The Mid-Autumn Festival

Just before I left Hong Kong, there were these decorations that started to appear everywhere, a rabbit, some pink flowers, and lots of lanterns hanging about. I thought it felt exciting new, like seeing a Christmas tree for the first time, but to most people I'm sure it felt mundane the way we feel when you see turkeys every November. Tonight I was riding home from youth group a couple hours early, because I'm feeling a little under the weather, and I saw the reason for all the mid-autumn festival decorations, the huge moon above the horizon and the rabbit staring out at me. All of a sudden while humming down the dusty back roads of the reservation I was also in the bustling cramped city streets asking my cousin why there were rabbits everywhere. I was also thinking of all the kids in youth group, back there listening to today's lesson from Corey and I prayed they'd listen and have fun. The next few weeks it will be my turn and I thought as I often do, of what I'll say. But, more than what I hope to say, I really want to hope in the message I give, I want to give it with heart and spirit. The first talk I'll give is about getting free from "the hook" of temptation. As I felt the sun falling behind me and the moon was round in front of me, I felt a jump in my heart, a hope that we would be free from our junk. Somehow remembering that rabbit and the decorations in Hong Kong helped me fill up with something good, and it wasn't just nostalgia. Its just that Hong Kong often reminds me of how broken and scared I am, and at the same time how drastically and abundantly loved I am at the same time. Its a crazy world isn't it? A world with words like wurm and cacophony.