| One Mind |
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Building Bridges, Section IV - 9 In China, our tour group visited beautiful Tiananmen Square which shows China’s pride. One could not help but be impressed by the friendliness and orderliness of the crowds, estimated at one million people, visiting the square that day. A sign read: “Millions of people, one mind.” This sign reflects one of the reasons for the orderliness of the people in China. They have a common focus created by a strong, central government; an ideology and structure which creates in them a willingness to follow with one mind. When our group was getting off the bus at the Three Gorges Dam, I asked the driver to open the back door, but he did not respond. I then asked our local guide to please open the back door so that our people could get off the bus faster. She said, “It is against policy.” She smiled and walked away. The Chinese government provides stability for its people. This is illustrated by a strong foundation and the orderliness of the Communist government, which they claim is communism and democracy. The late Erie Sauder was a man of deep faith with a giving spirit. In 1976 he founded the Sauder Farm and Craft Village in Archbold, Ohio, an eighty-acre, non-profit, living history museum, created to preserve the lifestyle of the pioneers who settled the swamp area of northwest Ohio. On occasion our tour groups visit the museum and we are always impressed with his vision. Sauder Furniture is known for the production of church, office and home furniture that is pre-cut and assembled in your home. Sauder was also one of the founders of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA). Business people volunteer their time and resources to assist others in making a living. Erie Sauder traveled to Paraguay to assist refugees from the Soviet Union and Germany to develop the wastelands of the Chaco and to turn what they called the “Green Hell” into profitable, habitable land. Touring the museum, one discovers that Sauder was a man with a strong faith in God. He never forgot that everything he had was a gift from God to be used faithfully. In Deuteronomy 4:1-2, Moses commanded Israel to obey and follow God’s laws. As they remembered God’s promise to them and obeyed God’s laws, they gained an honorable reputation in the eyes of other nations. Each time they heard God’s laws, they made a choice, and each time that they became doers of the law, they took a step forward in their relationship with God. On one occasion, Milo Shantz traveled with our tour group to Paraguay. He was one of the young businessmen who had worked with Erie Sauder to begin the MEDA program. Milo shared with the group how Erie, a businessman about 30 years older, impressed upon him the need to see life as a gift from God. In response to what we have received from God, we share with others. These values provide a strong foundation and create one mind and purpose. The path of obedience to God is simple and provides direction in life. Each day we face many choices which become markers that record our past and give direction for the future. John Newton was a sea captain of a ship that carried slaves from Africa to be sold to other countries. He traveled to the Ivory Coast of Africa many times. Newton had turned his back on his family and his values; however, his friendship with John Wesley and the Quakers helped him to see his moral depravity and he became an advocate and a strong preacher against the slave trade. On December 31, 1772, John Newton was remembering his life as a slave trader. He sat with his wife Mary, who had a profound impact on his life, and thought about what it meant to follow Jesus Christ. He knew that he needed to preach. The next day, on January 1, he read the scripture, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see” (John 9: 25). Hours later he sat by his fireplace and wrote the lines, “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” Nearly 250 years ago, John Newton was used by God to remind Christians around the world of a common focus and a challenge to follow Jesus Christ and accept God’s grace, mercy and forgiveness. Boulet serves as a step-on guide for our tours in Turkey, a country with sixty-five million people, ninety-nine percent of whom are Muslim with one percent Christian. Turkey is a democracy; it is not a religious government. Church and state are separate. Only approximately thirty percent of the people who are practicing Muslims go to the mosque regularly. However, Turkey has a high view of the family. One does not see beggars on the streets; families look after and help one another. They would not think of having older people go to a seniors or nursing home to live. Boulet paints a very ideological picture for our group when he shares the story of his people. He says, “If you saw a person who didn’t have a place to stay or food to eat begging in the street, you would take him home.” At the end of one of our tours, Boulet asked me if it would be all right to bring his wife and daughter to meet our group, to spend the day with us in Istanbul and on the boat ride on the Bosporus Sea. He told me that he had never introduced his wife to a tour group in his nineteen years in this role. His daughter sang the Turkish national anthem and some other songs for us, as well as an English ABC song that she had learned. Then he wanted us to sing for his wife and daughter since he enjoyed our singing. So we sang the US and Canadian national anthems and the hymn, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” We told him that this was our Christian anthem. As we sang, the three of them looked at each other. Finally, we sang, “God be with you till we meet again.” Parents are called to be an example to their children, but how can they be an example if they do not have the time and opportunity to be around them or if children don’t hear conversations between adults and listen to their stories? Boulet's ten-year-old daughter made us all smile as we observed that her father was calmer and different when his wife and daughter were with him. Children do that to us adults. We cannot help but be touched when a child squeals with delight or grabs your hand to show you something. It makes your feel warm inside. Erie Sauder and John Newton’s lives serve as examples long after their deaths. Thank God for their lives because they remind us that life is a gift from God. As we accept God’s grace and live our lives according to his principles, we make the world a more grace-filled place. |
