God is Good!

All the time. God is Good. I am in to my third week in China, and the Lord has been so faithful; no surprise of course.

Our trip to Guilin in Southern China was fantastic. It was beautiful. It is very seldom I see new things, being relatively well traveled (by His Grace of course), but the lime stone formations of Guilin were absolutely breathtaking. As opposed to S. Korea and their hyperbolic statements about their national patrimony China has quite handsomely lived up to its claims.

China so far has been nothing more than me running into the unexpected surprises to my erred stereotypes, and the most taxing aspect of China so far has been adjusting to the pollution. Thanks to all who prayed for me; I was able to evade sickness and am now quite healthy, so much so that I auditioned for praise team at a youth group that I found (Praise Him!) and performing at an American Idol rip-off this coming Saturday.

Right before China I had been in England on what had been an extremely humbling trip. I came to China and although everything has been stellar, I was yearning for a spiritual community to serve and be served at. The enemy, namely Satan of course, had been trying to attack me and discourage me. Fortunately though, I believe my request for prayer was taken to heart by several and such attacks were subdued.

I have never really addresses the issue of Satan in my blog. He is a very real aspect of existence. No one in this universe could dissuade me of this fact. I hate to be trite but I believe indeed that Satan's greatest success is to get people to disbelieve in him.
Satan means adversary. He is that of God, particularly out to get those who love Christ, even more particularly those who trust God above all things; not to mention that his methods are low. Peter in one of his epistles tells us that Satan is like a lion simply awaiting to devour us. He usually takes what we care about most and uses it against us. This can take various forms ranging form homesickness to even physical injury.

I am sure most people are aware of the lore ( that I believe word for word by the way) of how this entity came to be what he is today. So I won't go into that. What I will address however is the way the Bible clearly declares that Satan is the prince of this world, which would help make sense at why so much is as it is in our world; particularly because the Bible also clearly states that Satan more often than not manifests as an angel of light ( I mean he was an Archangel of God if I'm not mistaken, pretty high up there), often taking something pure and beautiful and making a perfect counterfeit tinged with just enough lies and deceit that it is quite wide of the mark. The Bible also clearly tells us that when Satan lies, he is speaking his native tongue. So if you had trouble with high school Spanish, imagine how hard it is for Satan to tell the truth. Excuse my facetiousness; in other words Satan is the king of deceit.

He loves to attack us through lies. He loves to use our thoughts against us. In order to combat this, the Bible clearly instructs us to take our thoughts captive and not vice-versa. This reminds me of when I was at heartland missions ( the mission trip I took in rural S. Korea). During all the training I was under heavy fire. His lies were fiery arrows raining down from the spiritual world. For this reason the Shield of Faith spoken of in Ephesians is so important! So when being attacked by lies, don't forget to summon it! Not to mention the other essentials of spiritual warfare mentioned in Ephesians. If your memory is rusty, review it. If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out the book of Ephesians in the New Testament. Absolutely genius! It will help you understand The Chronicles of Narnia so much more; in case you are interested. By the way The Chronicles of Narnia are all about Jesus*cough* Aslan* cough* Anyway, to my story....

His fiery arrows of deceit were making me believe that I was disliked by many of the members of the team (completely erroneous I later found out by the Grace of God and His Word); this fact was greatly discouraging me about going on the trip.
It is funny how many Christians say that you can't just open the Bible and find answers. From personal experience, I tend to disagree. I believe that the Bible is as powerful as you concede to be, and to me it is the most powerful and authoritative Book in the universe. More times than I can count, I have opened up the Bible after praying, arbitrarily it would seem, and there comes the answer. This is how my conversion happened. Listen to my testimony. A very similar thing happened to Augustine when he became a Christian.

I recommend Augustine's Confessions to all. In a similar vein to this blog, however tons more eloquent and full of scripture. To make my point, I'll fast forward to his conversion. Augustine was not a Christian and had been living firstly a heavily Epicurean lifestyle followed by several years involved in the Manichaean religion, both of which were not doing much for the health of his soul ( the only thing that can fill that void is God, as he soon found out). Augustine wanted to learn rhetoric, so he went to Milan to study under the master of rhetoric Ambrose. Ambrose was a Christian, a bishop to be precise. Augustine however went to listen to how Ambrose expressed himself and not what he was speaking of, God and Jesus.

One day however, Augustine was sitting at a bench and could hear a couple of little girls singing a jump rope song. In Italian the little girls were saying, "take and read, take and read, take and read..." in a rhythmic and repetitive melody. Listening to this, he looked over and there on the bench lay a Bible. He picked it up, opened it up and it opened up to Romans 13:13-14:

"Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy./ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts."

BAM! Like a ton of bricks God's grace falls on Augustine and he becomes a follower of Christ. I have a similar story; listen to my testimony (copy and paste the link in to the browser from my Sept. 9th post). Oh, and please take and read; the Lord wants to speak to every single one of us, and He knows exactly what we need to hear. It worked for Augustine, it worked for me. We are all unworthy of His Grace, yet it's there for the taking, free of charge! Hallelujah! Faith is our shield, and the Word of God is our Sword against the enemy! So take and read and sharpen that Sword!

