Day One, Hong Kong

We’re Here!

We here, although I am not sure where here is! Where are we? Who knows! What time is it? I have no clue. Better yet, who am I?

Twenty nine hours is a loooooooong time to travel! We are soooooooo tired!

We finally made it to Hong Kong, at 11:00 PM on Saturday, December 28. We landed here purely by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially since it involved three different flights. It is my understanding that Chicago shut down for two or three hours soon after we departed. We breezed through there in a matter of minutes. We were the last to board our flight. Apparently United knew we had just landed, so they held the plane for us.

After arriving in Hong Kong safely we made it to our apartment around 12:30 AM, and we were in bed one hour later. Every one in my family slept well, except me. My motor was running in overdrive. I have had about four hours sleep since Friday morning. I am intentionally staying awake until 9:00 PM tonight (Sunday) so I can sleep through the night.

Busy Day, Today

Today was exciting, and very busy.

Taylor preached at a Filipino Chapel. Vonda says he did a great job. He’s already asking when he can return to Hong Kong. He left us about three hours ago to hang out with some students. I can tell he loves this place. He just called to tell me he was going to see a Chinese movie. My kids are treated like rock stars with their fair skin and blonde hair.

I preached for Dr. Lucenay this morning at Hong Kong International Baptist Church. They have two worship celebrations—a contemporary worship at 9:30, followed by a traditional worship at 11:00 AM. Both worship celebrations were meaningful. Of course, I preached 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. What better message is there to communicate than Jesus Christ and him crucified?

The people here are very magnanimous. They have a very friendly congregation. Their worship will inspire you. Everyone sang so loud. A friend of mine says you can tell much about a church by their singing. He says a singing church is a sign that it is a healthy church. If that is true, and I think it is, then this is a very healthy congregation.

I Know Where Your Church Is

Here is a wild story.

When I arrived for the first worship a woman from India approached me and said, “I know where your church is. I have driven by it before.” I laughingly said, “Are you sure you know where my church is?” She retorted, “I sure do. It is on 1-59 South coming into Birmingham, just outside of Trussville, in an area called Argo.” Only God! Only God would have her to be the first person I met in worship.

Thank You for Praying for Us

Tomorrow we spend the day in Hong Kong, and then we head to Beijing on Tuesday. I plan to post more each day. Thank you for praying for us. This is already a memorable experience just from the first few hours. We cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for us next.

I promise to pray for you. When I lay my head down on a pillow for the first time in about three days, you will be starting worship. Please know that I am praying for you.

Speaking of praying for you; I left my CrossPoint prayer journal at home. So, this morning when I could not sleep, I jumped up to read my Bible and pray. When I came to praying for you—as I do every morning—I started praying for you by name. Although my journal was not handy, I started with the families whose names began with an A and prayed for them. I was surprised how many of your family names came to mind. That was really neat.

Pray for us while we travel to Beijing. Dr. Lucenay’s Student Minister, Mike, has arranged for us to meet with a brand new convert they baptized less than a month ago. He wants us to minister and witness to his family. Of course we said yes.