R's rue

  婷婷乐游记 = Tingting's Travels I came across another Chinese YouTube channel devoted to exploring the Chinese countryside. Again there is a young woman in front of the camera and a young man behind it. In the selected video, they are in the province of Guizhou where their aim is to visit an old  mountaintop temple complex. The walk up there is long but not scary. The location is so peaceful with natural greenery burgeoning all around as cicadas sing from the undergrowth. This is a different China from the China of bullet trains, industry and big cities. Even the controlling power of state communism seems far distant. My appreciation of the video was interrupted by occasional ad breaks and if the same happens with you, I apologise. Just click "Skip" whenever you can.  In this troubled world, it is kind of nice to follow a winding dirt track up a green mountain and see the golden Buddhist statues at the top. We often hear references to periods of Chinese history ...

 At the end of church we had baptisms. As I watched two young people profess their faith, I remembered my baptism day. It made me almost bawl like a baby. You’re always told it’s the best decision you will ever make. I didn’t always agree, but now years after profession, do I understand and agree.  After a recent bout with depression and faithlessness, I’ve come to see  how Christ has carried me. I didn’t feel His Presence. It was through a physical pain and profound mental anguish that it stuck. I needed that pain to be taught His Power. The test provides the platform for His Power to shine as you take your faith into fierce fire.  Maybe soon I will have the peace to share how my world got rearranged so God would be glorified. Out of me, into we. Think it can be done alone?  It can’t. Unless you want to learn how devastatingly brutal His lessons can be for His children.  I still don’t like the torment I went through. It had and still has a profound effe...