Battlefield

One day recently at the gym I took my Kindle and read all of Ephesians while using the treadmill. It took about 15 minutes. I gained a new perspective on Ephesians by reading the whole thing straight through. Paul begins by gloriously recounting our spiritual blessings in Christ – our election, our adoption, Jesus’ grace, our redemption, our forgiveness, God’s eternal purpose, our salvation, our inheritance. So many RICH blessings. Paul goes on to say how he prays for the saints in Ephesus. He gloriously expounds our salvation through faith by grace, which thus joins the Gentiles and Jews together through that faith in Christ. He then explains how we live that faith in our daily lives – how our lives change (putting off the old, putting on the new), how our character changes, how our relationships change. He ends his letter to the Ephesians with the armor of God. And this is what struck me most – this life, this new life in Christ, is a battle. From Ephesians 6¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵ and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; ¹⁷ and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, ¹⁸ praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.. Yes, I’ve read this section thousands of times before, but somehow in reading it all at once, I ‘got it’. The whole progression of God’s blessings in Christ leads to the battle with evil and we must stand firm in the Lord. I think so many times we read smaller portions of Scripture and we lose the whole. When God gives blessings and He works, Satan is right there attempting to devour like a lion. Satan doesn’t want us to enjoy God’s blessings, change our character, or have a new life. The spiritual battle isn’t out there; it’s here, it’s near, and it’s real.

First Visit to Seoul

This week we took a brief trip to Seoul for a day of Rest & Relaxation. The green space (below) provided a sense of relaxation, and the American-style hotel bed provided rest. 

Gyeongbokgung Palace - after visiting the Palace Museum for two hours we decided to skip walking through the Palace proper. It reminded us of Beijing's Forbidden City.

 

Instead we walked along the Gwanghwamun Square, which happened to host a food festival featuring displays of Korean food and beautifully carved gourds.

How about this for the next pumpkin carving contest?

This particular street reminded us of Hong Kong because of its angles.  We found all of Seoul's street extremely clean, gridded, well marked, and not too crowded.

We decided to ride the cable car up to North Seoul Tower instead of visiting the ancient palace. From the top we could view 360 degrees of Seoul. 

We marveled at the list prices of the Korean currency. I had a hard time getting used to such large numbers but 1 Korean won = .087 US cents so our ticket price in USD was $5.24 each.

N Seoul Tower is one of the top ten places in the world that people can lock down their love. "Inspired by ancient Chinese custom, two lovers seal a padlock to a gate, chain,[ or fence] and throw away the key. This locks down their love for eternity"
(http://geekandsundry.com/10-places-to-keep-your-love-locked-down-across-the-world/) 

We also stumbled upon this fun demonstration at the tower courtyard.

We entered the cable car area to the singing of "Monster Mash."

Overlooking Seoul. I love green space, but here the leaves at the Namsan Park looked like autumn.

We ended our stay in Seoul by choosing our own cut of beef and taking it upstairs to a Korean BBQ restaurant where we cooked the meat at our table. The hot wood ash grill reminded us of Argentinian asado.

The restaurant provided the side dishes - for a fee of course. A pleasant way to end our stay.

Neighbors??

True story: Today as we rode the subway home from BBC, we noticed a group of people enter the train. Sometimes people catch your attention just by their interactions. Oftentimes we try to offer our seats to elderly people but most of the time, they refuse. I guess they like to treat the foreigner well. Anyway, as I tried to stand up with all my belongings in hand, the lady in front of me actually pushed me back into my seat. Eventually they got a seat; the wife sat next to me, the husband sat next to Mark, another older lady sat further down, and the younger woman, Mindy, (maybe 40s) talked with us. Mindy spoke perfect English so between our broken Chinese and her perfect English, we had a fun conversation. Conversations always begin with “Where are you [we] from?” When we told them SC, the talk turned to Spartanburg. It turned out that the two older people were Mindy’s 85-year-old parents who had lived in Inman, SC with their second daughter and her family. All three of the daughters settled in different parts of the US and now have families – Mindy in San Jose, CA; the middle one in Inman, SC; the oldest one in Warsaw, IN. The middle one and the parents have since moved to Indiana, but we had fun talking about similar geographic areas. We told them our home is only about 30 minutes from Inman.  They told us about their four generations who now live in the US. Mindy and her parents were actually just visiting Beijing. 

This reminds me of the time in 2014 when we ran into Jeremiah, a Riverside High School graduate from Greer.

Feelings

Many people ask us how we are. We, as many do, have a tendency to answer with what we are doing, not HOW we are. There's a difference.

So here are some words that describe us recently:

Frustrated – we woke up yesterday to no hot water. It should come back on in 36 hours. Better than last time when it was 3 days.

Sad – that Rudy & "Tina" leave for Paris in about a month. What they originally planned for 6 months has turned into at least a year. She's sad, unsure of what life will be like there. She's afraid of being lonely because she doesn't speak French. She's afraid she won't find food and spices she likes.

Burdened – that three brothers at BBC have conflict and one has threatened to leave the church because of it. We want to see the true gospel applied to all their hearts in true redemption and forgiveness. 

Mad - I started yesterday mad at Mark and really had to pray that God would help me. I had no right to be angry on the inside and asked him to remove that anger. It took a while and lots of prayer and focusing on why Jesus died for me. Eventually God gave grace to overcome the anger and we had a good but tiring day.

