Last night my friend Leah and I got dinner with our new friend Andy. We met Andy at a restaurant one night about couple weeks ago when Leah and I were eating dinner together. Andy overheard us speaking English and said, “Hello, you speak English?”, to which we replied, with excitement, “Yes”, and we proceeded, in a very short amount of time, to exchange numbers and plan for dinner together later that week. We came to find out later that this random meeting and beautifully awkward exchange was absolutely orchestrated by the Lord.
We met with Andy for dinner the first time and something about him was different. It was just like hanging out with a friend that I had known for some time. He is caring and generous and delighted in buying our dinner, sharing about himself and his family, and hearing about both Leah and I. In the short couple of hours we spent together I felt a genuine care about him and wanted to get together again. So last night we remembered that we wanted to see Andy one last time before we left China and we planned for dinner together last night. Going to meet Andy I had no idea what the Lord had in store for that night.
We met up with Andy and went off to dinner together. He took us to a restaurant we hadn’t been to before and shared with us a type of Chinese dinner called Mao Cai, which we never would have found without the help of our dear friend Andy. We enjoyed our dinner and as always Andy had us cracking up, he taught us some Chinese and we talked about the difference of Chinese and Western cultures. We even tried to explain the concept of Black Friday, which I don’t really even understand myself, and his face was just as confused as you would expect! The dinner conversation was coming to a close when I began to put away my notebook. I attached it to my Bible and just as I was putting it inside my bag Andy said,
“Allison, do you have two notebooks?”,
“No, I have one, this other one is my Bible”, I replied.
With wide eyes and excitement Andy said, “Wow, I’ve seen those in the movies but I’ve never seen one in real life, can I look at it?!”
So he came over and sat next to me, looked at the Bible and held it in amazement. He kept turning pages and asking questions. The Lord has been teaching me a lot about boldness this month (be on the look out for that blog soon!) and in this moment He gave me the opportunity to be bold. As you may or may not know China is a closed country, which means a lot of things but one in particular: missionaries are not allowed or welcomed, but what I have seen again and again this year is that God is greater than restrictions or laws and enters into closed countries anyways. So, as Andy held God’s Word for the very first time I just started sharing the Gospel; right there in the middle of a restaurant in China, a closed country, where it is actually illegal to evangelize, I shared the Gospel with my new friend Andy. We talked about how God loves Him and wants Andy to know Him, how Jesus came to die for Andy, how He is the only God, the One who created the universe and yet still knows and loves Andy personally, how Jesus is so powerful that He rose from the dead, that all the work was done on the cross and because of the cross Andy can know God personally. I drew an illustration to show him how Jesus bridges the gap that sin has created, the gap between God and us. It showed him how Jesus on the cross has made it possible for us to be in relationship with God. As I drew the cross, which connects us to God, his eyes got big and he said, “Wow, yes I understand!”, and right then it hit me:
THIS IS THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY HE HAS EVER HAD TO HEAR THE BEST NEWS IN THE ENTIRE WORLD!!!!
I got to share the best news and the most important thing in my life with my new friend and it was incredible! Also, something that made this moment even better is that as we were talking a group of police officers walked into the restaurant and sat down at the table across from us. Bible in hand with Andy intensely intrigued I turned to Leah and slightly concerned I asked, “Are those police officers?”, overhearing my question Andy replied, “Yeah it’s police don’t worry about them, tell me more about this!”, pointing to the Bible. So we ignored the police and relied on the protection of our Father and we kept sharing!
Then in hopeful curiosity Andy said, “I have a stupid question but does God really talk to you?” YES ANDY, HE DOES!! Leah and I shared with him about prayer and the ability to talk to God about anything, about sharing everything with Him, about how God hears and listens and speaks to His children in different ways. As we shared Andy was amazed that God would talk to him, that He could talk to God. “He wants to hear everything??”, “Yes, everything! He cares about you, Andy!”
It was so fun to see the Gospel hit someone for the first time; to see the fresh simplicity of the Gospel penetrate Andy in those moments was absolutely beautiful. Andy’s child like faith and excitement is something I will never forget!
