Far Into The East: Intro

When my group returned from our short mission trip in China, we were asked if we wanted to submit a trip testimony for the missionary's blog (found here). The following is what I submitted:

“How was China?”

Since returning home, I’ve heard this question many times. Even though it is the simplest of questions, it has been one of the hardest for me to answer. How do you summarize a two week, life-changing trip? As I thought about China, I realized what had impacted me most.

It wasn’t the food.

It wasn’t the Great Wall, Tienamen Square, or the Dragon Tower.

It wasn’t even the surprisingly eventful fourteen hour layover in the Tianjin airport.

What impacted me the most were the Chinese people.

One morning, after we arrived in Harbin, I was reading in Mark 6, “And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them…” I don’t know how many times I’ve skimmed this verse and never comprehended its meaning. Being in China shed new light on it.

One of the men from our group made the remark, “You know, in DC you can go from a crowded area to somewhere quiet, but here… you just move from one crowd to the next.” Everyday we spent the majority of our time with people – students from the university, children from the church’s apartment complex, and leaders from Omega. We passed out tracks and flyers, shared our testimonies one-on-one, and helped put on a VBS. The only alone time we had was in the shower.

Our visit to the Je Li Buddhist Temple also helped bring Mark 6:34 into perspective. That particular morning, our group had been singing hymns and passing out gospel tracts on the steps to the temple. As we entered, I was stunned. Going from worshiping the only true God to watching ritualistic obeisance to false idols was sobering. As we walked along, we grew quieter. At one point, we were stopped and motioned to the side as a long line of monks – men, women, and children wholly dedicated to Buddhism – passed us while chanting. In that moment, I understood.

“…and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.”

I was watching a literal march to Hell.

There I stood, crying, weak, and insufficient. These people had dedicated their life to finding truth and enlightenment and I, a daughter of the Truth and the Light, could not tell them where to find it.

It has been two weeks since I “saw” China. God is still teaching me lessons from my trip. It was difficult to leave knowing that there is work to be done for God. But I am thankful. The trip gave me a greater appreciation for freedom to share Christ in the US. It helped me understand that this world is not my true home, heaven is. And most of all, it opened my eyes and gave me a compassion and desire to see, not just China, but the whole world reached with the Truth and the Light of the Gospel.

So the next time someone asks me, “How was China?”, I will answer with this: it was something that you need to see for yourself.

(Original Source)

If you want to read the rest of the groups' testimonies, you can find them under the "Testimony" tag. I'll be updating more often with the start of school, and will be starting a few series. This post will be the first of my series about my journey in China.

What about you all? I would love to hear about your experiences from your own mission trips.

Defining a Generation: the Myth of Adolecene

It's been a while since I've done a real post, and I thought it was high time I added another part to the Defining a Generation series.

 

The Myth of Adolecence

What is it? To understand this, you must understand from where the concept comes. Nearly four years ago, two 16 year old twin brothers started on a journey of self-growth. In 2010 they have interned for the Alabama Supreme Court, headed several state wide re-election campaigns, written two best selling books, traveled the world, and headed a series of forums and conferences. All by age 20. The "they" are the Harris twins, Alex and Brett, and they call their movement The Rebelution. 

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I would like to pause here and explain: I am a born-again Christian and I love my God. I enjoy talking about things I love, thus, I will talk about my Savior. This video (taken from one of the recent rebelution articles) explains where I stand in my religion... or rather my faith. I am by no means a religious person. In fact, I hate religion - it's my Lord I love and serve.

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.

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In 2005,  the Harris brothers wrote a series of articles on rebelling against the cultural norms. Many other teenagers caught their infectious spirit and thus was born a "rebelution." They proposed that American society was wasting their best asset, the minds and talents of teenagers. 

And they're absolutely correct.  As a younger generation we have vision and energy. We are ripe for innovating and shaping our culture. So why are we wasting it? Have we let society tell us for so long that we are "too young" and "too inexperienced"? Weren't some of the greatest men and women, the shakers and movers of history, teens? 

Child-like not Childish

The best type of faith (be it religious or not) is a child-like faith. I remember thinking about this topic one day late last autumn. Then it hit me. I had been taught all my life to have a "child-like faith." Never once had anyone seen fit to explain the difference between Child-like and Childish. My whole life I had thought there was no difference. How many others, I wondered, are trapped in the same mindset?

Have you ever spent much time around young children? Their world is filled with firsts - scintillating with exploration and adventure. Their observations are profound, and simultaneously simplistic. Nothing ceases to amaze them, and their discoveries are shared with any welcoming face. Life is wonderful. And that is that.

Role Reversal

Precocious kids are interesting creatures. Ever met one? That would be the girl wearing her mother's high heels and pearls, ordering others like she owns the world. She's ambitious and spunky - nothing (other than her parents "no") will hold her back. Her future careers goals include doctor, mother, lawyer, and princess. Perhaps a part-time job as president. 

What happens to that drive when she becomes a teenager? Why does our social standing revert once we reached that fabled land of "teenagedom"? Expectations go from major leagues to back yard baseball (if that). Adolescences are expected to be a wast of space; only consuming, never producing. (Notice a difference in the pictures I chose?) Teens, myself included, need to seize this crucial period and use it to mold themselves into adults. Paul said in 1 Cor 13:11 "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

So what does this mean? "Teenagedom" does not exist! We are either children or adults. Society has only fabricated the "teen years" to validate laziness. It's the reason why we're stuck with "Kidults," adults that never grew up mentally. 

I really recommend, non-believers included, Do Hard Things. It's a fantastic look into this topic and worth every penny. The Harris twins also recently published START HERE, an idea booklet for beginning the life changing ideas discussed in Do Hard Things. Pick it up and tell me what you think. It definitely is great mind fodder.

Defining a Generation: As It Is

n memory of the 1765 Stamp Act - a monumental occasion in the history of America - and the equally revolutionary passage of H.R. 3962 into the Senate (whether you support it or not, it's a big deal... and that's an understatement), I wanted to do something a little different.  

Defining a Generation is a set of blog spots that I've had on my mind lately. Take a moment and watch this video:

 How finite do you feel?

One of the facts that stuck with me is the amount of information we consume and output. If we have five times the amount of words that Shakespeare had, why is it that our usage of them has been reduced to a few vulgar and trite mutterings? How is it that we have lost more than we have gained?

Can we blame this phenomena as "a product of circumstances"? Or would it be better described as a result of our laziness?

When I imagine an era I enjoy (Dynastic China/Turn of the Century America/Ancient Greece and Egypt/19th Century India and Arabia) I think of how hard life would be without the "necessities": air conditioning, electricity, internet, etc. Yet I also wonder how much happier and content I would be. Surely they lived more fulfilling and purposeful lives.

There is something in me that fights to be unique, a mover and shaker of the world. I have not been left here to fritter my existence...

Let him that would move the world first move himself ~ Socrates