Compassion – for an old man and his granddaughter who basically live on the street. The old man sells plants near our neighborhood and we see them often as we go about.

Ragged – from traveling all over town to meet people. Nothing takes less than an hour to get to. Some days it just feels good to stay at home.

Happy – that I am again teaching chemistry to teenagers. It gives me a focus and a purpose beyond our normal relationships.

Thankful – that we see God’s grace working in our own grown children. In talking with Alicia the other day, we talked about how do we see God working in our own lives? Sometimes we can’t see it in ourselves but we do see it in other people. We see them growing in the love and grace that can only come from a personal relationship with Jesus.

Thankful – that both Brent and Amy begin new jobs soon. God has provided for both of them in their respective fields.

Disappointed - that one of our dating couples recently broke off the relationship. Sometimes we wonder what this young generation seeks in relationships and how do we apply God's truth to this season of their lives. What does the gospel look like in these difficult moments?

Off to chemistry class soon. A one hour and 45 minute travel trip (one way) for a 2 hour class then meet a friend for dinner on the way home.

Ladies' Night

This year I hope to host or organize a monthly Ladies' Night to allow women to gather for dinner, fellowship, and prayer. By the quick response to the RSVP request, I think most ladies really like this idea.

After a dinner of baked potatoes and salad, we gathered together to pray around one of God's characteristics. I asked one young lady to tell us briefly about one of God's characteristics for us to meditate upon and pray around. She chose God's wisdom and directed our attention to this characteristic by reading a Bible verse and a passage from The Valley of Vision.

May we always know and seek God's wisdom because it forms the basis for all His other attributes.

Trip to Hong Kong With Mark & Diane

This year we plan to make a few trips out of the country. In our first three years Mark & I never traveled to neighboring countries so we hope to see other Asian cultures this year. For our first trip we met up with our good friends Mark & Diane in Hong Kong. We knew them in Beijing in 2013 before his employer relocated them. Now they live in southern China, about 2 hours from Hong Kong.  

After visiting Hong Kong, we decided that we prefer Beijing. Because the British originally owned Hong Kong, we liked the fact that most people spoke English, albeit with a British twist. We saw many more tourists here than in Beijing. But the British influence also dictated how Hong Kong developed. A local person told us that British land development allows a certain percentage (c. 60%) of land to be developed and the remainder stays 'green' or undeveloped. Therefore, Hong Kong's populations density outweighs Beijing's. We like Beijing's quietness and spaciousness. It's all relative. :)

One of many pedestrian bridges

Overlooking a street from a pedestrian bridge

A street
market

I don't know how to turn this picture 90 degrees, but notice how the bamboo scaffolding rests on the ground. Every area of HK had construction zones with bamboo scaffolding.

Steps up to a park

Looking across the bay

We rode the 10-minute ferry to reach the other side of the bay.

Almost every bus was a double-decker bus - another British influence.

Look at this at 90 degrees. Another example of bamboo construction protection.

Mark & Diane really wanted a western steak because they aren't available in their area.

Another example of British influence. I kept looking the opposite direction to cross the street.

People Stories - Anastasia

People Stories – Anastasia

As I read the recent news stories about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and Crimea, I remember the adage that there are always two sides (at least) to a story. We see the news reports and cringe when one bigger country invades another smaller country or annexes part of a small country because the first is bigger.  Why does that happen? What is the purpose? And more importantly, how does that affect people’s daily lives.

As always at the end of summertime in Beijing, we meet lots of people who come over to teach or to study.

Meet our new friend Anastasia. She comes from Crimea, pronounced /kraɪˈmiːə/. When she told us she’s from Crimea, I first thought of Ukraine. Isn’t Crimea that peninsula in Ukraine? Well, it was until Russia annexed it in 2014 into the Russian Federation. Anastasia doesn’t say she’s from Ukraine; she tells us that she’s from Crimea. So we receive new lessons in geography and cultures.

But how do all the politics affect daily life? Imagine a person from the US who can fly to any country in the world. Few countries would deny an American the freedom to choose where to vacation, where to study, where to go (assuming proper visas). Now imagine a person who wants to go to another country or region - America, Australia, Europe, anywhere - but can’t due to economic sanctions. She can only go to either India or China. Imagine pursuing university studies then in the middle of your student career the government changes the plans and stops offering your major. What do you do then? Anastasia planned to study English interpretation and translation but instead changed to English Education. Now imagine a 21-year-old university graduate, fluent in Russian and English, conversant in Spanish, moving to China to teach English to kindergarten children.   

Anastasia tells us that many people in Crimea appreciate the Russian influence that has raised workers’ wages, increased their pensions, and paved potholed roads. Yet in other ways, life became much more difficult because of the Western sanctions against Russia. Limited travel, fewer goods & services, water & electricity shortages, 80% inflation. For example, McDonald’s pulled out of Crimea as a result of the economic sanctions that also pushed out suppliers and major credit card companies. Many people regard having McDonald’s as a sign of economic progress. 

As Anastasia told her life story to us, we learned much of God’s grace in her life. Her family in Crimea attends a faithful church pastored by an American. At a young age, she lost her mother and still tears up when speaking of her. Her father has since remarried and continues to pass on faith in JC to his family.

Pray for Anastasia as she adjusts to life in Beijing.