Where Are You Going?

                                                                      

It was early in the morning and the sun had just come up.  It's soft beams were just hitting the tops of the mountains. Eager Americans and Chinese were awaiting to board the plane in China for the city of Guilin.   The plane was an old Chinese war plane.  When I boarded I sat amongst the Chinese.  As the old plane took off ...it shook, sputtered and headed straight up in the air. It felt like the back of the seat was about to come off...even more, sitting in my seat felt like I was in a rocket about ready to shoot to the moon!  


                                                                          

 

 

As the plane finally reached it's right altitude I could start to relax. The nice Chinese young man sitting next to me...turned to me and started a conversation in broken English.  He asked me questions about where I lived and what I did for work!  I then asked him questions of how he learned English and what he did for work.  He told me that he had learned English from listening to the English language lessons on the radio. He quite animatedly talked about his shop in the city of Guilin. He had a fan shop...where he made the most beautiful Chinese fans....the type you could put up on the walls in your home or business or even give as gifts.

 

 

 

 

He was so excited about his fan shop. He then stopped and looked at me.  He had decided that I needed to visit his fan shop.  When I was in China ...those were the days where Americans had to have a guide and were not allowed to wander much on their own. So I tried to explain to him all about this...but he just didn't understand. By then the plane had landed and he said that he would see me soon! 

 

 

 

 

In the city of Guilin, there is a special cave that I had decided to visit. It's called the Reed Flute Cave.  It got it's name from the reeds that grow just outside the cave. With these reeds the people would make flutes!  Inside the cave there are rocks, stone pillars, and stalactites.  All of these are illuminated by colored lights. When in the cave you feel like you are in paradise...as the whole thing is breathtaking!

 

 

 

 

The city of Guilin is quite large with thousands of streets and thousands of little shops that are right next to each other on the streets.   My friends and I had spent 5 days there and loved every minute of it.  On the morning of the last day there, our guide had informed us that he was letting us explore the city ourselves. We were thrilled.  The only drawback was that it was just pouring rain.  I had not brought an umbrella with me on the trip....which was NOT very smart of me!   We  were wandering around the city and ducking into shops when it poured the hardest.  As we ducked into one shop (it was a fan shop)  I was standing there looking around.  Across the inside of the store I thought I saw one young man that looked like the man on the plane.  But then I thought I was wrong. A minute later I looked again. Then he looked at me...and shouted, "The lady from the plane!"  Sure enough it was the same young man!!  He came over and actually hugged me.  He thought I had come to visit his shop.  He showed me all his beautiful fans. Of course I had to buy one!! Can you just imagine out of all the thousands of shops in the city of Guilin that I would meet up with the young man who sat next to me on the plane?

 

 

 

 

 

 

"If you can't fly, then run,

 

If you can't run, then walk,

 

If you can't walk, then crawl,

 

but whatever you do you have to keep moving."

 

Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Where are you going in life?  Are you taking advantage of each day? Are you enjoying the gift of friends and the good things that God gives you each day?