Wealthy Americans

For those of you who don't know me well, you will have to forgive my analytical mind. Sometimes I wish I could just stop thinking and analyzing, but I can't so a warning - What follows is not an indication that I am not having a good time, just some musings.

In China, our guide has explained, there is no middle class. There are the rich and the poor, and often they exist side by side. While there isn't the caste system that India has, there is definitely a status and standing. I haven't visited a third world country before so I am taking all of this in for the first time.

I have been struck by the difference between the way I have come to these people and the way Jesus came to us. I jetted across the ocean and was whisked away to one of their most expensive hotels. I eat in their most expensive restaurants,(I was surprised by how expensive)and I go to visit their hutongs where their elderly men cart me around in a bicycle driven rickshaw. After my hour long ride I tip the man 20yuan which would be not quite $3 US.

Some of these things perhaps can't be changed. I eat in the most expensive restaurants because it keeps me from hugging the toilet after my meal. However, I wonder how the way I come effects the attitudes and perceptions of my gracious hosts. Jesus came to be a servant. His arrival was announced to shepherds not to dignitaries. He lived among the people. I haven't quite processed all of this yet, but putting it down on the blog has helped me pull my thoughts together. Thanks for being patient with my musings.