Culture
“I don’t want my country to be like this. . ”
“I’m a party member, I can’t be a part of a religion. .”
“Your God…”
“I thought the Bible was fairy tales?”
Only one child per couple means extra pressure on the child to succeed. In middle school their goals are to work as hard as they can to make good grades to get into a good high school, then to make good grades to get into a good College. Children and teens spend most of their time in school and the majority of them would tell you that good grades is the most important thing in their focused climbing the latter of success. It is the child’s job to support the parents after they finish school and their parents get to old to work. The college students have all their focus on getting a good job with a good salary. Once College is finished some of them work so hard at their jobs that they don’t have time to meet other singles, here the parents step in. Parents with single children will gather at a prearranged time and walk around with a picture of their son or daughter and tell other parents salary and job information. If the parents approve of each others children they will arrange meetings and hope for a marriage. Once married they’ll have their one child that the grandparents take care of while they continue to work like mad till they’re old and their child is old enough to start supporting them. Needless to say they’re a hard working bunch of people.
Now take almost an entire nation who have grown up thinking the Bible is nothing more then a fairy tale, or a good way to learn English. That Christianity is just another religion among the many, where He is “our God”, and the other belief’s have “other gods.” Some might even view Christianity, or really any religion, for people who need something to believe in, but their road to success is going well enough to where they simply say that the Asian culture is much different then the American culture.
Then there is the light that flickers into their eyes whenever we tell them about Jesus, they start to see something else to live for besides working till they die. To hear that Jesus loves them unconditionally seems almost impossible to them. They work so hard to please their parents and are terribly afraid of failure and shame to their families. More then one occasion girls have sat with a look of awe in their faces sometimes uttering “impossible.” To be the first one to tell some of the College girls about Jesus and His seemingly impossible love for the human race has been quite an experience and never fails to be a blessing.
I am now involved in a Saturday *Group* and watching these “baby Christians” is incredible. Every Saturday a different person speaks, some new believers, some not so new. Most of the students have about 1/3 of the knowledge that half of Church-going people, who don’t really even pay that much attention, in America have. I try and imagine me a few weeks after getting saved getting up in front of people and giving a sermon. Don’t make me laugh, I think to myself. Even now the lack of confidence in myself would make me blush and stutter in front of a group. It never fails to impress and make me thank God that he is growing such incredible leaders in a country that needs God. Watching them makes me do some deep praying about my own lack of faith and confidence in our Father to trust Him enough to be willing to preach to a group of people. We tell the students that it’s not our abilities or our Bible knowledge, but it’s His abilities, His wisdom and Him speaking through us. It is this faith and them acting upon it that gets them in front of groups relying on God and giving a sermon, even if they’ve never heard one before. What an awesome convicting time, Cindy Lu, forget about yourself and your own abilities or lack there of and live what you believe, not just some parts, but all that you teach and everything God promises!
I have heard that “the teacher learns more then the student.” What I have to say to that is, so true, so true. . .
~Cindy Lu