Trip to the States...

While visiting at my mom's we were blessed to get together with all my brothers and meet my oldest brothers fiance. We had a great time near the New River Gorge, staying in a very large cabin/house. We cooked, cleaned, and updated her computer. Jaime was able to visit with her friends from college and a friend from the AmeriCorp. I just finished reading The Heavenly Man, very interesting. What are your thoughts?

Since the beginning of the year I have also read or finished reading Clarence Thomas' Memoir My Grandfather's Son and Saving Fish from Drowning, Searching for God Knows What, The Heavenly Man The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun, God's Secretaries The Making Of The King James Bible.

After staying at my Mom's, we visited with the Prestoncrest C of C in Dallas! This was a great experience. We met many nice people, had some great BBQ, and got support for our time in Beijing!

While at Jaime's Mom's... I did a little reading, some of those mentioned above. I also studied Chinese sometimes, watched TV, took the dog for a walk, cooked and washed the dishes, cleaned her car, and shoveled the drive.

Since returning to China, I have begun studying Chinese more frequently. I want to be able to speak to people... I really look forward to living in Beijing, studying the language full time, and sharing Him with the wonderful people there.

I was talking with our friends here about how much time I plan to spend studying the language. I said I'll take the minimum from the language school 1.5 hours a day and hire someone to practice talking with me 1 on 1 in our home, but then I started thinking about it more. I can do better than that... using Rosetta Stone, the language books I already have, the many practice books for writing characters, and Pimsluer, I could easily occupy the entire day. So, as always I'll work out some grand scheme for how to best do this and it'll be phenomenal, then I'll scale back to something realistic.

Podcasts!

I have recently found podcasts! Most of you have already been using them, right?

Since being here in China, I have missed listening to sermons, NPR, and so much more on the radio... but now I have podcasts! I have downloaded the following and a lot more:

• Church Planting Movements: Dr. David Garrison answers some commonly asked questions about church planting movements.
• CPM Training Resources
• Richland Hills Church of Christ
• CSLPOD - Chinese as a Second Language
• Classic Sinai Podcast
• 12 Byzantine Rulers: The History of the Byzantine Empire
• NPR: Car Talk; Intelligence Squared; Technology (and a few others)
• Big Ideas
• Answers in Genesis Ministries
• Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar

I am half way through the first installment of CPM Training Resources - it is called Your Prayer Network. I learned that the people making the greatest impact on their communities are the ones praying the most. Is this a surprise? Not really, but how much do you think they are praying each day? A few minutes? An hour? Try 4 hours! That is a lot of praying!

If you really want God to work in your life, what should you do? Pray.
If you really want God to work through you and get the lives of those around you, what should you do? Pray!

This has caused me to rethink how I spend my time (or should I say His gift of time).

Beijing 2008

Originally posted on October 18 as "News, Plans, and Randomness."

We hope you are doing well and enjoying the beginning of fall. We are doing some fall cleaning. Jaime is giving away clothes she doesn't wear to the students... they love them! I have yet to, don't know if they will enjoy swimming in my clothes and I haven't gone through them just yet.

We are into fall weather here in Shiyan. The nights are cool to cold and there have been a few brisk days. The cool weather here is enjoyable. Jaime loves the rainy days, I get bored with them after 3 in a row, but she seems to like as many as we get.

There have been 4 new sisters this semester! Jaime and I are really ramping up our studies with students here, there has been a sudden interest. And we are making plans to have a big "English Corner" for all of our classes - this will be an opportunity for all of them to hear the Message through cultural teachings on family relationships, friendships, dating, marriage, school studies, self improvement, and so on. We are really excited about this, but we haven't had it approved yet (shouldn't be a problem).

One of the Chinese English Teachers gave a great homework assignment - she asked all the students to report on S*lv*tion! Then the students asked me in class to help them with their homework. This is seed sowing at its finest; and the teacher will be coming to our home to talk about the Story. This is wonderful!

Our city's original teachers, Dave & Mary Broaddus, are visiting for a while! They are 70+ and were here when they were in their 60's, February 1997 to June 2001. They are very encouraging and brought along wonderful DVD's to share with folks here.

We also have two visitors from Hong Kong. They cooked tonight! One is a friend we met traveling last year - Gabe - and she brought her friend Veronica. They are a lot of fun and easy going, but tonight Gabe got sick – maybe something like the flu.

Jaime and I need to raise support for our life in Beijing - we are planning to live there for 5 years starting next fall. We think we might need about $35,000 a year... we will prepare a budget to send home soon. We are hoping to study Chinese full time for the first 6 months to a year, then continue studying the language part time while sharing the Message full time. I am seriously considering beginning a Masters in Chinese Language & Culture for my ongoing Chinese studies. This would hopefully give me good footing for teaching in the States (when/if we return) at Harding University, Ohio Valley University, or another of our schools. I think it would be great to help prepare the students for working in China!

