Guest Blogger on Peaks and Valleys

I've had writer's block lately, so I decided to bring in a guest blogger. You might have heard of him. This is an excerpt from C.S. Lewis' book, The Screwtape Letters. The book is a series of letters written from a senior demon to his protege, Screwtape. Remember as you read that the perspective is that of a demon ("the Enemy" refers to God, etc.).

"Now it may surprise you to learn that in His efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, He relies on the troughs even more than on the peaks; some of His special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else. The reason is this. To us a human is primarily good; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense. But the obedience which the Enemy demands of men is quite a different thing. One must face the fact that all the talk about His love for men, and His service being perfect freedom, is not (as one would gladly believe) mere propaganda, but an appalling truth. He really does want to fill the universe with a lot of loathsome little replicas of Himself—creatures, whose life, on its miniature scale, will be qualitatively like His own, not because He has absorbed them but because their wills freely conform to His. We want cattle who can finally become food; He wants servants who can finally become sons. We want to suck in, He wants to give out. We are empty and would be filled; He is full and flows over. Our war aim is a world in which Our Father Below has drawn all other beings into himself: the Enemy wants a world full of beings united to Him but still distinct.

And that is where the troughs come in. You must have often wondered why the Enemy does not make more use of His power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to over-ride a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo. For His ignoble idea is to eat the cake and have it; the creatures are to be one with Him, but yet themselves; merely to cancel them, or assimilate them, will not serve. He is prepared to do a little overriding at the beginning. He will set them off with communications of His presence which, though faint, seem great to them, with emotional sweetness, and easy conquest over temptation. But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best. We can drag our patients along by continual tempting, because we design them only for the table, and the more their will is interfered with the better. He cannot “tempt” to virtue as we do to vice. He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger, than when a human, no longer desiring, but intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."

Some people might think that because we are on the mission field we are immune to the "troughs." That is, of course, not true. I hope you are as encouraged by this passage as I am.

Rubbish!

God's way just doesn't make sense.

Sometimes we try to incorporate biblical messages in our classes, just to see if we get a bite or a reaction on which we can follow up. Last week I wrote a proverb on the chalkboard for my Chinese majors to read, put in their own words, and contemplate:

"If your enemy is hungry, give him bread. If he is thirsty, give him water. You will heap burning coals on his head and you will be rewarded."

After hearing some of my students try to explain the meaning of this proverb, I asked if they liked it. Most of them said yes, it was a good saying. I asked what they thought of putting it into practice by showing kindness to people who had hurt them. They said that they would try it in some cases.

Then I wrote on the board the more famous maxim,

"An eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth."

They immediately recognized this saying and even told me the Chinese version, which also has a catchy ring to it. Then I asked them which of the two attitudes was better-- "bread and water" or "eye for eye"-- hoping there would be a breakthrough. I was careful not to insert my own opinion, because I wanted them to be genuine in their response and discover which was better for themselves. After some discussion, the class decided that it would be best to offer bread and water after the first offense, but if the person continued to hurt you, you should adopt the "eye for and eye" policy.

Finally, I decided to show them the way of Christ and see how they responded. I asked, "What would you think of someone who was hurt, but showed kindness in return? Then they were hurt again, and they continued to show kindness, over and over again forever?"

There was silence. Processing. Pondering. I had them thinking! I was excited. What would they say? Would a light bulb come on? Would they get it?

Then the silence was broken by a 90 pound Chinese girl in the back row (pictured above), who raised her fist in the air and shouted, "RUBBISH!"

Then the whole class joined in agreement. Anyone who allowed themselves to be run over time and again was a fool indeed.That's the thing about the gospel. If obeying God's way made sense, everyone would be doing it. Let people hurt me without seeking revenge? Give my hard-earned money? Take the lowest seat at the table? I'd have to be a fool to do that!

I was shocked at my student's response to God's way, but when I think about it they're right. From their perspective, someone who follows God's way is a fool. Maybe the ultimate challenge is to show people the eternal perspective. From that point of view, rather than being counter-intuitive, God's way is the only way that makes sense.

It Aint Cheap

Jesus' standards were much higher than mine. That raises two questions:

One, should I demand more from would-be followers of Christ?
Two, do I live up to his standard for a disciple?

Jesus traveled countless miles teaching and preaching about the kingdom of heaven for three years, at the end of which his following had waned to a measly eleven disciples. How did this happen? He healed incurable diseases, raised the dead, outwitted the religious geniuses, spoke words that amazed everyone who heard, fed thousands and cast out enough demons to require drastic expansion and renovation of hell.

