poops, giggles and huh?

"Man, I could really go for a steak," Matt said as we walked hurriedly down the bustling sidewalk in Beijing. We were trying to find the Hai Dian Book City. It was supposedly a street with hundreds of little books shops. Rumor had it that some of these shops were supposed to sell English books. The thought of finding our favorite novels and maybe adding some new ones to our collections was the only thing keeping us going as we walked and walked and walked. We’d stopped and asked for directions several times already. We got a different answer each time we asked. So, we were now strictly following our map…which didn’t seem to be helping us anymore than all those people’s advice.

"Steak does sound good," I said. "Or how about a big pizza with cheese, pepperoni, and sausages?"

"Oh man," he said. We were torturing ourselves thinking about all of this food. Looking around, the only food choices seemed to be street vendor food or little Chinese restaurants. We were craving American food.

"You had to mention pizza," he said rather reproachfully. "That just happens to be my favorite food."

We walked in silence for a few seconds; each of us thinking of a steaming slice of fresh pizza.

"Hey, we’re getting close to something," I said. The streets had been moderately busy but were packed with cars and people at this intersection. I could see a sign for Starbucks up ahead.
"And hey, there’s a sign for Starbucks!"

"Wow, Starbucks sounds good too. But, I really want some pizza now." Matt was officially on a quest for books and pizza.

We turned a corner after consulting our map and kept walking. There was no sign of this supposed book city. We looked around.

"Mcdonalds!" Matt almost screamed it. In fact, he said it so fast it sounded like "Mconls!"

We hurried toward the golden arches. Burgers weren’t exactly pizza, but they’d do the trick. We reached the doors and were just about to run up to the counter when I turned and saw an amazing sight behind us.

"Matt, turn around," I said. My voice was filled with awe. Matt turned and we both stared.

Directly across the street was a sign which pointed at the entrance to the Hai Dian Book City and next to the entrance stood a good, old, American, Papa John’s Pizza shop.

We almost exploded in excitement.

Grace

It’s a word I forget more than I remember. Today, I was reminded that God does have grace and extends it to me all the time. But, not only does he offer it to me, he offers it to everyone else too.

It’s so easy for me to get complacent here. If I don’t think of him, I really can go days or even weeks without hearing anyone mention God…except when they’re swearing. There aren’t many people here who believe what I do. I have to really make an effort to get to church on Sundays. It’s not an easy thing. It’s much easier to tell myself that I’ll have my own worship time in my room.

Being here is strange in that, I can feel really close to Him, or really far from Him. There’s almost no in between. But today, as I was thinking how stupid and disgusting the other foreigners at my school are, I listened to a focus on the family radio drama. The theme was grace.

I usually exclude the other foreigners from my mind when I think about people who need to be reached. In reality, aren’t all people the same in that area? Grace is given to me. I need to show it to others too.