Jason's Perspective

I'm sure most of you have been drinking deep of the sweet waters of Virginia's perspective throughout our entire journey here in the Far East, but today I wanted to pull back the curtains to give you a glimpse through the window of my experience. Our entire journey has been a tapestry of harsh experiences woven seemless with breath-taking joy in a once-in-a-lifetime voyage through China. Today is a case in point.

The day began innocently enough with Maddy waking up first, a few moments after dawn's first light. Soon after, Abby and Max joined her in casting off their slumber. Somehow today they woke up with a steroid-induced type of energy and were all but literally bouncing off the walls. After a superb (and more importantly free) breakfast buffet, we returned to the room to begin the day in earnest. My first task was to go to the bank to get some more RMB from the ATM machine. The task seemed simple enough, and all to harmless, yet somehow I returned from this menial task with a broken tooth and no money (that's the harsh experience part of the tapestry I was talking about).

Oh how I desire to have an incredible story of throwing down with a Chinese guy on the street to save some old lady from getting mugged. Oh how I wish I could say, "You should have seen the other guy," but alas, my faith does not allow me to express such dishonesty. The sad truth is that it was just a finicky ATM machine and a tooth that apparently decided it was time to jump out with the flavorless gum I had just spit into the garbage. Sad, eh?

Our entire trip has been like this. The things that should be insurmountable obstacles are traversed as if they were fluffy pillows on the bed, and things that should be as easy to overcome as walking over a cheerio on the ground become Mount Everest. Maybe this is just the Father's way of reminding us that He alone gives and takes away.

Just when my simple mind concluded that today would just be "one of those days," I was reminded of how good I have it. I couldn't help but sneak away periodically from the inexhaustible thirst of the kids for playtime just to marvel at God's creation of my three kids. Sure there were times when there was kicking, screaming, and I heard shouts of "Abby did it," or "Max hit me," or !%$%!$!@! (that's my version of whatever Max was screaming), yet at the same time I witnessed an incomprehensible tenderness that only the Father could create. Abby seemed so mature today. She would run up to Max in moments of deep emotion and embrace him with all the might her precious little arms could muster. She would even steal away from movie time and play time to go dedicate herself to her higher learning of ECC homework. I'm totally serious! She has a desk in her room, and she begs us to go do homework. I've attached a video to prove it.

Well, I know I've been longwinded enough, so I'll call it a night for me. I hope to go jogging around Guangzhou tomorrow morning, so pray for me. I can't soldify the veracity of this claim, but I believe that the Chinese have some sort of point total for hitting pedestrians, and I think there is a triple point score for hitting Americans. I'm probably an easy target.