Word On The Street

On each mission trip, there is one person who stands out in my memories. On my first trip to Shenyang, China, it was this little girl. Over the years, the mission of my missions has changed to where my value to the people I meet in foreign lands is my native tongue. I am constantly amazed at the lengths people in Asia will go to learn English and to give their children the chance to practice with a westerner. This is from August 6, 2008. I wonder how much she's grown!

I was standing on the corner near our hotel with a STARBUCKS iced coffee in my hand as she walked up to me. In very good English, she said, "Excuse me, are you hot?" She pointed to my drink and was of the opinion that I must be hot to be eating ice cream. I explained that it was a frappuccino and asked her age. She informed me that she was six and for the next ten minutes, we proceeded to have as grownup a conversation as is possible with a child and an adult. Her mother, standing nearby, apparently spoke almost no English but was encouraging her child's effort to become increasingly fluent in a foreign language. Coming from a culture in which we aggressively discourage youngsters from interacting with strangers, I found it refreshing that I was seen as a potential blessing to this little one and not as a threat. The ability to speak English can open doors in a world that increasingly is receptive to my native tongue for educational and economic reasons. In Matthew 19:14, Jesus told his disciples to, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Maybe now in some small way, I know how the Savior felt.

Applicable quote of the day:
"There are children playing in the street who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago."
J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER (quoted in Pearls of Wisdom)

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

www.stevehawley.blogspot.com

E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com