contact me at:
justin (@) deepdrift dot com
GyozaQuest is a non profitable site,
"Johnny Cash was a balladeer, really a spellbinding storyteller, - a witness, in the Christian sense of the word. Here was a man who knew the Commandments because, like all of us, he had broken so many of them."
[Time Magazine]
The press is writing a lot about the Johnny Cash, eulogizing his life. In Johnny Cash's final interview, he was asked if he thought of himself as a Christian artist, He answered - "I am an artist who is a Christian, not a Christian artist"
I wonder if anyone will remember me in the same way, they remember him. No, I'm not seeking a posthumous photo of myself on the cover and a multi-page spread in Newsweek. I simply want my life to mean something. My faith gives me the confidence to know that I'm not living my life in vain, but deep down we all need to feel as if we're humbly part of something far bigger than ourselves, and we're really making a difference in a significant way.
In a sense that reflects the way I view myself on this trip. If you ask me if I've suddenly become a missionary, a preacher of the gospel; I'd say no. Yet I'm still a witness to the gospel, simply by being myself: an engineer, going there to observe, and to learn more about myself. Yet I admit, I cannot help but be a witness to my own convictions out there, and in the process discover something about myself.
I've been quite reflective, in the weeks leading up to this trip. While the first trip to Shanghai was a whirlwind, hastily planned, and spontaneous, I had time to think about this trip and the implications of it from about the time I returned home to Cambridge.
So I've read about China, talked to a lot of people, even posted some of my thoughts. I've read about OMF, their history as the China Inland Missions (CIM) and founding by Hudson Taylor. The end of the classical imperialist view of missionaries, when on October 1, 1949, Mao stood on the Gate of Heaven, and proclaimed independence for the Peoples Republic of China, expelling all things Western, including almost the entire western component of CIM. The government to this day, is still hesitant to let too much Western influence into China.
Today, even OMF admits that it's role will be different in the coming decades. Christianity carries with it the stigma of colonialism. Western thought is not part of the nationalism which is emerging, as the Chinese look back to their cultural history, and find ideologies and beliefs that are indigenous.
At heart I know I could read forever, and talk to others forever about what it would be like to go out there and the difficulties faced, but there is no substitute for first hand experience. Being content with the uncertainty, I'm setting off with an open mind.
On a practical note:
My team seems to be a diverse group of people. The team consists of
the founder and chief officers of the organization doing the planning,
two retired teachers from a church in Silicon valley, and a mid-40’s
engineer similar to myself, who's married and has kids.
Except for one of us, none of us speak Mandarin fluently.
We've got quite a hectic schedule, of which I can't figure out what the most important aspect is amongst the activities planned for me:
1) Going out to the far West and meeting with the local school teachers, teaching them conversational English, and seeing how their lives are out there in rural China being rapidly changed by the internet, and a connection to the rest of the world.
2) Seeing the capital and all the things and people which the organization and it's associates do. This might be more touring, and sightseeing.
3) Shanghai on the first day I'll probably meet with some people actually at SMIC, and talk a little bit about the job I'd take, but also there's a two day retreat for all the associates scattered around Shanghai. Since these are the people who very likely would become my friends and community the retreat is a chance to establish a rapport for what my life might be in Shanghai.
For further reading:
A contrasting article on Christianity and the Communist Party…
Justin Gee en route to Beijing (over Michigan right now) 9/27/03