"Apart From Me, You Can Do Nothing"

It’s easy to say, it’s harder sometimes for me to believe, and it’s even harder for me to keep in practice. Abide. That’s what He says, abide. Abide- “to dwell.” To abide in Him means continually spending time with Him, but not just logging in your hours, it means to listen, to follow, to change your course of action to follow His plan and desires – that’s how you stay with Him. Surprisingly, the word or concept of “compromise” was not in this definition like I often try to put it. He calls us to come and die to our thoughts, plans, and dreams, not to come and bring our negotiations to the table. Why would the one who knows the good and perfect way need my input on how to make it better?

I'm leaving what I have behind to follow One who knows better. I don’t think it’s this strict “get over yourself” type of attitude, but I thinks because He knows better and I don’t. It’s that I cannot pour out what I have not received. The Love I give is only an overflow of what I am given. In this current stage, I feel as if I'm lacking in Love, I'm not loving Him the way I should and therefore not able to Love those around me the way I could. His Love is not contingent upon my actions, there’s nothing I can do to make Him Love me any more or less. There’s nothing you can do to make Him love you any more or less. But, our actions allow us to experience it more, to draw close to His heart, to feel the warmth of His embrace. Then, it’s the overflow of that joy and Love that we can Love Him and turn and pour out.

“Ok good, that makes sense, but why do you say all of this” you may be asking. Yes, I’m in China. Yes, I’m trying to serve Him. Yes, I’ve given up a year of my life, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to give up my days, my evenings, my mornings, my hours, my minutes to Him.

A few days ago, I was talking to a few friends on Skype about Him and what I was learning and it began to click. I just wasn’t Loving Him well. I was trying to Love my teammates, I was trying to Love my officemates, I was trying to Love the students, but I wasn’t Loving Him first. I was reading in the morning and in the evening, thinking vertically, but I wasn’t listening. “In his heart a man plans his course, but [He] determines his steps.” I wasn’t giving Him my steps, my full day’s attention, listening as to how I could love Him first, and as I sat there, He began to show me how.

It was like my wife was sitting behind me and I was too busy talking on the computer to everyone else rather than with her. I was talking about her and about the time we had had together, but I wasn’t just spending that time really adoring her, really showing her my affection. I would talk to her before I went to bed, like a routine step before I went to sleep, a quick kiss on the cheek and rolling over to go to sleep. No Love, no affection, no yearning of my heart for her, no just staring at her while my head was on the pillow telling her how much I love her, how much I just love being with her. There was no thankfulness for her being there with me. As it was, there was no affection shown to Him either. No words saying, “I love you, I love just being here with you. Thank you for being here with me.” (I know I’m young and not married and have a lot to learn, but I think some nights, I’m going to want to get off the computer, turn off the TV, stop doing work, and just go to bed early to lay down and just sit in silence with my bride.) In the same way, I want to put it all away just to go spend time in silence with Him, just listening and Loving.

A few days ago, I started a new quiet time book. It’s a 40-day book that challenges you to fast from something for 40 days as you put that time into honestly seeking Him and Loving Him. After thinking and asking about what it was that I could fast, there was only one answer, my blog. I tried the compromise technique of not doing it as often, or giving up other things, but giving up the blog is the answer I kept getting. I know it’s not logical- it’s good for me to get to share with all of you what’s going on, it’s good for me to get to keep in mind what it is that He’s doing, it’s good for you to see what it is that you’re a part of, it’s good for us both to grow closer to Him, and it’s good for me to let you know how you can lift us up. Yeah, I’m afraid that if I don’t keep you connected then you might forget about me and not ask Him for help as much (an honest fear)…. But with all the reasons I threw out there, I had the same response: Abide. Apart from me you can do nothing. I’m not always logical, but I know what’s better for you. You do not know what this will do for both you and for them if you obey me. “The beauty is in the obedience.”

So I am being obedient. I ask this of you: over the next 40 days that you would join with me even more, that together, we would seek Him. Take the time you would spend normally reading this and talk to Him. Ask Him how you can lift us up (He knows better than I do anyways). But along with that, lets seek Him together. Really, really seek Him. To put aside something for 40 days and put Him in that place. Together, as we seek Him rather than seeking to do something, to be productive, to be effective, to be powerful, but just seeking Him – then the Love with overflow. We say seek a lot, but another term is "to actively pursue." The J-man, used the idea of a lost sheep, or a lost coin, or a lost son; what if we searched like we lost our cell phone, our pay check, or an expensive gift someone had let us borrow and they were coming over to get it back - using that type of desperation to pursue Him, and with the Love and affection and passion of trying to woo the girl of your dreams to be yours. That's what I want us to do, to be, to join together in.

