Following Jesus (2): Two Grande Dark

Coffee is coffee. But coffee isn't coffee.

In the hand of the One who turned water into wine. It's more than a Starbuck coffee. 

"Two Grande Dark" - the spirit of "Got it" and "Pass on."

Master Xu ( Click & know him first will help Following Jesus (1): Shall We Dance? ) drank tea back home. Seldom drank coffee. Never a Starbuck fans. But I am everything of coffee, of Starbuck. Since he didn't have any idea what to order, he followed mine. " Two Grande Dark please!"  No milk only sugar is my cup of coffee. Xu followed the last detail. We drank, talked about everything, of life, of immigration, of James O Fraser, of faith...

Then at other time, Xu would meet his own friends in restaurants, his home AND Starbuck. Now he met Alan, another Chinese immigrant, in Starbuck. He messed up the order and ended up something like Latte or Mocha, expensive and milky. He distasted it. Came back to me and asked what's the correct name to order. I told Xu, "Grande Dark." And ask him to repeat a few times "Grande Dark."  Now whenever they met in Starbuck, he made Alan drink...GRANDE DARK.  Xu "Got it". He "Passed on" to Alan right away.

Coffee is not my interest here. Jesus IS. Coffee is a medium to connect people. LTG (Life Transformation Group) is the like, a tool only, but Xu experienced the "Got it" and the power of God's words there.

3 months ago, when he felt desperate at all live challenges in this new country, I encouraged him to read Bible, by himself, as well as with us as a group.  This was his first time reading Bible.

I refrained myself from giving out to him only teaching, knowledge and opinion. Every questions he raised or every life issues he faced, I would answer them in the light of the Scripture and Jesus teaching - I flipped Bible.  Our focus is obedience unto Christ(Mat.28:20)  If he still didn't "Got it," we would learn the same lesson the other week, the other other week... till he was convinced to ACT. Even my friend was just a seeker, non-Christian, pre-follower, I wanted to make sure obedience to Christ was planted, planted deep. Because a true mark for Christ follower is obedience and love, not knowledge.

He showed progress, but slow. Now he told me he would be leaving for China in February. I thought I  should formed a LTG with him so that he later could repeat it with someone in China, to grow his new found faith and to grow the Kingdom there.

We did 3 things in LTG - the very core things of our faith, of our living as followers, yet so often neglected or reduced to lip service:

1. Read about 30 chapters Bible a week: He was then bathed in the Kingdom values, filling his soul, spirit and thinking, shaping him, instructing him...We read Gospel of John, then two three times Matthew(since we couldn't finish at the same time). Romans. Now Luke.  Jesus became bigger and bigger in Master Xu.
2. Make ourselves accountable to each other: we ask each other character shaping questions, confessing sins and drawing our focus again and again to the spiritual realm, the presence of God in our lives...
3. Pray for non-believers: this prepared him to share his witness and Jesus' teaching to his friends.  

Life's happening, growing and began to bear fruit.

He got drunk, then next morning he confessed he was wrong, since he now knew drunkenness is a sin(Rom 13:13). He no more wanted to tell lie, just wanted to be honest. He confessed his negligence of his kids and wanted to be a better father. Those were the things we confessed as we met in the LTG. And I told him that we should confess to each other and asked God's forgiveness. But at the same time, we should ask forgiveness from those with whom we had wronged.

The next day, after he had left for China, his wife told me that Master Xu had apologized to her and asked for forgiveness. He never apologized before.  Amd she was touched. They used to pointing finger towards each other, seeing logs in other's eyes. Now they were submitted to Jesus' teaching and confessing their logs in their own eyes (Mat.7:3-5).

I didn't induce them to say a sinner's prayer and became a believer. I no more a fans of it. I now challenged people to follow, to obey, to have an obedience-based faith.  When they follow Christ, they are His follower. When they obey Christ, they are God's obedient children (1Peter 1:14). A sinner's prayer won't bring you into his Kingdom, only the faith in obedience will do.  

There he was, he "Got it." He's following Jesus. And "Passed on" now...

 He shared Jesus teaching and his own experience to friends. People listened to him and wanting to study Bible with us. 2 weeks before he left, he brought Alan to our Bible Study, 6 of us including Alan's wife. We studied Bible.

Now Alan learnt to drink Grande Dark from Xu. Now Alan joined our LTG.  Both of us would connect with Master Xu in China through Skype to do LTG together every Friday. 

This is our journey in making disciples for Jesus. This is what we do in convincing them that everything we do, they can do, they should do.  His charge and his dream " to make disciples OF ALL NATIONS" (that is, of all people groups, of all languages, culture, subculture in this world) can only make senses when all believers all do it.

And do it with all focus. 
 

A LISU Christian was praying


A same disciple-making journey. In April, I would go to Yunnan to further disciple Master Xu. We were kind of connected by James O Fraser ("Mountain Rain"). I felt something divine in the minority groups out there in Yunnan, out there for us to discover, out there God's plan for us.  It is another journey.  We would walk along the missional path of James O Fraser, visiting cities he preached, staying in the Lisu minority people village... to hear, to see, to discover what God has prepared for us there. 

If you are inspired by what we are doing, and want to support my journey to Lisu in April. You can team up with us by donation - this will relieve our ministry's financial burden, and by prayer support, in our "LISU & Minorities 101 Journey." (Email me for detail)

See coffee is more than a coffee... 

