Tuesday, February 5, 2008

i miss china?

today, i had the chance to hear brother yun, aka "the heavenly man" speak at ihop (not the restaurant, the international house of prayer in kansas city). i read his book last year and it was incredible. his story reads like modern-day acts. absolutely amazing.

anyway, they brought this old man up from the church who has been a part of ihop for 22 years, and was also imprisioned during the cultural revolution for refusing to deny jesus. he prayed for brother yun (in chinese) and you could hear the emotion in his voice. it nearly brought me to tears. there is so much happening in china. sometimes, i really want to be back, and yet...i know i'm not called back there (for now).

one thing he said really stood out to me. he said "jesus did not say 'i'm departing, so i'm going to throw down this bible from heaven.' he said 'i'm going to give you my holy spirit'". that really made me think. please, do not misunderstand me. i believe that the bible is so important, and is a divine book that God in His goodness has provided for us. Its how we know the character of Christ. But...God operates outside of that. When the Cultural Revolution hit China, all the bibles were burned, the missionaries and pastors were expelled, and churches were forced to shut their doors. And you know what happened? The church EXPLODED. Brother Yun was a product of that. I've never seen a person more dedicated to sharing the gospel, of seeing God's truth go forth.

i dunno. lately i've noticed that i spend so much time talking about how wrong the church is, but where does that leave me?  pretty much bitter and prideful. thats not a biblical attitude.  i want to spend more loving and less time looking for problems.  

2 comments:

WM said...

Wow! Great post! Seeing Brother Yun was very inspiring for me as well.

PassionForHisName.com

Melina Hunt said...

relish is probably the worst tasting/smelling food ever. other than borstch. or blood sausage.

im gettin you tomorrow night! ooh-wee jose. ooh-wee.