Hudson Taylor, part 3

I know it’s been several months since I began my posts on Hudson Taylor (all of 2 of them), but I still want to pick up where I left off and continue to write about him and his life and what I have gleaned from the book.

Soon after his conversion, he felt a strong desire to be used by God. He began to pray about what God wanted him to do with his life and felt a strong calling to China. Only being 17 at the time, he could not yet fulfill this calling to go. So what did he do? He prepared the best he could. Despite not having a teacher, he learned over 500 Chinese characters and their meaning (though he didn’t know how to pronounce them), he began to study his Bible more diligently, he worked hard at assisting a doctor and learned all he could from him and he ministered to people living around him.

I’m eager to go back to China, but I know that I need to be built up in the faith and be more equipped before I am ready to live there full time. I can identify with this part of his story:

“It was evident to those whose opinions he valued most that the time had not yet come for him to go forward [to China]. He was too young as yet. Further training and experience in the things of God were needed. It was well, no doubt, that it was in his heart to leave all and follow wherever the Master led. But was He leading just at that time to China? To his parents and friends it seemed not.”

Three and a half years he waited before it was time to go. That number is not my hope. I’m not counting on being sent out after waiting for that length of time. I just want to be faithful until it is time to go.

Church Sign Boards

My job requires me to do a lot of driving so I see many "clever" church sign boards. I get really upset at the message on many of them. In their attempt at being clever they give Christianity a really bad name in my opinion. I mean this sign (along with many others) doesn't even carry a true message! My faith in and of itself isn't getting me to heaven anyway - it's the One in whom my faith is in. And is the point to merely get people to come into the church building or to show them how wonderful Christ is? How many people are going to feel compelled to come to church after reading that type of message? And if they do come, is it going to be for the right reason?
Then there's also the "CH CH What is missing?" UR! Yuck...
Can't remember all of them, but you get the point.

Happy Birthday Beth

It's my second oldest sister's birthday today. I have many fond memories of things Beth and I used to do when we were growing up. To name a few: playing people (playing with small little plastic people with no arms or legs), Sunday afternoon whiffle ball, afternoons after school eating snacks and watching reruns of tv shows, outrageously long monopoly games (we had our own house rules), Saturday afternoon grocery shopping trips with Ruth (mainly because we'd often times stop at Fazzoli's for some breadsticks!), watching the baseball playoffs. One thing that I DIDN'T enjoy when I was younger but am thankful for now is her teaching me how to clean the house. I've had many roommates and have found that many guys don't really know how to clean. Now of course, even though I KNOW how to clean that doesn't mean that I always do it! Nonetheless that's just one random thing that I am thankful for, Beth. I love you.

Feeling more settled

I'm beginning to feel more settled, finally. I decided not to stay at the house in the country that I wrote about earlier. It was just too far away from everything else that I wanted to be near. So now I'm in an apartment for at least a year, which I'm very happy about. I know I'm bad about making promises of putting up pictures, but I REALLY do plan on putting up some now that I know I'll be staying here for awhile. First I have to clean up my room and get some things on the walls though, so be patient! I have 2 roommates, but I don't know them very well. We all have our own room and bathroom, we just share the kitchen and living room, so its not bad. I haven't had a chance to talk to the guys very much thus far, but they seem like nice guys.

Feeling settled, missing China, but content in Birmingham.

Park

Several weeks ago (which feels like months ago after moving and starting a new job) Marlow and Eliot spent a few days alone at Grandma and Grandpa's house which is where I was staying too. We went to the park one afternoon and played around some before having a picnic lunch.