when to laugh becomes easy

prayers from the day:

a girl: tired of truth and "trying God." Lured by the immediacy of prescriptions and pay by the hour motels.

a child: she learned psalm 23--Brilliant for her age. Pray that her and her mom learn to call God there Daddy.

a city.

Today when asked what I was thankful for the first thing that came to mind was imitatable people. Each night before I fall into sleep I prop myself up to read a few chapters of a book that inspires me. I admit that I have never understood those people that read to fall asleep. I take it as a sign of my maturing (ha, I have to look for signs) that I don't allow myself to be engrossed each night in flipping pages and forget to sleep at all. Reading itself is restful for me. It is one of the ways I dream. Anyway, I have been reading another biography of Hudson Taylor titled: "Hudson Taylor and Maria: Pioneers to China" by J.C. Pollock. First I will tell you to buy it and next I will tell you why. Buy it! I have tried reading this book several times and did not received it well (or as I should). It is a book that must be read by someone ready to accept the humanity of Hudson Taylor and love and laugh at his idiosyncrasies. The first time I tried reading this book I thought I was set for life. No need to worry about a wife, I was set. In my own priggish arrogance I actually wondered why people ever did worry. Just trust God, right? Hudson Taylor, the Leviathan of faith and exalted to the point of being canonized in sermons, was desperate, even sick, for a wife. I will not be a spoiler for the story, but do want to show you what God brought to Hudson. Hudson, knowing the call of God, went woman-less to China because he loved God more than anything. When Hudson finally met Maria there was much harsh feelings towards their courtship from other missionaries in China, even to the point of persecution. But here is the woman God was providing for Hudson. To ease the difficulty Hudson thought of returning to England to achieve an official medical degree or ordination, thinking that this would ease the hard feelings towards the match--her being well-bred and him being poor. Maria's thought on the subject of him leaving for a title was this: "I would wait if he went home in order to increase his usefulness. But is he to leave his work in order to gain a name for the sake of marrying me? If he loves me more than Jesus he is not worthy of me--if he were to leave the Lord's work for the world's honour, I would have nothing further to do with him." To this Hudson replied, "she is a noble girl." "A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised" (Prov. 31). God be blessed for starch Godly woman. What is even more incredible is that Maria fiercely was attached to Hudson when she wrote this, yet knew for their love to ever be God must reign on the throne of their hearts. Blessed be the woman that guards your heart from idolatry, she is rarer than a rare jewel. As Francis Bacon would say, like a fine gem roughly set. I am encouraged to write this for a couple of reason: 1) I am happy to see that there are such people, 2) and to share this wonderful story with many who find this subject to be very consuming. Make sure Christ is on the throne of your heart. Love Him first and you will begin to know glorious intimacies of true love.

A friend of Hudson and Maria wrote of the days following their engagement: "Those were days when to laugh was easy."