When they don't give you a fork, get creative

This week was a little roller coaster-ish, but I learned some valuable lessons like what to do if a takeout place doesn't give you a fork and that in Christ we're never alone even though it sometimes feels like it. So if you read my last entry, I was feeling kind of isolated in my med school small group which talks about issues in clinical practice. Well--it happened again this week that I would have opportunity to raise my hand again and speak a word for Christ. I don't know why I've had so many opportunities so far, I just figure God has a reason for me being here. It reminds me of this passage in 1 Peter which I recently heard in a sermon about the trial of our faith being like gold going through the fire and coming out purer. But I also had a chance to talk with one of my new friends about Jesus over lunch--in a relational way, meaning that I was able to listen and ask questions and not feel like I had to punch the gospel in one fell swoop. Rather, I felt that perhaps God has been pursuing her (like He does to us all), and that I could return to the prayer of "Lord, help me to enter into what you are already doing in this person's life" that I have tried but often forgotten to pray and put into practice.

Which brings me to another subject. I went to a church recently and talked with someone about looking for a Christian community within medical school. With that, this person went into schpeel of stern warning of the dangers of "college" and college "Christian" groups to the "real" faith, and forming friendships with nonChristians and non-likeminded Christians, and I knew in some degree what he was talking about because people can get messed up and confused with all that's out there. But I piped in about how my experience at college had been the opposite--that I had grown so much in my faith through it and how important it was to form relationships with people both Christians and non Christians. I think what really got me was when he said that the point of the Gospel was "to bring people to the doctrine."
"It's to bring people to relationship with Jesus" I quickly said.
"Well, that IS the doctrine. Belief in Jesus' teachings is what we bring them to--repentance, forgiveness, deliverance..."
"But it's a relationship..." and with that I knew that we weren't on the same wavelength. I realize that I was talking to a real Christian man and I do agree that we have to believe in Jesus to be saved. But it just went to show me how easy it is to reduce Christianity to a set of bullet points rather than a live and active relationship with Jesus. Christianity can be the kind where sharing the gospel is more like getting someone to sign a contract of beliefs than introducing a Person to them. Which is EXACTLY what I was trying to tell my friend this week--that it wasn't so much about following rules (although that comes out of a relationship with Christ) but that it was about a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus.

So enough with the diatribe. On a lighter note...
I had an adventure today after I went to church at a place called "Imago Dei." On a side note, the church reminded me a lot of UCF--even the pastor had a gottee like Greg our campus pastor (well, not quite like it. Greg has a gotee long enough to braid and this guy didn't). So I have a rice cooker, and this last week I made a traditional Chinese egg and tomato dish, but it still didn't taste like the real thing (maybe I was missing some ginger?). When I eat rice, I like to eat with chopsticks even though most people use forks (ever notice that Chinese restaurants will give you a fork unless you ASK for chopsticks?). It makes it seem more Chinese. So here's the funny thing. Today I went with a friend to a Chinese restaurant and as we left I said, "Zaijian"-- the lady at the counter laughed, asked me if I spoke Chinese (which I replied with "very little"), and we talked for a little bit about where I had been in China and where she was from (Guangdong). I love talking to Chinese people about China--they always seem to smile and are happy that you would care to travel there. So then we left to take our food to eat at a nearby park. But when we got there we realized they hadn't given us ANY forks or chopsticks or napkins! We didn't want to go back and we couldn't eat it with our fingers very well. This necessitated being creative. I then picked up some sticks off the ground (there were plenty!) and I used mine as chopsticks! My friend didn't know how to use chopsticks so he just took one stick and stabbed his meat. Go figure.