Excursion to Beijing Xishan National Forest Park
The hotel receptionist called a taxi for me and told me the fare. Easy enough. I hopped in the car and we were at the park without incidence. I began walking up the trail only to find that there was a kids’ trail running race today. I have never heard so much noise at a national park. Nonetheless, I kept walking up the trails, which were basically paved roads. What I noticed were many people, trash, and artificial things in the natural setting. The ponds near the beginning of the trail were artificially misted. Speakers along the trail would randomly play dramatic music while someone said something. Multiple people carried speakers attached to their belts or in their pockets blasting opera music, rock, and hip-hop.
All in all it was a good trip, but I still needed a ride back to the hotel. I looked around for a line of taxis but didn’t see any obvious taxis waiting. After a while I felt a little more desperate so I asked somebody who was standing near their car with some terrible Mandarin if they were a taxi - at least that’s what I was trying to say. Anything about a taxi. For the next few minutes we used a combination of my bewildering attempts at speaking Chinese, pointing at Chinese phrases in my travel books, and finally talking into the phone and waiting for the translation. He said 200 Renmin (about $28), so I quickly pointed out the phrase in my book, “That costs too much.” (I still didn’t know if he was actually a taxi driver, but I kind of didn’t care. I’d pay anyone. And there was no place without thousands of witnesses so I doubted he planned to hurt me.) He asked how much I thought the ride should cost so I told him 130, which was about how much I paid to get to the park from the hotel in the first place. He responded saying that there was traffic, he needed more. I said 150, and we finally reached an agreement. He told me to get into the car and away we went.
At almost every stop along our drive back to the hotel he would talk into his phone which would translate to English for me, then he would press the English button on his phone and I would speak English to the phone which would translate to Chinese for him. Thus, we had a good conversation in which I told him I was there to adopt again from China, etc.
I had to walk partway from the taxi to our hotel because some roads are closed for the national holiday. As I was, I noticed two homeless men. I felt that I should do something for them, especially considering that I have the time. I noticed, too, a good deal on snickers at the local mart - 3 for 9.9 (about $1.45). After getting back to the room and having lunch while thinking more and more about those two men I decided that buying those snickers was a good idea.
With three snickers in my back pocket I approached them. One man was sleeping on a wooden cart, the other was leaning against a concrete wall in a corner. I wasn’t sure how they would respond. Why worry about such things? Before even receiving my gift the man was giving me the biggest, warmest smile any person has given me since arriving here. Well worth the little cost of money and time. I received more from his gift to me than he received from my gift to him.
I feel true to myself as a Christian for noticing them and acting on it, but I also feel strongly that it’s not enough. What will a snickers do, really? Yes, there’s the love behind it, but they need more. They need the Source of that love. Please pray for these two men, the one asleep on a cart and the other leaning on a concrete wall, to know Jesus.
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