Eric's Beijing Diary

Some rumble around town about a battle between two counties over some stolen yaks. Last night, I saw a bunch of people gathered in the street, and couldn't quite figure out what was going on. The story is that someone from one town stole some yaks from another village. The other village came and tried to get them back. They were refused, and this resulted in a battle between the two towns. It doesn't involved Langmusi directly, but there are several relationships locally that are influenced by the battle, so the local townspeople are all affected by it. Doesn't affect me much; I can still hike up the canyon every day. Horse trekking has been shut down for the time being, but I wasn't really in the mood for that anyway. I don't know...I guess if you are used to riding a horse by yourself, the idea of being led around just doesn't appeal to you. I did check on it, mainly because I was curious about the price, but the lady told me quite simply, "We don't have a horse big enough for you." Hmmmm.... well, the horses here are smaller, but I think she has less confidence in them than I do. Horses are pretty strong animals. Nevertheless, I wasn't disappointed, because, as I said, the boredom of being led around all day pretty much removes all the attraction the idea might have for me.

DAY SEVEN

"And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." (II Corinthians 5:18)

I'll start with the bottom line. Anyone who really wants to be close to the heart of God, will have a heart to bring others closer to Him. Throughout the time I have been in China, I have tried to reach out to those who were somehow isolated or alone, and bring them into community. By this I mean, of course, the Christian community.

I remember before I came to China, I was involved once in a community bridge event put on by a local church. In preparation for this event, there was a presentation on sharing God's love by a guy who was a great fan of the "Four Spiritual Laws" booklet. He showed a video of how he presented this booklet to people he pulled off the street. I was astounded to see the way he sorta dragged people through this booklet. After the presentation, I went up and asked him if he did any followup to see how these people were doing in their new faith. He said, "If we took the time to check on everyone we talk to, we'd never get anything done." I tell this story, because the approach employed by this guy represents the extreme polar opposite of what I believe about how to share God's love with the people around me. I am not a scalp collector. The idea of sharing God's love with people who are lonely, and then leaving them in their loneliness is anathema to me. If I cannot manage to bring people into community with other Christians, I really don't count anything else I have done for them. But as strongly as I feel about this, I have to admit that it is often not easy.

This may seem like a strange thing to say in a populated country like China, but you might be surprised to discover how many people, especially young people I guess, don't seem to have a lot of friends. There are a lot of reasons for this. But the simplest way to explain it, is to say that Asian cultures tend to be characterized by a stricter sense of conformity than what you would expect in American culture. Because of this, young people who don't conform tend to stick out a lot more than they would in the States or in Europe. Some of them compensate by learning English, and focusing their lives and careers on working with foreigners. In cities like Beijing or Shanghai, this approach actually works quite well for many such independent minded Chinese young people. Nevertheless, sometimes they do tend to get isolated. I have tried during the time I have been in China, to bring these young people to church, and get them involved in the Christian family.

"Father, I pray that you will guide me as I try to show the way to those who have somehow lost their way in life. Oh, Father, give me a heart that is sensitive to those who are lonely and isolated. Please show me how to bring them into community."