Bernie and the Messiah

A couple weeks ago, we talked about the Messiah in my Bible class. Isaiah 52:13-53:12 talks about the Savior that will come. He will be beaten. He will be punished. He will be innocent. He will take our punishment. He will be condemned on our behalf. He was sinless. We are the sinners. We deserve the punishment.

After discussing the passage, we related it back to the Penalty Offering (Leviticus 5:14-6:7). It talked about how each person had to sacrifice a sheep/ram for their sin. Whether they knew they sinned or not, they would still be held accountable. Each time they sinned, they were to give this sacrifice or offering. So, over a person's lifetime, they would offer thousands upon thousands of sheep. We connected that fact that the Messiah was the Final and Ultimate Penalty Offering. There would be no need for sheep anymore. Then I said, "I'll tell you a secret, Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is so important and talked about so much by all people because of what He did and what it means. All your sins can be forgiven, IF you believe in Jesus and his sacrifice for you."

Bernie had a question, of course.

"So, it doesn't matter what we do? We are forgiven, if we believe in Jesus. So, we can do whatever we want without consequences. It doesn't matter what we do because we are forgiven."

My response:

"No. And Yes. Imagine this. You kill someone. You are guilty. You have broken the law and you are sent to prison for the rest of your life. You will die in the prison. You will never be able to leave. But your friend comes one day. He says, 'You don't have to stay here. I am going to take your punishment. I'm going to stay here forever. You can go free.' What will you do? Will you go and commit more crimes? Will your friend's sacrifice mean nothing to you? No. It means something. It's important. It's your friend. If you go out and break the law again, it's like spitting in your friend's face. His sacrifice means nothing then. You leave and you want to honor your friend with the rest of your life. Doing your best. Trying your hardest."

Bernie

Bernie.

Oh Bernie. He was in my English class last year. He's in my Bible class this Fall. I have to say, I was a little surprised to see him sitting there when I walked in. He always had things to say and challenging questions. He loved talking about politics, history, the Pope, religion, among other things. He just LOVED debating. He always had something to say. And when I challenged him back on his views, he would just smile and say, "Well, that is what you think. You are American. But Chinese do no think this."

So, Tuesday (Sept 2) was the first Bible class. We talked about some Bible history and basics. We practiced navigating through the Bible a little as well. I told them we would start in the beginning. So, page one, chapter one. They took about 15 minutes reading the Creation story. A former teacher/mentor of mine, has created a wonderful study of lessons for people seeking the Lord. And it kind of targets Asians. So, that's what I use in my class. We were walking through the first 3 days of creation; light, darkness, sky, water, land. I asked, "What did God create the first day?" Bernie shouted, "The sun!" I smiled and said, "The sun isn't created till day 4. Look. He created light and darkness. God is so powerful, He doesn't need the sun to create light." Bernie looked down at his Bible and was quiet a moment. He looked up and smiled, "Okay." Hahaha, it was just too funny. I think he'll be a great addition to the class and says and asks things others might be too shy to say or ask. And when his inquisitive attitude, he may conclude Christianity is not for him. But his curiosity could help others to believe. We will see where the story goes...

My Cousin Vinnie

Do you remember that movie? I don't remember much. But I remember the title. I think someone was on trial and he had a crazy cousin from the Bronx that was going to be his lawyer. Anyways...

This is my friend, Vinnie.

He is just a pleasure. I loved having him in my class and loved how active and inquisitive he was in the Bible class I taught. And last Spring, we studied further in the Bible with several other girls. This past Fall, the tradition continued and we all studied together again. However, this Spring, they had to get real and do an internship in order to graduate. So, in December 2013, we all had dinner together and said good-bye until graduation in July of 2014.

I prayed for him and the others off and on over the past months. But that was about it. Then I got a text.

Wait. A little back story: In Spring of 2012, he completed my Oral English course. At the end of the oral final, a small group discussion, he asked, "Did you give me a bad grade because I'm gay?"

I was a little shocked and stricken. But I smiled and replied, "Vinnie, you received a bad grade because you weren't a good student. I LOVED having you in class. When you came. But you rarely came and sometimes, you would play on your phone the whole time. Do you think coming to class half the time and playing on your phone deserves a good grade for an Oral English class?"

He laughed. "Okay, okay. I understand."

