Happy Party

Some friends who typically get together to spend time together and to share their faith with other friends call their gathering the 'happy party'.  Here are some photos from happy party number 4, which was so big we had to take it out of our homes and we got together at Concordia English Center.

In this first photo, I'm (obviously) playing guitar, while the girl in the middle is singing and the girl on the left is signing it in Macau Sign Language. If you can read Chinese, the words are on the screen.  It says 'you and me are the Heavenly Father's loved...'...and that's the extent of my Chinese skills right now.

The second photo is a photo of all of the ladies who showed up wearing plaid (or something along the lines of plaid.)

Hello everybody, how do you do?

If you've ever sung the song mentioned in the title, then you will easily know what I will be describing.  For those of you who have not: The chorus of this song goes, "Hello everybody, how do you do, how do you do, how do you do? Hello everybody, how do you do? God loves you today!"  The 'verses' go on to say "If you like _________, say hi" and those who like said object will respond with "Hello everybody, how do you do!", and after 4 different objects, you go to the chorus again.  For example,

"If you like red, say hi"
(those who like red say:) "Hello everybody, how do you do!"
"If you like blue, say hi."
(those who like blue say:) "Hello everybody, how do you do!"
"If you like green, say hi."
(those who like green say:) "Hello everybody, how do you do!"
"If you like black, say hi."
(those who like black say:) "Hello everybody, how do you do!"


Sometimes it doesn't translate well, though.  I sang this song with my kids Bible class which is fairly low English.  After I said "If you like red, say hi"  They responded with an unconfident "hi?"  So I ended up saying 'hello everybody, how do you do' every time to help model.  Confused yet?  They were too.  I realized after starting the song that it was going to be difficult. They did end up catching on, though, in a way.

We had just read the story of Samson and Delilah, so I sang:

"If you like Samson, say hi"
** unconfidently** "Hello everybody, how do you do"
"If you like Delilah, say hi"
**insert cricket noises**
"If you like the Israelites, say hi"
**unconfidently** "Hello everybody, how do you do"
"If you like Jesus, say hi"
**super loud, in fact screaming** "HIIII!!!"

Even though it wasn't the model that I wanted them to follow, they said the right thing :)  It made me smile, and I hope this story makes you smile too :)

Awkward elevator ride, anyone?

How to have an awkward elevator ride:

1) Get a neighbor who doesn't speak your language, and whose language you don't speak.
2) Have many awkward 'conversations' (if you can call them that) leading up to said awkward elevator ride.
3) Meet neighbor in lobby.
4) Say hello. The extent of both of your language skills in each other's language.
5) Ride up 16 floors in silence together, at one point exchanging the obligatory 'have you eaten?'
6) Get off the elevator, say "I don't speak Chinese/English, Goodbye."

Yeah...that happens a lot. I think it's time to learn Cantonese.

**For those of you who are saying: "hey...I thought she spoke some Chinese?!" ... I am learning Mandarin, not Cantonese.  That may change soon, though, depending on my plans for next year.

Jeremiah

I am going through a 1 year Bible, and unfortunately it's taken me 2 years to get through it--not exactly the plan, but I ended up almost catching up with the month.  That a little beside the point though.

The re-arranged Bible goes through in order, but starting from 4 places at once.  I read Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs, and New Testament every day.  For the Old Testament, I am at Jeremiah.

It's really been hitting me hard lately when I read Jeremiah.  If you've ever read it, it talks about how the people of Israel were going against God, and were burning incense and worshiping other gods, in addition to other things.  God punished them by delivering them into the hands of their enemies and in effect destroying their livelihood.  There are a few things that really struck me hard.

The first thing is the harsh words used for the non-Christians.  Now, I know that if you do not believe in Jesus Christ you will not go to Heaven.  But for some reason that's not as pungent when you don't have non-Christian friends.  For the longest of time, most, if not all, of the people that I came into contact with were Christians.  I went to a Lutheran grade school, a public high school (where I found a group of Christian friends), and a Lutheran university.

Now, I am in the 'real world', per say.  I live in an environment where most of the people that I befriended and run into on a regular basis (or non regular basis for that matter) are not Christian.

This makes Jeremiah's message even more painful for me to listen to.  Jeremiah 14:11-12 states: “Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague.”

Of course, this is taken out of context.  This is not how we should treat non-Christians.  But once we die, this IS how non-Christians will be regarded in God's eyes.  I do not want this to be the fate of my friends.  I wouldn't even wish this upon enemies. It's just a harsh realization that God is serious about those who follow Him will go to heaven, and those who don't will go to hell.

It also struck me how God told Jeremiah how he was angry that the people were burning incense to false gods.  You know, all of this in my mind was old-fashioned.  Something you only read about in the Bible.  Then I moved to Asia.

Here, incense is burned to ancestors and to gods alike.  It's normal to do.  It's expected.  I just get to thinking about what this is in God's eyes.  It's no different from Jeremiah's days...the people are following false gods--are following nothing--instead of following the Triune God.

It hurts me to know that my friends are doing this.  It hurts me to know that they are not following God.  It hurts me to know that they will not go to heaven.

Please pray for my friends.  Also, pray for everyone else who does not believe in God, who sent Jesus Christ, also true God, to die for our sins, and who rose again from the dead to unite all believers together in heaven one day.

**If you are from Asia and are reading this, please know that I am not attacking your culture.  I am stating that the traditional worship found within the Chinese culture (and many other Asian cultures) is not in line with what God wants us to do, and should be separated from the term 'culture'.  Asian culture is beautiful, and I am happy to be living in it, but the worship that so often comes with it is not pleasing to God.