Respond to God’s call and demonstrate God’s glory and beauty

Interview and writing/Jing Xiao

In the global village of Generation E, there are too many things for people to live on, but are there too few things for them to live for? Walker, a famous novelist who is good at philosophical thinking. Walker Percy (1916-1990) said: "You can get everything in life and still mess up your life." What is the meaning of life?

I keep looking for answers. There is a God who says: "He who seeks will be found." God is earlier and faster than me and has been waiting for me! And I never knew. The Lord Jesus called Peter more than two thousand years ago and said, "Come, follow me!" Today these four words still ring like thunder deep in my heart!

Walk in the great light of God

When I attended the church’s annual mission meeting for the first time, the speaker said with great energy: “See the vision, pass on the mission, and take action!” He was originally a doctor who enjoyed rich clothes and fine goods, but he had lived in a poor minority for more than ten years. Treat diseases among the ethnic groups, preach the gospel, and train local people. Today, he ignored the pain in his back and carried only a cushion with him to lean on, insisting on calling a shepherd for God. What was the strength that supported him? God has always placed in my heart what he said: "Participate in eight mission conferences and you will take action" and his personal testimony.

One day, my wife and I were teaching Chinese at a church Chinese school. The principal brought three cute American children and said they wanted to come to learn Chinese. When I asked them, they couldn’t speak any Chinese! At that time, we were teaching second grade and we had to provide extra tutoring for them. We thought: Why not put them in preschool? Later, their parents said that they would soon leave for China to preach the gospel. Wow! An American couple wants to sell everything and move their family of five to China from the United States. Why?

God brings living missionaries before our eyes! There are many teachers in the Chinese school, but He did not choose. The principal brought them to our class. Hearing about their practical actions greatly inspired us to return to our motherland to preach.

By 2005, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Morrison's missionary mission to China in 2007, Taiwan's evangelical organization published a missionary calendar. When I got it, the cover slogan was "Two hundred years of grace, and the baton is passed on today", and in mainland China The photos of the church once again deeply touched my soul. At that time, I silently asked God, “Can I take up the baton?”

The church we are in is a missionary church, and many people participate in missions every year, especially short-term missions. But God moved me to live there in a real way for a long time!

▲The slogan of the "Missionary China" calendar received by the interviewees in 2005: Two hundred years of grace, and the baton is taken over today! God once again calls His chosen shepherds.

Open the way, in God’s preparation

The American dream that I have been pursuing for many years has now been fulfilled step by step, and I am enjoying a life that is envied by everyone. Think about the price we paid to leave China for the United States! How can I leave in style now? How can you live in your motherland for a long time? There is indeed a high hurdle intellectually, but the calling in my heart lingers.

One day, I suddenly received an email from the former boss of the company who had resigned, asking me if I could consider working in my motherland. I have never contacted him before! At that time, there was a "click" in my heart, and I thought: It's finally here!

Taking this road is the "dream of heaven" coming true, but the American dream is broken! How to choose? Besides, we have just received our green cards from the United States, and we have been working hard for this for ten years! The lawyer specially reminded us that if we live in China for a long time, we are likely to lose our green card! At the same time, God also asked: "Do you love me deeper than these?" These words really touch my heart! Without saying a word, my wife encouraged me happily: "If we get Jesus, the world will be rubbish! Let's pack lightly, sell the house, furniture, and cars and hit the road!"

Starting, in the test of God

When I arrived in Phoenix, the city where my new company was located, I had half a year of training and was ready to go. One day, my boss asked me: "Would you consider staying at the US headquarters and traveling to China every few months? Based on your qualifications, I will promote you to quality manager and give you some company stocks." Is this the last temptation?

That night, my wife and I prayed together, and we remembered that after the Lord Jesus was baptized, the devil tempted Him with glory and wealth on the highest mountain. He said, “Only serve God.” Relying on God who gives us strength, we persist in our original calling. The boss had no choice but to agree to go through all the procedures to go to the motherland.

Before returning to my motherland to settle down, I went on a business trip with my boss. In the evening, the supplier invited us to have a "foot massage". As soon as we entered the door, we saw that the pretty girl serving her was wearing cool clothes, but it was freezing and snowing outside! I knew something was wrong and I was in the wrong place! But the boss has already taken his seat and enjoyed it..., helpless! I could only sit down next to him. At this time, seeing that the pretty girl who was serving me was about to start serving me, I blurted out: "Only my wife can touch me in this world! You can't wash my feet!"

