Back Home in Beijing

We are now back in Beijing. Mark and I are together again in the Middle Kingdom. When I walked into BBC on Sunday after 3 months away, I really felt like I was home. Our apartment, on the other hand, took a little while longer. When I arrived, I discovered I needed to scrub the kitchen, throw out trash, and restore order.

Ironically all this occurred after I had been pondering the idea of investing in eternity. I didn’t do well on that front. I complained and griped a lot while I cleaned. I was more interested in my clean house at that moment than eternity. After all, heaven is clean, isn’t it? JK

But seriously, the Lord did convict me of my attitude. Yet how I wanted to cling to my attitude of wanting what I wanted. I wanted a clean home and I wanted everyone (Mark) in my path to know that. Unfortunately, that bad attitude carried over to other areas. Sin spreads; it affects everything. How is it that I can say I want to obey and glorify the Lord yet at the same time wallow in my sin? How can I have a complaining, griping attitude and say I love the Lord? How can I still feel the tug of a sinful attitude even after I acknowledge and confess it to the Lord? I had to wrestle through this and come to Jesus. Confession and repentance. That’s hard. I had to remember why Jesus died, for me. He took the burden of my sin on his shoulders. His death accomplished the punishment so I don’t have to. In that I find forgiveness – and the freedom that goes with it. I feel Romans 7 very keenly but also know that Romans 8 follows right behind.

Romans 7

15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 

Romans 8

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  

On the other hand, it was good to be back at BBC where we belong. I love the people here, some of whom have been here since we arrived in Aug. 2013. I love the tight-knit community of BBC. I love their smiles, their hearts, their love for Jesus in a place that is so different from our home countries. This is the body of Christ, blended from so many nationalities, cultures, and languages. 

Yes, we are home - in Beijing.

A word from our daughter Kristen....

From Kristen's Facebook post on September 2, 201

Overwhelmed and humbled to announce the birth of our daughter Caroline Elizabeth Odom on August 29th at 5:33pm weighing 7lb 13oz. As some may have heard, it has been a complicated and scary road post delivery. I am overwhelmed and thankful to have been carried in the hands of my Great Physician and Father in Heaven during some of my scariest hours and given the chance to be mommy and wife moving forward. I am stunned by the love of my husband, Brent Odom, who has served me and loved me in ways he never imagined he would have to when he vowed to love me on our wedding day. I am eternally grateful for the skillful hands and wise actions on the part of Dr. Matthew Smith from Highlands Center for Women and the amazing team of nurses, doctors, and care takers at St. Francis Hospital. I am also so very thankful for The Blood Connection and all those who take the time to donate blood and plasma making it possible for me to receive the 22 units of blood products I needed to be here today. We are humbled and so very grateful for the love of our parents, churches, and community who have been with us around the clock and loved on our sweet girl when I was not available, from those who have donated milk, Lindsay Abarotin and Sabrina Fields, to those who have brought us meals, prayed with us and supported us in ways that mean more than you will ever know. I am humbled and grateful that we can share our story and that God is good!

Psalm 118:28-29

 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
    you are my God; I will extol you.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever!

Aug. 30 - one day old

Sept. 4 - home at last!!