Lius allude raid

My Mom told me not to go down any dark alleys in China. So, when we stepped into the gated passageway I made sure to ask Jon if he thought it was a “dark alley.” We looked up and around and concluded that it was pretty bright; so we kept on walking.

Inside the narrow corridor were vendors selling rice, noodles, meats and vegetables. We actually found the place by tracing the line of Chinese people who were carrying take-out boxes from this area.  We figured that it must be good.

The infamous noodle shack

This was our first venture to eating “street food”. Until then, we’ve only tried tacky Chinese fast-food (like McDonalds, but with Chinese food) that had names like Kung Fu and a picture of Bruce Lee plastered on the front. As you can imagine we were pretty proud at how brave we were to eat like the locals.

Five minutes into our meal a man starts to excitedly tell us something in Mandarin. He’s smiling, so we’re not too alarmed. What was unsettling was what the people inside the make-shift restaurant were doing. Between flipping the noodles on the wok, they frantically started to pull everything into their stall and shut the garage door-like contraption.

I don’t know if it’s the Guangzhou heat or the genes, but somehow after lunch many shop owners will cover their wares and take a snooze. I thought this couple REALLY needed their nap for them to suddenly close up and try to kick us out.

Even the food lady in the back packed up and disappeared.
Look at how much noodles you get for $1 per plate!

Meanwhile, the man with the grin is still trying to tell us SOMETHING. It sounds as if he wants us to leave, but we can take our time and not leave?! Then Jon insists that he recognized a key word – police. Police? Ooh, this was getting exciting!

We got the owners to open the hatch and pass us some take-out boxes so that we could eat on the road … literally, by the way.

We laughed as we walked down the street, and then we saw the police giving tickets to illegally parked cars. Hmmm, should we stick around? Nah, it would ruin the adventure we already made up in our minds!

Just Keep Jigglin'

There are so many things to get used to about our new life -- the food, the heat, the 5-hour grocery shopping expeditions. But the things that are the most challenging for me are not living in my "own" house and not having my "own" money.

These two factors crashed together this week as Micah locked a bedroom door and walked out. The problem is, we don't have the key. We knew this day would come soon. How could four little boys NOT lock a door?

Well, we could break the lock and get in. But, again we don't own this house and can't make that decision. We could hire a locksmith for $12, but I want to be a good steward of the money we get from our supporters and don't think breaking and entering is being one.

So, I did the only thing I could ... pray. I asked God, "How do I get in?" He said, "use the key." I calmly explained that I don't have the key and I don't know where it is! He said, "The key I gave you is prayer."

I remembered how the Bible said that if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed you can make mountains move. Well, then, surely if that could happen a little lock should be no problem. I mustered up all the faith I could and marched to the door.

I grabbed Micah and said we're going to pray for a miracle! He looked less than excited, but it didn't stop me. Then I asked God, "Now what?" He said, "jiggle the handle." "Oh, ok, I'll do it 7 times just like in Jericho," I thought.

One-two-three-four-five-six-seven .... nothing happened. I stepped away determined not to let the defeat at the door dent my faith, but yet wondered what went wrong.

Half an hour later I hear Jon yelling that the door is opened! I ran to see what happened. Jon said, "look, you just need to jiggle the handle and it starts to unlock the lock!"

Ah ... so the answer WAS to jiggle! God did reveal the "key" to the door, but I used my own interpretation of seven times. If only I continued to do what He asked me to do, I would have seen His miracle.

I wonder how many of us hear God's good and gracious plans for our life, do it as long as we think WE should and then give up and blame God that it didn't all work out? What if we all kept on jiggling until we heard the next step from Him?