My First Christmas Letter

“Arise, shine, for your LIGHT has come.” Isaiah 60:1

“Then your light will break forth like the DAWN.” Isaiah 58:8

“The RISING SUN will come to us from heaven.” Luke 1:78

It never occurred to me that Christmas was like a sunrise. We are waiting in darkness, bumping into things and losing our balance – hopelessly lost in the blackness. Then the faintest tinge of pink splashes on the horizon. Things go from black to grey. Soon spears of orange and red chase away the lingering night. Then it peeks over the hill, that smiling Son – crying in a cave 2000 years ago. Heaven’s Prince sent from heaven to Bethlehem here to live, die, and rise for us.

Well, this is my first Christmas letter (maybe it’s a sign of manhood…), and it’s coming to you from Beijing, China. This is my first Christmas away from home. It’s kind of tough to swallow, but the good news is that I gained a family here – our FOC (Friends of China) family is incredible. Thirteen people with hearts for ministry and whose varying gifts and personalities blend beautifully. Also our Chinese friends are a web of smiles and love. Making friends in China is kind of like making friends when you’re five. “You have a bike. So do I. Let’s be friends.” Usually when I leave the basketball courts I have a few new contacts in my phone. Then to be able to tell these friends about the Son rising for maggots like us … that is the stuff of life. We just had a Christmas party on Saturday night; there were roughly 400 friends, kids, and parents there who heard the real meaning of Christmas. It was a pretty awesome thing to see the magnitude of meaning of our mission. Our God is an awesome God.

After living in China for four months I now use the word “maybe” more often, am a more accurate and liberal spitter, speak a bit slower, bike more than Lance Armstrong, eat more soy sauce than Ho Chi Minh, and am considering becoming a camel jockey. But I’m still the same ‘ol tall, horse-loving, picture-snapping, big-nosed Micah (actually here my name is Mi Jia – which drips with meaning: “excellent rice”). Even though my Chinese still sounds like a constipated walrus I’ve found that a smile needs no translation. From teaching my 440 students the fundamentals of oral English such as “See you later Alligator,” and “Holy cow” to weaving in and out of grannies on my bike to sweating in my communist-heated apartment I am reminded that we don’t know His menu, but we can trust the Cook, He’ll feed us what we need … always.

Although we may be an ocean away, His love knows no east or west. Merry Son-rise…

Your brother in our Baby King,

- m -

Llama Temple

Thursday Adventure #1: Llama Temple

Llama Temple is a famous Buddhist temple in the Big B. The scent of incense is like a hazy reminder. At the beginning it is a sweet and exotic smell, then after a few hours of wandering it gives you a headache. Kind of like putting your favorite song on replay for 47 minutes - fresh to annoying.

The air was cold, and the people were lost. I wanted to shout, "Stop trying to appease a piece of wood! You are loved. You are saved. You don't need to kneel and bow down anymore. Stop trying to earn God's love. J - E - S - U - S!" But I didn't. Even if I would have tried it would have sounded like a constipated camel, because that's where my Mandarin is at right now.

I saw a monk walk into a door quickly and shut the door discreetly, so I meandered by. He and his robed buddy were looking at a cell phone. It made me giggle - kind of like an Amish guy talking about his infatuation for ESPN. The reason the picture is blurry is because I got nervous so I scooted away as I was taking the picture. I just kept remembering that one Rafi song, "The Monk Who Knew Kung Fu."

- m -

P.S. - I was a little disappointed at the lack of llamas though...

He's Coming...

The God-man is coming; prepare the way.

The Savior will redeem a rebellious race.

I tremble at the thought of that long-awaited day.

The prophets offer hope to the flock that one day…

The Christ, on loan from above, will show his face.

The God-man is coming; prepare the way.

Why? Why? Why save those champions of sin? They…

Who in Eden spat in your righteous face.

The God-man is coming; prepare the way.

Oh illogical love, that your Son, my King will be napping in the hay.

How I long to meet his endless gaze and feel my Savior’s embrace.

I tremble at the thought of that long-awaited day.

