Rain. Beautifully soothing rain drops fall gently outside my window as I type this. Rain has become a common happening during our school. I keep hearing people say “it never rains this much!” and yet it seems that God is fit to bless us with rain. Each day He comes, moving in undeniably real ways the rain follows. It comes as a marker, at the end of the day, a seal over our experiences and renewed awareness of His being. I didn’t think it was possible to love rain more than I already did, but then again I didn’t think I would ever be going to China either...
Yesterday was Tuesday, and each Tuesday evening, after dinner, we come together with our students for something called Community Outreach, a euphemism for what is more commonly labeled “Evangelism Night” (atleast during my DTS years ago). As one may imagine, this night is not always met with the most welcoming of receptions. Something about the idea of “evangelism” sends our insides into a tizzy and stirs up all kinds of awkward.
So, tonight as the students began to fill into the pavilion around 6:30 it did not take long to notice morale was low, very low. Whatever it was, we all felt it. As I looked around the room it was disheartening to notice these heavy feelings seeming to blanket everyone, almost as if a dark cloud settled over the room sprinkling feelings of despondency on top of each one of us. Perhaps the most challenging part was that in about thirty minutes we would be leaving campus to enter the community hoping to pray for those in need and share the message of Christ; a message that proclaims freedom, and promises the exact opposite of what was being conveyed in that room.
A couple of the guys began to play music and Kat, one of our female staff leaders, stepped to the microphone and voiced what we were all feeling, “Something is not right.” She said this heaviness, this oppression, could only be explained as a resistance to what was awaiting us on the other side. A weak attempt to discourage us from entering the community and being a part of impacting the lives of God’s dear ones; those he cares desperately about and longed to embellish his love upon through us.
Once she finished we all broke into groups of two to four, and after a few minutes of seeking the Lord in prayer Lauren, one of the girls I get to meet with weekly, and I set out. As we walked we discussed whether or not we believed God was speaking anything specific to us about who we were to encounter. I mumbled something about the word “hemlock” and seeing the picture of some odd V shaped thing. I had no idea what either meant, if anything, but I figured I’d throw them out there anyway because really, what did I have to lose? Lauren replied with, “I got Mike, or Michael, but I’m not sure if that’s from the Lord or my own mind.” We decided regardless of whether or not these things meant anything we would try to be an encouragement to people we talked to.
One of the first people we came upon was Joleen, a woman who worked at McDonalds up the road from our campus. She was on her thirty-minute break so we decided to take a few of those minutes to thank her hard work, and for serving us (at times campus food is a not the most appetizing so us YWAMers have been known to frequent the Mickey D’s). After that we kept walking along the road, ocean on our left, shops on our right. We were about ready to cross over to busier side, but for whatever reason we stayed on our current side for another block. As we walked I noticed this guy, who looked to be in his twenties, coming towards us with a small book in his hands. It was completely dark by this time so he had the book raised up towards his face, catching the light from the street lamps. I love books so my curiosity was sparked instantly. I had to find out what he was reading. I mean come on, it to be good if he was willing to read it not just while walking, but in the darkness on the narrowest park of the road moving towards oncoming traffic. He lifted his head to my inquiry and met our eyes with one of the happiest smiles I’ve ever seen. “Tao Te Ching. My favorite. I’ve been reading it over and again for the past three years.” He was a bit surprised to learn neither Lauren nor I had read it. We asked him to share his favorite page with us, talked a bit about what he was in Kona for, what we were in Kona for and a some other random things, then Lauren mentioned something about my Birthday being the next day and he stretched out his arm, book in hand, “Here you go, an early Birthday gift.” His favorite book. A companion that had traveled alongside him for the last three years, and now he was handing it over to someone he’d known for barely ten minutes. Wow. People have a hard enough time giving things away to people they know, nonetheless someone they’ve just met.
After talking for a while longer I realized we’d never asked his name, or told him ours. So we introduced ourselves and asked his name, “Mike, or Michael.” Lauren gasped out loud and covered her mouth with surprise. He introduced himself the exact way she had shared as we were discussing whether or not we felt God laying things or people on our hearts that night. Her words, “I got Mike or Michael, but I’m not sure I’m making it up or it’s from God.”Pretty safe to say that one was from God. So much for my hemlock and weird V thing... Haha, I wish I could have seen how big our smiles were because I’m convinced our faces were just barely wide enough to contain them.
We hung out with Mike, or Michael ;), for a bit longer that night hitting up some Mcdonald’s with a few other YWAM students. So, as if the “Mike, or Michael thing wasn’s enough as I stood in line Lauren, who had been in the bathroom, flies over to me and asks if I had lotion on. It caught me a bit off guard. I assured her that no, I didn’t have any lotion on, or makeup since I was coming off a make-up fast, then asked her why. “You have gold dust all over your arms and chest!” I knew she wasn’t kidding because her face was beaming uncontrollably, and then she showed me her own glittering arms. It was the craziest thing! Both of us had shimmering gold dust all over our upper bodies, and mine was on my shoulders and even under the straps of my tank top. Insane. After a bit of a giggle fest we tried to compose ourselves by getting food. We had a round of sundaes, shakes and fries and great conversations with our new friend about what the Discipleship Training School is and the power of being a part of something bigger than yourself. It was so relaxed and free. Mike told us that after having lived on the island two years this conversation was the first of its kind, and we were the first group he had ever felt so comfortable around. God touched us that night.
Something else that I didn’t realize, until later, was the significance of the book he gave me. I was trying to learn a bit about it and here’s what I found... I can’t believe I’m about to do this, but here I go using Wikipedia as a reference (Massive no no as and English Major, but I’m doing it... judge me all you want;),
“The Tao Te Ching is fundamental to the Philosophical Taoism and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism and Neo-Confucianism. This ancient book is also central in Chinese religion, not only for Religious Taoism but Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Taoist words and concepts. Many Chinese artists, including poets, painters, calligraphers, and even gardeners have used the Tao Te Ching as a source of inspiration. Its influence has also spread widely outside East Asia, aided by hundreds of translations into Western languages.”
Not only had he gifted me his favorite book, but he had given me something that carried with it great significance in the Chinese culture, which would be great for someone going to China... Oh wait, I’m going to China! Yea, whoa. Out of ALL the books, he gives me one that holds importance for me for China... :)
So there you have it, a night full of God once again. All the heaviness that plagued the beginning hours of Community Outreach was long gone and those feelings of despondency were washed away with another night of rain. It was a beautiful night, thanks for reading this doozy of post and sharing this experience with me :)
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