It is Christmas Eve. Jon and I have been working at Hebei FInancial COllege for the past 9 hours of our lives, giving oral exams to about 150 students. He is still there as I write this.
And I am grateful to my King for the honor and privelage of the office. Amelia, Tim, and Emily came to visit Jon and I for lunch: they didn't have to do that, as it is a 30-minute bus ride to our campus from their apartments. However, made this value decision in full view of His mercy, to offer their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to their Father. This decision, indeed, helped to loose the shackles of tyranny that we face together as a team on a microcosmic scale, ones that so obviously keep so many here from tasting the freedom of not conforming any longer to the patterns of this world, but being transformed by the renewing of their minds, to test and discern His will. We did not merely eat lunch today, the five of us, with Robert (a senior student at Hebei College of Finance), stuffing ourselves so that we might live another hour or day or years as "happy everyday"--a term students repeat often here. This thought is a fearful plunge into death that we choose not to take, instead rerouting our journey in the face of fear to the foot of a mountain of Love:
There is no fear in love; but perfect love drives out fear: because fear torments. He that fears is not made perfect in love.
We love Him because he loved us first. If a man say, I love Him, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother who he has seen, how can he love Him who he has not seen?
And this command have we from Him, that he who loves Him loves his brother also."
I rode on the bus today after work, the #37, and didn't get a seat, which disappointed me because I wanted to write words down on paper. Instead, I was given Jiao: a Chinese boy who was very excited to be standing next to me during this grand adventure through the streets of Baoding.
I didn't want to talk to him. I would be lying if I said that I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. However, each time I felt my thoughts drift toward disengagement, I forced myself to look at him at ask him more about his life. At one point, I called him "brother," which is exactly what we are: both objects of wrath searching desperately for the chemical to dissolve our chains of slavery.
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dude, i love the laubach quote. very, very applicable for me as well, though its already been a tough beginning back in the states during this transition. still, i'm excited for the new year and all the possibilities and stuff that will be coming my way back at school. praying for strength and endurance for you there man. hope the holidays in a different part of the world were a blessing and not just lonely (though its amazing how it can be both at once). you're awesome. peace
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