We aren't sure yet, but would like to come home for about 3 months in the summer. This will give us enough time to visit with as many of you as possible. We also hope to spend time with family: Andrew's brother James will return from 16 months in Iraq; Phil (Andrew's oldest brother) just got engaged and we'll miss the wedding, maybe we hope to spend some time with them soon.

I grew a beard, Jaime took a picture, and I just shaved it yesterday. Those things are itchy!

To see photos related to this post go to this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17574&l=9a6e5&id=601795676

Thanks and love you all!
Andrew & Jaime

Does God Make Mistakes?

When viewing the Old Testament people often look at the way God "changes" or how God must have messed something up, however I believe we need to look instead to one simple fact.

Humanity chose to eat the forbidden fruit.

Adam and Eve were made without flaw, with complete knowledge of the world around them. We have been in error since eating the fruit; and we all choose to eat the "fruit" and reject God.

What we see throughout the Bible is God's ongoing revelation of himself to man. Man rejects God and pushes God away again and again. Yet God is patient, loving, and kind, continuing to reveal His will for man. When we think God has changed, we should ask instead, "How have I changed?" or "How has humanity changed?"

As Adam & Eve's descendants followed in their footsteps, they became increasingly less aware of God's love and wisdom. So God continues to teach us through ongoing revelation - He isn't changing, we are. Instead of humanity becoming increasingly spiritually (and generically) intelligent we are actually becoming increasingly detached from true love and wisdom. Jesus is the answer!

When Jesus lives within our hearts we can know God!

What do I mean by continuous revelation? Simply that we are always learning more about God, but we need to have more relationship with God. In relationship we continue to learn about our friend, we never say, "I know you completely!" (1 Corinthians 13:12) God can say he knows us, but we can't say we know anyone, not even ourselves.

Six Worldviews ... Let's Say Seven Worldviews

Worldview matters. Clarifying worldviews is not an academic exercise, intellectual theory, or a philosophical concept. A worldview is an integral part of our lives. It determines our relationships. It determines your successes and failures. It determines our goals and motivations. If someone wants to change their life, they’ll have to change how they look at the world first.

Here are some worldviews and the Biblical response.

1. The one with the most toys wins.
This is the worldview of materialism – and it can be summed up with one world, more. Materialism says that the only thing that really matters in life is acquiring things. Those who subscribe to this worldview live mostly to collect things.

The Bible’s answer: Jesus said this in Luke 12, “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (NIV). He tells us not to judge our lives by how much we’ve got. The greatest things in life aren’t things.

2. I’ve got to think of me first.
We live in a “me first,” serve-yourself world that says it’s all about you. Commercial slogans cater to this viewpoint. Slogans like, “have it your way,” “we do it all for you,” “obey your thirst,” “you’ve got to think of what’s best for yourself,” and “You deserve it.”

For the last 40 years, the Baby Boomer generation has been called the “Me Generation.” This “me first” idea has infected entire communities. It has torn up marriages (“I don’t care how divorce impacts my spouse or children; it’s all about me”), destroyed workplaces (“I don’t care how my laziness impacts my co-workers; it’s all about me”) and even ruined churches (“Serve my needs first, forget about the lost”).

It’s a self-centered, individualistic way of life that says we should ignore the community and other people.

The Bible’s answer: Jesus says, “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life” (Matt. 16:25 NLT). Jesus says you only begin to live when you give your life away. Significance in life does not come from serving yourself; it comes from serving God and others.

3. Do what feels good.
This is hedonism – the belief that the most important thing in life is how we feel. The number one goal of a hedonist is to feel good, be comfortable, and have fun.

It’s the worldview that Hugh Hefner founded Playboy magazine on. He willingly acknowledges he is a hedonist.

It’s not just playboys who are hedonists, though. In fact, someone who lives for the goal of retirement is a hedonist. If the whole goal of a person’s life is to simply do nothing, live a self centered life, and make no contribution to the world, that’s hedonism.

The Bible’s answer: “Are you addicted to thrills? What an empty life! The pursuit of pleasure is never satisfied” (Prov 21:17 Msg). Mick Jagger’s been singing: “I can’t get no satisfaction” for 40 years. Why? The pursuit of pleasure is never satisfied.

4. Whatever works for you.
This worldview says it doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong. It doesn’t matter if it hurts anybody or not. If it works for you, fine. As that great theologian Sly Stone says, “Different strokes for different folks.”

