Kimchi, not for me

Last night was amazing. It was just incredible. I know there's a fair amount of controversy surrounding this man, but most of it is from unreliable sources, and I tell you, I've seen few men as obviously humble and insistent on giving God the glory.

I was an usher, and assigned the main entrance to the sanctuary where the event was being held. It was to start at 7:30, and when I went to take up my post at 6:30 there were already a ton of people there. There was a Korean service just ending in the room we were using, so I was told to keep people out until 7:20. And so I spent the next 55 minutes being tougher than I've ever been before. I was holding onto both doors, with one leg and arm blocking the entrance. Koreans still tried to push past me (the culture is known for being pretty pushy). I was joking with the pastor about being Onnuri's bouncer. I nearly took it too far, when I almost didn't let in members of the worship team. Just shows my dedication to the task at hand. When they finally said we could open the doors, the crowd of pushing and shuffling people was so big that by the time they all filed past into the sanctuary I was dizzy (from the swaying motion of everyone pushing past me in this solid mass of people). All the seats in the sanctuary filled up fast - then we started putting out chairs. We put chairs all along the back, and down each aisle, and more people still came. There ended up being people sitting on the floor (myself included). I was actually still manning the door when Brother Yun came in and I got to shake his hand. That was exciting for me.

There was a time of worship, and then Brother Yun's translator spoke alone for a few minutes to give some of the background of China for those who had been hiding under a rock and hadn't read his book yet. Then Brother Yun spoke, and the most striking thing about it was the simplicity of his message. I'm not sure what I had been expecting, but his message was about living water, and the Holy Spirit, and true freedom. One of his big points is that true freedom has little to do with location, as he found out during the many times he was in prison, but has to do with the work of God in our lives. It was extremely convicting. He spoke of the church in China and the unbelievable way that it has multiplied over the last fifty years. He spoke of the miracles that happen there. I'm extremely skeptical of healing and miracles, but for some reason I'm not at all skeptical of the miracles that happen in China. And not just the ones related to Brother Yun. I think the church in China right now is remarkably similar to the church seen in the book of Acts. Theologically, I'm not sure what my position on miracles is. I know that all things are possible with God. I don't know. I probably shouldn't get into this right now. The point is that Brother Yun's message was overwhelmingly biblical and God-centered. I found that to be a relief. I read up on what his critics say, and I was a little scared that he might end up being Benny Hinn-ish.

It's got me thinking a lot about China lately. One of the links on the right is for China Aid, and I signed up to receive email alerts from them. Just keeping up with the persecution through them has continued to open my eyes to the reality that many believers face. I have zero desire or pull to go to China (other than the obvious sentimental/emotional one that appears when I read about such things), but it makes me realize that I have a lot to learn from Chinese believers. They really do give up everything, suffer extreme physical, emotional, and financial penalties for their faith in Christ.

Anyway, that's all for now. The Thanksgiving banquet is today. I had planned on spending the afternoon around church to avoid the pointless commute from church to home and back to church, but the fancy lock that was installed on my apartment door before I lived here malfunctioned, so I was forced to come back and pay money to fix the fact that I was locked out. All is well now though, and I need to go get ready for the banquet.