I’ll still be using email, so feel free to email me (I might be a little slow returning it, but will get to it asap). I’ll still be on Facebook and Skype occasionally, if you’d like to try to get a hold of me there or check out any new pictures I get posted. The keys is not just “to not do something” but it’s to take that time and effort and heart put into it and spend it Loving Him in the process. So I hope you’ll join me.

I want you to know how much I love you all and how much I appreciate every one of you. I look forward to sharing with you more in emails, and newsletters, and in 40 days back on this blog, if that plan works out. Thank you and I love you (but not as much as He does.)

Abram

Happy 1 Month Anniversary!

It's official. We've been in China for one month today. To celebrate... Happy Teachers Day! It's a country-wide holiday. I guess it's kinda like Mother's Day or Father's Day. The students bring teachers presents and people all tell you Happy Teacher's Day. Unfortunately, I don't have students yet, but my office workers were nice and shared some candy and cake with me from their students.

In honor of the one month tradition. I've been keeping little one-liners of things I've noticed or found interesting over the past month. So I hope you enjoy.

-It's illegal to spit in Beijing. (They stopped it for the Olympics.)
-A smile is the same in every language.
-There is a 13th floor but no 14th floor.
-A man standing next to a woman is the universal sign for bathroom.
-Even names are collective rather than individual - last name/family name first.
-The same gene that causes blue eyes also causes you to be bad with chopsticks - 4 of out of the 5 of us have blue eyes, the one is Chinese-American, but we do just fine.
-Recess can be canceled in Beijing due to too high air pollution. Today it's just
at the "unhealthy" level. Upgraded from yesterday.
-Boil the water before you drink it, even the local have to.
-Honking the horn is not rude or because you did anything wrong, it's
sent as an "I'm here. Just to let you know I'm coming through."
-He has a habit of working outside of me, of doling work without
my help, permission, or ideas.
-Chinese toilet paper is not as perforated as the U.S., and it's more elastic.
-Coming to China as a westerner, is intentionally putting yourself in a
fish tank to be looked at over and over again.
-In my first attempt to hail a taxi, the driver waved at me... I think
I'm doing something wrong.
-Tried shrimp flavored Pringles too for the first time... I know why
there not big in the U.S.
-"Only 3 types of people can make up words: writers, English teachers,
and George W Bush."
-Only in China can you say, "Here eat this." "What is it?" "I don't know
just try it." "Alright."
-The Great Wall probably isn't able to be seen from space since it's
about as wide as a road at most.
-The Great Wall it's slanted so that rain would run off the flat spots.
-I fell asleep on the way back from the Great Wall and woke up to most
of the bus singing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin. It was magical.
Best alarm clock ever.
- The song "Times" by Tenth Ave North is just in time.
-Thank you for the sunshine even when we can't see it,
Thank you for your love even when we can't feel it,
Thank you for the truth even when we don't know it.
-To cross the street, you just walk across whenever and don't get hit. You just time it to walk and not get hit.
-I went to the Wu Mart to get some groceries and bought a 12 pack of
water, Chips Ahoy, and a small jar of peanut butter and the most
expensive thing was the peanut butter, almost 3 yuan more than any
other, and still it was about $2 USD.
-Only in Beijing do you not want to drink the rain as it falls.
-Rainbows don't have the same connotations as the states.
-In foreign lands, it's hard not to seek to understand more than it is
to seek Him.
-60-70% of communication here is reading between the lines.
-Tomato crackers taste like tomato soup.
-Shrimp Pringles & Blueberry Pringles - Popular choices.
-Saw first ATM on 2.5 weeks after getting here.
-In plenty, generosity is great: in scarcity, generosity is divine.
-Had western food tonight - FREE WATER, we got FREE WATER with a meal! It was amazing and it wasn't hot water. WE GOT ICE too!
-Sitting in the lobby of the hotel, waiting on my team, I see a McDonald's motorcycle delivery driver pull up and walk in with McDonald's helmet, jacket, fanny
pack, and food warmer on back, if only I had my camera...
-Lace up your shoes, were hitting the ground running.
-There's always room for more in China - Elevator, subway, tables. There's room
for one and 3 get on.
-Pizza Hut is like a 5-star restraint here in Changchun.
-The date on the side of food is when it was packaged, not when it
expires. So don't throw it out if it's past the date... Like some of
my team.
-Su and su are very close. One means 4 and one means dying... 4 is an
unlucky number.
-I need to work in annunciation, expand, expand, expend.
-China- claustrophobics need not apply.

