ne of our final stops in China was near Guilin in the backpacker’s hangout
of Yangshuo. Whether in pictures or on traditional Chinese scroll
paintings, you’ve all seen the landscape that fills this part of
China: haystack-like rock formations popping up out of the otherwise flat
countryside and towering over the Li River with its small fishing boats.
n one
peaceful spot, these karst peaks ringed around us on three sides, and
towered over us so abruptly that we felt as though we’d just been
transported to one of our favorite mountain cirques in Washington’s North
Cascades. It made us smile to realize that, no, we weren’t back in the
states but rather were standing in the middle of a mandarin orange grove,
just a 5 minute walk from a bustling market town along the river.
angshuo also had its share of western-style restaurants on "West" Street
(no kidding). One of the draws here was a movie with dinner. It seemed as
though the time and place for eating the final meal of the day could be
determined primarily by where and when the movie of one’s choice was being
shown. We opted for Saving Private Ryan, though bootlegging is commonplace
here and we could have seen movies that are still on their first theater
run. The format was cutting-edge VCD but our bootlegged copy was
so poor that it looked as though it had been covertly filmed with a
hand-cam in a movie theater. Regardless, we were quite moved by this film
and, sitting in the middle of China, found ourselves quite proud of our
country and so thankful for those who have sacrificed to give us the
freedoms we now enjoy.
e highly recommend the movie and if you have yet to see it, you might want
to skip this last paragraph! For those who recall, a small group of men
was sent behind enemy lines to save a mother’s sole surviving son. These
men risk their lives to find Ryan (who’s initially not so sure he wants or
needs to be rescued) and then go through hell, most laying down their lives,
in the final conflict. The movie ends with a moving scene of an aged Ryan
kneeling at the gravestone of one of the men who came to find him on the
battlefield, weeping at the undeserved gift that he was so graciously given.
yping these last few lines on Christmas Day, we reflect on the movie and
are reminded of the Greatest Gift, and unlike Captain Miller's "gift", it can't be earned. Seeing that we were trapped in our sin,
God prepared a special mission to bring us spiritual hope again. In the
food trough of a dirty animal shed, in a small Middle-Eastern village,
Jesus did the incomprehensible and went "behind enemy lines" for us.
e hope you are enjoying this special holiday season as much as we are.
God’s blessings for the new year, and we look forward to hearing
from you at goingbeyond_spam@yahoo.com (Remove the "_spam" from the name).
ne of our final stops in China was near Guilin in the backpacker’s hangout
of Yangshuo. Whether in pictures or on traditional Chinese scroll
paintings, you’ve all seen the landscape that fills this part of
China: haystack-like rock formations popping up out of the otherwise flat
countryside and towering over the Li River with its small fishing boats.
n one
peaceful spot, these karst peaks ringed around us on three sides, and
towered over us so abruptly that we felt as though we’d just been
transported to one of our favorite mountain cirques in Washington’s North
Cascades. It made us smile to realize that, no, we weren’t back in the
states but rather were standing in the middle of a mandarin orange grove,
just a 5 minute walk from a bustling market town along the river.
angshuo also had its share of western-style restaurants on "West" Street
(no kidding). One of the draws here was a movie with dinner. It seemed as
though the time and place for eating the final meal of the day could be
determined primarily by where and when the movie of one’s choice was being
shown. We opted for Saving Private Ryan, though bootlegging is commonplace
here and we could have seen movies that are still on their first theater
run. The format was cutting-edge VCD but our bootlegged copy was
so poor that it looked as though it had been covertly filmed with a
hand-cam in a movie theater. Regardless, we were quite moved by this film
and, sitting in the middle of China, found ourselves quite proud of our
country and so thankful for those who have sacrificed to give us the
freedoms we now enjoy.
e highly recommend the movie and if you have yet to see it, you might want
to skip this last paragraph! For those who recall, a small group of men
was sent behind enemy lines to save a mother’s sole surviving son. These
men risk their lives to find Ryan (who’s initially not so sure he wants or
needs to be rescued) and then go through hell, most laying down their lives,
in the final conflict. The movie ends with a moving scene of an aged Ryan
kneeling at the gravestone of one of the men who came to find him on the
battlefield, weeping at the undeserved gift that he was so graciously given.
yping these last few lines on Christmas Day, we reflect on the movie and
are reminded of the Greatest Gift, and unlike Captain Miller's "gift", it can't be earned. Seeing that we were trapped in our sin,
God prepared a special mission to bring us spiritual hope again. In the
food trough of a dirty animal shed, in a small Middle-Eastern village,
Jesus did the incomprehensible and went "behind enemy lines" for us.
