China is a place where the government not only snatches up the seed that has been cast, but puts down a few inches of asphalt on the soil for good measure. There is no hint of religion anywhere and the spiritual atmosphere is very dark and heavy.
However, there were a number of occasions where seeds found their way into good soil, laid strong roots and pushed through the oppression from the government.The first came during our first week of volunteering with a little boy that we met, who we'll call Greg. While we were playing with some kids, Greg was walking around with a cross necklace in his hands. I was very surprised that he had it, so I asked him what it was and why he had it. Without saying anything, he formed his hands in the position of prayer and then pointed up to the sky. I didn't need to say anything else, I just gave him a thumbs up and we kept playing.
The second time was with a woman we met around town. I saw that she was reading a Bible in public and, again, I was surprised to see such an open display of faith. She notice me staring at her and immediately came up to me with her Bible. Her Bible was written in Chinese characters but I had a feeling that she was reading from the book of Psalms. I took out my iPhone and opened up my Bible app to try and read along with her. Sure enough, she was in Psalms and she began to read it to me in Chinese as I followed along in English. For the next 45 minutes we shared verses with each other from Psalms to James. Even though we did not share a common language, we shared a common faith and were able to communicate everything we needed to.
The final encounter came right around Christmas time. We were sharing a diluted Christmas story that was about "Baby Love" when Greg, the same Greg from before, shouted out "Wao jer dao Jesu!,” which means "His name is Jesus!" Everyone was taken aback by this and we honestly didn't know what to do. It was so exciting to see such a young boy proclaiming what he knows to be true and not worrying about the consequences.
I don't know when this religious oppression will be removed from China, but I know that when people are able to worship freely and openly, there will be strong Christians around to guide them. I look forward to that day and will continue to pray for more breakthroughs to happen.
