So... E asked me to write something before I left to go back to Macau. I think I'm a good candidate because I'm a girl and I definitely had fun this week.
I'd been really planning to come and visit for a long time. E and I are 50% of the Asian branch of BCC! (C&A O being the other 50%). We HAVE to hang out!! Ha ha. You all know by know that things didn't exactly go as we had planned, but we've had a really wonderful time in spite of living at others' houses and the flooding, etc.... I'll give a short promo here for the traditional dancing and music that we saw this afternoon (with A booty-grinding in the background, and the AMAZING local dessert that's chewy with chocolate and nuts in the middle. They need to market it in Chicago. Okay, I know I'm already swayed by Asia...but you guys should come visit E. (Especially if you have carpentry skills...)
Anyway, I really came here because I wanted to see E...to encourage her during the month of Feb. and to hang out with a girl friend and just see their lives here. I had kind of forgotten (in a way) that this was also the place that P died. Then the other day we were driving around in a taxi and E just pointed to a place on the right side of the road and said, "That's the hospital where P died." I don't know what I was expecting... weird organ music or a gloomy or sad feeling, but all I felt(not being here when it happened)was the sun shining down and people laughing and God still in control of the world.
I can really see P here...and I can see why he loved these people. I could totally imagine him chatting with some of the old guys selling stuff on a street corner. This is my first time to third-world Asia and it's so much more relaxed than my home. As we've talked a lot this week, a lot of memories of P have come back, and what I'm remembering most his laughter. I think he would be so proud of his girls.
But I'm most struck that this story is NOT about lives being lived as a memorial to P. What I see here are two great girls living their OWN lives, making this their own story now... and living it for Jesus. By the grace of God...this is E's story and this is A's story. This is their place.
I see so much love surrounding them here. When the flood waters rose and we were literally fighting the current to get up the hill away from the rising water, their neighbors were out helping to guide us. E's friends came from over 3 hours away just to be here to support them. Their helper really loves them and loves A, who she's known since she was a baby. E's small group has hosted us. I see God's love in the way that A is really happy here. She sings on the streets walking back from school; she can really speak the language (but she is NOT a reliable translator)and she has so much of her dad in her. People know that E. loves them and I think they see the love of God in her. Praise God. He is continuing His redemption story... in spite of us, using us. It is an amazing privilege to be a part of it, and it's been great to see it in action this week.
I've been challenged again not to get stuck at some point in my walk with Christ because of stress, because of challenges, because of difficult circumstances. Let's live with gusto the life that God's given us...without fear of what will come next, because we know that our loving Father will be there to catch us.
Each of us has a story of love that we've been given by God. How are we living that out? Can others see that in our lives?
-JM-
