Part of the Story

Days and nights of dual language exchanges create a craving for mindless entertainment. China has an English language news station, but it has been removed from the Jinan city cable lineup for "lack of interest".

What IS of interest at the University Hotel however, is America's embarrassing export HBO! I confess, I switch it on when I come into the room just to hear some familiar language, and if I am lucky to see at least a portion of a decent movie.

Fifteen minutes of around fifteen different movies, IS what I have seen so far, and the desire to know how these particular stories end got me thinking about another ending.

Of all the individuals I meet across the globe, I am only privileged to interrupt their "story" for a short time. But there is an "Author" a "Perfecter" of our "faith stories" busy at work composing the roles we play, the scenes and locations where we find ourselves.

Some stories I have seen in the midst of tragedy, some in sorrow, many I have affected with joy and laughter. The opportunity to revisit year after year the same children, allows me to see visible updates to their journey. How tall they have grown, how mature many of the young boys and girls appear.

We are constantly interrupting someones story, and someone is only seeing part of our own.

Oh, but the promise of heaven, to know, as we have been fully known...

as the famous radio commentator Paul Harvey used to say -

"That my friends, is the rest of the story!"