THE INCREDIBLE SEARCH FOR UNCLE RUSTY

May 14, 2014 – 7:30pm

The Depot – Beijing

Here is the story of the incredible search for Uncle Rusty.

On April 24^th I was in a rush to get to school in the morning and made a lazy choice. I parked Uncle Rusty (my faithful retro steed) underneath the Wudaokou subway. Even though there are hundreds of other bikes there, it’s technically illegal to park your bike on the sidewalk. But like many things in China, rules are known but rarely followed. Usually I parked Rusty in the bike parking, but today I didn’t because I wanted to save two minutes.

A passle of bikes being moved the week after
Rust was taken. 

In trying to save two minutes I lost hours and my faithful retro steed.

Also you should know, this isn’t the first time I’ve made this mistake. It happened last year in December I believe. But tardiness is often a memory shrinker.

I got off the subway in the afternoon and saw the sidewalks clear of the hundreds of bikes that had been there in the morning, my heart sank like Jack Dawson’s frozen corpse. Kayla (my lovely Lady) was coming the next day, so I had things to get ready before her arrival and no time to go to the other side of town to fetch Uncle Rusty. He’d have to wait for me.

Kayla left last week Tuesday, and since then I’ve been riding Margaret’s small pink broodmare. Every I pedal my knees almost hit my chin (hyperbole). People tend to giggle when large bearded white dude pedals back on a small pink girl’s bike.

But today was the day I was going to reclaim Rusty. Today was the day! I made sure I had nothing planned in the afternoon so I could find where the 城管 cheng guan – the city managers (the bullies who heartlessly carry out the government’s orders) had taken had taken Rusty. I copied down the phone number they posted. They only reference point I had was the name of a bridge – 苏州桥 su zhou qiao. No address, no directions, just the name of a landmark. Next time you’re looking for a restaurant in Chicago and someone says, “Lake Michigan.” You’ll know how I felt.  

I called the number 17 times and only talked to a real human once. But he growled, “Just go to the red green light. Go to the red green light.” “Which one man? There’s eight different intersections here!” I was getting pretty frustrated at myself and at China at this point in time. I had been walking for about an hour and was about to give up when I saw a police car. There were two ladies in it. One officer and one pedestrian. I told them my story. And for the first time, someone actually went out of their way to help me rather than just point me to someone else. The officer made some phone calls and said, “Get in the car kid.”

And that’s how it happened that I got escorted by a policewoman in my search for Uncle Rusty.

Only in China!

Her name is Lu Jing. She was very dainty and looked more like a backup singer for Barry Manilow than a law enforcer, but man was she helpful.

We drove from one office to another to another. We drove to the place where they took rusty in December, but the lot was empty. We drove together for about two hours. I couldn’t believe what was happening! Neither could the Chinese pedestrians. When they saw a pale-face riding shotgun in a Chinese police car with flashing lights (oh yeah, did I mention she turned those on), they couldn’t help but gawk and yell, “老外!” lao wai – foreigner. Some faces were genuinely concerned for me, but after I smiled and gave them a thumbs up, they giggled like a two-year-old watching Teletubbies.

I could just imagine the causes they were forming in their brains upon seeing this spectacle:

·      "His visa probably expired and in a fit of rage pressed all the buttons in the elevator.”

·      “He probably sprinted into the Forbidden City wearing only a pair of tighty whities.”

·      “He probably started singing, “God Bless America” on the subway.”

·      “He probably teaches at an underground Christian homeschool and finally got caught.”

Here's Lu Jing and our ride.

Midway through our ride, I figured out why I was in this situation. She asked, “Why did you come to China?” I took a sip of water, not sure what to say. Should I tell her? Should I hide? But I said, “After graduating from college, I was looking for an adventure.” And I stopped there, took a few breaths and then told her. But she didn’t seem to care. Here’s a snippet of our conversation in Chinese…

“Lu Jing, who is Jesus?”

“I’m not sure, but I now he suffered and died.”

“Why did he do that?”

“I don’t know.”

 “Well, he did it for us.”

“Oh, so you’re saying he is our substitute?”

“Exactly!”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

I love looking at your life in rewind and having a, ifgi moment (I finally get it!). God totally used my forgetfulness and laziness to get the Good News to this lady. Abba took my problem, turned into an adventure and then made it meaningful.

We didn't find Rusty and I doubt I ever will. But I'll never forget this afternoon! It was worth losing Rusty to gain this memory and have this conversation. 

Life is good. God is better.