Seeing The Unseen

Living as a foreigner in China makes you an instant expert in all sorts of things you weren’t previously qualified to do.  Most teachers here get a foreign “expert” certificate just because they speak English.  I’ve become a preschool teacher,  emergency medical helpline, child rearing expert,  “Excellent” Western cook, and a list of a few other things that I wasn’t previous qualified for and wouldn’t be if I wasn’t living in China.  Somehow my foreign face comes with a whole new set of expectations.  This past Saturday I had another such new “expert” title added to my list.  Sweet friends of ours decided to get married.  They are young and poor by worldly standards.  In China you are supposed to wait to marry until you own a home and are already well established.  And so they were waiting…….until they realized there really wasn’t any reason to wait.  Just because culture demands it doesn’t always make it right.  They ...

I’ll admit it, I’ve been in a funk recently.  Not unhappy, just mostly wanting to be at home, with my little family, keeping to ourselves.  Not really wanting to spend time with other people or get very involved in their lives. I kept asking Rob if we could move to an island with no other people; Swiss Family Robinson style.  I knew it wasn’t really good, but I wasn’t quite sure where it was coming from or what to do about it.  It was just a vague feeling really.  Then just this week God came and put His finger on it and helped me see with startling clarity what was in my heart.  Someone came up to me very unexpectedly.  It was the kind of person you are friendly with, know the name of, and probably wave to.  But beyond that you know nothing about them, or they about you.  Well, this person walked up to me, asked if I was a Christian, and when she confirmed that I was, she proceeded to tell me her story.  It was a sad st...

2013 is just about done.  Only 1 hour to go.  The turning of the New Year always brings with it a time of reflection.  It makes us all stop and look back, remembering what the year held.  It gives us a chance to think back and evaluate the good and the bad.  The things we want to hold onto forever, and the ones we wish we could forget.  As usual, 2013 has come with it’s share of defining moments. Some moments were beautiful and some were hard. We said some hard goodbyes as Rob and I lost two of our grandparents this year.  We welcomed two handsome nephews and one beautiful niece into the world.  There were many, many blessings this year, and many hard moments. I am a practical person.  Practical to a fault.  Always looking for what needs to be done and trying to finish it.  I enjoy doing things that make other people happy, but I have little personal use for “having fun”  I can always find something more pressing, more...