Lily Grace and the Sprinkled Water

Today, we presented Lily Grace to Jesus and baptized her in the Holy Spirit, signifying her place in our congregation and our commitment to raise her in Christ. Awesome Day! To God Be the Glory! The story is below. I call it "Back to the Future," because a good bit of it is from last year. You may have read parts of this story on this web log last August when we returned, but with Lily's baptism, we wanted to remind ourselves of the important moments in what seemed liked a month of magical days spent in Beijing. Lori, you might want to call for a Starbucks delivery ...


One year ago today, we were in Beijing, China ready to board an airplane for Nanchung, where God would add Lily Grace to our lives. But first, God had some training to do - on me. You see, I had this notion that our mission to China was simply to get Lily Grace and get back home. We'd sweep in, spend a day or two getting acclimated to local weather, customs, food, etc., learn a little bit about China, and then pick up Lily Grace on the way out! But God knew what plans He had in store for Lily and He knew what my part in it was, even if I didn't. He also had plans for Austin in China to share His gospel. Austin was busy planning his evangelical outreach, carefully selecting clothing articles with Christian and Jesus messages, while I was busy with logistics and other issues associated with air travel and lodging, etc. Connie was rightfuly focused on Lily Grace. Funny, Austin had asked me before we left if we'd be able to share about Jesus. My response was guarded at best, as I explained to Austin that our mission was the bring Lily Grace home. I think God was listening in. "Hmm, is that what you think?" I can imagine Him saying now. "We'll see about that."


We had spent the last few days in Beijing taking in as much culture and knowledge as we could. Partly because I was in awe of the beauty of this country and partly because I knew one day I'd be called upon to share with Lily Grace what her birth country was like. We had visited many sites and had learned much about the culture. We saw the Forbidden City, now filled with the less fortunate and the beggars. We learned that the Forbidden City was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties and that 24 emperors had once lived here. How ironic that it is now inhabited by the less fortunate and least among the Chinese. We experienced the significance and the shear physical intimidation of Tian'anmen Square, with its many gigantic portraits of Chairman Mao. We saw the Ming Tombs and the treasures buried therein. We climbed the Great Wall (actually, we rode the cable car) outside the city and experienced the breath-taking awe of seeing something so significant built by man so many centuries ago. We learned how the Chinese made silk, jade, and pearl jewelry. We learned their customs and sampled their food and daily lives. God was really doing some educating here. We were treated to amazing acrobats in one of Beijing's premier Theatres and we saw the manner in which many of the Chinese inner-city people lived in the Hutong. But in all this, God was not evident. In fact, in three days, we had yet to see even a single church. But, He had other plans which became known to me only at the last instant before leaving Beijing.


So, on the day we were to leave Beijing, God had some extra special training in mind for one wayward soul on a mission he thought he understood well. You see, on that morning at about 3:00 am, I was awakened by God and given the opportunity to study His word. God was planning a meeting later in the morning and I would need the extra discipleship. By 5:00 am, I was fully awake, dressed, and headed out the door of our hotel. I had spent the past two hours trying to sleep, fighting human alarm clocks, reading my Bible, writing in a journal for Lily, and wondering if I'd be able to navigate Beijing's airport and get us all on the right plane. I have to sleep. "No you don't says God," Go out and walk to where I tell you.


And so I walked. Aimlessly for a while and then with some purpose. After a few blocks in the wrong direction (don't we always go in the wrong direction until God sets us straight?), I turned around and walked back to the hotel, not knowing why but passing it up and walking several more blocks. That was when I found it, the "East Church," a Catholic/State church in the shopping district of downtown Beijing. Most beautiful church I have ever seen, before or since. Inside the foyer, God's meeting was fully taking shape. As I strolled around looking up the whole time, I was amazed by the mosiacs of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and the scriptures in Chinese covering the entire open air foyer. When I looked down, the other half of God's little meeting was there waiting. A young Chinese girl, probably in her teens, but they all look so young it's hard to tell. She wore a white dress and white tenns shoes. "Remember your thoughts about evangelism and missions," I could imagine Him saying to me. When God has a point to make, He doesn't beat around the bush. Hot or cold, not lukewarm, we are told to be. When I asked the young girl about the church ("Is this a Christian Church?" I stammered), she simply stared at me with eyes that seemed ten miles deep, piercing me with her gaze and stunning me with her own question: "Yes, and I want to know who this Jesus is?"


After I recovered my composure somewhat, we had a wonderful conversation. I don't remember to this day everything we said, but I know that I left with an awesome feeling of having learned something important. We parted ways and it still hadn't occurred to me exactly what had happened. Until later that day, when I talked to my pastor and related the story to him. When we ended our conversation, it finally occurred to me that God was showing me that my mission field, my evangelism, my focus was to be on ensuring that Lily Grace never has to stand in the foyer of a strange building and ask a stranger, indeed a foreigner, "Who this Jesus is?"

And so today, one year to the date of this little training session, we baptized Lily Grace. Lily did wonderfully during the baptism, only seeming to be concerned when the pastor sprinkled water over her little head and some of it dripped down her face and onto her pretty new dress. We showed a slideshow with pictures of Lily's orphanage and many pictures of China and her lost girls. And we encouraged our congregation that God's lesson to me that morning applied to all of us, whether we travel around the world or across the pew to a meeting arranged by God to tell someone "Who this Jesus is." We hope that from this exciting day, Lily will always know how much she is loved and we pray for the Chinese girl in the foyer of the East Church on that awesome day.

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace
Green, Party of Four