Lessons From China

6,980 miles from Texas to China;

Two different languages we speak. 

And yet, somehow we’re still the same. 

Different hair, different eyes, different skin, and different size, 

But we’re the same when you look on the inside. 

Parents there are similar to the parents here; 

They all want the best for their child. 

Children spend more hours in a classroom than outside or at home. 

When are they allowed to just be a kid? 

Teaching my native tongue in a foreign land was a new experience; 

For once I was the foreigner in someone else’s home. 

Teaching English was difficult not because I couldn’t do it, 

It was because I couldn’t understand all that my students knew or felt because they couldn’t express it in my first language. 

However, I discovered that when I tried to communicate with them in their first language, the more they wanted to communicate to me in mine. 

I could say many things about what I learned from teaching English in China.

One lesson I learned was this: 

No matter who are, what language you speak, or the color of your skin, we all want to be understood, we all want to know that we matter, and that we are loved. 

And most importantly, 

I serve a BIG God who created such a beautiful country, a beautiful people, and a beautiful world. 

I serve a God who understands us no matter what language we speak.

 He loves us all the same. 

He loves us so much to give His Only Son for us so that we can know Him. 

Whether in North America, Asia, South America, Africa, Europe, or Australia, 

We all bleed the same.