Back to my story about missions in S. Korea. So the arrows are flying at me from all over. However, after praying sincerely to the Lord, I open my Bible and it graciously opens to Nehemiah 6:8:

" Then I sent to him, saying, "No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart."

I read this, and a huge burden was relieved. I spoke to my peers and the arrows disappeared. Satan's measly arrows are no match for the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit that is the Word of God. Don't forget the other gear inn Ephesians though! (By the way, the probability of how I open up the Bible to perfect and concise answers can be nothing but supernatural, especially because before March of this year I had never actually read the Bible; not to mention that every time it has happened it has been in books I have never read. I am so excited to get to know my Bible more, how much more effective it will become! The Word of God!)

Moral of the story: the enemy attacks, but the Lord has given us more than necessary means to deflect the cheap and petty attacks of the enemy.

An argument many non-believers make against Christianity is why would an all-knowing and good God would allow bad things to happen. To tackle this question I would recommend C.S. Lewis' The Problem of Pain. I am in the middle of it. It tackles this question masterfully. I will not tackle this question in this particular blog post. However, I will say that without proper knowledge of the Bible the that argument is a moot point, and honestly beyond our understanding, If you ever have a chance check out The Problem of Pain, not to mention the Bible!

To end with this, we just need to remember that Satan is the prince of this world. He did, after all, tempt Jesus by offering dominion over all the kingdoms of the world; of course he would, rather that than let him liberate all of humanity from his clutches of sin and deceit. However, Praise God, the prophecies were fulfilled and the Lamb of God was slain so that we may all be free, and I really pray that my life can be a living testimony of that! Jesus really does save! Hallelujah!

But just because Satan is the prince of this world doesn't mean it is all bad news. If anything, God has simply incorporated it into his perfect plan in this flawed system. Jesus is, after all, the King of Kings, and Satan but a mere prince. A spoiled and envious prince is always bound to go astray and cause some trouble, but the King will always have His final word, and Jesus will. Mark my words.

Not only that but our most perfect and benevolent Father clearly explains to us in Romans through His servant the Apostle Paul that it would be impossible for us to perceive his unending mercy if all was honky-dory . Not only that, but how else would we grow. I don't know the exact details of how the angels and principalities duke it out in the spiritual realm, but I do trust the following, James 1: 2-8:

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,/knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience./ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing./ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him./ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind./ For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything form the Lord;/ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."

It's funny that when I was heavily looking into Buddhism and wrote my first song Waves, I thought being like a wave was a good thing, but even before the Bible confirmed it, I knew there was a giant void in my heart and I was being flung across jagged rocks by the storm of life. However, now, I simply trust in the Lord, ask for wisdom, which He gives us liberally. And now I hang on tight to the Rock that is our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ and when the storms hit, I count it joy, for I am bearing a cross with my Savior, and my character being refined as a stone also does through extensive weathering; Praise God!
Don't let Satan disabuse you of your freedom by taking advantage of out innate double-mindedness, but let's hang on to the Rock that is Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Praise God for the relative clarity above. Departing now from the arrows shot at me here at me in China, the past three weeks have been filled with a cornucopia of wondrous manna graciously bestowed to me by our Father God, new everyday. I have gotten extremely encouraging messages from readers of the blog, long lost friends that had been convicted to pray for me (Praise God), friends that by the Grace of God shown in my life have been convicted to move closer to God through Christ, and not to mention Praise reports from home in Oregon to Japan where prayer has been answered in a beautifully orchestrated fashion, something I have come to naturally expect from our sovereign Lord of the universe. Perhaps I will share more details about these stories of Grace in subsequent blogs.

I have found a strong fellowship here in Beijing at BICF (Beijing International Christian Fellowship). One day with very limited information, by volition of the Spirit, I jumped in a cab with a friend and the Spirit graciously led me and my friend right to the fellowship right as it was beginning, and I was able to get directly prayed over for the first time in a couple of weeks. Praise God. This fellowship has led to so many more gracious and divinely orchestrated meetings from making friends with tons of precious people from Burundi ( I country I had never heard of! ) to running into the friend of the man who convicted me to come to China in the first place back in May. So much more I could tell, but maybe more in subsequent blogs. Like how the pastor who gave the first service I went to here happened to have the same birthday as me, also to those who are prayer inclined, I was prophesied over about having three doors opening up this year for me of a completely new nature. Pray that I am able to discern what the Lord's will is concerning these doors this year, and also pray for my studies, and that I be filled to the brim with love and humility so that I may, although poorly at best, continue to develop and display, as fully as God's Grace will allow me, the character of Christ to all of those here.

As a final praise report, seeing how hungry Chinese young people are for God has made me jump up and down in Praise continuously. Please pray for them, for a hedge of protection and for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on their lives as they jump out in faith to get to know God through Jesus Christ, and please also pray for my compatriots here as well. God couldn't have placed me with a better group of people; I love every single one of them.

