Real China

Tonight was one of those nights that China became alive for me.

Dan took our Team to an area of the city near our hotel that he referred to as "Real China." We all laughed about how we had been experiencing "fake" China apparently, but it wasn't until we arrived at a local park that we began to see what he meant. Boys whizzed past us on scooters as we walked up the sidewalk into a sort of courtyard. In the dimming twilight, a group of women were doing a synchronized exercise dance to a jaunty beat, teenagers stood in clusters along the edge of the opening, parents watched as their children chased each other in a game of tag, while other locals circled together, close-knit, keeping a hacky sack flying. This was different than the masses that bump and push tighter, tighter on buses and subways. This, tonight, was truly a glimpse of real people living life together.

It didn't take any of us long to be drawn into the scene. Michael immediately went to join the hacky sack game, while Wesley and Dan broke out the badminton racquets and were promptly challenged to a match by an eager Chinese man. Can you guess what the girls did? That's right... you better believe we hopped in line right next to the little grannies and tried to learn whatever Chinese version of the electric slide they were doing.

As I glanced around at my teammates, I remember thinking of one, unifying word that described the looks on each of our faces:

Joy.

Joy to be surrounded by these people. Joy to be sharing in their joy. Joy to be reaching out and touching another's life and seeing the realness there.

It was one of those brilliant flashes in which the bustling, flowing mass of people slows down, and the lines that have been blurred come into focus. It was one of those nights that China's most precious jewel--her people--shimmer individually before my eyes. These are the moments that make my calling sure and my heart swell with love... and they are happening more and more.