Standing in the Gap

– Ezekiel 22:30-31

 

To continue regaling tales of China, I have to tell you a little about China itself. Over here we tend to have an impression of China that’s very…1984ish. The ultimate example of the state controlling everything, Big Brother watching over everyone’s shoulder, free thought outlawed (or at least dealt with harshly), and certainly religion being repressed and persecuted. Firstly, a lot of this comes from practices and policies enforced a decade or two ago, and the rest, well, I’ll tell you what I was told before entering mainland China: ‘Everything you’ve heard about China is true. Somewhere in China.’ The country is huge, 4th largest after Russia, Canada, and the USA, and contains the largest population of any country in the world – some 20% of human beings live there. So there are pockets that look as free as here, and pockets where evangelism will land you in prison. To understand it all would take more than a blog, but here’s the part I want to dispel, the part I want you all to understand: the people of China are loving, friendly, hospitable, and in my short experience, the HUNGRIEST people for the gospel I’ve ever met. When a Chinese person takes an interest in Christ, the questions they would ask out of a genuine desire to understand would send me digging through my bible for a real answer. They go deep, fast, and when they recognize the truth…look out. It’s the first excited meal of a starving person that never knew food existed.

 

The sad thing in China for me though is the difference in general social programs. There are few to none. As with most Asian cultures China has an underlying shame based culture, and to be poor enough to beg is a despicable lot in life that simply isn’t the general public’s tax problem. There is little or no extra help for the disabled either. What this means though is that the people themselves have to step up rather than relying on government programs to take care of it all. You need a lot of love to stand on your own for those that can’t do so for themselves, and I had the extreme fortune of meeting several examples of this kind of love. The situation there seems to bring out greater love than anything I’ve seen anywhere else. One such person we worked with is named Laura. She goes to the train stations a few times a week to talk with those that make their homes there, bringing blankets, food, and any other kindness she can muster up. Sometimes she’ll check someone into a hospital that needs it. But her main focus has been the children she finds there.

 

I don’t remember exact numbers, but Laura has legally adopted around 10 of the children she has found in the train stations, many of them with mental and physical disabilities. The story of Jakey (see last blog) being left on a train is unfortunately not unheard of, especially in the case of special needs children. In addition to this, Laura is the one responsible for the boys home where Jakey and many other runaway/abandoned teenage boys have a roof, bed, games to play and loving care. With each one Laura has poured herself into tracking down and contacting family members, sometimes reuniting them, and sometimes taking on long term care when no one else would. She is a woman that will always find a way to make it work, no matter the personal cost, and the love she pours out every day has literally saved the lives of dozens of children from cold, lonely deaths. I look at her huge family, and at the boys home with it’s minimal amount of extra helping hands, and I think ‘How can this work? How can she consider taking in even one more child?’ And I know that she looks at the same scene and thinks ‘I’ve got more love to give. Who needs it today Lord?’

 

Laura stands in the gap between life and death for these kids. For most everyone she talks to. Because no one else would. And because she allows that much of the Father’s love pour through her. Would that we all loved as much.

 

-1 John 4:11-12