"Flee from temptation!" I was well aware of God's warning, so I immediately chose a large room without a door. To avoid her misunderstanding from the boss, I asked her to sit next to me while I washed my own feet! At the same time, I chatted with her about her family life. She said that she entered this industry due to the needs of her parents and her younger brother in the countryside to go to school. She seemed to be in pain, so I immediately introduced Jesus as her Redeemer and Lord of life! After returning to the United States, he sent her a magazine on Bible and gospel preparatory work.

God used this to warn me: In the workplace in my motherland, I must show my Christian identity, insist on leaving after get off work at night, and be sure to go home to be with my wife and avoid traps. At the beginning of 2006, God was the Marshal, and we had the courage to follow and embark on the long journey of propaganda!

Be strong and protected by God

After arriving in the motherland, like a soldier on an expedition to the battlefield, life there is extremely challenging, and you have to deal with many things you have never encountered or expected in the United States. In the first few days while living in a rented building, both of them suffered from headaches and chest pains that made them unable to work! Then I realized that as the newspaper revealed: the furniture provided by the owner contained too much carcinogenic formaldehyde!

Later, we entered a shopping mall to buy desks and chairs that did not exceed the formaldehyde limit. We walked past a lighting store, and there were workers laying ceramic tiles next to it. The smell was pungent and disgusting, so we "ran away quickly"! But I saw a few people having dinner and chatting! We were shocked: Are the people of the motherland invulnerable to all poisons? What price will they pay? ⋯⋯The head and chest feel a dull pain again. Is it because of the formaldehyde attack, or is it because of their difficult situation?

The sky is shrouded in "haze", the rivers stink, and the water quality is seriously polluted. There is no sense of trust between people, and individuals lack a sense of security. People are often robbed and hurt when walking on the street... Seeing the numerous real estates, bustling markets, and huge crowds of people near and far, we stopped to ask for directions, but were met with doubtful eyes. The entire environment is much worse than imagined...

Prosper in God’s provision

Faced with reality and everything comes to zero, how do we begin to preach the gospel?

God gives us the opportunity, let’s seize it and make friends with strangers!

When the two of us go out to do business, we often get responses: "You are not Chinese! Your smiles are so bright! No one has ever said so many "thank you" to us after working for so long. You are so polite!" Many urban workers, therefore Know that "people in heaven" have endless outflows of joy and praise! The love of Jesus spreads out, like seeds sown in hungry and thirsty hearts.

Shi Gai was the only employee in the company at that time. We first told him the story of God's creation of the world in Genesis. Unexpectedly, he had never heard of it before, and he listened with gusto. On Good Friday, he said he would accept Jesus and be the first fruits!

▲Listen to the sermon attentively! It is rare for the workers in the service factory not to work overtime and come to worship on the Lord's Day.

At Easter, we invited three engineers from our supplier to attend worship services. That day, all three of them heard the gospel for the first time in their lives. None of them immediately believed in the Lord, but who could predict God’s wonderful deeds? During this year, all three of them entered the company I was in charge of and entered the kingdom of the Lord. Now they have become our right-hand men, serving God together!

There was a constant flow of taxis on the streets of my motherland. I preached the gospel to the drivers while riding in the taxi. One person preached the gospel to the driver for the third time and decided to believe in the Lord in the taxi! He said, "Sinners who believe in the Lord like you can reform, do good deeds, and receive blessings! Of course I believe it!" Later, he gave up the best opportunity to make money and drove the whole family to worship God on Sunday.

The day for the open house meeting came soon. There were only six brothers and sisters in the first meeting, but there were about fifteen people in the second meeting! The living room is so big that there aren’t even enough stools to sit on! Within about three months the living room was packed with people! A larger gathering space is needed.

Love each other, in God’s grace

The electronic city where we live is surrounded by thousands of factories, large and small, and workers come from all over the country. We served in a factory, leading Bible studies every Wednesday night and worship on Sundays, so we encountered the lives of migrant workers.

Qin Qin is eighteen years old, has only 200 yuan in her pocket, and is hundreds of miles away from her hometown to work. When she was seven years old, her father abandoned the family and her mother raised her alone and had no money to go to college. Now the factory works overtime every day, life is monotonous and stressful, and there is no money to be made. If you come to a party, you can only pop in before it starts or after it ends. She was lonely, living with her boyfriend, and her mother wanted her to go home and get married... until she met the Lord Jesus and embraced her with love. When he called her, she loudly said, "I am willing to believe in the Lord!"

Since then, she has rekindled her fighting spirit in life.