"Honestly, I never knew you were gay. I thought, maybe. But until you said something NOW, I assumed you weren't. It's rude to make assumptions based on appearance or actions that may not mean anything."

"Thank you, Nila. Wow. You have such principles."

Fast forward to June 2014: Our text conversation...

Vinnie:
my dear Lina, thank you for teaching me the Bible and I do enjoy the days when we talk about everything related to christianity .I leart a lot of things from you and I cherrish it very much. I am back home now ,because something terrible is  happening to me ！I beg that you can pray for me by the name of God and I do hope you can have a good life wherever you are！  from your lovely Vinnie！

Me:
Oh Vinnie!!! You are a dear dear DEAR friend. I will definitely pray for you! Thank you for asking! I'm sorry to hear your bad news. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. And if you ever want to talk, I'm always ready to listen 

Vinnie:
maybe it is not the right time to tell you that and actully I dare not tell you . I got a terrible disease which will kill me gradually , but if i take pills everyday i can have a normal life as you have！ I know you are a nice girl who i can trust,so i want to share my secret with you and it will realax me a lot！ dont ask me what disease i am with now,i will tell you when necessary.what i want now is your praying and a normal life. i hope that i can see you again in the future！

Me:
Ok. I will still pray for you. And I will wait for you to tell me your secret when you are ready. I hope you know I will accept anything. I think you are a very good friend of mine 

Vinnie:
:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) i need to have a rest.good night,my friend！

Venus, Mars, Jupiter…

Venus is one of my former students. We spent gobs and gobs of time together when I was her teacher. She was currently obsessed with a male upperclassman at that time. After she moved on to her junior year, we still meet monthly. But Kevin, a female sophomore at that time, would join us. Finally, about Christmas time, she wanted to have a serious conversation. We met and she told me about how Kevin wanted to be more than just friends. I wasn’t shocked, but saddened. 

Venus’ reasons for entering into a homosexual relationship:

• Kevin was really kind.
• They were really comfortable together.
• They knew each other for a long time.
• It would be like a normal relationship.
• She is like a man.
• She just wanted to try it.
• She eventually would get married to a man.
• She wanted to have a baby and her parents expected her to get married and have a kid.
• She was still attracted to men, but just wanted to see what a homosexual relationship was like and didn’t see what the harm was.

My reasons for NOT entering into a homosexual relationship:

• God created man and woman for each other.
• It was unnatural. There was no way for them to have babies.
• No matter how much Kevin acted like a man, talked like a man, dressed like a man, SHE was a SHE.
• Men and women are meant to balance each other out.
• It wasn’t going to go beyond college.
• If it did go beyond college, gay marriage is NOT accepted in China, what then?
• If it wasn’t going to go beyond college, why even engage in it?
• It was going to have repercussions in her future.
• What would her future husband think?
• People were going to judge her for being so flippant about her sexuality.
• What were her parents going to think?

After several dinner dates and conversations, going over the same things, she decided to go for it. Going into her senior year and Kevin’s junior year, they were still together and we still had dinner or coffee monthly. They even met my mom when she came to visit in October 2013. We have celebrated birthday together this year. But several times over the year, Venus and I meet separately to talk about the problems she and Kevin were having.

Present Day: We just met this week for coffee. She said she wanted to have some girl talk. I knew that meant Kevin Talk. I braced myself and prayed constantly the day before we met until we met.

Several weeks before she had travelled to a university in another province for an interview for grad school. She got in and was really excited about it. BUT she didn’t know what to do about Kevin. 

Questions I posed for her:

• Did you want to have a long-distance relationship?
• No. We have been having so many problems and I am tired of trying and being more mature than her.
• So, how will you break up with her?
• I don’t know. Some of my friends suggested I just slowly push her away. Just say I don’t have time, I have too much homework or something when I go to grad school.
• Why wouldn’t you do it sooner?
• I don’t want to be so cruel. I think it is terrible if I just tell her I don’t want to be with her anymore. And if I break up now, I will just feel sad and lonely and get back together.
• Don’t you think it’s selfish to stay together? You don’t love her, if you really loved her, you would let her go and move on.
• You are right. I don’t love her. And I will get married someday. To a man.
• Why would you want to stay friends after you break up?
• It seems so cruel to not communicate after being together so long. We can still be friends.

