Three years ago I wrote about a student who, though from the outside she appeared active and engaged in activities on campus, was really lonely and wanting close friends. Today this same student shared with me that she has met with 3 other new students who share the same struggle she had as a freshman. Now this student, who we have been discipling and watching grow over the last three years, is reaching out to other students. To God be the glory!
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Ann and I were sitting in McDonald’s a few weeks ago doing our weekly Bible study when a man came up to us and started asking what we were doing. I thought he might be a Christian because he commended us for studying the Word and also took great interest in the fact that Ann was from China. But then he said that he and his father were out here doing "ministry." He didn't say why or what their purpose was. Later he launched into the fact that he and his father had read through the Greek and Hebrew and discovered the "original scriptures." At this point I normally would have tried to shut down the conversation, but rather than focusing on that, he began to ask Ann questions about her beliefs. When he found out she didn't believe in God he began throwing objections at her. For the next hour, they debated, and I just sat back and watched, humored that this man was trying to reach inside Ann's core with arguments about commonalities in human morals, our differences and similarities across cultures and scientific proofs. I was humored, because I knew he couldn't out argue Ann. I know Ann well enough to know you can never argue her into a corner; she will have more questions and more excuses for you than anyone I know. Yet, I let him do the dirty work that I have never even bothered to try. When Ann and I discuss, I present her with answers from the Word. Usually, she takes them, sometimes she objects. When she deviates and tells me things like she thinks other forces in the universe might have put humans here, and I know we are going to keep going in circles, then, often times, I'll just let her make her point and leave it as it is is, telling her I can't offer her answers. The men, though they did a good job of explaining why God exists, left disappointed at having not won my student friend over. But I know that there is something deeper brewing in Ann. Yesterday she asked me if I was afraid of death. Another time she told me how she grieved she couldn't help one of her friends who was going through a difficult time. I love her very much, and I just pray she'll come to know that there is someone Who loves her even more than I do. Maybe then she will no longer be able to argue. China In Changsha some one of the girls and her family paid for us to do a river boat tour. The lights on the sides of the river were beautiful. The boat was rickety, however, and it rained directly on us. A few days later in another town the visiting scholars insisted we go on another river boat tour. This time, the boat was heated, covered, and large. And they even fed us watermellon. But both will be very special memories because of the company. |
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