This morning 6 boys came with me to church. The church is no longer a bilingual service anymore. We are either going to the English or the Mandarin service. I also brought 3 girls with me from the other school. They were very curious if I was stern and strict. My boys told them that I was. And I was glad they did because the girls are terribly noisy and I really don't appreciate their shouting along the corridor.
The service started with singing songs I don't know but the lyrics were encouraging and meaningful. All the 9 of them sang. While the girls liked the worship service, my boys had different opinions. One felt it was good and another thought it was not chim enough. One was like...okay! The other was just stunned. We left for lunch and off to Xiu Shiu Jie where I showed the boys how to bargain. My boys dared not even ask for the price of goods. So we just have to try. I started to one of the more familiar shops and she remembered me. I bought the tshirts for 30 yuan. That gave them a bit of confidence. We started on the sweat shirts and they got it for 80 yuan. Slowly we moved into other things, the winter jacket, the shoes, the gloves and finally we went home. I was so tired that I went for another massage. I slept for two hours in the massage parlour. I feel even more tired.
But I am better now.
The message for today's service was very telling. It was about trusting GOD. Trusting GOD to do what? And it is also about GOD entrusting us with His resources. What did God give me and trust me with? I will have to ponder on that over the weeks ahead. If all things fail, can I still say "It is well with my soul?" To trust God is to fully surrender to HIM my ALL. And I don't have very much. But you know, it is hard to give it ALL up. I need to work on that. I met Gary when I sat down to work with Lawrence on the Tibetan children. He told me that he sold everything and packed all that he had in a suitcase and just come to Tibet. He is 48. I am like...wow... I cannot do that. There is just too many things at cost. Or can I?
Many of us don't need God until God is all that we have got. Oh...I hope I never come to this stage because it would mean everything fail and nothing works on my end. I want to obey but I need to be still to know what I ought to obey in.
People in Beijing are always busy with work and more work. I observed that their lives are pretty tough. There are lots of competition to face and lots of decisions to make. I bet they are tired too.
