There is a stretching going on. It's sometimes painful, with just the tiniest moments of rewards. We are still young. We extend grace to each other, not as quickly as we will in the end though. Room for growth noted.
There were doubts, and lies, and even poutings. Hurt feelings and old wounds opened. These were moments for decisions. Decisiveness to allow these things no longer, decisions to stand in the gaps for one another.
There were moments when we cried with one another, and sometimes for one another. Moments when Laura held hands with one of us through bites of food.
There was a gentleness about His calling, this week. Opportunities were missed and opportunities were seized. We will learn. We will seize more than we miss, in the end.
We were praised, and we were silenced. We were awarded medals, gold medals from China… who would have ever thought?
We were rescheduled on and canceled on and "we don't really know what's going on"-ed.
We saw sweet peace come to a friend in the late hours of the night. We watched his posture get taller, his voice get stronger. We haven't seen the end of this good work.
Our hearts were broken and restored all in one afternoon. We loved on were loved on by the children of Secret China. We laughed belly laughs and had circles run around us.
These were the moments when we realized the race is real, the moments of commitment to Christ first and each other second. The moments when preference was difficult but beautiful. These are the moments of our second week in China.