Yet Jesus ended three years of ministry with only eleven disciples because they were the only ones willing to pay the high cost of following Jesus. Many would-be followers attempted to join him, but the price drove them away: "Sell everything you have," "Let the dead bury their own dead," "No one who follows me can look back," and so on.

If someone came to me and said they wanted to become a disciple, but they first needed to bury their father, I'm afraid that in my mind I would think, "Here is someone with an interest! I should do whatever it takes to bring this person to Christ!" I would spend hours with this person until they became a disciple. But that's not the way of Christ. He had no time to waste on those who were not immediately ready to follow him. Jesus' time would be better spent maturing the faith of the devoted.

What would history be like if Jesus, at the end of his ministry, had produced hundreds or even thousands of semi-devoted disciples instead of eleven disciples so devoted that they would go to their deaths for the sake of the kingdom? I don't think Christianity would've made it. So...

Should I demand more from would-be followers of Christ?

Other important questions: What about me? Do I follow Jesus without hesitation? Do I obey without question? Am I faithful in adversity?

If not, can I call myself his disciple?

March Madness

March has really been blessed.

Kris and I have been overwhelmed with the way God has moved this month. We have enjoyed more success in the past three weeks than in the three months of last semester. Relationships are deepening, new relationships are progressing effortlessly, confidence is building, goals are being achieved. But why? What is so different about this term? I can only guess:

1. The Big Man is in it. It can't be denied that what we're experiencing is the work of his hand. He's moving the mountains. I'm just glad we have a front seat to watch the action.

2. Big prayer. Kris and I both have people thinking about us every day. Not only thinking of us, but of the people we are trying to reach, our students, our friends, all of the work. I know that is playing a huge role in what we're seeing. Thanks to our prayer networks, dozens of people pray for us. Some are praying for us one day a week. Others bring us before the Father every day. On any given day, there are 25 people praying specifically for us. In a week, that's 175 prayers. In a month, the number goes up to 700. Think that goes unnoticed Upstairs?

3. Hard work last semester. The majority of our work last semester was relationship-building. We tried to spread our influence and by our actions let people know what we were about and that we cared about them. I believe all that invested time and effort is paying dividends this spring.

4. Now-or-never-all-or-nothing-we-only-have-a-few-months-left-so-pull-out-all-the-stops Attitude. The clock is ticking on our time in China and we have no reason to hold cards. July is coming, like it or not, and all that will remain in August is regret. We have determined that we will leave China regret-free this summer. With this attitude, we can be more aggressive and that leads to more opportunities.

5 . Yes. This three-letter word is power-packed. We use it all the time. Want to eat together? Want to work out together? Want to play basketball? Want to walk together? Yes, yes, yes, yes. "No" gets you home early and extra time in front of the TV. "Yes" gives you a chance to make a new friend and maybe a chance to plant a micro-seed of the Gospel.

So praise God for March Madness in Hangzhou, even if it has nothing to do with NCAA basketball. For the record, though, I'm still hacked that Calipari went to Kentucky.

Say Something

Today after class I was standing in front of building 10 waiting for Kris to meet me. As I stood there at lunchtime near the center of our campus, there was a mass exodus of students coming from the classroom quad to the cafeteria block. Standing just a few feet off of the path, I began counting students. They were coming so fast that I had to count them in twos. Kris arrived after only a couple minutes, but I had already counted around 300 university students. All studying on my campus. All living on my same square mile. And this was only a fraction of them!

As I counted the students, I thought about their hearts. How many of the 300 would be open to a Good Word? How can I recognize which of these students is good soil and which is not?

Our strategy is to always speak with loaded statements. They are open invitations to talk about spiritual things. With creativity, these loaded statements can become second nature. As we become more and more accustomed to speaking this way, our speech changes from useless banter to purposeful communication.

"It's a beautiful day," becomes, "God has given us another perfect day."

"This food is so good!" becomes, "God gives us all we need."

"Goodbye," becomes, "God bless you."

"I'm sorry to hear that," becomes, "I will be praying for you."

Sometimes these micro-seeds of the gospel lead to conversations and future opportunities for sharing. Other times, they fall on seemingly deaf ears. However, I believe that His word will not return to Him empty-handed. At the very least, everyone we speak to will know where we stand. And they will know who to come to the day the Big Man finally breaks through to them.

Just A Cup

In HangZhou, we're praying that God can somehow use our influence to radically impact people, changing them from ordinary folks to disciples and eventually to disciple-makers. This kind of influence takes time and exposure and a relationship that persists over weeks and months and years.