Glasses Twins

Every fall term I teach a class called The Bible and Christianity. This alone is very rare and special in China. I have never heard of any other person doing this. And I highly doubt I will ever. The students in that class are my old sophomores. When they are juniors they have the choice to take several electives. I’m always encouraged and excited to see 50+ students in my class that first day. Some take the class because they are truly interested, some just like me as a teacher.

Let me tell you a little about Ocean. He has one of the most gentle and kind souls. Even in English class, he was attentive, active and so insightful. So, I was excited to see him in class.

Throughout the fall semester, he was SUPER active and a GREAT participant. As we walked through creation, the first sin, the Law, the Messiah, Jesus and his parables, Ocean lit up each week. He asked wonderful questions and had thoughtful insights. And half the time when other students posed questions, he was quick to jump in and respond with accurate answers. He just GOT it. It was great.

From earlier posts, you may have read about some Kentucky friends that came to visit. While they were here, Ocean had some time to hang out with Ben and Tyler. I don’t know the details of what they talked about, but I did hear that both parties enjoyed talking with each other. The information I got from Tyler and Ben was that Ocean considers himself a believer or at the very least, very close to becoming one.

In the spring, I always offering to study further with students from the Bible class that desire to study more. Ocean was one of those students. We’ve been studying through James. And once again, he just GETS it. 

Continue to pray for him and his journey towards the One True God.

Isn’t he the cutest? We’re glasses twins. I couldn’t resist a photo.

Faith Like Potatoes

I’m not really a big fan of cheesy Christian movies. I have friends who JUST love Faith Like Potatoes, that marriage movie, Courageous and oh yeah, that football one…Don’t get me wrong, they are good, wholesome movies, but I like to be on the edge of my seat, wondering "What going to happen next!?!?" And those movies are just too predictable. FYI: I also like movies with some kind of sacrificial love. But having seen said movies, I am reminded of them because of the past week.

Several new friends came to visit from Kentucky. It was SOOOO much fun to see them fall in love with a people that are so close to my own heart. They loved the food, which is always a plus and actively pursued students in bringing them closer to the One, True God. Now, stay with me. It might get messy.

Sufi is a sophomore in my Oral English class. I was immediately pulled towards her because of her sweet smile and disposition. Our friendship was effortless and we could talk for hours. We, of course had several conversation about God, the spiritual realm, Buddhism, her family, etc.

Sufi had told me about so much. About how disappointed her father was when her older sister was born. About how he was not interested in her life. About more disappointment when she was born. In Asia, especially China, boys are valued higher than girls. This just broke my heart. Her whole childhood she had tried so hard to gain her father's approval. But had never succeeded. She said her relationship with her father was a cold and very distant. However, it was a contrast with her relationship with her mother. She her and her mother were very close.

Back to KY friends. Savannah and Logan met Sufi their second day here. And they feel in love with her just like I did. They had great conversations. And previous to their meeting, Sufi had told me her one big hang up was believing that there was ONLY ONE God. She wanted to believe everyone was free to believe whatever they wanted. But I told her, they could, but only one thing can be TRUE. She understood, but didn't want to commit. But during the week with Logan and Savannah, her heart changed. And that's only by the power of Father and the Holy Spirit. Savannah told her about having to just take a "leap of faith" sometimes. And so she did!!! It was a great end to a great week.

I meet with her the following week and we talked about navigating through the Good Book, meeting with other believers, prayer, sharing with other people. She seemed just as excited as when Savannah and Logan told me about her commitment to become a Christian.

But as I expected, she seemed most hesitant about meeting with others. Chinese people are all about the groups. People don't share opinions too freely or openly because it might go against the group. As a communication major, I would call this GroupThink. It's not really a good thing. But that's how they do it. ANYWAY, she felt weird going to this group of believers all alone and not knowing anyone there. I told her she had to try it at least three times before she gave up.

Back to cheesy Christian movies. Faith Like Potatoes is about this this farmer who is trying to grow potatoes in Africa. All these people say it can't be done. But he has faith because he has to. There's no way to know it works until it's harvest time. And then you dig and see if you got a potato or not. And of course, he does in the movie.

So, my life here, sharing with people is a lot like that movie. I share about Jesus. I listen to their hearts. I serve the people. I love people. I hug people. But in the end, I can only have faith. I don't know what's happening inside. But God does. And every once in a while, He digs and pulls out a potato :)