First Sixty Three

We have now been in Beijing, China for sixty three hours. There is much to tell, but pictures will be few. More on that later...

God was so kind in giving us a good trip to this mega-city, a welcomed relief after the faith stretching wait for the visas last week. Still struggling with jet lag and the normal acclimation to a new place, bed,sights, smells, language, faces, etc. Cheryl is still sleeping now as I right this in the sunny study at Mark and Diane Koslicki's 18th floor apartment in Beijing's Central Business District. Diane has blessed me with a freshly brewed cup of morning gold: Starbucks coffee. It is 7:10 AM and 12 degrees Celsius. I can see across the avenue the China World Tower, Beijing's tallest structure at sixty four floors. It is connected to the China World Mall, a world-class outlet that I am sure would rival its counterparts in New York, Paris, or Dubai. There is a steady stream of traffic on the major north-south highway (Jian Guo Men Wai Road) here on the southeast side of town.

I have had difficulty sleeping these last three mornngs. Thoughts and prayers of/for our children, my sermons, our church and lives in Greenville, SC, and the church here in Beijing have been dancing in my head. How do we assess opportunities that God puts in front of us? Why travel 9,000 miles to pastor an ex-pat church in China when there is ministry opportunity 90' across your cul-de-sac?  What does it mean to love our children and parents faithfully from a distance? Can we justify going simply because we possess technology to shrink the miles? What is the criteria for going or staying? The cool thing is that we can trust God as we pray, counsel, search his word, think critically and well - knowing that we are not the first to wrestle with such questions. And we have the promise of His wisdom (Lord, I want all of it!) to guide us. We need not fear...

Let me share about our church experience at Bejing Baptist Church yesterday morning. It took forty-five minutes from the Koslicki's apartment to travel to the church in the northeast corner of the city: walk, ride a surprisingly crowded subway (well marked!), and walk some more on an exquisitely beautiful morning. The air quality (AQI) was very low, the skies a clear blue. We walked into the second floor of a hotel with the gathered people of God from at least eleven or twelve countries: Britain, Hungary, Australia, Mexico, Switzerland, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Philipines, Singapore, United States, and one or two more I cannot remember.The room was abuzz with people enjoying true Christian fellowship. Little children were running around and playing like only they can do. Pastor Joe, who had greeted us warmly at the airport Friday afternoon, greeted us again like a man created to shepherd God's people. Eventually, we began the worship service, singing Gospel-rich songs, prayers offered, listening to Psalms and 1 Peter 5 read aloud. I preached on 1 Peter 5 around the idea that though suffering brings us low, God calls us to go lower with humility toward one another in the body and towards Him. I felt liberty, but also that common feeling of "Who is sufficient for these things?" We got to meet and speak with almost everyone. Very warm, very receptive. We were careful to respect what others offered about their lives and work. That is the nature of the work here.

After the service we joined about fifteen other believers for lunch across the street at a western Chinese place (no pork, just lamb, beef, and chicken). We gathered eight to a round table with a monstrous lazy susan as dish after dish was set before us to be enjoyed communally. Grab some food and spin the lazy susan. I even ate dark-as-night fungus, lamb on a skewer, lotus root, tofu in sweet and sour sauce, various greens, rice, leeks, and the largest noodles I ever saw etc! It was delicious and only 21.25 yuan (about $ 3.50). A British brother picked up our tab...

Last night we traveled back by subway (with Mark and Diane's assistance !) to Joe and Lauren Kappel's apartment. They have two adorable children: Josiah (2 1/2) and  Elisabeth (2 months). We fellowshipped and ate with them (chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese!) and another family until around 9:00 PM. A great time to talk, dialogue, and reflect about the day and life here in Beijing. Then Cheryl and I did the subway experience (Line 10) from Taiyanggong to Guomao near the Koslicki's apartment.

Today we travel to the Great Wall with the Kappels. Got to hit the very crowded subway in 40 minutes. More on this tonight...

"Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!" (1 Chron. 16:31)

In Beijing

We arrived safe & sound in Beijing this afternoon their time.  It's been a long day so will write tomorrow.

More Pictures from Clarksville, TN

Kathryn (6) and Kristyn Miller (almost 3!)

Pastor John and his daughters chilling!

David Bey Sr., Kennes Hensley, Kaleb Weaver, and Pastor John Gather for Prayer

Between Services: Mike and Sherry Burton and their children (from L to R): Drew, Hannah, Lydia, Noah (Sherry behind), me, and Mike. We are listening to All I Have is Christ by Sovereign Grace Ministries in our apartment.

