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Reflections on a Wandering Life.....
Thursday, November 25, 2021
First Missionaries to Gansu Province
Very brief but well-written overview of initial missions to the Hui Muslims in China. It is part 9 of a series, so the whole piece is longer. But worth reading. I was interested in it because I spent four summers in Gansu Province during the years that I was teaching in Beijing.
I first traveled to Gansu back in 2006.
I had an idea to try to get in touch with a village school in Gansu. So I didn’t want to stay in a youth hostel. Truth be told, there wasn’t much for youth hostels in Lanzhou at that time anyway, but I would not have wanted to go to one even if there was. That’s very unusual for me. A good youth hostel is usually the first thing I look for. But my idea was to be near Northwest Normal University so that I could try to meet a teacher from the countryside who could put me in touch with village education. So I got the brainstorm to call the university and ask for the Foreign Experts building, not knowing if there even was one.
Fortunately, there was one, and I was able to stay there for a nominal cost. Then I walked around the campus until I met a teacher and asked him if I could visit his village. Turned out his cousin was running a summer school, so I met up with her and helped her teach the children. That was the first of four summers I spent up on the Tibetan Plateau in “Gannan’” the southern part of Gansu Province bordering Sichuan.
Labels: China Missions, Hui Muslims, Travel Gansu
Monday, November 01, 2021
Streams in the Desert - November
November 1
Waiting is Hard
When the cloud tarried . . . then the children of Israel . . . journeyed not. - Numbers 9:19
This was the supreme test of obedience. It was comparatively easy to strike tents, when the fleecy folds of the cloud were slowly gathering from off the Tabernacle, and it floated majestically before the host. Change is always delightful; and there was excitement and interest in the route, the scenery, and the locality of the next halting-place. But, ah, the tarrying.
Then, however uninviting and sultry the location, however trying to flesh and blood, however irksome to the impatient disposition, however perilously exposed to danger--there was no option but to remain encamped.
The Psalmist says, "I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry." And what He did for the Old Testament saints He will do for believers throughout all ages.
Still God often keeps us waiting. Face to face with threatening foes, in the midst of alarms, encircled by perils, beneath the impending rock. May we not go? Is it not time to strike our tents? Have we not suffered to the point of utter collapse? May we not exchange the glare and heat for green pastures and still waters?
There is no answer. The cloud tarries, and we must remain, though sure of manna, rock-water, shelter, and defense. God never keeps us at post without assuring us of His presence, and sending us daily supplies.
Wait, young man, do not be in a hurry to make a change! Minister, remain at your post! Until the cloud clearly moves, you must tarry. Wait, then, thy Lord's good pleasure! He will be in plenty of time!--Daily Devotional Commentary
An hour of waiting!
Yet there seems such need
To reach that spot sublime!
I long to reach them--but I long far more
To trust HIS time!
"Sit still, my daughter"—
Yet the heathen die,
They perish while I stay!
I long to reach them--but I long far more
To trust HIS way!
'Tis good to get,
'Tis good indeed to give!
Yet is it better still—
O'er breadth, thro' length, down length, up height,
To trust HIS will! —F. M. N.
