A Miao Girl

Peter Y. Woo, 8/1/94

  I was visiting a village of the Miao people (also known as "Hmong") in Guizhou ("Gway-joe") province, China. Some 20 young men and women came out to welcome us, the men with musical instruments and the women well decorated with their costumes, headdress, silver necklace, etc.

  Then I noticed a girl that on the side looked very much like my daughter. My sister-in-law Diane noticed it too. I creeped beside the girl as she and others were posing for photos, and Diane took a shot of me and this girl. Next, I noticed there were one more girl that resembled my daughter. May be they were sisters. One looked sad, the other smiled quite often. I began to wonder how was it possible that I gave birth to a daughter who has a Miao look, or is it possible that my wife or I have some Miao blood in us?

  Henceforth I focussed all my attention on that girl. Her front teeth did not quite look like my daughter's, but when whe smiled without showing her teeth, or when she glanced sideways towards her friends, or when I look at her from the sides, she looked remarkably, in fact stunningly, like my daughter.

  I lost interests in all their singing, dancing, acting, etc. I pretended to take pictures of them, but only on that face. After some 10 or 15 shots, I felt a bit uneasy with my ulterior motive. Perhaps I should ask her to pose with me and let Diane take a few shots. I could have told her (she knows Mandarin), that she looked like my daughter, but only when she did not show her teeth... How could I tell her that! Also Diane may not catch her at the moment or the angle when I think she most resembles my daughter. There were more than one novel of some girl who resented being asked to pose for pictures for a dead girl that she resembled.

  So I did not ask. I have no right to exploit her like that. But, she looked so much like my sweet daughter, and part of my heart seemed to be drawn towards her. Even her impish looks, or her defiant glance, or her whimsical smiles ...

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  Then the Lord taught me something. Are you (or me) not created with a striking resemblance to the Son of God? You may not think so, but God does. Jehovah God (Father and Son) created you "in His image". Wonderful! God noticed you, that you look so much like His Son, that God cannot help focussing His attention at you.

  Imagine, suppose I have the time and means to invite her to my hotel for a dinner. I would ask about her life. I would be interested in all her ways, her activities, her likes and dislikes (just as God would of you). I would ask about her musical abilities, and find out whether she likes the same kind of music as my daugher does. Similarly, God would be enchanted when He finds out that you do like some of the things His Son likes, such as purity, righteousness, compassion. Unfortunately we more often would love the things that His Son hates.

  This is how God loves you. It is almost unfair to others, that He focussed so much attention on you, that He took so much pleasure on discovering your similarities to His Son. And yet the Bible teaches us that it is all true. His love is so vast and deep that Paul prayed long and hard that the Ephesian Christian may have their eyes opened enough to see it themselves.

  Would I love this girl so much that I would ask her parents to allow me to adopt her as my daughter, bring her back to America, help her learn English, then go to college, etc.? I guess not. And yet God did exactly that. He loved you so much that He payed a great price ---- the life of His only Son ---- just to pay off your debts, and adopted you as His child. For what purpose? "So that you may be transformed into the image of His Son." (Rom. 8:29) