Ni Hao (Hello) from Beijing

Greetings from my internet connection (yeah) from Beijing. We arrived yesterday afternoon for our "cultural experience" in an apartment Pat found online that belongs to a Chinese guy who lives most of the year in San Francisco but is a Canadian resident. Our first events take place today in seeing the US Softball team. I told Caroline now that she's here, the team is complete!!

We do have to move around noon today to another apartment but I would be glad to just stay here. The bad news we have received (but will surely test) is that tickets are scarce and expensive and that its illegal to sell them at the venues. I made a decision to not purchase more at home since they were outrageous...actually ridiculous in price. We'll just have to see. We will see the other venues today, at least from the outside. 

We will have our own church service here today and hope your's tomorrow am will be a time where God speaks to your heart. 

Last Day Hong Kong..Headed to China

In case you're reading the headline and thinking "Isn't HK in China?" Well, unfortunately it now is a part of China (Great Britain gave it back in 1999). It operates for visitor purposes as a separate country (like you don't need a visa to enter and many people own private property), however; China now controls HK and limits freedoms. 

Anyway, yesterday was a huge day for us visiting HK Disneyland. The weather was hot and humid as it has been all week. However, HK Disney is small in comparison to Orlando. It's easily doable in 4-5 hours and much fun. I wondered if Mickey would peak English or Chinese. He speaks both! The funniest thing was the castle. Typically, Disney names the imposing castle for one of the princesses (like Cinderella's Castle in Orlando). This one must be the dwarf's castle since it was short and anything but imposing. 

Last night we also took in the musical Around the World in 80 Days at the HK Center for Performing Arts. Decent performance but Caroline and I were tired. 

Closing images and thoughts before heading to Beijing this am(Sat):

1. They show churches in print ads but I have only seen 1. Numerous shrines but 1 church. Several are advertised. However we do have a Chinese New Testament provided in the room.

2. Saw a multi-tier golf driving range yesterday.

3. More hot cars.

4. Beautiful harbour city, bustling, hurried, but they do know how to stand in line.

5. Still getting used to right side driving cars driving on the left side of the road.

We are headed to Beijing shortly. I don' know if we will have internet or email access since we are staying in an apartment instead of a hotel and they have a highly monitored system called the Great Firewall....

Out and About...Trying to Beat Jet Lag

Today we felt a bit better but still have ground to recover due to jet lag. We understand why the Olympics teams come over a week or more early. Our "body clock" still hasn't adjusted completely but progress is being made. As we catch shuttles, cabs or walk around the city, we are struggling under sweltering heat and humidity. 

As we travel around Hong Kong (including the areas of Kowloon and Stanley), we have noticed increasingly that amidst the exotic buildings, upscale houses, and really hot cars that get all of the press here, there seems to be little or no middle class. Everyone else here seems to really struggle to scratch out a living. Wages have to be considerably higher than in mainland China and people do have their own places to live, often in poorer high rises which probably cost most of what they make. 

We were able to travel to the other side of the island to an area called Stanley. When we were here 4 years ago, we travelled to this area where there is a large outdoor shopping area. Some items there are really nice, many others are more like an upscale flea market. The travel to and from there is beautiful with  beach, golf course, marina with large and small boats, even sail boats, and mountain apartments and estates. Once there, we also noticed several shrines that I didn't see previously (although they are very old and were here).  We respectfully entered one of the shrines to see what was there but didn't shoot any photos. There were altars to various oriental gods with incense to burn to each along with kneeling pillows at each altar. 

We crashed last night after dinner and watched what Olympics they show here. I told Pat and Caroline that it frustrates me to be "physically closer" to the Olympics than anyone in the states but not seeing nearly the coverage that you are. Unless an Asian athlete is in the event, we usually do not get to see it. We did see the US men's basketball game last night.

Big Ol Jet Airliner

If you remember that old Steve Miller Band song originally, you're old!! Maybe just into oldies! That song was playing in my mind for a while on the trip over to Hong Kong. It's been great to come twice now (last time was 2004), but it hasn't gotten any closer. I hear from time to time that the world is now smaller (a reference to its global nature) but if you get on a plane it doesn't feel closer. 

We awoke in Atlanta at 7am Monday morning to be at the airport by 8. Even though the flight wasn't until 11:20am. International flights require you to be checked in 2 hours in advance. We knew this airport and traffic would be heavy for Monday morning so we allowed 3 hours. 

The flight got underway at 11:20 and headed west over St Louis and the Dakotas, over Victoria British Columbia toward Alaska. We "peaked" over the Bering Sea at Alaska and started down over the edge of Russia, over Japan then a right turn over to Seoul, South Korea. That's 15 hours in the air non-stop, fortunately. After a 4 hour layover in a really first class airport, we boarded a Korean Airline flight (best airline I have ever flown on) to Hong Kong. Our trip in 2004 was Korean Air all the way. The flight attendants on Delta should take some lessons from their Sky Partner!! We arrived at 11:30 pm HK time on Tuesday (12 hours ahead of EST). If you count it up, that's 30 hours since we got up in Atlanta Monday. Needless to say, we were whipped and ready for bed. 

We are staying on Victoria Harbour in the Kowloon section of Hong Kong with a room overlooking the beautiful harbour. Pat has been our tour guide on all our trips and again hit a home run. This harbour is one of the busiest in the world with tour ships as well as local fishing vessels and container ships headed to points all over the world. They have a boardwalk that we spent time on yesterday as we walked around getting our bearings. 

We were still feeling the effects of jet lag as well as the heat and humidity that rivals New Orleans and Charleston. We caught the shuttle and did some shopping as well as just walking around taking in the city. We had to take a long nap in the afternoon and then came in pretty early. Tomorrow will include a trip to Hong Kong Disney that opened after we left in 2004 and more shopping. 

Of course we are watching the Olympics but not like our friends at home. We realized pretty quickly that all the coverage on NBC makes sure you see all of the Americans doing well. They really don't care to cover all of the Americans here, choosing instead to cover such exciting sports as ping pong since Chinese are doing well there. Its hard for them to avoid Phelps but not much else. Yesterday in a shopping area we saw a crowd gathered like at home in a tv store on a college football Saturday. When we walked up to see what was on it was a Chinese female ping pong match from the Olympics. Hilarious! 

  

Here we go for Gold

Well, the long awaited trip to Hong Kong and then Beijing to the 2008 Olympics has begun. We are in Atlanta tonight heading to the airport in the morning. My intention is to blog daily regarding our experiences, hopefully with some photos. The reason I say "my intention" is that I do not know what internet access I will have (to say nothing of sharing a laptop) in China. Hong Kong should be no problem but China may be another story completely. I have read much criticism over the past few weeks regarding the Chinese government's broken promises, made in their Olympic bid 7 years ago, to allow complete access to the internet. Their fear of people sharing information, ideas, criticisms, religious world views, whether positive or negative, is but a part of the overall darkness and oppression hundreds of millions face as a part of their daily lives. 

Yet, China is a proud country. They have long awaited this "coming out party" to show the world a "spit shined" Communist country. Their ancient architecture combined with modern facilities are a message to the world...a rebirth so to speak. The Chinese people we met and and encountered 4 years ago were curious, friendly, and accomodating. We look forward to meeting others this trip, especially the family in Beijing we are supposed to stay with the first night until the apartment we rented is vacant. 

My prayer for a few months now has been that the Lord would use the spotlight the officials have so pursued to show the world exactly what goes on there with the people. I pray that the spotlight would be "unmanageable" in spite of all of their efforts and that the same freedoms known in many former Communist countries would be theirs. 

We are not going to the games for a political or religious reasons. However, prayer walking and being the Lords people wherever we happen to visit is always a part of who we are. Thanks for your prayers for our safety. Pray also for believers there and for the lost. As I pray for these things, I realize the same prayers are desperately needed for so many in our own country. 

Been a Long Time

The fact that it's been a long time since I wrote in this blog should not be interpreted as nothing happening. In fact, too much has been happening to quickly.

We have spent the summer working and getting ready for two major events: our trip to Hong Kong and the Olympics next week followed by moving my daughter Caroline into Wofford College as soon as we return. We are excited about both events though I admit that college is met with mixed emotions for me. I am thankful she will receive a great education in Spartanburg (not Texas) but when you leave you really never come home again. Its been a fast 18 years as I have been reminded by one of my life heroes Steven Curtis Chapman this summer.

We had the privilege of seeing SCC last fall and immediately fell in love with his new song Cinderella. It is a reminder of the brevity of life with your kids and to redeem the time. Tragically in May, Steven and Mary Beth Chapman's adopted daughter Maria was killed in their driveway by a car driven by one of her brothers. This devastating event has so hurt my heart for their family, especially Will Franklin, the 17 year old brother. Seeing the interview with the family from Good Morning America renewed my passion to pray for them as they live out the faith by holding fast to Hope in Jesus. Steven even added a verse to his song Yours (new album that contains Cinderella) as well as changed the closing line to the song Cinderella. The new Yougs can be purchased on iTunes. I suppose all of this puts into perspective my Cinderella moving to college.

As I said last year when Jesse moved, they have been a tremendous privilege..a gift from the Lord...my favorite people.

Perspective

The past couple of weeks have in some ways had their challenges but bright spots as well. I was reflecting yesterday at lunch with my friend Mike Chibbaro, a solid brother whom I love and just never get to spend enough time with, on some of the highlights related to opportunities I have had.

During this period, I had the blessing of Laura Story's cd release party and mini-concert at Christian Supply in Spartanburg (www.myspace.com/laurastory). It was such a blessing to me and my family to be there amoung friends and hear a precious sister lead us in Praise to the Lord and see Martin, her husband and cheerleader who is continuing to recover from a brain tumor, there as well.

I had a lunch meeting Tuesday sponsored by my friends William and Lisa Renfrow where Jim Dismore, a former Walmart exec. who has for many years consulted businesses who would like to know how to do business according to God's plan.

I had a conversation with my friend Richard Smith, a Spartanburg pastor at Hope Point Community Church (http://www.hopepoint.org/). As always I so enjoy being able to chat with Richard even though we really only see each other a few times per year.

At a recent wedding shower for Deb Mathis and Jason Read (Deb is one of my favorite people and Jason is a fine dude and very fortunate), I had the opportunity to talk with Caz McCaslin (http://www.upward.org/), Rick Mathis, one of my heros and dad of another hero David Mathis, main man to John Piper. Dave Edwards, the Toyota man not the comedian, was also there and such a blessing as always. (Deb, hope that was better!)

I also had communications with my friend Alexia Newman, a sister in Christ (http://www.carolinapregnancy.org/) regarding her upcoming banquet with Ken Davis (April 15th). As always it will be "The Event" of the year in Spartanburg. Always a blessing, the event and especially Alexia. She's also one of mine and my family's heroes.

Pat and I also had an incredible tour of Milliken & Co. Research in Spartanburg where so many friends work. Our friend Jeff Lane blew us away with all that we saw. Quite impressive and we saw Tom Hamilton while touring.

Crossfire on Wednesday nights in the Hangar (http://www.lifewaylink.com/templates/cusfbspartanburg/details.asp?id=21501&PID=119293) have been incredible worship services lead by Seth Buckley and the Hangar band in with help from the Media team. Wow! These guys do an awesome job!

As I said, I have just had an unusually blessed few weeks. Then I read a note from a friend who is away right now...way from friends and family being stretched in ways that are frightening to most of us. The note puts into perspective the "softness" of my life which leads to complacency. Bless you my friend for faithfuless, like Paul, and needed perspective. May your Easter be blessed.