Snapshots of a New Generation in China: Part 2 - 15 Dec 2006

A Chinese friend of mine, Jimmy, met me at a fancy coffee shop at his university along with a friend of his.  I’ve known Jimmy for a handful of years, and he’s teetering on the edge of the Kingdom of God.  Jimmy is gripped by anxiety and tormented by devils.  Even though he is very socially awkward, I have deep affection for him.  Quite apart from myself, God has carved out a little corner of my heart’s affections for Jimmy, this Chinese man in his early 20’s whose mom is a librarian and who works in radio broadcasting.  I told Jimmy that we love him, that we have a special place in our hearts for him.  He raised his eyebrows in wonderment.  I told Jimmy that God did this to reveal something of the crazy heights of love that He has for him.  Jimmy pondered this with his well-known intense silence, followed by a few heartfelt “thank-you's”.

There’s been this nagging call resounding in Jimmy’s ears ever since he was little.  He wants to know the truth.  He wants to know where we’ve come from and where we’re going and he’s not content to accept the idea that he can’t have answers.  His mom and dad are Buddhist, and they have a shrine in their apartment.  Jimmy’s dad worships at it every day, and sometimes he pushes Jimmy to do so as well.  Jimmy’s spirit knows the Truth, though, he really does know the Truth.  I can see it in his watery eyes as he allows his heart to hear and to hope. 

As we sat together and drank lavender tea, I talked with Jimmy about the hope of freedom from everything that haunts him.  I shared about His Light that shines in our hearts, about the Light that has never been won over by the darkness, about how He will take care of his enemies so fully that Jimmy will no longer know the heavy sadness and depression, the crazed anxiety and worry, the cold darkness and confusion of the accuser of the brethren.   Jimmy tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and let out a sharp breath.  He pictured it, just for a moment.  Jimmy said that we’d better stop talking about these things.  He needed to absorb them.  He needed time to think about it all.  We changed the topic, but he actually couldn’t say much of anything.  He sat there and I watched him tilt his head back, close his eyes, and sigh in both agony and satisfaction: fully enjoying the existential reality of God.  It started pouring rain the second we stepped outside for the first time during that beautiful blue-skied day.  “I think this is for us,” Jimmy said, “I love the rain because it makes things clean.” 

I met Carolyn right after she did very poorly on her university entrance exam.  An exam like this in China would have been the culmination of her lifetime of schooling.  I got to share the hope of Jesus with her in that context.  Four years later, after she failed her post-graduate entrance exam (preventing her from entering grad school), I was with her when she declared, “I’m ready for Jesus!”  In my hotel room, she gave her life to Jesus, and through a fresh prayer spoken in Chinese, she invited Jesus to make His home in her.  My friend and I prayed for her as well, and there were tears and angels rejoicing and joy bursting from the seams.  Carolyn describes this day as her "second birthday".  She says she felt her adoption out of loneliness in the most profound of ways.

In my last conversation with Carolyn before I left China, she shared that she told her parents she’d become a Christian.  They said, “Communists can’t be Christians.” (Carolyn is a member of the Party.)  She asked me, “Someone like me can’t be a Christian?” I told her there are many like her, with faith in Jesus though they’re members of the Communist Party, and with bold bravery in her newfound faith, she responded, “I will talk to some Chinese Christians and I will figure it out.”

Lucy, Jimmy, and Carolyn are shadows of an entire generation of Chinese young people who are looking through the open door of their nation and wondering what lies beyond.  Will they find Jesus in spirit and in truth?  Will they experience the love of God without condition?  Will they know an internal faith in Jesus that finds outward expression?  The world waits to see what China will choose.  Pray with me that the consuming fire of God sweeps over this nation that lies in balance.

This article is the second of a two part series on China that we've featured on the 24-7 International Website over the last two weeks.  Unfortunately, due to the nature of the article and the current state of freedom of religion in China, we cannot feature an author bio for this story.  

Photo for article thumbnail taken by lafayette1