The mountain man tells of One coming: “the Lamb of God who takes away…”

“The sin of the world.” The miracle made flesh to whitewash my disgrace.

The God-man is coming; prepare the way.

My fear morphs to hope – for the LORD’s love refuses to fray.

From eternity you pinpointed the arrival of your tangible grace.

The God-man is coming; prepare the way.

I tremble at the thought of that long-awaited day.

Reflection I See

The reflection I see glances my way.

I think he’s the same guy I saw yesterday.

He usually bikes past at this time, around 10:32.

Today he’s riding that dinky little zoom zoom.

But I’m sure that’s him, he usually passes this way.

He’s different from the boyish man on that August day.

He looked like a Golden Retriever that lost his way.

But his December self looks wiser and tired too.

The reflection I see.

He used to bike past in just a polo on those September days.

Now he’s bundled up and hasn’t shaved since Monday.

I can’t tell if he looks older or not, but lonely to be true.

The reflection I see.

The reflected man makes eye contact almost every day.

He usually smiles, but he had a glazed look today.

It looks like he found out something we already knew.

The reflection I see.

As the black-haired cloud rushes by as they may

The lone biker pedals by and glances my way.

Then I realize the reflection is someone I hardly knew.

The reflection of me.

Seabiscuit

So the other day here was my Wal-Mart shopping list:

1. shoe laces

I was playing ball a weekish ago and couldn't figure out why whenever I jumped I came down shoeless...

2. yoghurt

(here in China there is a rather obnoxious "h", kind of like a literary zit)

3. a fish

Johnny Yuma (my loyal turtle) needs two things: companionship and a tank cleaning mechanism, so I thought I could kill two birds with one fish. He's a little black fella I named Seabiscuit. He cost 3 qui (40 cents).

Probably the first and last time in my life that I scribble out a shopping list like this...

- m -

4:10 to Llama Temple

We almost didn't make the 4:10 to Llama Temple.

We received a text message telling us that we had 2.8 hours to renew our visa or else we would be fined, deported, and castrated (in that order).

Mission Impossible, Beijing style, but not a movie with Tom Cruise pretending to be cool, this is reality.

So we were sprinting from our rusting bikes (yes, the DeLorean is still humming like an aged hummingbird) to the subway hoping to catch the 4:10 train to Llama Temple. We hopped from subway to subway. I think I aged 14 months on that subway ride. I was freaking out. I don't want to be fined or deported (or castrated for that matter...).

Sprinting from the subway stop to some building we had no clue where it was, other than we knew it had police cars in front of it. Well, the visa office closed at 5:00 and we walked out of those glass doors at 4:50. I was sweaty, flustered, relieved, and thankfully amazed that we caught the 4:10 subway to Llama Temple.

Sweet Potato Succotash

I'm so glad that Sunday's Thanksgiving didn't hinge on my sweet potato succotash.

We had an amazing Thanksgiving at the Cloister. Ted rented a car and we transported a bunch of tables and chairs so that we could make a classically long table that began to groan with food. All 21 of our guests brought something to share. My mission was to make a sweet potato dish - that's like telling a person with no arms to squeeze a zit in the dark, but I obliged. I guess if you toss in enough butter and sugar you could make anything edible ... that was my cooking philosophy.

It was an amazing day, Tedwick and Jon prepped the turkey and tossed the bird in the oven. It was the first time I've ever heard uncertainty and questions from the turkey cook. Usually Mom, Nonna, and Grandma go about the turkey business with a veteran no-questions approach - they know what to do because they've done it before. But this was our first time cooking a turkey, so with no Moms, Grandma's, or Auntie's to help us in our crusade we were always checking to see if it was ready, wondering if we were doing it the right way. It was kind of cool to be a culinary pioneer.

The turkey turned out to be perfect and the day also. We ate till we could no more, played the pass-around game (a Jeske tradition) for 2ish hours, lounged, talked, and watched Good Will Hunting as the sun set on an unforgettable day.

- m -

P.S. - To see more Thanksgiving photos, click on the orange link to the right entitled, Micah's Online Albums.