More Than A Beggar

At the end of things, I reflect on the very beginning and realize I had much to learn there.

There are many beggars in Harbin, China.  I was there last September.  But one man I encountered seemed to have so much to say.  His name was Wang Zhanliang.

I'm a bit of a wanderer and always too curious.  I had to know what he wanted to share with the crowds swarming all around him on the corner of a very busy intersection.  So I stopped,  knelt down and asked my translator to help me.  I wanted to know what a beggar in China would say to the world around him.

But he didn't write - I need money,  lost job or help for the homeless.



Sometimes a beggar has more to say.

On the busy streets in China he was telling the world about Jesus with his pen and ink.  He told me this was his favorite verse.  For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  He was writing the Words of God; and in China in front of everyone! He proclaimed the Gospel never fearing the consequences.

He wasn't so hungry for food, shelter or clothing.  He was more hungry to tell people about Jesus.  My prayer for the church in greater Detroit I imagine is similar to his.  That we would become as a body of believers more hungry to tell those all around us on the street corners of Livonia and Westland and Canton and Plymouth or wherever you live about the God who came to give the whole world eternal life with even more boldness than a beggar in China.