In our multi-cultural, pluralistic world, this is a very popular worldview. Nobody wants to tell someone else that what they are doing is wrong. In fact that’s the only way you can be wrong in our society today – if you tell someone else they’re wrong.

The Bible’s answer: The Bible says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov. 14:12 NIV). Our ideas may seem right, but in the end our ideas lead to death. “Whatever works for you” leads to death. You don’t break God’s universal laws; they break you. (Another quote I like, "You can't break God's laws, you only break yourself against them.")

5. God doesn’t exist.
This worldview is naturalism or atheism. Naturalists believe that everything in life is a result of random chance. We’re all accidents of nature. There is no grand creator or grand design. God either doesn’t exist or he doesn’t matter.

If there is no God, there’s no plan or purpose for life. If there is no purpose, then your life doesn’t really matter. Your only value comes from the fact that God loves you, created you, and thought you up. For naturalists, life has no value, meaning, or purpose.

It takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to believe in God. When you look at creation and how the world is set on an axis, it proves the existence of God to me. If it were one degree one way, we’d freeze up. If it were one degree the other way, we’d burn up.

The Bible’s answer: Paul says in Romans 1:25 (NIV), “From the beginning of creation, God has shown what he is like by all he has made. That's why those people don't have any excuse. They know about God, but they don't honor him or even thank him...They claim to be wise, but they are fools.” In other words, we can look at nature and see a lot about God. We know God is creative, powerful, organized, and likes diversity. There are lots of things we know about God just by looking at nature.

6. You are your own God.
This worldview, otherwise known as humanism, is very popular in the Western world. It says we are the mastermind of our own fate, the determiner of our destiny. You’ll hear this in the new age movement as well: “You’re divine. You’re a god.”

It’s ironic. God wired us to worship something. And if we don’t worship God, we end up worshipping ourselves. The self-made man usually worships his maker.

The Bible’s answer: Paul says in Rom. 1:25 (NIV): “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped created things rather than the Creator.” You can go all around the world and find people worshipping little idols that they made – stone idols, rock idols, crystals, and wooden idols. They’re worshipping something that they created themselves or somebody else created. In America we have our own idols – they’re called cars, homes, and status symbols. The Bible is clear that God is God, and we’re not.

All of these worldviews have consequences. Every day we’re affected and influenced by them. We’re often not even aware of it. These worldviews affect our happiness and success. They matter greatly.

There’s only one worldview that is consistent with the Bible. The biblical worldview says God made us for his purposes. It says that we exist for his pleasure. It’s 180 degrees different from the other worldviews above.

Do you want to change your heart? Change your mind – and your worldview – first, then you can know the will of God (Romans 12:1-2).

(Thanks to Rick Warren! I just reworded this so it would better apply to all of us!)

Ch-ch-changes... Changes

Yunyang Medical College has a new president, head of foreign affairs, and a few other new officers... plus a very large freshman class. This means there will be a rearranging of many schedules, ideas, and probably even more positions will be juggled in the coming months. Many of the Chinese teachers have almost double their normal class loads. And the American teachers have picked up a few more classes as well. This means we have more opportunity to Share!

We are learning Chinese once a week with Violet, a Chinese English teacher. And I have many students willing to tutor me, I just need to arrange the schedules... hopefully my speaking, reading, and writing of Mandarin will improve dramatically and soon!

Language is like exercise, daily practice is best. Hitting it in spurts often causes frustration because I think I know something, but have never really mastered it, so there is even more need for review and repetition. Oh, and Jaime has begun studying more too! So we are both learning Chinese and talking about moving to Beijing next year to really study the language and work full time for Him!

Our Shiyan group has more teachers this year, but no teens... we have 12 teachers, and Brad's wife Min, she is Chinese - so this would bring us to 13. (Hopefully we can get one big group photo sometime soon!)

Jaime and I have begun having more open meetings, reflecting the CPM model. So we welcome new people and are really trying to get out into the community more. We may even move the meetings into a local restaurant. We are trying to encourage a more healthy, native, and maturing local population for our Meetings. Please keep this in your Thoughts.

My knee is improving little by little, but the recovery time is 6 months, so it is also slow going just like language learning. (It has been 6 weeks since the surgery.)

Who Am I?

09/6/07
Who Am I?
I'Ching Thomas

Many world religions today accept the man Jesus within their belief system. Muslims call him a prophet; some Buddhists consider him a bodhisattva, and New Age practitioners call him a social activist. Amidst such diverse claims of the identity of Jesus, who is the real Jesus? This reminds me of Jesus's own question to his disciples in Matthew 16--namely, "Who do people say that I am?" A brief look at the backdrop of his question would help us better grasp the significance of this passage.