One day, she called us on her mobile phone: "Brother Yuan and Sister Jing, I am standing on the street and don't know where to go next? This new job is to deceive people in order to make money! You said, Lord She was taught not to do this, but if I don’t do it, I will immediately have no place to live and will live on the street..." She said in a very helpless tone, almost crying, and we immediately asked her to move to my house.

Two months later, when sharing at the Thanksgiving gathering, she said: "It turns out that I didn't know what kind of person was a Christian until I moved into Brother Yuan and Sister Jing's house. Now, I am a Christian myself." In fact, When she came to live, we made a decision before the Lord to receive her with the Lord's love, waiting for the Lord to send her at any time to provide for all her needs in body, mind, and spirit! From then on, people often mentioned: "Her life has changed so much... Even her conversation, appearance, and whole personality have changed!..."

As soon as these words are heard, one praises the Lord, and the other makes us think: When the Lord Jesus became flesh and lived among us, he was full of grace and truth. How do we do it? Christians use their lives to influence the power of life, only in this way can they be effectively exerted to the extreme!

▲ When a supplier comes to visit, it’s a rare opportunity to hold an impromptu “hymn and testimony evangelism conference”!

Hope, in God’s faithfulness

Although the factory is a small world, it is a grand garden of life. These migrant children have a lot of problems:

"What is abundant life?
Can we have Jesus and have a lot of money? "
"I lost my money and my phone!
There’s no one in the whole dormitory who hasn’t dropped something! "
"While I was sleeping, I was suffocated by the ghost!
Come and pray for me! "
"My boyfriend and I depend on each other.
Aborting the child is a decision I can make myself... "
"I'm 19 years old, and my dad scolds me every day for being worthless.
They want me to marry a rich man, but I want to study... "
"I only think about one thing: How can I have a luxury house and a beautiful car?
Even if you lose your life, what's not worth it? "

Who can reverse the fate of these children? From the eyes of the Lord Jesus, we see that treating these children with the Lord’s grace and truth will enable them to enjoy gatherings in the Lord – becoming their only joy. Later, they willingly gave up the sovereignty of their work, relationships and life, and their lives continued to transform. In one year, more than 70 people believed in the Lord.

▲Sixteen brothers and sisters wanted to be baptized on Easter, but there was no "baptism pool". Finally, after consultation with the manager of the swimming pool in the residential community, they were allowed to hold baptisms here!

Praise, in the temple of God

This year’s new harvest field, before the first Friday night party, some suppliers happened to be visiting, so we invited them to the party. That night, we mobilized ourselves and held an impromptu "hymn and testimony evangelism meeting." Brothers and sisters took the stage one by one to tell stories of the grace given by the Lord. They were proactive and enthusiastic, and we were surprised and delighted to see them! Knowing that God is the chief choreographer and director of this wonderful show, there are seven visitors, all of whom have decided to believe in the Lord at the same time!

At every meeting in the New Harvest Field, someone has come to believe in the Lord, and in two months the number has exceeded 20. This Easter, we rejoiced and baptized sixteen brothers and sisters in person. Glory to the Lamb who sits on the throne! God creates rivers in the desert of the Chinese heart.

At that time, the Lord Jesus said to his disciples:"Lift up your eyes to the fields and see that the crops are ripe for harvest." (John 4:35)Today, we stand on the field and harvest with our own hands; but the crops are everywhere and workers are hard to find! Who will take over?

Long An was seventeen years old. His mobile phone was robbed at the gate of the factory. He tried to snatch it back, but the robber stabbed him straight in the heart! The breath of life disappeared on the spot! Why was Jesus so embarrassed? It’s too late for him to believe in the Lord! Who will bring the light of Jesus into his life and illuminate his path in life?

Just like Qin Qin, Long An and the robbers, such poor and homeless sheep without shepherds are as numerous as the sand on the sea in the motherland! The call from thousands of years ago: "Come, follow me!" Today, as prayers and praises continue to ring out, shepherds who are still shocked are running towards the pastures of their motherland. The Great Shepherd, Jehovah, is waiting to count the number of shepherds in the homeland. Who will lead the sheep, white as snow, one by one to Him?

▲After the Easter baptism, we had a spring outing and picnic in the park, and everyone enthusiastically shared their testimonies of gratitude! The whole family is here, it’s a “family photo” of the church! Each baptized person has a red rose in his hand, symbolizing the love of the Lord Jesus; and a white Easter lily, symbolizing new life.

Author profile

Jing Xiao, a writer, was born in Taiwan, studied in the United States, and now lives in China.