For a moment, it was easy to understand the dream of finding something of home among one’s own, even far from home. Yet I wondered about the reverse: might someone still feel like a stranger among people who shared their language and cultural memories, longing for a belonging that familiarity alone could not provide?
Saunas and Scuba Diving: Inside China’s Unconventional 24/7 Mega Spas (October 18, 2026, CNN) Across China, people like Wang are visiting expansive, multistory, 24-hour facilities that combine spa amenities with entertainment of every sort.
There Is No Such Thing as Chinese Food (October 9, 2026, Numb and Spicy, via Substack) I had the banquet-hall dim sum experience for the first time in Maryland.
Pastor Ezra Jin: ‘God Poured Words’ Sustained Me Through 266 Days in a Chinese Cell (October 2, 2026, The Christian Post)
Full Moons, Mooncakes and Lanterns in Every Color: The Mid-Autumn Festival - In Pictures (September 24, 2026, The Guardian)
When I moved to China, I had no idea what would happen or where God would lead me. All I knew was that he had clearly led me to Shanghai.
What drew me out of that familiar shadow narrative was the even sweeter voice of Jesus, calling me to abide in him and rest in an identity found in him before bearing fruit.
Knowing our final destination is not only hope for the future—it changes how we face sorrow today.
We did not choose this path to raise elite children, nor to escape the pressures of school. We need to stay close to the Lord with the simple trust of a child and seek his will for us.
Instead of being treated as an obstacle to be removed, difference becomes a prompt for inquiry and conversation, and, one hopes, for unexpected revelation.
Chinese churches are going abroad—but are they truly entering mission?
Ghost Month sets the table to invite wandering spirits to dine and be satisfied. The gospel announces something altogether different.
Have we prioritized certain Great Commission activities to the neglect of other less tangible yet no less essential aspects of what it means to glorify God in the world?
What does it mean to do theology as a person of mixed linguistic, cultural, and geographic heritage who honors both tradition and context?
Organized by Olive Bridge, a cross-cultural research and dialogue platform, the event was titled "The Bridge Endures—John Leighton Stuart at 150: A Commemorative Gathering of Historical Readings and Dialogue."
What I sensed God calling me to do was not to leave the church, but to help fill the gap I saw there.
