The topic for conversation today at the university was "Holidays and Festivals" (as I mentioned last post, I work at a local university as a language coach for conversational English) -- I tried to be prepared to broach as many holidays and festivals as possible that might be celebrated in America, and as our session began I asked the students about which American holidays they already know. Of course, Christmas was the first one mentioned, so I asked them, "What do you think of when you hear 'Christmas'?"
After the expected round of answers such as "Santa Claus" and "presents," one student piped up.
"Jesus Christ."
I confess, I was a bit taken aback. I don't expect these students to know much about Christianity. I asked the student if he knew who the One he mentioned is, and he had little to offer in explanation. Whether or not it was owing to the fact that I asked him to do so in English, I'll never know. But his mere mention of the name Jesus Christ provided an open door for me to explain -- albeit briefly and not nearly as in-depth (or clearly) as I would have liked -- the gospel. The glazed-over expression in their eyes befuddled me and I fumbled with my phrases, wondering if it was the language or the subject matter -- or both. Perhaps some of those in the room had never even heard the gospel before. This conception burdens me a great deal.
In the second hour, most of the students were excused to their other classes, leaving me with two other young ladies, one of them the coordinator of the English activities. We chatted with each other, practicing our conversation skills, laughingly wondering out loud to each other what questions to ask while killing the time. Towards the end one of them asked, "So do you believe in any god or gods?", waving her hand in an upward direction, as if conjuring some unknown deity. I told her I am a Christian, and she asked something in Chinese that I didn't understand. My guess is that she meant to ask something like "Are you a fervent Christian, or just nominal, because your family is Christian?" (which can be common amongst Christian families here), because after seeing the look of confusion on my face, she narrowed her question to "Do you pray every day?"
"Yes," I told her.
"Oh! Then pray for us!" Both of them sat forward, eager to receive the blessings of my anticipated prayer.
Again I was aghast. I had heard of unbelieving people being willing to be prayed for here in Taiwan, but seldom do I hear about those who ask for it. So I prayed for them, their futures, that God would reveal Himself to them and they would experience the true power of His love and grace.
I walked away from that awestruck and humbled. How ill-prepared I felt at the time to give a simple, clear message of the gospel, able to be understood by English-language learners. How unworthy I felt to pray for the souls of two young women, who sat there willingly, right in front of me, heads bowed and eyes closed of their own volition. And yet God placed those moments right into my floundering hands, and I had one of those moments of realizing, "Only I could have done that." Only I could have this unique opportunity, to be in this specific position at this specific time, at this specific place, meeting these specific people. One of those moments where you realize that yes, God does have a specific plan for you. Something in store that may be beyond our wildest dreams.
And though challenged and convicted now to be a little more intentional with this reality, the truth is that it is pretty awesome.
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