Recognition

We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it as clearly as God sees us. Knowing Him directly just as He knows us! 1 Corinthians 13 The Message

It was a good thing jet lag woke me up before the jackhammers. Otherwise my mood might have been affected by the crack of dawn cracking of the concrete behind the hotel! When the noise started I looked out my window to see what the heck was being built up or knocked down.

Through the dense autumn fog I could make out the construction work well underway. It was if the noise represented the continuous clash occurring in China. East meeting West, ancient struggling to make room for modern, past pushing forward into the present.

In the fight to bring China into the 21st century, environmental issues have suffered. The dense fog shrouding my morning is caused by the massive machinery, increase in personal cars and the farming practice of slash and burn. Thousands of acres of harvested corn is now being set on fire to add nutrients back into the soil. The combination, fuel, fire and fog, is choking.

I find myself in the middle of a politically correct event where East is paying respect to those in the West who fell in love with a people and a nation 90 years ago.

After six years of CARE EE, this is the first time they have "seen" Charlynn.

As we were waiting for the officials to arrive for dinner, I looked down into the lobby to see the children from the Jinan orphanage arrive. I waved and said "hello". They looked up at the curious white stranger and then - perhaps the smile, the eyes, the way I said "hello" - they started waving their hands over their heads - "Hello, hello, hello."

For a moment, I thought of the dinner at Emmaus - where the disciples were in the presence of Christ but didn't realize it. Then, perhaps it was the way He laughed or finally they overcame their own preoccupation of grief and saw "Him."

The Word teaches we shall all be changed. The Albino children, the ones with cleft palates, the deaf, the lame - all one day will be made whole...

I can only imagine the joy when we finally "recognize" each other!