"The Beast" - Nov. 24

Tuesday, Nov. 24

 

TIC

TIC - This is China.

Wednesday morning about 4am Mark & I woke up to a strange beeping sound in our apartment. I got up and walked around to see if I could figure out what it was. It beeped every few minutes so I tried to follow it and noticed that the electrical box installed above our circuit breaker had red blinking lights. Hmmm.... maybe that was the problem but the sound didn't come from that direction. Since I needed to get up early to get ready for school, I went back to bed. I must have fallen asleep because after a while I didn't hear the beep anymore. However, upon getting up with my alarm clock, I heard the beep again every 2-3 minutes.

After school that day, I met up with Mark and he told me how it turned out. He called our wonderful landlady and she sent a maintenance man. He came early in the morning just as Mark was half-way dressed after his shower and when he was in the middle of fixing his French-pressed coffee. The maintenance man brought his trusted tools - wire cutters and a screwdriver. In about 30 seconds, he confidently knew the problem and cut a wire in the electrical box, and viola, no more beeping. In the process he received a electrical shock, jumped backwards, then flipped the power switch on. Wait -- no power either! He had cut off all the electricity. As Mark finished his coffee in the dark, the maintenance man moved back and forth between the outside hall and the apartment about 8 times until he finally came back with electrical tape and twisted the wires back together. Now we had power and no more beeping.  Success!

Beauty before the Beast

Winter weather is a-comin' so I thought I would take a few pictures of our beautiful yellow gingko trees that line the street near our apartment before they drop their leaves. We love this view as we enter the complex. 

The weather forecast predicts unusually cold temperatures for the next week or so with possibilities of several inches of snow. In fact, it flurried on my walk to school this morning. Nothing stuck to the ground yet, but it surely will soon.

God vs. sin - who wins?

This week has been a very difficult week dealing with a crisis of sin. Sin is ugly. Sin is deceptive. Sin entangles. Sin enslaves. Sin entraps. But the gospel is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16) So we point people (and us) to forgiveness in Jesus Christ and repentance and faith in Him. They must forgive each other, they must repent before Jesus, and they must turn from their wicked ways and obey Jesus. There is no other way.

When God is on the move, when sin is exposed and people repent, Satan fights back. He hates repentance and will distract and discourage. Sometimes we feel the opposition in the spirit; sometimes we feel it when things, like technology, don't work like they normally do. This week my laptop battery quit recharging. The next day my 15-month-old, perfectly good smartphone developed a 'black screen of death'. It won't display anything so I can't use it. Am I superstitious? I don't think so. 

In our devotions together with Pam this morning, we read Psalm 103 to remind us of who God is and what He has done. 

Psalm 103:6-14

6 The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
    his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
    he remembers that we are dust

Korean friends

Recently we invited over for dinner a Korean couple whom we met last spring when they first began attending BBC. The husband is here working for a steel company for the next few years. We enjoyed hearing their story, how they met, and how they are adjusting to life here.

with Hong & Ju

Singapore friends

Our new Singaporean friends - Macy, Grace, Lucas (Grace's boyfriend), and Linni,
They are all study-abroad students for one semester. Lucas came to visit Grace during a break from his studies in Switzerland.

Preparation for Marriage

Because we believe the Word teaches that marriage is a sacred covenant instituted by God at Creation and marriage is a commitment for a lifetime, we very strongly encourage (require?) engaged couples to go through pre-marital counseling before making this sacred but often difficult commitment. Below are four couples that Mark currently provides counseling for. This is just one of the things we do here.

Barnabas from Hungary and Gracelee from the Philippines.
They come over every other Saturday morning for pre-marital counseling
then often we eat lunch together.

Anna & Andrew both from Florida but two different cities about 4 hours away from each other.
As one Chinese friend said, not far away.
They have Skype pre-marital counseling sessions when they are together.

Valerie & Christopher (our nephew) from New Mexico.
They also have Skype pre-marital counseling sessions.

"Tina" from here and Rudy from Cameroon & France.
They come over every other Monday night after work for dinner and pre-marital counseling.