God loves to tell a story; he tells his story in his word –
the Bible. Readers of the Bible today see how he put his story together from
beginning to end – his story of redeeming a group of people for himself to
glorify him. Yet individual stories form the whole of his large story.
Recently we received an email with great news from our
friends Hector and Bessie, yet that news is part of a larger story. Let me go
back to the beginning of when and how we first met Hector and Bessie. We tell
this story often because it speaks of God’s sovereignty and graciousness. I
give many details here because God interwove them into this beautiful story.
I distinctly remember where Mark and I were when he received
the phone call in early 2014. In the midst of a busy intersection in Beijing’s
Wudaoku area on our way to Chinese tutoring, Mark took a call from a woman who
said, “Hi I’m Bessie. Can you marry my boyfriend and me?” To my untrained ears
among the sounds of traffic and Chinese pedestrians, I assumed this woman
sounded Chinese so Mark and I discussed how to point her and her boyfriend to
an appropriate Christian couple. Imagine our surprise when she and her
boyfriend, Hector, came to Beijing Baptist Church the next Sunday. They weren’t
Chinese at all but El Salvadoran.
During those first several months of 2014, we built a solid
friendship with Hector and Bessie, spending time together, discussing many
different topics, asking questions about their understanding and faith in the
gospel, and seeking to apply the gospel to their life. In March 2014, Mark
performed their marriage ceremony. However, over time, life circumstances and a
growing family contributed to them not coming to church. Life in Beijing living far away from church
without a car, with children, is just plain difficult. At a few points during that time, we did catch
up with them briefly.
Fast forward to February 2018. Mark and I had settled into a
hotel room in Hyderabad, India when he received a text saying “This is Hector,
your prodigal son.…” What a pleasant surprise! Thus began a reconnecting and
re-establishing of our friendship. Hector reached out for help in their family
life. So, over several months after our return, we met often to talk about how
the gospel applies to our lives as husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers.
In May 2018, Nate & Julia, former Beijing Baptist Church
members, returned to participate in BBC life for a two-month assignment from
Nate’s seminary. Over the years Julia and Bessie occasionally stayed in touch
thanks to technology and Facebook so when Nate & Julia came to Beijing and
lived near Hector and Bessie, the families spent a lot of time together.
On July 9 while home in the States, we received an email
from Bessie to update us on their lives. She included this sentence: “I am writing you to tell you that I became
a Christian two weeks ago with the help of Julia.” Then she went on to explain
how God used Julia to help her understand true forgiveness. She ended her email
with the following: “I would like to say thank you for everything you guys have
done for me and Hector for not giving up on us, since we first met and from the
time we came back to church. We have been going every week instead of twice a
month, our marriage and our parenting has improved a lot ☺️.”
In God’s story, God never gives up on
us; He is always faithful to his promises and his character. We can trust him
because in his word, he continually speaks of his steadfast love, his covenant
love. His is a story of redeeming people for himself. He is faithful; he will
do it. He proves this in the lives of Hector and Bessie and their family.
Rejoice with Hector and Bessie and continue to pray that God
will grant them faith, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, especially as it
applies to their family.
We look forward to living life with them again when we return to Beijing in late August.
