Let’s Go to China (if only in our minds!)
Patti Lacy is here to take us along on a journey with her to a place
in China like no other.
Hey, Patti. I hear you’ve spanned seas and secrets for your writing.
Deborah, we authors just have to check out the locales tucked away in our books, don’t we? Often the budget prohibits anything but walking through those rustling pages, but occasionally, things unfold. Like China.
In 2010, a soulmate friend who’s a Chinese national guided me to areas rarely seen by Westerners. I explored the complexities and incongruities of this great land.
Deb, here’s an excerpt from last year’s trip! Hope your readers are transported!!
My passport proves I spent 17 days in a glorious land. I spanned over 15,000 miles, drank gallons of green tea, dined on food rivaling Europe’s gastronomic delights, tiptoed through courtyards where emperors lived, amid their 8,000 buildings and countless servants.
Contrasts abound: Women rinse clothes in a stream swollen with garbage. Women dressed haute couture stroll by. Mercedes limos swerve past rickshacks.
Post-modern, neon-lit skyscrapers tower over…
…timeless hutongs (walled neighborhoods) fueled by propane, most with no running water or modern bathroom facilities. My heart found the rhythm of these neighborhoods where we sat on stoops and shared drinks and food with locals.
Though I inhaled China books (over 20), the great lady blew to smithereens my every preconception. Here’s a few:
1. Religious freedom does not exist.
Expressions of faith reverberate through a culture where Buddhist priests openly make temple offerings, Confucius sayings adorn vases, scrolls, even mountains!
I twice attended vibrant Christian “foreigner” churches (admittance only via Western papers). Philip Yancey preached (couldn’t get THAT in Normal, Illinois!) Familiar praise songs, hymns, and The Truth blazed through the plush modern auditorium.
Folks told me about government-monitored Three-Self churches, which some believe preach the gospel, and house churches, some of which suffer persecution.
Contrast this with the “official” Party “line” of atheism (though some Christians purportedly sit in government offices) for a hot pot of religious stew.
2. China is a Third World country.
Um, define Third World. Villagers yak on cell phones, play the stock market on laptops, and then go pee in outhouses and pull water from a communal well…According to a Party official, “many Chinese suffer from impoverished conditions, especially those who live in land ravaged by recent quakes. Yet our people get fed.”
3. Street food tastes gross and may endanger your health.
We survived (THRIVED) on street food. Locals who saw us eyeing their entrees waved us onto compact stools and said, “Dig in!” Chopsticks tweezed food into six mouths, then back to a communal platter. Never ate better. Never felt better. Since Chinese only eat right-handed, I was a CELEBRITY…and lost eight Midwestern-winter-gained pounds while gobbling stinky tofu, chicken stomach and feet, quail eggs, dumplings stuffed with wild mountain greens, and a dizzying number of delicious veggies and fruits.
4. Much of China is dirty and bleak.
China is a ginormous place. But Oh. My. Her beauty swept me away.
Um, did I gain admittance to orphanages? Interview one who’d relinquished hold on a beloved child? No. Yet if I got it right, China and its people infuse every page of Reclaiming Lily.
China. Kinda like life. The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know.
Oh, China, I do not know you. But I love you.
4) You are a beautiful, strong woman whose heart enfolds Jesus. I've witnessed how you tuck others into this warm & fuzzy spiritual quilt. Have you held onto God's hand ever since you can remember, or have you come to know God as an adult? Any encouraging words to those struggling with their walk with the Lord?
Oh, Elaine, I look in the mirror and see that 12-year-old who, at five foot nine, towered over all the snickering boys, that lonely girl who changed schools every year until 6th grade. Though I was raised in a loving Christian home, I rebelled against authority, including God. I knew Him but chose to disregard about everything He told me. During a tumultuous emotional and physical time, the Spirit whispered for me to let go and let God. In my 40s, I began experiencing what Andrew Murray describes as Absolute Surrender. (If you haven’t read this book, order it NOW!) Oh, the freedom!!! Oh, the joy! All of those painful experiences have been used by God: to write (if you’ve been lonely, you KNOW that sometimes books are your only friends) to mentor to others (2 Corinthians 1:4 explains how, through our sufferings, we can comfort others).
I could go on and on about the renewal offered through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Remember what Jesus said in John 14:16-17? “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. The MINUTE we accept Christ as Savior, the Spirit resides in our heart. But He’s a gentleman and is easily grieved by disobedience, headstrongness…all of the traits that lurk at every corner of my soul!!!
Deb, thanks for having me at this cozy place today! I’d love for you and your readers to experience China…and a fatal hereditary illness and a rebellious teenager and a joyous sisterly reunion. You’ll find all that…and more…in Reclaiming Lily. Hope you enjoy reading it a FRACTION as much as I enjoyed writing it!
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