I recently called a pastor friend in Sichuan whose church is a little distance from the earthquake zone to find out how things were going there. She told me that although other churches in the province had been allocated funds for the strengthening and rebuilding of their churches, she had received nothing as of yet.
Her church was old, and not strong to begin with. If they had been at the center of the quake, the building would have completely collapsed. Since they were farther away, the structure did not collapse, but it did form many cracks, lost many roof tiles, and now the building is unusable and condemned by the local government.
I told her I would see if I could find some funds to help them repair their building before the winter weather sets in. (If you are interested in sending a check, please send it to the Snyders – their address is on the home page of http://www.elynsjournal.com/ with a note that it should go to Rev. Ma’s church.) They need to have about 15,000 USD to repair and strengthen the structure so that they could use the building again and buy new roof tiles for the roof.
This church is generous. When the earthquake came, the people in the taller buildings in the neighborhood were so afraid that their buildings would collapse that they spent all their time outside. Many of the church’s neighbors, as well as people fleeing from the quake zone, ended up at the church. There was no place to stay, so they lined up chairs outside in the church courtyard, and rested in the day and slept together at night. There were altogether about 100 people who took refuge in the church (not church members) during that period of about three weeks.
There is an older member of the church named Old Brother Wu, in his 60s, who has no children, so he has no family members to take care of him. He also has a problem with his leg, making it hard for him to walk — he has a bad limp. But he still comes to church, making his way from his small plot of land for growing vegetables to the church on Sunday. He has only a small hut – no TV, no refrigerator, only cold water, one electric bulb, and a very difficult life in many ways.
When the earthquake hit, the church members didn’t even think about the fact that they would eventually need some money to repair their church. They just got together, pooled all their extra money and every cent they could get their hands on to send to the center of the quake area. They knew that the people there were in much worse shape than they were having lost family members and in some cases, lost everything. So the church sent all their money to the quake zone.
When Old Brother Wu heard about the death and destruction, he took his whole life savings out of the bank – 12,000 rmb (less than 2,000 dollars) and sent it to help the rescue efforts. He gave everything he had.
What he did touched everyone so much that the news spread and a newspaper reporter went to visit him. He told everyone he was a Christian, and Christians love people just like Jesus did, and that life is the most important thing. He hoped his small amount of money would help and encourage the people who were rescuing those trapped in buildings and schools.
Soon it will be All Saint’s Day. We actually had our All Saints Day service here in Shanghai today, and lit an entire table of candles commemorating Saints (capital S) and saints (small s, the ones who are not world famous but nevertheless are still saints) some passed away and some still here on the planet.
During the service I told everyone about Old Brother Wu. His story was my contribution to our time in the service for talking about the saints (living) we know. It was like someone had hit a tuning fork, and we all began to resonate. That kind of good, over-the-top generousity of spirit that Brother Wu radiates, is what changes the world for the better. His story is like a prayer that lifts us from despair into a timeless zone where we are all connected and shine with light. You can try telling someone else Old Brother Wu’s story yourself –