Eric's Beijing Diary

DAY NINE

Sichuan Canyon 7:45 am

"For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant." (Job 14:7-9)

The key word for today is redemption. A couple years ago, I had invited a group of students to meet me for dinner. After class, I headed out into a driving rain with my TA. No one had contacted me, and I assumed that no one wanted to come. So my TA and I headed for a restaurant. The next day, I got an email from one of my students, saying that they had been waiting for me at the West Gate. I really felt terrible. Missed opportunity. Loss. I don't want to be morbid about this, because I certainly have memories of opportunities I haven't missed, too. But somehow they don't wipe away the regret for the situations where I have goofed up and missed the boat. So what do you do? I think the first reality we must come to terms with is that life doesn't always give you a second chance. Sometimes it does. Sometimes you go get a second opportunity to get it right. But not always. Sometimes you just have to accept the loss. But I believe, also, that it is very important to present the situation before God and ask Him to redeem it.

Many years ago, after Mt. St. Helens had erupted, blowing a cubic mile out of it's side, John and Dad and I chartered a plane out of Kelso, Washington, and flew up along the South Fork of the Toutle River. I looked down from that plane and saw a scene so unreal I literally couldn't take it in. The pyroclastic flow from St. Helens had blown down a whole forest, and burned the needles off the trees. Large earth moving machines were tossed about like so many toys in a sandbox. Spirit Lake, of course, was buried. Devastation. Death. The complete absence of anything living. It was absolutely sensational, yet completely true.

Several months later, I was watching an evening news report, and saw some pictures of Mt. St. Helens. The area was still quite devastated, but you could see where the green was beginning to reappear. Deer were wandering among the new growth. It was quite an impressive contrast to what I had seen from the air right after the disaster. But it was a poignant reminder that this universe was created by a God who is a compulsive redeemer. He loves to take what has been devastated and make it new.

Contemplating the problem of missed opportunity is humbling for me, because I cannot escape the realization that when I have missed opportunities, it is because, for some reason, I was not paying attention. And the times that I have somehow managed to "seize the day," were invariably because God had somehow put the opportunity in my face in spite of myself. In the spring of 2003, I contacted the Asia Pacific office for Oracle to determine which universities in China had a relationship with Oracle, since I was an Oracle trainer. As a result of that contact, I received an inquiry from Beihang University. I didn't even bother to respond to it, because I had planned to go to Western China. But they sent me another email a week later. I decided that it was a bit rude for me not to respond at all, since the email had come as a direct result of my original letter to Oracle in Singapore. So I responded briefly, and the rest is history.

Bottom line: Life presents us with lots of opportunities. Sometimes we take them. Sometimes we miss them. Sometimes we take opportunities we should have passed up. Sometimes we pass up opportunities we should have taken. Sometimes, life gives us a second chance. Sometimes, it does not. But even in the worst of situations, God is still a redeemer. This is the point.

"Father, please give me an ever deeper understanding of your great redeeming love. Help me to remember that you are able to make something beautiful of the worst mess I can make. Even in situations when it seems that there is nothing but loss, you are able to restore and make new what has been ruined and wasted. Please, Lord, help me to determine to present my missed opportunities to you in faith that you are willing and able to redeem even when I have failed to walk through the door you had opened."