Highlight of the Summer

(note: I posted this on my Facebook page and will probably include it in an upcoming newsletter for those of you who follow either of them, so you don't have to read it three times-- just thought it was a story worth sharing :) :) )

I have been in this China land for four and a half years and I am still taking it in, some moments as if it were for the first time all over again. I am overjoyed by the beauty of the people here. Even with each passing week, it never becomes dull (and when it does, I know I need to change my attitude). Each day is a new day to experience- to laugh, to cry, to get angry, to feel peace, to be misunderstood, to communicate, to love, to share, to proclaim, to LIVE. My goal (although I often come up short, thanking Him for His grace) has always been to show what it means "to have life, and to have it abundantly". To lose everything in order to gain it all. To be pushed down in order to be lifted up. To empty ourselves in order to be filled again. Instead, many of these students and members of the community strive to live out what the world has taught them, going through each day trying to be successful, to make their parents proud, to study harder, to be "happy", and to live out their life motto: "I believe in myself." They fill their lives with all these things that cannot bring satisfaction, true peace, and true joy. They are held captive to hollow philosophy. Life to them is only about the here and now. Their goal is to "make life more beautiful" for THIS world, without any wonder in what the NEXT one can behold. They dance around trying to make their way in this world only to be gone from it without having experienced LIFE as One meant it to be lived. The burden for these people becomes almost too much to bear sometimes, but I rest each night because there is Someone who loves them more than I ever could. I have a story to share and I am eager for anybody willing to take the time to listen. And yet, I know that even if they don't, I'm still sharing it anyway. Because occassionally one person really is listening even though I don't always know it.

This weekend I had the chance to visit a close Chinese friend- someone who did listen. Someone who did hear the Story. Someone who did embrace LIFE. Every June 1st she celebrates her REAL birthday. She lives out her simple faith day by day. At first I acted as kind of a mentor to her, but in the end it was she that taught me so much.
After I moved up north, I wasn't able to see her for over a year. It didn't seem to matter because I knew our paths would cross again in a different time, in a different place. But, this weekend I made an effort to visit her hometown of Guangzhou, a vibrant city historically known as Canton, close to Hong Kong. She has since graduated from university and is making her way in the world. It's a tough world out there sometimes, especially for China. The only thing I can do is intercede for her. Yet we often forget how powerful this intercession is. Knowing that the same Someone she embraced several years ago is holding her together still.
About a month ago my team in the north embarked for America to spend the summer months. I decided for my own reasons to stay behind ("holding down the fort" so to speak :) ). I have sincerely enjoyed travelling from the north to visit old friends in my old stomping grounds of south-central China. I enjoy interacting with such precious people in my life. I love surprising the fruit ladies and the gatekeepers with my presence, able to communicate with them in Chinese much better than I could a year ago. :) :). It is my joy to chase the kids around the neighborhood and swap stories with old teacher colleagues. But in the midst of all this busyness and reunion, I longed for fellowship with brothers and sisters. I had run into two sisters at the local fellowship last Sunday, but time with them was all too brief. I longed for that Community that only this family knows. When I went to visit my Chinese sister I found the fellowship I had been asking for. It turned out to be the highlight of my summer.
We visited her home and favorite places, we took long walks (sneaking into air-conditioned places from time to time simply to escape the heat), we ate dim sum and southern cuisine, and we talked deep into the night (I felt like I was 12 years old again having slumber parties) :). I was able to meet her Community- a band of faithful people who meet together bi-weekly for encouragement, reading, and intercession (it's all legit, don't worry). I met with them two times, the first of which was more casual, and the second with the whole group on Sunday. During the first group time, they spontaneously asked me to lead the group in my thoughts on passages (I didn't see this coming and had it been in a formal venue I wouldn't have been able to- it was humbling watching these young people lean over taking in anything I had to offer, they are starving for understanding and strive to go deeper. Humbling, indeed!). This is one of the most open places in China I've been to. Sunday's fellowship was amazing- people were lifting up their hands in exaltation and singing the choruses with loud exclamation. I couldn't help the tears, nor did I want to stop them. The choir sang a song taken from Ps. 139- my life verses being parts 9 and 10 (my friend, knowing this, leaned over to me and whispered that this was great, as if they knew I was coming :) ). In CHINA! It was such a delight! Recently I've been studying heavily on reading the Chinese language. Reading Chinese characters can be challenging (that's the understatement of the year) and I feel like I'm losing some of my eyesight :), but I tell you, when you start reading the Good Book in Chinese and are able to finally sing with them from their old songbooks, it makes all those hours worth it and more. I was reading with them in their own language (and partly in mine)! Two worlds were coming together to unite as one family before One Person. I listened to some of their stories. I listened to their heart's burden and desire for their families. I listened as they spoke how the blessings of Him in Matthew 5 applied to their lives. I felt like I had come home.
While at my friend's grandmother's house (where her grandmother made a simple meal of beef and spinach, thankfully) this sister told me her grandmother's story. When her grandmother was younger her family was pretty rich. Even with 14 brothers and sisters, they never had a need. That is, until her father died. The mother couldn't raise everyone on her own, so she kept the boys and sold all the girls. Sold. For a price. Luckily, my friend's grandmother was 17 at the time and was at an age to get married. She basically found the first man she could find who would agree to her and got married. She never saw her sisters again. The man she married was an honest man who treated her well and respected her, raising two boys, though my friend didn't know if they ever found love. They were poor and she has lived in this simple wooden house ever since. I don't think my friend's grandmother ever harbored bitterness against her mother for that because that was simply the life of the times. It was hard and while it doesn't make it right, I don't think it is our place to judge. My own mother could tell you stories about this as this has become her life's passion (to research the plight of women around the world who are victim to the world system of our times and then implore people to intercede for them). This is only to say that the legacy from which my friend came was a really hard one. THIS is the story from which she came from. Her grandmother keeps a shrine in her house to which she offers incense regularly. My friend has made it clear that she will no longer offer incense, a bold step for her but one she has been respected for. The incense burning is more of a cultural thing than a religious thing, my friend says, and her grandmother does it to pay respect to her ancestors. I can't help wondering if she is thinking of her sisters as well.
My friend has shared with her family. A little more than a year after she embraced Life, she was in the hospital facing surgery to remove a stomach tumor a year and a half ago (Christmas Day), my team and I visited her every day. I think she was encouraged by our visits, but she requested that someone bring her her most treasured Book. It was really tough watching her tears and trying to answer the hard questions she faced. It broke my heart when she asked if she was being punished. It was through the Book and the reassurance of His love found in those pages that she found her peace. Over the next months she became even stronger- even when the tumor returned six months later. (today it is completely gone- Praise Him!) During those long hours at the bedside in the hospital, she was able to share with her father. And he listened. Her parents allow her to go to fellowship weekly, even asking her questions about it from time to time. We only ask that their hearts will soften and that they will experience real LIFE, too.