As always, questions and/or comments are always welcome.

adam.young-valdovinos@yale.edu

Proverbs 27: 10:

"As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend"

Let's keep asking questions and seeking Him. And if you think I am crazy I'd love to hear about it. Let's keep sharpening each other.

Peace, Love, and Grace to all,
Christian

Forgot the Link

http://myjubileechurch.com/sermons/WNS/Testimony%20by%20Adam%20Young-Valdovinos.mp3

Listen at your own risk = ) and don't forget to read the post!

Christian

Hello China!

Greetings to all. I apologize for the long absence. Another ten days and it will have been a whole two months of absence, excessive even by my standards.

Korea wrapped up quite nicely. And home was a real blessing. I was also in the UK for about ten days before coming over here to China.

Speaking of Korea wrapping up, my testimony at Jubilee Church was a frightening experience. Many a time in the Bible, God is described as worthy of our trembling; for the whole month leading up to my testimony and as I prayerfully waited, I was literally trembling. Led by the Spirit, I shared unabashedly and honestly with the congregation about my life up until now. Completely a surprise to myself, the nearly 2 hour ordeal focused on pre-Jesus saving my life. So hopefully the stark contrast is made evident through this blog or knowing me. If you are so inclined to get to know my story better than you would probably like too and have a strong stomach, click on the link below. You can download it as an mp3. So if you rather put it on your Ipod, (if you don't mind listening to me ramble for two hours) that is possible as well. I simply pray that in anyway, if you happen to listen to the testimony I gave at Jubilee Church, you will be blessed. It also explains the name change. I will begin signing off as Christian starting with this blog.

So there was that, and also a truly blessed experience being a teacher at Vacation Bible School for countryside children in S. Korea. I had been quite strongly against going for several personal reasons, but the Spirit had convicted me about going, so I went. And boy, is it great when the Lord proves me wrong, which is more often than not. He knows far better than I. It turned out to be a real blessing. Even all the songs and dances I learned, many of which I was able to teach my ten year old sister when I was home. When I did, I found myself crying like a baby as we sang the chorus, hand motions and all, that went, "You made me, You saved me Lord." Wow, so simple yet so true. In the context of me not having cried for ten years, and that now my heart has been softened to the point to where I can understand that truth with my heart blows my mind. Praise God.

Home was so great. The two weeks I was home sped by like lightning. The most notable change was my brother. When I had first arrived he had nothing but mockery for my newfound Faith. During my time at home he came to Christ, and by the time I left he was asking me to pray for our family. Blessed be the Name of the Lord, for He is faithful. He answers prayer.

It's funny because, my brother was so incredulous about my new life in Jesus Christ that it got to the point of him getting belligerent. He would get even more belligerent when I would try to hold his hand, as he flung punches at my face. However, ultimately the love of Christ won him over.

The theme for the Vacation Bible School that we did was Fruit of the Spirit. And for the five days that we worked with the children, each day had a different theme. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. These are only five of the nine spoken of in Galatians 5:22. It was truly beautiful to see these Fruit play out in the setting where before my worst was always brought out in me, home with those who love me most. It is true; those who love us and know us best can hurt us most, and we end up doing the things and saying the things we regret the most. However, this time it was different, and not by my effort but by the Fruit of the Spirit which is a gift from God, payed for in full by the Blood of Jesus Christ. Praise God. It was enough to make my cynical brother accept Christ into his heart. Now, ups and downs, he begins a beautiful walk. Thank you Lord.

What really brought it home though, was City Fest. City Fest was an event held in downtown Portland, OR right on the Water Front of the Columbia river. Leading up to it were months of service in the community, culminating in a weekend of Praising God in potentially one of the cities most contemptuous of God in the U.S. if not the world, relatively speaking of course. Twas a blessing. I was so blessed to praise with tens of thousands of people to the wonderful music of Chris Tomlin, Toby Mac, Kirk Franklin, among many others and see many come to Christ, including my own brother.

That was during my last weekend home. Leading up to that final blowout was a lot of time spent with my family, more than I have ever spent with them in all of my visits home in the past.


On August 26th, I departed from Manchester, England. It was a ten day trip, and I really want to thank my brother in Christ Michael Sadler, for making the trip a reality. It was eye-opening, not what I expected, extremely humbling and I may find myself in England doing graduate work sometime after 2011.

And now I am in China. This post is actually a very poor account of the past month and a half. I apologize. Really, so much has occurred in the past month and a half that it actually probably takes some more processing on my part before I relate it to all. Hopefully the link to my testimony shall provide most with sufficient blessing this time around. Regardless of how ridiculously busy I will probably be this term, and not to mention this year, I will try to write more often.

China so far has been great. Third day tomorrow. The paraOlympics are going on here on the Peking University, or Beida, Campus. I am immensely jet-lagged and looking forward to our excursion to Guilin tomorrow.

As a preview for something I may write about in the near future, I have been involved in a business venture connected to bio-plastic and all things sustainable for almost two years now. As things continue to develop I will put something together, and also let anyone who is interested know how to get involved.

Love,Peace, and Grace to All,
Christian