I kept putting it off.
There he was, a 77-year old man, crippled, foul-smelling- at the dirty steps of the train station.
Whenever I greeted him, he waved me off. But I’ll never forget the day the Holy Spirit whispered, “Stop for the one.”
I stopped, and my life has never been the same since.
If you’ve watched the viral youtube video “The Wonderful Story of Cliff and Wai Jia,” you’ll know how Grandpa Zhou played a crucial part in our lives.
If you’ve followed my blog for the past 15 years, you’ll know how he changed from a scowling bitter man to a God-loving grandpa. How he, hobbling, was the first to run to the altar to receive Christ. How he came to our home to be baptized in our bathtub.
How he physically deteriorated, but became spiritually stronger.
Before I left for humanitarian deployment to Africa, I wanted to visit but didn’t.
I complained inside- Visiting him had become such an epic EVENT with two toddlers. The last time we visited, he asked for items from specific stores that we’d to trek to get, dragging two cranky toddlers in tow.
My guilt deepened.
One day, I prayed, “Oh God, won’t you send people to visit him?”
That week, an IG-follower messaged me out of the blue- will you be visiting Grandpa Zhou anytime soon?
Tears came to my eyes. I knew God knew. I’d told no one.
When he said he, too, was too busy, it hardened my resolve. I finally visited.
How time has flown. He is 92. When we visited, there was no difficult banter like before.
All he said was, “I’m so happy to see you. How beautiful your girls are.”
My cheeks flushed. I felt God saying to me, “Now that you’re a parent, do you still have that same fire you did as a single to stop for the one?”
Lately, has there been someone on your heart you’ve been putting off to see?
When you push guilt back, lean into your discomfort and do it anyway, even if it’s hard, inconvenient, tiring, you might be surprised at how easy it might really be.
This week, who will you stop for?
*the series of photos spans over a decade- from when we were single to now. One photo is of Zhou yeye performing at our wedding.