THANKS MAO

I just had an amazing China moment.

I was at my friend Charlie’s company office a few minutes ago. He’s a fearless entrepreneur who has created his own English teaching company using Apple technology. He uses videos, iPads and engaging vocabulary and pronunciation methods to help improve kids’ English. Two years ago, I introduced him to Miss Gao (a teacher friend of mine). She loved his work and since then 20 schools across Beijing are using his product. That’s 5,000 kids he’s reaching every week!

I go to Charlie’s office and will shoot some English training videos for him about twice a month. He pays me $30 an hour and I enjoy it.

Charlie is not only successful, he’s also in the flirting stage of his faith. I’m not sure what he believes, but he is curious. He hasn’t been to Bible study in a very long time, so one day I thought, “If he can’t come to study, I should bring study to him.” I told Charlie this and he said, “Yeah!” But that was the same “Yeah!” that I heard when I invited him to study.

But then came today.

After shooting an hour of video, Charlie surprised me by giving his five employees half an hour of Bible study time. Three girls joined Charlie and I at the table – Emma, Miley, and Shuang. What an incredible surprise! I thought he had forgotten about my request. In money-hungry China, giving your employees a free half an hour to learn about God is unheard of!

We went around the table and I asked them, “What do you know about God?”

The three ladies stared at their hands for a few seconds and then Miley spoke up. “We know nothing. We have no idea. Please teach us what you know.”

Thank you Mao and thank you Holy Spirit.

Thank you Mao for wiping China’s soul clean, for picking out the weeds of Buddhism and religious tradition during the Cultural Revolution. You deleted the faith of millions, which was your goal, but by doing so two generations have grown up starving for something more … like Miley.

Thank you Holy Spirit for being an amazing Guide and Gardener. For guiding me to China and keeping me here. For giving Charlie and I friendship and opening up this incredible door for sharing Your truth. Thank you for being a creative and careful Gardener. For giving the gift of faith for free in the most miraculous and mysterious of ways.

I love China.