As we told him more and more He wanted to know even more. As we shared verses with him he wanted to hear more of God’s Word. He told us that Chinese people believe that there is a God three inches around a person at all times and when somebody does something wrong or bad the god will punish them. We shared with Andy that God is a God of love, that He is the One true God and that He is a Father, He doesn’t punish but He forgives. He loves because we are His children and He loves us, even when we make mistakes.
“Everything in this Bible is real. All of it is true and really happened”, we said to him. “Really?! All of it?!”, “Yes and the red words are things that Jesus said”, we told him.
“He loves you and he cares for you and he wants to be in relationship with you”, we explained, and then pointed him to John 3:16-17:
“16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
He held the Bible as if it was the most precious thing in the world to him and said, “I want to get one of these. I want a Bible.” So, as he held Leah’s Bible in His hands clearly deeply affected by the words and love coming out of it, Leah asked if He would want an English Bible, since his English is so good and he said yes. So in that moment Leah selflessly offered her Bible to our new friend Andy, who was thrilled and honored and excited to have his very own Bible to read!
Andy wants to know more, he is hungry for more, he is excited to read and learn and know God more. We left the restaurant and walked down the street and Andy said, “I want to read this Bible and know God!”, and in that moment the Lord gave me another opportunity to step out in boldness.
“PRAY”, He told me.
I asked Andy if we could pray for him, right there in the middle of the street in China, and he said of course! I asked Andy if he wanted to receive Christ, if he wanted to follow Jesus and love him, if he wanted to be a Christian, and he said YES!! So the three of us prayed together and, this is the best part…
LAST NIGHT ANDY RECEIVED CHRIST!!!
HE SAID YES TO JESUS AND DECIDED TO LOVE AND FOLLOW HIM!!
We finished praying and Andy was so clearly filled with the Lord’s joy, he was glowing! His ‘Amen’ to the prayer was filled with so much assurance, joy, love and hope! I said to Andy, “You know what this means, right Andy? You are our brother!”, “Yes, Sisters!! Because God is our Father”, he replied.
It was no coincidence that Andy approached us randomly at dinner one night early this month; none of this is a coincidence. The Lord is at work in China and is moving in ways that I never could imagine, in ways that I never thought I would be apart of! The Lord has been teaching me a lot about simplicity and how sometimes Christians overcomplicate the Gospel, how sometimes we twist it into a stumbling block for our faith. Well the Lord showed me through Andy the power and life that the simplicity of the Gospel gives. God loves us and then loves us some more in unfathomable amounts. That’s the long and short of it. Seeing the Gospel touch Andy for the first time, seeing the basic life-changing Gospel sink into Andy was beautiful. God doesn’t need grand, elaborate moments to capture His children’s hearts. He allows His children, who are equipped in no way other than through Him, to share the Gospel in small Chinese restaurants, He uses simple moments to bring more of His children home.
Jesus is absolutely, mind-blowingly amazing and I still can’t believe what He did last night!! The Lord is full of beautiful surprises, and when I think about Andy’s homecoming my eyes well with tears of joy! I praise God for what He is doing in China and in Andy’s life!! I could put down one million words in this blog and they will never be able to describe my night with Andy accurately. My words cannot do this night justice. My expression of what happened last night will never capture the beauty and joy and amazement that occurred with Andy and the Lord that night. God is so big and He really showed off last night. I wish that you could have been there because I myself still can’t believe that the Lord chose to use me last night in Andy’s life! I will forever hold this night and my new brother Andy in my heart, I will forever hold onto the memory of the light and joy in his face when he became a Christian in the middle of the street in China. I will always remember the hunger and desire and curiosity in his words, in his questions, and the beauty of his trust in the Gospel and in Christ. I cannot wait for the when Andy and I rejoice together again in Heaven one day, my new brother!!
Leah, Andy and I at dinner right before Andy asked about the Bible.
Andy with his new Bible!!
**Jesus did some pretty incredible things in the past 48 hours so keep an eye out real soon for some more blogs about His faithfulness and miracles in China!**
