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February 2002
Dear Friends,
The cherry blossoms are blooming outside my office window, and
as I type this letter there are about 30 small yellow birds drinking
the nectar from the blossoms. The cherry blossoms signal the wish
on each Chinese New Year card for spring to come quickly. Our
winters are not real cold in Taipei, but it is cool and damp.
Since there is no heat in any of the buildings, it feels much
colder than it is. Most folks wear long underwear under their
clothes in January and February.
There is a street in Taipei which people visit the several weeks
before the Chinese New Year (which begins on February 11 this
year) to buy the decorations and foods for Chinese New Year. The
shop owners place barrels of their treats in front of the store.
When friends took me to this street, they told me not to eat before
going, because you taste all the different foods as you walk down
the street. You don’t really walk; you are carried by the
thousands of people who are moving down the street with you.
This new year brings special joy to Pastor and Mrs. Lai. Pastor
Lai is an aboriginal pastor in a city in north-central Taiwan.
He is also an artist, and I have two of his paintings in my home.
I had not met him, though, until last April.
Last April I was asked to speak at an aboriginal pastors’
group. After the meeting, one of the pastors said he wanted to
take me to meet Pastor Lai. We drove to his church where he was
waiting for me with his wife and several of his church’s
elders. He had not heard of me until he saw the announcement that
I would be speaking at the pastors’ group.
As we sat in his living room he told me of a dream he had had.
He and his wife had been married for ten years and had been unable
to have children. They prayed that God would give them a child,
but they continued to wait. A year ago January, Pastor Lai had
a dream that he was in his home village in the mountains and as
he was walking along a river, he saw a box floating in the river
(unlike Moses’ basket). When he picked up the box, he saw
a baby inside, and heard a voice that said, "This baby is
a gift for you and your wife." Inside the box there was also
a letter that contained my Chinese name. Since Pastor Lai had
never heard my name, and since my name is not common in Taiwan,
he didn’t know what to make of the dream. When he saw the
announcement that I would be speaking at the pastors’ group,
he was astounded and wanted to meet me.
He asked me what the dream meant. Now Taiwanese Christians dream
much more than the American Christians I know. Sometimes the dreams
are confusing when people cannot agree on the meaning. But God
often used dreams in the Bible to communicate with people. I told
Pastor Lai I did not know what the dream meant, but I then prayed
for him and for his wife. That was on Sunday night.
On Wednesday of the following week, Pastor Lai called to tell
me that his wife was pregnant. They were delighted. Mrs. Lai gave
birth to a son on December 20, and this past Sunday we had the
one-month Thanksgiving Service. They asked me to preach and offer
a prayer of blessing for this child. I focused on God’s amazing
grace which often comes to us in surprising ways.
As I prayed for the child my prayer is really for all the world’s
children. I prayed that he will grow in grace and favor in God’s
sight and that God will give him good Christian friends who will
help him become the person God has created him to be.
As we begin a new semester at Taiwan Theological Seminary, please
pray for our students, for the children of Taiwan and the world,
and for the worldwide church, as we seek to find new ways to touch
the hearts of all.
Happy year of the horse!
John McCall
The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 187
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