shades of the expected

The cool thing about being a foreigner in China is that you can stop a tourist bus – being that we are one of the major attractions in Changping during this national weeklong holiday dubbed Golden Week. The bizarre thing is that WE, as strangers in a strange land, are so programmed to be aware of and absorb all that is around us that we immediately get satiated upon entering any supermarket or department store. How do we figure out what is the right amount to take in and the right amount to let pass us by – whether it be people or experiences?

As we’ve prayed through this predicament, we have found prudent words in Psalm 90:12: Teach us to number our days aright, Lord, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Here we found comfort in knowing that we don’t have to concentrate on “many” but on “how.” And as we seek after God daily in our prayer life and dedicate our work and leisure to His glory, we know “how” it really should be done.

No worries here – we see large and small miracles in the awesome moments of our lives… like when Krista was worried about her former-student Tony who was spending the break on campus while the rest of the students were home with family. Then we ran into him on campus and as we talked about his break and how we might get together to fill some time, another student Brian walked up – already home from the holiday. God is the comforter.

… after 24-plus hours of living through an hellacious virus and wanting to… well, you know, we went out for our first outing of fresh air and God sent the most amazing creature to capture our attention. The bird was about 12-inches tall and orange with black and white stripes (kind of like a zebra). It landed right in front of us, raised and lowered its fancy headdress (from beak to nape), showed off a bit and then perched in a tree for a few more minutes so we could continue to ooh and awe. God is the creator. (see a photo of the Common Hoopoe - photos 2, 3 and 4)

… after a couple of weeks of heavy-handed student disciplining and program control along with some angst about teaching teens, someone asked us to share a Bible story during lunch. God is love.

And last but not least – happy sweet 16 to niece Chelsi!