Campus Target

“Look! There one is!” someone exclaimed as we continued down the highway in a characteristically shock-less Chinese bus.

I pulled away from my reading and peered out the window to my left. A tall limestone peak stood in the distance, enshrouded by a misty haze and jutting up from the gray-green plain. As we grew closer to our destination, these peaks grew more and more numerous. I marveled at the beauty only a window-pane away, and remembered the words of a famous Chinese poet. The river we were approaching and the surrounding mountains “is like winding blue ribbon secured by hairpins of jade.”

Along with these mountain peaks came the realization of a hope held in my heart for years. I remembered being a young girl and hearing about the fisherman on this river that wore cone-shaped straw hats and used cormorant birds to help them fish from their rafts made of bamboo. I remembered looking at my friends’ pictures of this place almost eight years ago and dreaming that I would someday visit.

It is moments like these in which I realize God has been running a thread through my life, pulling it together, and ordering the steps of my path. He had called me here, even when I was very young, although I was not yet aware. It is moments like these, when I see God’s hand of direction upon my life, that bring me refreshing when I am discouraged and forget why I am here.
During those many days that life in Asia now feels routine to me, I remember the One who called me. I remember that He loves my friends here so much more than I do. I remember that He loves me so much more than I do. And I know that as life continues to stretch before me, that God has secured my path, just like He secured the river with the mountain hairpins of jade. And it is beautiful.