Spending 3 days with the Northern Virginia Chinese Christian Church was an amazing trip. I have led this conference for years so it was very special to see many of the dynamics of the youth are still intact from year to year, but also that things change. I spoke to about 30 youth from middle school through working adults in what they call the english ministry. All the parents would gather and worship in their Chinese tongue, the children and young adults did the same, but only in English. I was the featured speaker. I was blessed to bring my wife and three kids with me. The church was so generous in hosting my whole family and it did add a dynamic that will not soon be forgotten.
I hope to be sharing some memorable moments from my trip but in one of our 5 worship gatherings we experienced a defining moment. As usual, I was feeling free to be very open and quite confrontive about certain things that I was sharing about. In general I was sharing how the need to totally love and serve Christ is totally essential. At one point I asked those who were certain of their love for God to stand up and identify themselves as so. One precious girl stood but leaned over at the chair in front of her. I asked her from the podium, "are you ok?", thinking she might be sick or something. She replied, "is it ok if I half way stand up?" Without thought I quickly replied, "Absolutely not. You need to sit down, because to serve and love God cannot be a question of deliberation but of commitment." That young girl had tears in her eyes throughout the entire sermon. I was wondering if somehow I may have been too direct, especially to a middle school student. But the reality was that she was one of the ones I know that I was most impressed with. It took guts to do and say what she said. It was a miracle for that conversation to take place in the setting we were in. And yet, the directness simply set the tone for the reality that God is just not satisfied with comfortable, status quo Christianity. I loved that girl's honesty, her sincerity, her passion in the struggle. It was real. There were no masks and hypocrisy, only pure heart wrestling. I so respected her for that. And in a strange way, I felt excited for her because our 8 hour car drive was all for her. That one girl was a soul that I knew God would touch that weekend.
Later in the weekend, maybe in the night session that very day, this sweet Chinese middle school girl, convicted to the core of her heart at how the Living God Jesus Christ deserves to be worshipped by a people who are not ashamed to live for Him alone and nothing more or less, gave her heart and life to Christ. I was so humbled and in awe to watch God do what only He can do.
I thank the Lord for the opportunity to know these precious people, a church filled with uncommon love. And I am so grateful to be used to sow into this fine fellowship and be a part of the work that the Lord did on their precious hearts.
1 comment:
praise Jesus!
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