Monday, February 18th, 2008
in your presence
each week. i only get one day off – and that day is Sunday
its really a struggle to decide what to do with my time,
cause i have a little over 10 weeks here
which is 10 beijing travelling days
if i count all the popular tourist attractions
i can’t even visit all of them.
so what do i do??
forbidden city is a full day excursion
great wall is a entire days adventure
summer palace is a monterously large
tiantan is another rediculous investment of time
… list goes on
but even with all that in mind -
upon a friend’s invitation i went to his church.
and it was the best choice i could’ve made
and in many senses,
i think it was God’s blessing and guidance
so let me care to explain.
i live on the 5th ring.
the city layout is made up of rings with downtown being in the center
then in concentric circles that grow from the middle
we have rings.
with the 1st ring surrounding most of what is “downtown”
then the rest of the city is sprawled around the center
and ppl locate you with sayings such as “i’m north 2nd ring, where are you?”
and i’d say “east 5th ring”
as the rings get further out, they are essentially monstrously far apart
before i came.
a friend told me her father worked in beijing
told me that i shld go to his church
at first i didn’t know where i’d be in beijing so i agreed,
but then when i found out i was 5th ring east… i was skeptical i could make it there
even with a taxi ride to the 1st ring is about 50bucks.
and then with the 6days a week work schedule.
church seemed like a halfday timeslot that would cut away from my traavel experience.
but i’m glad that my first sunday was at church.
that morning on sunday,
i took out like 500bucks thinking i’d better be able to get there and back
and i decided even if it cost me that much i’d taxi to church
cause i know if didn’t go the first sunday
i’d probaby end up not going to any at all
and so turns out church is at the 3rd ring east
and it costs me 20-25bucks one way
so praise the lord!
it’s like he prepared everything already
at church i felt God’s presence so strongly
that it made me realize that even if i didn’t travel
it would be worth it to spend time here in beijing at church
with brothers and sisters in christ
an even cooler thing is that the church is founded by embassies
and that passports are required to be shown to enter
in order to ensure freedom of speech is not breached
that way the sermons are free to anything
and is not regulated by chinese rules
another great thing is it has english service,
so i don’t have to scratch my head translating
for half the sermon
being here
and going to church
has made me realize how important a church is
it’s not really cause of a place with an organization
or really for the people
but more of a place so that you can reflect and dwell in the presence of God
going to church here has made me more bold
more bold with my faith
i’m not afraid of declaring to my colleagues that i’m Christian (when they ask)
i’m not afraid of praying outloud before my meals (when i choose to sometimes)
i’m more inclined to bring the topic up with my roomates..
overall.
i’m just happy to have found a place
where i can dwell in God’s presence
ps – the worship and congregation here is so big. quite a new experience
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