Friday, October 20, 2006

Bill Pan

I just finished my first Bible Study with Bill Pan. I met Pan last Friday when we both arrived at the church at the exact same time. Pan had just come here from China, 2 days previous, and with broken english asked if he could learn about Christianity. Apparently he had just moved into the neighborhood and had seen the Church when he was out walking one day. Pan and I spent the next hour trying to talk and by the end we had managed to understand each other enough to make a plan to study John's Gospel every Friday from 11am - whenever. I also learned Bill is 20, and he wants me to call him Bill because its easier, ha, and that he is beginning at the U of C in January. If you were to ask Bill what his present religion is he would smile and say "I'm just myself." There is beauty in that answer.

The study went very well today. I felt emotional at times as Bill discovered things like "Jesus can see God and came to help us see God too." Bill admitted that sometimes he struggles with belief in God because of Science. Bill is just about to begin a career in Mathematics. Another cool discovery was explaining to him about Moses. When I finished the Moses in the basket story his face lighted up and he explained to me how Moses' birth was similar to the Buddah's. I think that's cool.

Life is good when you're talking Jesus with Pan.

I bet Jay, Shannon and Harm know exactly what I mean.

John

4 comments:

kristofher said...

people who dont 'know' jesus sure know alot more about jesus than some people who 'know' jesus.
if you know what im saying.

John, Angie and the kiddos said...

I hear ya man. Loud and clear.

John

Anonymous said...

Sounds a bit like some of what I experienced doing LST... good feeling - something about cross culture, newness, a bit naive maybe, language barrier but great understanding at the same time - but very different than anything else I've experienced. Thanks for sharing.

Miss McMillan said...

Yeah. Those conversations are special. Does he refer to God as "the God" and peace as "the peace"? Transports me back to my living room chats in China...
Enjoy Pan!
(Next stop for the Close family: Beijing!) Woooo!