“But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak anymore in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed I cannot.”
Sharing our lives with our friends in China is a little different! We can tell them about hope, love, peace, and joy. We can talk about the “Fruits of the Spirit,” and we can discuss the purpose of life, but how can we separate the creation from the Creator?
“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
I have found it difficult to share about topics such as “joy” without sharing about the One who first created joy. The same One who first smiled, laughed, and cried for the joy of his creations.
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
However, our words are not our proclamation, our lives are! Our lives are the words that we cannot use. Our lives speak when he are mute. Our lives reveal the “fire that is shut up in our bones!” And we share our lives so that our friends might know Truth.
“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the Truth but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”
Why we are grateful this week:
1) The student-led English club went well last Monday. We played games, acted like Olympic Champions, and I spoke about setting goals and having dreams.
2) There have been many blessings that we have been thankful for since we arrived in Langfang in September. Here are a handful:
1) I have been getting frustrated by the cold nights and mornings. It got below freezing at night this week, and we’ve still got a couple weeks before the heat will be turned on. We are still battling minor colds but, the good news is that next week is supposed to be warmer.
2) My math tutoring has turned out to be a lot more difficult then I realized. As it turns out the student is not a boy, but a high school girl who will be taking a college level Calculus class next semester in Canada. I will be spending Friday afternoons trying to help this student understand Calculus, and I will be spending the rest of the week trying to relearn Calculus.
3) Tomorrow we will have our second IECS English Club on the Main Campus. Shannon will be speaking.
4) Finally, as many of you know by now, Jessie is pregnant! She is about seven weeks along. We are very excited about this, and we are also happy that she is due in July, when we can be around family. Other than a minor head cold and a few random pregnancy symptoms, Jessie has been feeling great! We are hoping to go into Beijing next weekend for our first checkup.
All in His name,
Brad
Sharing our lives with our friends in China is a little different! We can tell them about hope, love, peace, and joy. We can talk about the “Fruits of the Spirit,” and we can discuss the purpose of life, but how can we separate the creation from the Creator?
“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
I have found it difficult to share about topics such as “joy” without sharing about the One who first created joy. The same One who first smiled, laughed, and cried for the joy of his creations.
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
However, our words are not our proclamation, our lives are! Our lives are the words that we cannot use. Our lives speak when he are mute. Our lives reveal the “fire that is shut up in our bones!” And we share our lives so that our friends might know Truth.
“We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the Truth but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.”
Why we are grateful this week:
1) The student-led English club went well last Monday. We played games, acted like Olympic Champions, and I spoke about setting goals and having dreams.
2) There have been many blessings that we have been thankful for since we arrived in Langfang in September. Here are a handful:
- It has been great to have a new member on our team, Jess Shamblee.
- I have enjoyed seeing many of my students on the main campus rather than only seeing them on the western campus like last year.
- I have loved the opportunity to organize our own clubs on both campuses this year.
- We are also excited that our team has grown from four teachers to 12. We have been blessed by the presence of Ryan Bettwy, Jon Allison, Tim Phillips, Amelia Martin, Emily Green, and Wil & Courtney Corder. We also enjoy reading all of their blogs!
- Most of all I am grateful for the opportunity to share deeply with a couple of students.
1) I have been getting frustrated by the cold nights and mornings. It got below freezing at night this week, and we’ve still got a couple weeks before the heat will be turned on. We are still battling minor colds but, the good news is that next week is supposed to be warmer.
2) My math tutoring has turned out to be a lot more difficult then I realized. As it turns out the student is not a boy, but a high school girl who will be taking a college level Calculus class next semester in Canada. I will be spending Friday afternoons trying to help this student understand Calculus, and I will be spending the rest of the week trying to relearn Calculus.
3) Tomorrow we will have our second IECS English Club on the Main Campus. Shannon will be speaking.
4) Finally, as many of you know by now, Jessie is pregnant! She is about seven weeks along. We are very excited about this, and we are also happy that she is due in July, when we can be around family. Other than a minor head cold and a few random pregnancy symptoms, Jessie has been feeling great! We are hoping to go into Beijing next weekend for our first checkup.
All in His name,
Brad
