June 2009

Sichuan Reflection – When all is said and done

June 24, 2009

“Hey! Welcome back! How was your trip?”

I don’t know how many times I have been asked that in the last few days. In a way that is the most natural question to ask someone who’s just returned from a trip. At the same time, for me at least, it has been a tremendously difficult question to answer meaningfully. How do you squeeze so much experience into a 30 second answer?

I have been trying to gather my thoughts to write about the trip on my blog. Even though I am slowly gaining some clarity, I am not quite yet at the point where memories, emotions, ideas and thoughts can be translated into words. I have been going through in my mind the different highlights on the trip, freezing moments and memories (music team: does that sound familiar? :) and playing them back in my mind like a slideshow. In the last couple of days, one image in particular has occupied my mind…

I was back in my Hong Kong hotel room after returning from Sichuan. Because the room only has one bed, Taylor had been sharing it with Anna and I. The first morning after I got back, I woke up a little earlier than usual. I looked over at Anna and Taylor who were still sleeping. After a few minutes, Taylor stirred, stretched, and after rubbing her eyes with her little hands, she opened them and saw me looking at her. With a smile that will melt any father’s heart, she said, “Daddy, I am so glad you are back…”

That moment has taught me a great deal. It is natural after an experience like we had at Sichuan and ask: “What’s next ?” The danger is that we get caught up in chasing after the next “episode”, trying to duplicate and outdo the last experience. My little girl reminded me that life is not simply a collection of experiences. Life is not a photo-album. Rather, it is a flowing story, a narrative. A narrative where you continuously figure out “who am I?” “Why am I here?” “What am I called to do?”. We all need a place, a space where we can feel safe to ask and think upon those questions. Different people have different names for that place. For me, that’s where I call “home”.

“Home” is the place where I always need to learn to return to. Bringing with me everything I have gathered during my wanderings, sorting out the treasure from the junk, and then ask, together with those I love and those who love me, “where do WE go next?”Without that “homecoming”, I find that I live selfishly and foolishly. I ask only what “I” want, and I fail to see what is truly “real”. Isn’t that the lesson learned by the “prodigal son” in the Bible?

To all my teammates: You’ve all given so much on this journey, you must be so weary. Why don’t you go “home”, wherever that may be. Laid down you bags, put up your feet, and rest your body and soul for a while? Don’t worry about the next step…that will come tomorrow, and tomorrow will always “take care of itself.” For now, allow yourself to enjoy the warmth of being loved for simply being who you are, not what you do. Like me, there are those who are waiting for you, longing to say to you…

“I’m so glad you are back”

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Road to Sichuan – Finding Redemption in the midst of Brokenness (1)

June 12, 2009

It has been a while since my last blog entry. In my last couple of posts I shared with you some of the significant events in my own life journey, including running my first road race in years and taking part in communion for the first time in 2 years. In the last few weeks, my journey took me to the last place I had expected to go: Sichuan, China – the place of the devastating earthquake back on May 12, 2008.

Through a series of unexpected events, many of them unbeknown to me, I was invited to be a part of a large project to bring different art forms to Beichuan Middle School in Sichuan, China. Beichuan Middle School was located in one of the most devastated areas during the earthquake. The school itself was completely demolished, with about 1600 students and teachers (about half the population of the school) killed or missing. It was the the hardest hit school in the disaster, drawing visits afterwards from Premier Wen JiaBao. I was asked to lead a team of musicians to perform a series of concerts/workshops for the students. The different art forms represented in the larger team included: Visual Arts, Painting, Dance, Crafts, Stage theatre, with another team coordinating recreational and educational games and activities, and a team of youth mentors to chat with the students.

I am now sitting in my Hong Kong hotel room, having just completed the project with the final show last night and returning to Hong Kong this morning. It was a tightly packed trip right up to the final moments: I literally got off the stage after the final show and hopped on to the bus for a two hour ride to Chengdu, the capital city of Sichuan for an early morning flight out to Hong Kong the next morning. This is the first opportunity for me to reflect on the whole experience. As I do, I am just beginning to realize the magnitude of what just happened and how precious an experience this is. Because of the special importance and high profile of the school, it was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity that I was given to be a part of this effort. So far on this trip, there has been so many life-changing moments of historic importance:

- Being in Hong Kong at the 20th anniversary of the 6-4 event in Tiananmen Square, and being able to witness the historic march and be present with 150,000 people at the candle light gathering.

- Having the opportunity to visit some of the most devastated areas during the earthquake. Nothing in my lifetime has prepared me to witness the degree of devastation, even a year after the fact. Mountains crumbled and the land literally opened up. As I quietly stood among the rubble, I thought about the meaning of the expression: “The blood of the people cries out from the ground…”

- Meeting the students who survived the earthquake and hearing their stories, I found renewed faith in the indominable strength of the human spirit. The resiliance and the dignity that they live with absolutely humbled me.

- In each of the concerts, seeing the music moving the students to open up: tears flowed freely as they shared their experiences. For all of the musicians, we were literally drained of emotions and tears by the end of the final show.

- Given the threat of the H1N1 situation, it was a miracle that the project took place at all.

I experienced so much during this trip that I am completely overwhelmed in every way possible. I think it will take me a long time to process everything that happened. What I’d like to do is that over the next few entries on this blog, I will share about different aspects of the trip. I took over 1,000 shots and I will share some of those photos as well.

As I sit and write this, once again I realized that every experience in life is part of a larger context of redemption. For myself, this trip has been a chapter in my journey that was definitely not authored and orchestrated by me. Over the next few entries, I look forward to discovering some of the life-changing lessons that I learned, together with you.

Stay tuned.

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