One of the problems we face in HangZhou is that most of the people we make contact with we will never see again. Maybe we meet on a bus or on the street or in a nearby city. Keep in mind that HangZhou and the surrounding area has more people than Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah and Nevada combined. We meet new people constantly. Your situation is probably similar.

If your goal is to go into all the world and make disciples, what is your approach to people you may only have five minutes with before they pass out of your reach and into the sea of earth's billions? You could get a phone number and try to make contact in the future, in hopes that a relationship will develop, but that's only practical a small fraction of the time. At the other extreme, you could save your breath and keep your mouth shut when you know your time and influence with a person will be limited. I guess another option would be to run through the story of God and Christ in two minutes. Good luck with that.

Two days ago, Kris and I were trying to make sense of the Shanghai subway system. It's not too difficult, but it would have been easier if we understood Chinese. Kris suggested that we look for and English speaker to confirm our route before we shot off in the wrong direction. I looked to our right and saw a girl about the age of some of our university students. Something told me to go to her. She happened to speak great English and also happened to be going the same place we were. "Follow me," she said.

She was shy and didn't say much, but I liked that girl. She kept looking over her shoulder to make sure we were still behind her when we walked through crowded areas. The Maglev was quieter than the subway, and I had a chance to talk with her some. She was in Shanghai to meet a friend who had cancer. Her friend, whom she had know since childhood, was going to Canada to get treatment.

Of course I knew I'd never see this girl again, but I wanted to give her some kind of blessing. When we parted ways at the airport, I said, "I'm a Christian and I'll pray for your friend." She said, "Thanks," and walked away. I couldn't tell you her name.

Thoughts?

Scarred for Life

No, I'm not scarred for life, but that little Vietnamese boy probably is.

Ok, I realize that is a scary first sentence in a blog entry, but hang in there. You might already know that Kris and I have been on winter break from our classes. We chose to travel with 9 friends though Southeast Asia. We had a great trip and had enough experiences to fill several blogs, but there was one time in particular, on our last day in Vietnam, that just has to be shared.

After spending nine perfect days in sunny Mui Ne, we decided to move on to Ho Chi Minh city, the capitol of Vietnam. Before catching our sleeper bus at 2pm, we had an early lunch at our favorite little diner where I branched out and decided to try the "beef with noodle" instead of my usual "tuna fish with samwich." Six hours later this would come back to haunt me.

When the bus came at 2, I settled in to a seat in the very back of the bus on the second level of seats. This was the last of about six similar bus rides we took as we leap-frogged from city to city through Vietnam. We always chose seats in the back, where most of us could sit together. I liked the seats on the top because the view was better and because I always wanted bunk beds as a kid. Not very popular for one-child households. Anyway, I found my seat and spent the first three hours finishing a crummy book about hidden clues in the works of Shakespeare, a knock-off of the Dan Brown novels.

One of the drawbacks of the back of the bus is that it is very bouncy and swervy. It's the best place in the bus to get carsick. Especially if you're reading. So after I finished the book and my stomach was feeling rough. I thought I was just a little bit car-queasy, but I found out later that night that I was poisoned by that Vietnamese beef.

As the need to hurl intensified, I was thankful that my seat had direct access to the window. I, like almost everyone else, hate vomiting, so I was taking deep breaths and trying hard to beat the beef. I actually made it pretty far. We got all the way to Ho Chi Minh. We got all the way to the street where the bus stop was located. We even stopped in front of our destination. Then the driver threw it in reverse. He was only backing up enough to parallel park, but it was enough to put my stomach over the edge- and my head out the window.

So I puked. And three things made it amazing:

1. Altitude. From the upper-deck window of the bus, mouth to ground was a good fifteen feet. New personal record.

2. Audience. Although my traveling companions inside the bus had no idea all this was happening, I had a huge audience outside the bus. Only a few feet away, one of the workers was guiding the driver. He might've been splashed on a little. At a distance of about fifteen feet, people were standing on the sidewalk with looks of disgust/horror on their faces. I tried to make it as enjoyable as possible for them, smiling and waving between convulsions, but...

3. Sheer volume. Upon viewing the carnage, I heard people make comments: "Oh my word." "Never in my life." "That is the most vomit I have ever seen." Needless to say, my ego was stroked a little.

Now this post has gone on too long, but I need to tie up the loose end- the Vietnamese boy. He was standing with his mother only a few yards away. While it took everyone else a few seconds to figure out what was going on, this child was locked in from the instant my head came out the window. I distinctly remember making eye contact with him as the impurities fled from my body. Then he reached for his mother's hand and opened his mouth and screamed. Then he inhaled. Then he screamed again. I'm no expert, but I think moments like these are what causes children to have issues. I'm sorry little Vietnamese boy. So sorry.