A few days ago, I was complaining in my heart because I wasn’t able to join my family on a short trip they were taking to Colorado. …and as I write this post right now, I am rolling by Chinese mountains on my train ride back home from Xi’an.
Xi’an.
This past weekend, I was blessed to use the time over our four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday to visit Xi’an with a few friends. It was a blast to see a city with such a rich history and to be able to visit the Terracotta Warriors.
However, I believe the best part of the trip was not the 8th Wonder of the Ancient World (although it was pretty wonderful) or my bicycle ride around the top of the city wall (although that was pretty awesome, too)…..I believe the best part was meeting a few new friends.
Yesterday, my friends and I had planned to take a car with the travel agency service connected with our hotel to see the Terracotta Warriors, but due to the holiday, they didn’t have any drivers available. As my friends and I sat in our hotel lobby and discussed how to rearrange our plans, a lady from the travel agency ran up to us and excitedly exclaimed that they had a driver for us.
And that is how we met George, our driver and soon-to-be new Xi'an friend.
George was a driver for a different travel agency, but was hired for the day from the travel agency connected with our hotel. And he was amazing. He spoke excellent English, and had a very kind and soft-spoken spirit. And he agreed to let us stop for coffee before taking us to see the warriors. :)
As we spent the day with George, he began to tell us more about his life, and about a few foreigners he knew who appeared to have made an impact upon him. We were especially interested in a Mr. L and a M- - two foreigners had opened a coffee shop in Xi’an. By the way George spoke about them, we were curious if they were believers. My roommate Heather commented to me later, “I feel like G*d might be surrounding George with believers to speak into his life.”
After learning of our love for coffee, George especially wanted us to meet M..., his friend from the United States who had an important role in beginning this coffee shop. George offered to take us to the coffee shop on our way back from the soldiers to meet him, but M- was unavailable that evening.
And although it seemed really random, my roommate Heather and I had a hunch that we needed to connect with this M-….partially due to the friendship we had forged with George that day and partially because we thought he might be a *brother. Therefore, not to be dismayed, Heather and I decided to take an hour taxi ride the next morning to visit this coffee shop and to meet M-.
And I’m really glad we did.
The next morning, after finding another new friend in our taxi driver, Heather and I finally found the coffee shop.
And I loved it. It was a very “chill place” with a Starbucks-essence. And the coffee was awesome… served in a mug, which always makes it better.
We met M- and enjoyed talking with him. He told us about the coffee shop’s vision to partner with Chinese locals with a business-based, cultural-exchange program. It was a very pleasant conversation, until Heather and I casually mentioned “G*d” in our explanation of how we ended up in China.
And then the conversation got really fun.
“Oh! So you guys are Christians?” M- exclaimed. “Let me go back and tell you everything again….”
And as our “hunch” was soon confirmed, we had found a brother in M-. :)
As we sat and sipped our lattes with M-, he explained that everything he said before was completely true, he just didn’t give us the “full story”…And as M- explained the fully story of the ministry being accomplished through this little coffee shop, my heart was so encouraged. The coffee shop was being ultized as a gathering place for an afterschool tutoring ministry, fellowship gatherings, and college outreach. It was also connected with a bakery that helped employ women with brittle-bone disease.
As I walked away from this little coffee shop that morning, my heart was once again reminded, G*d is at work in the world. In Xi’an. In my town. In the States. Everywhere.
That same afternoon, I had the opportunity to ride a bike around the old city wall of Xi’an. It was quite the ride (9 miles!), but it was so fun. And the whole time I was just amazed by this awesome G*d that I serve. He is the L*rd of the nations. And He is not limited by time, geography, language, or resources. And He will accomplish what He wills….and I just love how He chooses ordinary people like M-, Heather, and even a yet-unsaved driver like George to accomplish it.
As I continue to roll by the Xi’an mountains, my eyes are draw the to wheat fields below them. The wheat is white and ready for harvest. But only a few villagers can be spotted in the fields gathering the wheat.
I can’t but think of this verse: “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” (Jn 4:35).
He is at work in the world….and the harvest is as ready as the white wheat fields dotting the Chinese countryside outside my train window.
“And He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pr*y earnestly to the L*rd of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Lk10:2).
Please pr*y, dear friends. Laborers are needed, and more than anything, pr*yer is essential. Pr*y for laborers to be sent out here in China and in the world. The harvest is ready. The fields are white. And the laborers are few.
Once again, thank you for your continued pr*yers for me, my friends here in China, and for the m*n*stry being accomplished here in this beautiful country. May His name be great among this nation.
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| the terracotta warriors |
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| my "traveling buddies" |
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| xi'an city wall |
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