05/16/2014

I arrived in Nanning, China last night. The flight from Hong Kong was only an hour and thirty minutes. It felt like we had barely reached altitude before starting our decent.

I spent the last week in Hong Kong getting over jet lag and getting orientated on how things work here in China. I sat down with someone who has had a lot of experience around these parts and worked through a list 462 things that are good to know about living in China.

The first couple of days I was suffering pretty hard from jet lag. The first day I fell asleep sitting up on the coach in the man’s office. It was the time between 3 pm and about 6 pm that were the most intense. I could barely think straight. It felt like I had an electric shaver stuck in my head. It was like my brain was buzzing. Not sure if that makes a lot of sense but it is the best way I can describe it.

Night time was the other half of the fun. Around 2 or 3 my eyes would pop open and I would feel as though I had taken an overextended siesta. I felt exhausted and over slept all at once. Thankfully over-sleeping has never really been a challenge for me. I would pay a visit to the restroom and then return to what I would imagine a drugged sleep being like. Needless to say, the first few days I was not operating at optimum capacity.

One of the big blessings though, was getting to participate in the schedule of the couple that I was staying. At 71 and 72 years old they were a true inspiration to me. Up at 4:30 AM to have their devotions and exercise before breakfast at 6:30. Breakfast was mostly fresh fruit with nuts, dried fruit and home baked whole wheat bread. At 7:13 it was time for the husband to head downstairs and carpool to work.

My whole life I have dreamed of what would be possible for me if I could just have the disciple to create healthy habits in my life. And here I was witnessing it in person. Here, in their 70s, the only pills they were taking were vitamins and immune system boosters. They had no apparent maladies. They were still a service to society, happy and boisterous. It was a real testimony to what is possible if someone follows the laws of health. Lunch and dinner were comprised of more fresh fruits and veggies accompanied by more whole wheat bread. It downed on me that eating healthily really isn’t really a sacrifice once the habit is formed. Breakfast was sure easy to prepare. Just washing and cutting fruit. The dishes were very basic and were easily washed within 15 minutes. The hard part is in creating the habit; just getting yourself to do it. Once that is done there is absolutely no sacrifice in keeping it. I felt no regrets. Very little craving for other richer, sweeter foods.

It reminds my an experience I had in Argentina after fasting on only juice for 20 days. I remember sitting down to eat my first solid food, soaked prunes. Oh the bliss! I remember eating my first prune and praising the God of heaven for making this most wonderful fruit in the world. Never again will I ever need to eat a Snickers bar, not when I can eat a prune when ever I want!! It was then that I realized that there was no lack in God’s design. I could be completely contented and even blissful in enjoying nothing more than what God had created for me.

We have this idea that following God is this huge sacrifice. Like God is some evil tyrant for asking use to give up our candy bars, coffee and cigarettes. What does He want for me, to be miserable?? But that is not it at all. It is only a sacrifice at first. Then comes the joy and contentment that far outweighs the deceitful satisfaction of our addictions.

I was so grateful to have this be my first week in a foreign land. It offered a great pattern to follow as I pushed the resent bottom on my life. It is pattern that I will aspire to follow through this year in China.