Jesus open the door (a plea for the lost)

Her mama loved Jesus
But death stings, living on her own
Picking up the pieces
That were scattered in her home

Never got to ask her
She was just a little girl
Whispers from Jesus
Keep haunting her still

Jesus open the door
We're not going to sleep
Jesus open the door
Knocking will keep
Jesus open the door
Father oh Father
Hear our cry
Be lifted high

He was hurt as a child
Broken homes seem to leave the deepest scars
Tried to reconcile
But it never seemed to take him far

Now he tries to blame the world
Still the pain won't go away
The hate in his heart
Is getting stronger each day

Jesus open the door
We're not going to sleep
Jesus open the door
Knocking will keep
Jesus open the door
Father oh Father
Hear our cry
Be lifted high

He'd been searching for answers
Since he was just a little boy
But the late night dancers
Had him lost and destroyed

Now he doesn't have the money
For a temporary fix
Hears about Jesus...wonders
What he can do with this?

Jesus open the door
We're not going to sleep
Jesus open the door
Knocking will keep
Jesus open the door
Father oh Father
Hear our cry
Be lifted high

When the cross is heavy

When the cross is heavy
Be my strength
When I have no words
Take my place
When tears stream
Wipe my eyes
When the light seems distant
Guide my cries
When I'm all alone
Whisper in my ear
When I'm so afraid
Remove my fear
When the cross is heavy
Be glorified

Day 101- 105 --- April 16th to 27th

I apologize but I haven't recently been able to update my blog. Here is a quick overview of the last ten days or so...

April 16th - Gym in the morning with Mike, Mandarin class, dinner with Tom and Grace, studying for Mandarin exam
April 17th - Saw the great wall! dinner with Tom and Grace, studying for Mandarin exam. (unfortunately i couldn't' get to fellowship for one last time)
April 18th - Studying Mandarin, Mandarin examination, dinner with one of our teachers (Pak)
April 19th - Research for final paper, last goodbyes to Tom and Grace
April 20th - Last time at BICF, lunch with Dan and Kelly, working on cards for friends, goodbye to massage friends
April 21st - Class with Dan, relaxing in steamer and sauna, goodbye cards
April 22nd - Class with Dan, dinner at hotpot, goodbyes
April 23rd - Crazy day! Saying farewell to students. This was extremely hard and emotional for everyone. Goodbyes and dinner with Karma and Carmen. KTV with hotpot friends, packing Thank our Father for giving me the strength to face this day
April 24th - Up early to pack, fly to Chengdu, watched the Forbidden Kingdom in the evening
April 25th - meeting with students from Sichuan university. Lecture in the afternoon. Mike and I went for a Thai massage in the evening
April 26th - Traveled to the Panda Research Centre and Observatory. Had lecture in the afternoon.
April 27th - Attended three-self church in morning. Met up and had lunch with some fellow foreigners. Finished a good chunk out of my John Grishm novel. Update pictures, etc. Relaxed in the evening
April 28th - Tomorrow we fly from Chengdu to Beijing and from Beijing to Toronto. My time in China is finally coming to an end. Thanks again to all who have supported and encouraged me in one form or another.

Day 96 - 100 -- April 11th to 15th

These past few days have been quite eventful. On Friday evening Tom, Grace, Mike, Gen and I boarded a train for Xi'an. Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi Province and is considered one of the most important historical cities in China. The train ride to Xi'an was quite an experience. The Beijing railway station is the largest in Asia - it almost looked and felt like an airport. We traveled on the train and slept on hard-top bunk beds. Our bunks were on the very bottom. During the twelve hour journey we played cards, talked and of course slept. We arrived in Xi'an at around 6:30am where we were greeted by our tour guide. We really hadn't planned on going to Xi'an let alone going with a tour. But Tom and Grace were able to find a local tour which was considerably cheaper.

On Saturday we traveled to see places like where the Xi'an Incident occurred, Terracotta Warriors and Huaqing Hot Springs. The Terracotta Warriors were truly amazing. With that being said, a Chinese tour experience is quite eventful - no English, poorly organized, hidden costs and of course each day is jammed packed! By the end of the first day I was pretty tired. In the evening we played some cards and relaxed at the hotel.

I definitely enjoyed Sunday the most. We traveled to Mt. Huashan and witnessed breathtaking scenery. It took us two hours to get to Mt. Huashan. Shortly after the bus stopped a mini bus came to drive us up to the gondola. The bus ride was awesome! As we winded around the mountain rocks we saw beautiful waterfalls and rapids, cliffs and caves. From the bus ride we scooted up the mountain on a gondola. We had all hoped that we would have had time to hike up the mountain but there was not nearly enough time. Nevertheless, we did manage to hike a fair bit. We began at the Jade Spring Temple and journeyed up to the East Peak (Facing Sun Peak) We climbed stairs and steps for about four hours or so. At the summit we were above the cloud line. Time prevented me from making it to the top of the Eastern peak which has an altitude of about 6,800ft. The others were especially tired but I was so close. I was maybe 200ft from the summit of the mountain. While we found the hike tiring, we often passed Chinese workers who were lugging water, food and goods up to the many tourists stops. These men (often older) carry goods up the mountain every day - and they don't take the gondola. I was equally impressed with Tom, Grace and Gen's perseverance. Mike find the climbing especially difficult as he was fighting a cold. We got back to our tour bus at 5:30 in the evening. Unfortunately, we were delayed an hour and a half by an overly excited shopping couple. By the time we got by a car accident and all the traffic we found a place to eat - it was about 9:30pm. The bus dropped us off near the Bell tower. Xi'an is quite fascinating at night. We walked through the markets and passed the Muslim temples before grabbing some Muslim dish for dinner.

