Life is Beautiful

11/10/07, Saturday.
--This is the 3rd day this week that I have had morning coffee with my senior friend, Mr. Wong after he has hiked up the mountain and as we sit and watch life wake up all around us. (see 11/7/07 "The Mountain Trail"). I've taken to his gentle spirit and youthful eyes. Our language-challenged conversation has some light moments of banter and awkward small talk... and yet we both seem to want to go deeper and to get to know each other and our experiences. We talk of our travels, our families, and of the people who come and go from the mountain. We respect each other's belief system (or lack of) and he turns down my offer for a Chinese Bible. We take a picture and exchange email addresses. We smile and both say "Goodbye and God Bless You" and I say a prayer as I watch him and his wife of 50 years hike on down the trail.

Our team spent most of the day touring Stanley Bay, a beach resort area about an hour's drive along the coast. Beautiful sunny day for driving; perfect weather. I enjoy this get-away to Stanley Bay and its' great shopping and coastal beauty.

The highlight of the day, of course, was the Saturday church service with about 60 young people; mostly Jr./Sr. High students. What fun and what energy. Their worship is sincere and their vitality for life is energizing to me. It took me back to my youth ministry days and reminds me of the HOPE that we can have in young adults. I love this part of the trip; mixing it up with the youth, asking each other questions and learning each other's stories. Most of these conversations were just introductory, but a few of them got deeper quickly. Here are 2 quick 'more serious' interactions, and 1 quirky one:

--Serious #1. 3 girls discussed baptism with me; one was recently baptized and the other two are eager to do so. All are teens . Awesome!
--Serious #2. I noticed a group of 4-5 youth trying to literally 'drag' their friend over to talk with me. He was too shy to approach because of his English, so I went over and introduced myself to him. He said that his Cantonese name means "Happy". When I asked if he was happy and he replied that he is happy "some "of the time, it was obvious that he carried a lot of stress. He told me how much pressure he has always felt to get the best grades. Wow, I felt for him. As his 5 friends listened to us, I shared with him about my favorite "life verse", "Rejoice in the Lord... Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God...and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guards your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:4-6 After that 'deep' moment, someone else ran up and grabbed him to leave for cell group. Moment gone; that's how it is sometimes.
-Quirky. After posing for a picture with Pastor Edmund, we started to take a 2nd one just as a young woman jumped in front of us to pose in the picture, exclaiming "I'm in this picture!". We said "Sure" and they snapped the picture. After the picture, she said "You are so handsome. Are you married?" I QUICKLY replied, "I sure am!" and showed her a picture of Donna and Luke. The fire left her eyes and she said, "So, there is no chance for me?" Chuckling to myself, I affirmed, "That's right. No chance. " After I shared with this ~20 yr old that I am 46 years old and not the 35 that she thought, I think she was actually relieved!

As we end our time in Hong Kong, there is a group of a dozen women sitting behind me here in the Retreat House's all-purpose room. They are here for a retreat and are singing some beautiful harmonious worship and praise songs. I don't understand a word, but will remember the worship in their voices as a fitting closure to a week of serving God in a culture with much need spiritually, but one with a strong core of some beautiful and dedicated followers of our Lord Jesus!

Tomorrow, we take a short excursion trip to Osaka & Kyoto, Japan to visit and tour with a close friend. More on that later!