Not all of my entries are going to be intense thought provoking entries, although sometimes I really do try to not only make others think, but ask questions that really make me think. In the past 4 years I have been on a personal up and down searching for my purpose and trying to figure out who God is and what exactly He wants from me. I got saved at a young age and grew up in a Christian home, which is a blessing but it can be a curse at the same time.
Sometimes people grow so immune to a Religion that it dies to them or gets boring. The thing about Christianity is, it isn't a Religion, it is a Relationship... and no matter how much I heard it, I don't think I really ever fully understood it, and still to this day it is hard to imagine a personal loving God who saves His people from their sins through the death of His only son on a cross.
For me, I got 'saved', waited a few years and then took the next step which is baptism and then I just really tried to be a good Christian, which to this day I find extremely impossible. I got through High School with plenty of slips and mess ups along the way, and went to college, where I decided to sin a whole bunch. After a little bit of that, I knew in my heart that it was the wrong place for me to be and I decided to transfer to a Christian University so that I could be in an atmosphere that encouraged the search for Christ. This takes me to 4 years ago, my first semester at this new University.
Coming into the school I had some baggage with me (not physical) that I was in the process of throwing away for good. I just got out of a horrible relationship, and gave up drinking. A week before I came, a good friend of my had died and so it was a tough first week. I knew that I needed to fight for my relationship with the Lord and I knew it wasn't going to be easy... the bible says nothing about Christianity being easy... if anything, it says the opposite. There will be trials and tribulations... but in everything, God is my refuge.
After a few weeks at this school, surrounding myself with the right people (because believe me, there are definitely the wrong people to hang out with at Christian schools... or any school at that...), going to chapel and Church regularly... bible studies... other events... I was really trying to saturate myself with Christ in a way that I never had before. Then the opportunity for a missions trip had come up. I had always wanted to go on a missions trip before, and China has always been on my heart... mostly because of the History and the laws against Christianity. I looked at the list and the ONLY trip that made sense to me, was China. So I signed up immediately, filled out an application and turned it in.
I got interviewed and they let me on the team! After some great team training, meetings... trying to learn the language... learning history, religious beliefs... we felt like we were ready to embrace a culture that none of us had experienced before! (Except for one of our team leaders who had been there before.) There were 10 of us on this team, with 3 team leaders. We all grew to be close friends... We all, to this day, have a great love for each other... which is something that I thank God for every day... I met some of my best friends on that team.
Anyway, China is a very different world from America, for those of you who don't know... We got to China and it was like nothing I have ever seen in my life. Not like the movies or whatever else, but an experience of a lifetime that only first hand experience can explain. The food, the squatty potties, the people, the history... all of it so wonderful. One thing that blew me away was the people. I met so many interesting people with so many incredible stories. Some people who were Christians who have been in and out of prison 3 or 4 times and still read their bibles in public places... the attitude of, 'they can take my family, my bible, my home, my things and even my life, but they can never and will never be able to take away my Jesus.' One of the most beautiful things I have ever heard in my entire life. The secret life of a believer in China is intense. Some other things that stick out in my mind are times I was able to hang out with some college students, my age (Chinese), and really get to know them on a personal level. Learning where they live, their likes and dislikes, what they want to be when they get out of college... So many things so intriguing. I was able to not only share my testimony through that trip, but I was able to tell someone about Jesus Christ for the first time. Not only did I tell him about Jesus, but I was able to go through the entire gospel message with him. Let me tell you, God opens doors in so many ways at so many moments in your life, you just need to choose whether you are going to enter that door or not. So this guy... the light that was shinning in his eyes when I told him of this extremely awesome man who had died for all man kind... it is a picture that will forever be embedded in my mind. Experiences like this one, relationship building, teaching and learning... are all things that made the trip everything and so much more than I expected it to be. This was my first missions trip.
I still think about that first time and how I felt afterward. It was this inward burning in my soul that cried out for the people in China and all the lost people in the world. Something inside of me wanted to go back... with everything that I am, a huge piece of me didn't want to leave any of it behind. I thought seriously of becoming a English teacher in China. I thought about missions and what God wanted from me and then after school set in and I got busy, I kind of put that passion on the back burner. Until the next year.
That will be it for my first missions trip. Please ask questions or throw in some comments if you have any! God Bless you.
fin.
Until the nets are full,
JFW
0 comments:
Post a Comment