It is the Thursday night before I leave for Guangzhou. All day today I have been filled with joy and peace and eager expectation at what my wonderful and beloved Papa will do tonight. I feel deeply within my spirit that there will be victory tonight though I do not know what that victory will look like exactly. I just know that tonight I fight with Harriet against the ruler of this world and against his powers and pawns to love on those who are still within his grasp. I want my friends to be set free … But ‘tis only ONE who can set them free! I have prayed and asked him to do so; I just know on my part that I must love and plant the seeds that need to be planted into people’s hearts. If everyone comes, then there will be ten of us all together for dinner tonight. Some are my old friends/students and others are their colleagues, friends, or students. It is exciting to prepare for this most necessary battle against the darkness.
This afternoon when I arrived at Harriet’s I saw like the last five minutes of a movie called The Great Raid. It was very inspiring to see those brief few minutes. POW’s were set free in a most extraordinary way in this movie and long ago in real life too. It really put a visual before me of what tonight might be like and encouraged me all the more to fight for my King and prepare myself well as his soldier. I knocked on Harriet’s door afterwards, and the first thing I told her was, “Tonight we fight!” I explained what I meant which is not fighting against one another but fighting together as good soldiers against the thick darkness for our Papa. We are prepared and will leave soon with joy and excitement in our hearts.
After dinner:
Dinner was delightful tonight. Two invited friends came (Jackie and Jessica), and one brought a second friend (Rachel) who was also my former student. A third friend came after dinner and we will have lunch tomorrow. Harriet shared some verbally with Rachel. I mostly talked with Jessica and Jackie. Jackie loves to talk in English, am I am glad to say that things in his life are much, MUCH better than when I left China. I am very thankful for him to now be a kindergarten teacher; it is probably the most perfect job for him in China! Things in both Jessica’s and Rachel’s lives are well too. That is good as life in China can be super tough! In the end, I was unexpectedly blessed by Jessica. She misunderstood me and paid for our entire meal; I tried to convince her not to do so more than once … but I failed and I felt in my heart that if I continued to try and talk her out of paying that we would argue. That would’ve been worse in my eyes than her paying, and well, the other Chinese people would have seen a foreigner (me) setting a bad example and/or possibly establishing a bad stereotype of Americans. So, though I didn’t want her to pay, I let her pay.
My friends all needed to take some form of public transportation back home. Working those details out was interesting as people needed to go in opposite directions. After maybe 20 minutes, things were all worked out and goodbyes were said. That led up to me and Harriet waiting with Jessica at the bus stop. Everyone else caught some other form of transportation. The brief time with Jessica was really amazing. In those few short minutes, Harriet asked a question (which I don’t remember now) that gave me the opportunity to give Jessica a Good Book. :) Seeds were planted and contact information exchanged over dinner; for now, those seeds just need to grow and be watered in pr. Who knows what my dear Papa will do next because those seeds were sown in love and joy and laughter? Victory is coming though! :)
Comments
By Sonjia Lou Johnson on Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:31:22 GMT
Ding, ding. I am glad that you showed proper restraint. We both know how passionate that you can be and that is not always in your (or your friends') best interests. Love you lots.
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