Thank you all for reading through this, but even more for continuing to support and lift us up. Happy 1 Month Anniversary!

Adventures to Walmart. Yes, Walmart…sort of.

This past Saturday we were able to go to a Walmart in downtown Chungchun. There’s a bus stop not too far from the school’s entrance and one of Dave’s old students went with us and brought along a friend. They were going to help us navigate and negotiate our cell phone deals. (By the way their cell phone plans work much differently than ours. Here, you buy a phone, then buy a phone number separately, and you buy minutes and texts. The phone numbers are different prices depending on the numbers you want in them. The more 4’s you have in your number the cheaper it is, the more 8’s you have in your number the more expensive it is. 8 is one of the lucky numbers here. “Su” and “Su” are the words for “4” and “die”…. 4 is an unlucky number.)

After taking a standing, hour-long bus ride with 60-70 other Chinese (a normal load, actually had Chinese room for about 20 more – we had American room for about 30 of them to get off), we arrived in Changchun. We must have hit the ritz area as there was a Gucci store and a Louis Vuitton store. Never saw them before in my life… I took pictures. They also had Nike, Jordan, Adidas stores too. We zigzagged and backtracked around the city to try and get two other phones we had unlocked for use in China, but no luck. We splurged and ate at KFC (second western food of the trip).

Then, I heard a series of words I never thought I would ever hear in my life as we walked into a mall/department store area, “Yeah, Walmart is upstairs.” … WHAT?! It turns out their Walmart is different from our walmart. Walmart, and the food department (which I don’t think believes in packaging meet, but instead just sticking it out there and letting you pick) was on the second floor and then you took an escalator up to the third floor where everything else was. I learned even more that the way we think is differently and that it extends as to what is logical to put next to each other in Walmart. We found backpacks in 3 different parts of the store, one of which was between the sports equipment and the music. They also put lamps across from the travel luggage. Needless to say, we did a lot of wondering. I felt bad for the two students who went with us because we just walked from one side of the store to the other. We would collect one thing like a wash cloth that’s with the scrub brushes thinking that there wasn’t a sponge, then go to the other side of the camping supplies and find air fresheners and sponges and pick up a sponge instead. Two hours later, we walked out with 3 bags pretty full and ready to sit down. One cool fact though was that there shopping cards are 4-wheel steering – which means you can drift your car around the turns from one aisle to another, which I did, until you hit someone else’s cart – bad idea.

In training, they told us that everything just takes longer than we expect in China. Everything takes longer, is a bigger deal, and will wear you out faster. They said you’ll go to the grocery store and when you come back, you’ll want to take a nap and people back home won’t understand. I laughed at the time, but I was so ready to crash when we got back. We left at 10am and got back just about 5pm. Whew. It was a good day.

I walked around taking pictures of all the different displays of meat for 5-7 min...until the smell got too much.

Not chicken wings! - Each of those is a claw from...something. The claw was about the size of my hand. Delicious.

Pictures.

Most of the pictures are on Facebook. Click Here to see them. These following pictures were too big to fit onto Facebook so I put them here for your enjoyment. Hope you enjoy Beijing, the Forbidden City, and Tienanmen Square.

The bridge that we crossed over walking back to the hotel at night.

This is the other side of the bridge. You can see the space needle and the reflection of the buildings along with the road along the side. Neon lights are BIG in China, the brighter the better. This is probably one of my favorite shots I've taken.

This is one of the courtyards in the Forbidden City. This is about 2 layers away from the center palace.

This is it. The main center building is in front of you, this was where the Emperor's throne was. They thought it was the center of the universe. This place is epically huge. It took 5 pictures to put this shot together.

Tienamen Square
As you first walk out of the Forbidden City, you see all of the square in front of you.

We quickly cut through the Square, but this is part of what it looks like. It's a couple hundred yards long.