David Bey, Jr. and David Bey, Sr. David Jr. moved to Clarksville, TN from Fort Lauderdale, Fla two days before we arrived. They encouraged us the day before we received our visas. We laughed: "God is always on time, but He is rarely early!"

Have Visas, Will Travel !!!

9am John Miller just called to say that he has our visas & passports! Thank you, Lord, for all your provisions.

Casting Your Cares/Helen

Well, we are less than 48 hours from flying to Detroit and on to Beijing, China. Our friends on the other end could not be more kind as they anticipate our arrival. On this end, however, it has been a challenging day.

Three weeks ago Cheryl sent our passports off to a visa expediting company for processing with the Chinese Consulate. Last night at 6:30 PM we received an email from FedEx indicating we would receive our visas via their "Express Saver" 3-day shipping by 7:00 PM, Thursday. That's not a problem if weren't leaving here at 6:00 AM on Thursday for the drive to Nashville's airport. After a mad scramble of phone calls, emails, etc. with FedEx and the expediter this is where we are: We have a verbal promise that the visas will arrive by 10:30 AM tomorrow at the Miller's house. The expediter promises that they made the arrangements with FedEx to have it overnighted from Washington, DC to Clarksville, TN. Despite all our efforts we have been unable to obtain written confirmation of this promise. That's why the blog post title of "Casting Your Cares" from 1 Peter 5. We know He cares for us no matter when the visas arrive, even if we have to reschedule the entire trip. I release the schedule up to our Heavenly Father who does all things well.

Helen.Today Cheryl, Pastor John, and I had 2 1/2 hours with a new friend: Helen. Helen is from Nigeria and has two beautiful children: Lorenzo (3) and Jesi (1). By God's perfect design we met Helen at the public library last week when we were caring for little Kristyn Miller. She is an honest, intelligent, and caring woman and mom who is trying to make the best of a difficult situation here in Clarksville. We only had to cut our time short because Helen serves as part of a "Good News" club at a local elementary school. During our time we wrestled with God's grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, caring for her children as a single mom, etc. It was such a joy to observe Pastor John Miller bring the Word so practically to bear on her situation. The Gospel is such a word of hope for all of us. We hope to have more time with her in days ahead as part of God's adopted family.

Visa Update

I talked with our visa company this morning.  The lady guaranteed that we would have our visas for China on Wednesday.  We leave early Thursday morning.  Faith Stories!!

Faith Stories

I love to read. I love stories.  I love to read stories of people. I love to read stories of how God works in people.

A number of years ago Mrs. Lou Ardrey gave us the book FAITHPointes written by her friend Barbara Barker and Denise Hamilton. I enjoyed that book so much that I read it at least twice then passed it along to a friend.  In the book Barbara writes about so many situations of what we might call faith stories.  Of the many lessons I read, one stands out to me the most. Denise wrote something to the effect: Barbara, you love telling these faith stories, but you don’t like living them. Those times when God gives difficulty and the only way through it is to trust Him. It makes me think of the prayer meeting devotional that Mark gave last week on I Peter 5: 6-7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” We must cast our cares on the Lord because our cares are his cares. We have had ample opportunity to practice this verse this week, and the men who were at prayer meeting have reminded us of this as we share our anxieties over not yet having our visas for China.

In Sunday school Mark taught about God’s call on Moses’ life in Exodus 2:11-4:31 using The Gospel Story Bible: Discovering Jesus in the Old and New Testaments. Chapter 2 of Exodus ends with these words regarding the Israelites in Egypt: “²⁴And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  ²⁵ God saw the people of Israel--and God knew.” See the four verbs in these verses: 1) “God heard their groaning” therefore God hears our groaning, 2) “God remembered his covenant” therefore God remembers his promises to us, 3) “God saw the people” therefore God sees us & our needs, 4) “God knew.” Notice no object here.  God just knew. The God who later identifies himself as “I AM WHO I AM” is the One who hears, remembers, sees, and knows.  I am thankful that is my God.  I can trust Him.  Sometimes I, like Barbara Barker, don’t like living the faith stories because they are hard. They require patience, trust, and lack of control, at least on my part. I am thankful we have a sovereign God who not only created all things and fills all things but also knows all things.  He knows exactly when we need our visas; He knows exactly where they are.

So pray that we will continue to live faith stories in ways that bring honor and glory to Him.  Oh, and pray with us that we receive our visas Monday.

~Cheryl