On the way to Guangzhou (a six hour train ride from where I'm staying for the month), I didn't have a seat. Knowing that ahead of time, I brought a little stool with me and claimed a small space between train cars (I wish I had a picture of this). I opened my book and read. Ravi Zacharias is one of my favorite speakers of all time. I went to college with his son Nathan (though, I did not know Nathan personally). He spoke at a leadership conference I attended my senior year. I was reading his autobiography entitled "Walking from East to West" (subtitled "God in the Shadows"). I did not know his story, so I did not know what to expect from such a memoir. In the middle of that train, sitting on a hard little stool next to the smokers and squatty potties (adding chickens to the scene would have made the picture complete, don't ya think?) :), I don't remember the last time I had so much joy. :) Reading Ravi's words about how our Father touched his life, taking him from a small village in south India to speaking before the United Nations assembly and other great world leaders, deeply touched my heart. Tears did not hesitate to fall. In one chapter he mentioned an extended trip to Vietnam and spoke of a dear older single lady named Helen Evans to whom he sent a Mother's Day card every year, a woman who referred to him as her son. I was amazed for this lady has played a huge role in my own life- from the time I was a three-year old in Indonesia, to supporting me (taking from her meager Social Security checks) here in China now! Testimony after testimony filled the pages, intervention of the Spirit after intervention. I realized (not for the first time) that our Dad is amazing! That word (amazing) cannot even begin to describe it. There are not enough words in any language to describe the greatness of our Father. It can only be expressed through the language of the most pure heart (the verse for sunday's fellowship in Guangzhou was "blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.").
On the way back from Guangzhou (this time in a nice seat :) ) I was reading the last few chapters of Ravi Zacharias' book when a man interrupted my thoughts. I looked up (expecting a small Chinese man) and was so startled to see a large Pakistani man with a big beard dressed in his Pakistani clothing. He nearly scared me to death with his large presence :) :). He was smiling and friendly, so I invited him to engage in conversation. In his heavy Pakistani accent he started asking me questions in which I thought at first would turn out to be a casual small talk (where all the questions are the same, and I already knew my exact answers). Instead, I was completely surprised. He asked me questions in this exact order: "Are you Englishman?" No, American. "Are you a Christian?" I paused, smiled, and said, beaming, "yes, yes I am." I never get that question from the Chinese, but this man seemed to know where we get our true identity. He was from Urumqi (the capital of Xinjiang province in far northwest China, the place I have felt a calling toward for the past year and a half-- and here we were in the far southeast, both of us far from "home"). I began to think that this was all a Godsend. :) What's really amazing is that this encounter came right after I finished reading these words in the Ravi's book where he quoted David Livingstone as saying "Lord, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties but the ties that bind me to your service and to your heart."
I only pray that this may be so. For me. For my friend in Guangzhou. For my Chinese brothers and sisters who take time to listen to the Story- those family members that are not yet, but someday. We share of which there is no greater Hope.