, laughter. Celebration.

And all Jim could feel was hate.

“My dad fought in Vietnam,” he said. “He came back a wrecked man. A drunk. Our family never recovered. All I’ve ever known is that those guys were the enemy. That’s what I grew up with. So to be surrounded by them—celebrating—that shook me. I was so angry I didn’t even know what to do.”

But then a pastor on the team turned to him and asked a simple question: Why don’t we go have a conversation with these guys?

Jim hesitated. Then—why not?

As he looked into the eyes of one of the Vietnamese veterans, something unexpected happened.

“The Lord opened my eyes,” he said. “I saw that he was just as broken as my father. And in an instant, I felt something from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I literally felt the healing hand of God. I don’t even know how to explain it.”

Fifty years of bitterness, grief, and unprocessed trauma—gone in a moment.

The very people he had despised embraced him. One soldier insisted on introducing Jim to his commanding officer. Another hugged him.

“I couldn’t have anticipated any of this,” he said. “I went to minister—and God ministered to me.”

All the things he thought would be difficult—the war tunnels, the museums, the memorials—none of that touched him like that boat ride. That boat, that moment, was where the Lord did something miraculous.

“I never pictured myself going to Vietnam. Never thought I’d want to,” Jim said. “But God knew. He knew I needed healing I didn’t even realize I was still waiting for.”

It was the most emotional part of the trip—for all the right reasons.

“I held a grudge for 50 years. And in a single moment, God healed me.”