Yesterday was somewhat frustrating. The tour bus arrived two hours after the expected pick up time. Honestly, they are so unorganized but as we keep reminding ourselves - we are in China! We ended up leaving the tour early since the tour guide was going to take us around to some of the tourist shops. Instead we rented bicycles and biked around Xi'an city wall. This city wall represents one of the oldest and best preserved city walls in China. Biking around the city was another one of the highlights of my trip. After biking, we headed back to the tour guide office. We had been hounding them all day to get our train tickets. They finally did get them for us but not the tickets we had ordered. There was little we could do to change our train seats but we did manage to get reimbursed for the change in seats. While we waited for the train, the five of us sat in McDonalds playing cards and laughing our heads off.

The train ride home was better than I had expected. The five us played games and chatted during the evening. Some people nearby on the train asked us to quiet down - but we were suffering from contagious laughter and probably tiredness. I also talked to a man who lives close to Xian for a good hour. He spoke a little English so we were able to talk a fair bit. We went to bed around 10 o-clock in the evening. Mike, Gen and I slept on the very top bunk. It was a unique experience.

We arrived at the Beijing railway station around 7:15am. Tom and Grace took an overly crowded bus home and the three of us took the luggage and headed back home via. bus, subway and taxi. When I got home I desperately wanted to have a shower. We were all tired. I spent the rest of the day working on Mandarin, doing laundry, uploading pictures, emails and just relaxing.

Another adventure in Him

Day 93 - 95 -- April 8th - 10th

The past few days have been pretty busy. On Tuesday we headed up to the school and continued our work with the students. Yesterday, Mike and I spent most of the day studying and working on our assignments. Today we headed back up to the school for a time of study. This evening I went to BICF Fellowship. Tomorrow we leave for Xian. We will be gone for about five days. Blessings

Day 90- 92--- April 5th- 7th

This past Saturday I spent most of the day working on my assignments for Eastern Religions. In the afternoon I met one of my friends from hot pot. We headed over to the Kodak shop to get photos developed. Our friends really want some pictures. Unfortunately, my files were corrupted so I couldn't get them done.

On Saturday evening my friend from young-adults asked me to lead a Sunday school class - which ended up working out. Afterwards I headed up to the 11:30 celebration service. There wasn't a sermon today because they were recording a worship service. From the service we headed out for nice pizza lunch with some of our friends from the young-adult fellowship. In the afternoon I did some shopping at Pearl Market before watching a movie in the evening.

Yesterday morning I worked on my Mandarin before heading to class in the afternoon. In the evening Mike and I worked on our homework at a nearby coffee shop. From the shop we headed to pick up the pictures that we were getting developed. Mike and I ended up talking with our friends at hot pot for an hour or so.

Another day

Day 88-89 --- April 3rd to 4th

Yesterday I finished my paper! I really have a lot to do and when a free day comes around like this I have to take advantage of it. In the evening I headed over for young-adult fellowship at BICF. Tom and Grace also came along as they wanted to experience and see what it was all about. After fellowship I went out for pizza. The food on the menu was pretty pricey so I just stuck to a glass of orange juice. There were a fare number of us so we had to split up at different tables. I was sitting with American brothers and sisters. Over the course of the evening it was interesting to listen to some of their various political standpoints. I can't help it - a few comments were priceless. At one point, one of the guys was trying to defend American might and health. He began his argument with the phrase, "Besides the economy..." I am sorry but I couldn't help but laugh. An interesting evening nonetheless.

Today Mike, Grace, Tom and I left the apartment at around 8am. We took the 801 bus up to the Summer Palace where we met Carmen and Karma The Summer Palace is a tourist attraction and has probably been my favorite site to date. It was the cottage like residents for emperors. It is surrounded by a lake, waterways, mountains and various sorts of vegetation. Of all the displays I especially liked the last section. It had a Venice-like feel. Around five or so we took the bus back home and had dinner at a little local noodle shop. In the evening I completed my monthly budget and reports for CBM. Another day

Day 85-87 -- March 31st to April 2nd

On Monday morning Mike and I headed to the gym. My neck was really hurting this morning so I didn't workout for very long. In the afternoon, I had another Mandarin class with Tom and Grace. In the evening, I worked on my outline for my paper on cross-cultural communication.

On Tuesday morning Carmen surprised us by arriving half and hour earlier than normal. This morning it was pretty rainy and the traffic was bad on the road. I am really enjoying my time at the school. Although I can hardly communicate, I am finding that I am having a growing love for each of my brothers and sisters. It was hard to leave Tuesday night and I would have loved to stay. Once again we stayed over at Carmen's house for the night.

On Wednesday morning we got breakfast from a street vendor near Carmen's house. Grace and Tom joined us at the school and got to see what we were doing. When it was time to leave, Peter (the person in charge) asked if I wanted to ride with him on his bike. It was a unique experience riding through northern Beijing. The bike itself is battery-operated - pretty slick. Peter dropped me off at the bus stop where I met the rest of the gang. On the bus ride home I had a bit of a sleep. There were so many people on the bus that we couldn't get off at our stop. In the evening we headed over to see our friends from hot pot. We have been really busy and haven't got to see them a whole lot. Back at the flat I worked on homework for the rest of the evening.

Things are getting busy here so my posts will probably be a little rushed.

Blessings