Back On Track

First few days back in China. I apologize for the long silence – hard to write consistently about China when you’re not there. Our six weeks in America really flew by – had the opportunity to go to several of our supporting churches to report on our first year in China. It was stunning how many people told us they’d been praying regularly for us. Those are the people that we really love to report to – it’s so awesome to let them know that their prayers have truly been effectual. Thanks to all of the churches that invited us during this short trip – you were a real blessing to us and encouraged us for our next stretch on the field.

We were both extremely excited to get back to China and get back to work. To tell the truth, we’ve probably struggled more with feelings of homesickness this time back than our first time coming. The first few days back were pretty hard – between the jet lag, the weather change (it’s already freezing here), and the absence of all the little conveniences we’d already grown accustomed to all over again. But we had our first church service last night, and that helped a lot. Had a really good attendance, and the Spirit really moved during the service. Plus they got us a cake. What more could you want?

Preaching was tough, but not as bad as I thought it would be after not speaking much Chinese for six weeks. Got stuck two or three times, but we survived. Started a new series last night that I’ve been really gearing up for. It’s called “Man vs. God” and we’re gonna study hamartiology, or the study of the doctrine of sin, for four weeks. This weekend we’re doing the origin of sin – really got a lot of feedback on the message last night. This is an area that I think we haven’t delved into enough (can you?) in our church. Consequently, without an emphasis on the sinfulness of man, true worship is normally in short supply.

One student, for example, last night asked me if it was possible to cleanse our sins. I told her she’d have to wait three weeks to find out. Just joking. I reiterated the main thought of the message this weekend – sin emanates from our very nature, from within us. Therefore, the last place you should look to find a cure is inside of you. We require Someone from the outside to enter into our existence and show us grace. She told me that she saw this sin inside of herself and wanted to trust Christ as her salvation! Praise the Lord for His grace! Anyway, things like that make things like homesickness seem pretty inconsequential.