It is Sunday afternoon, May 30, as I write this. On my way to church this morning I felt some chafing inside my heart from the behavior I see around me. Graffiti is beginning to appear on walls, like in America, and that way of making a statement tends to irritate me. Disrespect of authority is also gradually getting to me. In general the lack of Christian principles all around me is drawing my focus and that bothers me. I sat in church this morning and realized that I was not connecting as I should to what was happening there.
Joy, my pastor and interpreter here at the church, always stops to talk with me before each church service. What a joy it has been to teach with her over the years. We have plans to teach together again in the fall, going through the book of Philippians. She always gives me the Scripture readings for the morning in English so I can follow along. She also tells me the sermon title and a brief outline.
More and more people are reaching out to me there and I feel their love and warmth. This morning they knew this was my last Sunday and I felt like a family member that was leaving. It was so special. After almost everyone had left, a mother, her daughter and granddaughter approached me. The mother was all smiles as her daughter spoke to me in English and her little granddaughter got real close to me and said, “Hello.” Her daughter has been a student at a Boston college and was home to visit her mom. She will return for advance work on piano performance and organ. We talked and talked and felt so close to each other. She asked for my email and asked if we could stay in touch. Being paired up with family units like this is a growing ministry for me and is one I really enjoy. I look forward to see how this relationship develops with this family.
P.S. Since I am scheduled so far ahead on blog entries, I want to share one more thing here. I had lunch with Lisa on Friday and learned that she has an excellent contract with the number one university in Wuhan. It is a university all western teachers long to be at, but few obtain contracts. Father answered our prayers for Lisa and did a great work in her heart and provided healing and a job. What a joy it has been for me to go through this major time of difficulty with her and witness firsthand the power of God at work. At first we ask, “Why, God?” when we blow a tire along the roadway of life, but we soon learn that while we are stopped to fix the flat he has a chance to fix the heart. How beautiful this is.
As I end this today, my heart is so full because he is so good.
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