CHAPTER 15

EARLY IN THE MORNING


Song of Solomon 2:7
I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
Both Helen and myself, knew this was different, we continued to talk, skype and email back and forth.

Now I was about to move into my static and I had no internet for a couple of weeks, so I used the library.

On the 1st October 2011, I went to the library and checked my email, I received an email from Helen saying that the previous evening China time, she wasn't feeling well, and the Lord told her to get up and pray, she did and the Lord told her " Keith will be your husband", my heart hit the roof.

I was ecstatic but needed my own confirmation from the Lord, it was the following Tuesday, it was 4am, it was perfectly still, and the Lord clearly confirmed it to me.

I remember the Lord's words, they clear and unmistakeable

" I am the God of Abraham, Isaac"

I knew the voice, it was as clear as a bell.

We now had a problem, Helen had a teenage daughter and parents, who she would have to tell.

My niece and her mother, Philip's first wife and my good friend, came to see my new static, I broached the subject, saying I had met someone, my niece said "is she in Britain"

I said "well not exactly"
She said " I'm not hearing this, where is she from"
I said "well, she's from China"
She said "are you completely nuts, we're not going through all that again"

Her head literally exploded and she took off like a rocket, then came the sticky point of telling my brother in Canada, who on two occasions refused to talk to me for two weeks, several angry phone calls from family and also church members followed, calling me nuts.

We continued to pray, and the Lord continued to lead us.

I remember one time, we had been talking at about 9-10pm China time and Helen said I'll go for shower, back soon, so I left my screen on, I sat in front of it, eating something and there on the screen was Helen's daughter, she was there talking to me, it took a lot for her to do that, but it was the start of a beautiful and deep relationship that we now have. Both of us were nervous, but we had broken the ice.

So are we going to meet, well I finally booked my ticket to Nanjing on the 29th February 2012, I booked for the whole of July.

As we got together, I reckoned that I should learn Chinese, so I got tapes out of the Library and My friend Brian from church, took me to Chinese class at the local adult education centre, everyone had to say, why they were taking the class, some because they had Chinese students at the local university, It came to me

'Well because I've fallen in love and will move to China"

So the date arrived and in Late June 2012, I set off for Nanjing.

Devotional thought

Hebrews 11

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

What is impossible with man is possible with God. I would not be telling you if I haven't seen it with my own eyes.

I have always had a fascination with China, I read about it in a weekly magazine called Look and Learn in my childhood, I studied Chinese 20th century history for my History O level and my favourite girls name has always been Helen.

Many years before I had committed my life to missions work at the Keswick Convention and then completely forgotten about it, this was God remembering it.

We both saw God remove so many obstacles, it was completely amazing to both of us.

God is the God of the impossible, he brought us together, no one could do that. ONLY HE COULD.


CHAPTER 16

TAG AND TRACK TO NANJING

As I said earlier, I booked my ticket on the 29th February 2012 and as I booked it, the lady suggested that I purchase Tag and Track for 10 pounds for one year, just in case my bags were lost as I was travelling from Manchester to Amsterdam and then to Guangzhou and then on to Nanjing.

It was the best ten pounds, I have ever spent, as sure enough, my cases were mislaid at Guangzhou.

My late Brother Peter, who has a charming way with words, said take an extra pair of kegs (underpants to you and me), just in case you get caught short.

So in hand luggage I had an extra pair, things all of us take on air travel!!

I arrived in Nanjing and low and behold, couldn't find my bags, searched everywhere, all the luggage had come off the plane, everyone had come through the gate, Helen still waiting, must of thought I wasn't coming.

So I walked through the arrivals gate and I heard KEITH and suddenly we saw each other, we hugged and hugged, finally we were together.

I had to explain what happened and Helen was very accommodating and took me to the airline and tried to find the cases, so we took the bus back to downtown.

Helen took me to the market and we got a few new clothes, as I had only the clothes I came in and yes we bought some kegs(underpants).

We did get my cases back the following day.

We went on the back of a motorised scooter; this was my first experience of Nanjing. The first thing that hit me, was the heat and humidity, it was so hot, we then got a taxi back to Helen's flat.

Shortly after we arrived home, Helen's co worker at Church Samuel, accompanied by Ming, who took one look at me and went straight to her room.

That evening Helen's mother arrived to see this strange person, I very foolishly tried to hug Mama, this is not done in China.

Next morning, we had church, thankfully A few people did speak English including Mr Yen and Yanchen

We had a great time whilst I was in China, we met up with Helen's family and I had to ask her parents for her hand in marriage, we met up with Helen's pastor and wife, both of which spoke English and had a memorable trip to Shanghai and Suzhou.

On the 14th July, we went down into the complex and found a quiet spot, and I got down on my knee and asked Helen to marry me, she said yes.

But I had to return to the UK in early August, as Helen was going to travel with her parents and Ming to Thailand, when we got to the airport, I was sad and couldn't bear to leave Helen, but I had much to do, start to put the static on the market and to sort out everything in the UK.

We decided that I would come back in early October, but this time on a one way ticket, everything was done, my static was not sold for another two years, but it was sold and in December 2014, a time, when hardly anyone buys houses.

Another miracle.


DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Although God is the creator of the universe, he still cares for the small details, it's amazing that he thinks ahead of us.

He loves to bless us and before I set foot in China, he was here planning everything, He knows every little detail.

Coming to China has and always will be an eye opener, you read about it in the newspaper and websites, you see videos on YouTube, but nothing prepares you for the reality.

It is a massive cultural change, but one thing remains the same, people are still the same, God does not care about the colour of people's skin, he cares about the heart.

To all the people in the western world reading this, the Chinese people are a unique people, full of love, energy and joy.

I have come to call China my home, these people are my people. There is great need here, many millions have not even heard of the name of Jesus, but being here allows me to do a little, to touch a few lives.

That's all we can do in our little area of the vineyard, people are placed to come across our path, who we can reach with the gospel, these are Gift wrapped God opportunities that are given to us, so that we can share the gospel with them.

We need to pray for China, you can do this by buying the two books:

Operation World by Jason Mandryk
Operation World by Paul Hattaway

Shortly I arrived in China, I was given a specific word on praying for China.

We are like sparrows pecking at the great wall, one will make no difference, even ten thousand may not make any difference, but over time millions will.

Join me in praying for this magnificent country, my second homeland.

The website to join is

Chinapartnership.org

When God's people pray

MIRACLES HAPPEN