So whether we are in a remote village in the Lisu community, or in a packed Starbuck corner in Vancouver. Be it face to face. Be it via Facebook.

 

We have one vision, one heart and one focus. To grow and reproduce faithful disciples, leaders, Christ communities. Love Jesus in our hearts. Love people with our deeds. Glorifing our Father here and forever.

Come and join me with a coffee!

This time with..."Two Grande Dark"

Following Jesus (I): Shall We Dance?

Jesus leads, we follow. That's discipleship.


Man leads, lady follows. That's dancing.  Can we then compare discipleship to dancing? To Tango.

Intimate, passionate, glancing at and away from each other.  STRONG - STRONG beat, and a weak beat or two in between.  Accelerates and slows down. Kicks and turns and throws and draws.  In good leading hands, and the will to follow, they turn out to be breathless moments lasting a lifetime. 

All of these begin with an invitation to our partner: "Shall we dance?"

But the way Jesus extended his invitation to my friend, Xu, seemed unconventional to us. In fact, Jesus sent someone to attract him, teach him, before he himself danced a Tango of discipleship with Xu.

Me. No! You can't imagine. A dead figure, James O Fraser, the missionary to Lisu - minority people in south west Yunnan, China.   


My friend came from another minority group in Yunnan. He met me at the poolside 6 months ago here. As a new immigrant, he's proactive in introducing himself, talking about his career as a Kung Fu Master in University back home. But his focus would shift when I mentioned my faith.


Summer sun gone quickly. Worries of life and emotion kicked into my friend. Failed in driving exam, hardship in jumpstart his Kungfu career, cold and rainy weather, language and more... My friend could no longer sleep at night, sad and depressed. Wanting to go home.

It was in this circumstance that I handed him the biography of James O Fraser (JOF), the "Mountain Rain" - a book any missional follower shouldn't miss. I couldn't give him a Bible. He still shifted his focus. But "Mountain Rain" and JOF were irresistible to him. Because he came from the same place where JOF served and died. He practised Kungfu everyday in the mountain where he believed JOF was buried a generation ago. 

He was 100% curious and drawn. Two weeks later, he excitedly told me he finished reading. And he was reading now AGAIN. We always drank coffee in Starbuck. He kept telling me how he related all those places in the book, how he was amazed by JOF' sacrifice for the Lisu people group... He was very much following James O Fraser. Not exactly Jesus. He's admiring him and so much inspired by him. 

This very much differs from our "Bringing People To Christ 101."  Attracted by a Christian book is OK la. Some by "Wealth & Health" gospel.  But definitely not a missionary book - sacrifice, suffering, hardship for faith.

While James O Fraser still impacting my friend, Jesus showed up on the stage, whispered to my friend, "Shall we dance?"

My friend started to see miracle. A big one that he couldn't deny. 


He was a skillful driver in China standard. In Canada and for driving exam bar, he was just lousy and poor. He failed once already. Now their chinese driving licences were taken away by CIBC. They could no longer drive their car alone. Imagine the everyday inconveniences. This created pressure. The couple was desperate to pass this time. So I decided to drive him to N. Vancouver for driving test, to bless him.


On that day, we arrived an hour early for practicing. I now saw how he drove. I was shaking my head and sighed inside. "OH my God, how will he get passed. Impossible!" He broke almost all rules. And he himself knew it.


Test time. There he went. Here I sat. In the centre praying for him. His wife and his son was praying at home for him. Then he came back. I met his test officer(she) with him. She told me with the paper on hand, " I didn't decide to pass or to fail him yet. Did he learn from a coach here?" "Yes"(i didn't mention one lesson only!). "I will give him a bare pass. But he has to promise me to improve this...and that...!" "Yes Yes Yes...," We replied.

A huge relief for everyone. Everyone involved knew it's a miracle. My family prayed. Her wife and kid did. He himself prayed. Rarely had I heard of anything called "Barely Pass" in driving test. He now got one. He knew it's the gift of Jesus. And it was a gift from Jesus for him had I prayed in the center. Now Jesus opened the eyes of his heart that he could see miracle.

Then both he and his wife started reading Bible with us.

But the issue of returning to China or not created great schism among them. They couldn't talk about it without arguing. They wouldn't listen to each other. We showed them how to wait on God's will. But how much could they, as pre-believers, the not-yet-followers, understand?  "God, I didn't expect discipleship turn out to be marriage counselling!" I complaint to God.

We became close friend. Families mingled. Kids played. Our home always seemed open to him. He could show up anytime at our door. Coffee, numerous. Life, crossed and shared. Jesus was here among us. 

The way onto following Jesus wasn't easy for them. "STRONG-weak-STRONG" beat of faith. Quickens and slows down. But God's grace was powerful. And they were doing great. I formed an LTG with my friend, while Aden formed one with his wife. They read 30 chapters Bible a week. Their values began to change. They started to see God here and there.

The power of God's words and the Holy Spirit were just irresistible. Jesus was now leading, my friend was following. Beautiful things were happening. Amazing me. Amazing them.  

I'll leave their transformation, the exciting part, a week from now for Part II, Following Jesus(2): Two Grande Dark

But for the time being, slow down and listen... Jesus whispers to you, "Shall we dance?"

Will you follow?