First, consider the location. The incident occurred at a place some miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee in the domain of Herod Philip.(1) It was also the reputed birthplace of the god of Pan--the god of nature and fertility--and he was staunchly worshipped there. The surrounding area was also filled with temples of classical pagan religion. Towering over all of these was the new temple to the Emperor Caesar. Thus, the question of Jesus's identity was aptly and significantly posed to his disciples against a myriad of gods and idols.

Second, consider Peter's response. The answer Peter accorded to Jesus's question--"You the Christ, the Son of the living God"--was a title with implications that the original audience knew perfectly well. Peter was describing Jesus as the Promised One who would fulfill the hopes of the nation. The interesting thing, though, is that the original audience was expecting a Messiah or savior who was more of a political figure. Of course, Jesus, the disciples were discovering, was much more than this. He described himself as the divine Son of God, and the salvation he was to bring as something not just for the Jewish nation but for peoples of all nations.

Peter's insightful confession was key in the disciples' eventual recognition of Jesus and the turn of events that would follow. Though given divine insight, Peter was as unaware as the rest of the disciples that the victory of the Messiah they professed would come in the most unexpected way. Yet from here on, God's plan was further revealed, Jesus's suffering and impending death more clearly voiced. Jesus revealed that his Messiahship involved taking on the role of the suffering servant as prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. His very identity would ultimately lead him to his cursed death on the Cross.

Of course, how Jesus lived and died has implications as to how his followers are to live as well. That is, we, too, are to deny our self-importance and self-focus and be willing to lose our lives in standing up for what is true and right. The earliest Christians understood this very well as many were persecuted for their faith and betrayed by their own families. The laying down of one's life was a literal reality for those who would become martyrs.

Today, most of us live in environments where the question "Who do you say that I am?" is still asked in a world of distractions. We live in a context where we have endless options to choose from: a plethora of religions, pleasure and wealth, recognition, and so on. The question is as pressing to us as it was for those who first heard it. Who do we say Christ is? Our response is both personal and public. If we claim that Christ is supreme over all other competitors for our allegiance, how is this confession evident in our lives and in the world?

Regardless of what we may have been told, the way of Jesus is ultimately the way of the Cross. Signing up with Christ won't give you worldly benefits, but all the forms of suffering that arise from carrying one's cross. As we proclaim in our religiously pluralistic context that Christ is supreme over all other gods of this world, we need to be reminded that his supremacy and victory cannot be divorced from the heavy price that he paid.

Often, like Peter, we tend to expect a Lord who fits our preconceptions or ideas--perhaps one who is always "successful," or one who is validated by signs and wonders. Even the disciples were not spared this temptation. All of their questions about who would sit at his right hand and what one would secure from discipleship reveal that they were expecting glory as they walked with the Son. Their expectations likely did not include getting killed.

However, as they soon learned, any commitment to Christ that does not feature the Cross is merely devotion to an idol, for following Christ is costly. For some, following will mean death itself. It will mean taking up the Cross. It will mean living beyond our comfort zone. It may mean you will have to leave the country you call home. It will mean stepping out in love and conviction and perhaps undertaking a calling that many will scorn. Choosing to call Jesus the Christ may mean losing our lives, but then, this is the only way to truly live.


I'Ching Thomas is associate director of training at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Singapore.

(1)NIV Archaeological Study Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005), 1589.


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Jaime Arrives Today

Jaime arrives today, so what have I accomplished in Beijing for the past 4 weeks?

1. Connected with the local family
   Visited with Marcus & Julia, Ryan, and Gary and Danita
   
2. Made new friends
3. Knee surgery and a good bit of healing
4. Finished the last Pimsleur lesson (30+ were completed here in Beijing)
   
5. 20+ hours of 1-to-1 Mandarin classes - learned many sentence structures
6. Worked on Rosetta Stone (but not enough)
   
7. Traveled throughout many parts of Beijing - learned the bus, subway, and light rail systems
   
8. Taught a little to compen$ate for time in Beijing
9. Had soul searching experiences
   talked with God about my purpose
   His plans for me & Jaime
   explored reasons for personal decisions
10. Went to Ikea (laugh, this is supposed to be funny)

What will we do in the next few days?

1. Have dinner with Glen & Joana
2. Jaime will get reacquainted with China - time zone, culture, food, etc.
   
3. Meet with Marcus & Julia, Ryan, and maybe Gary & Danita
4. Scout out apartments, schools, and various other arrangements
5. Do a little shopping
   A store here sells Uno Attack, Scrabble, and Risk
   Ikea
   Maybe a mall
   Metro or Carrefour
   
6. Go to Shiyan 4:30pm Friday, 31 September.

What will we do next year at this time? We don't know... Please keep us in your Thoughts! We are talking about full time work here in Beijing! This is an exciting possibility.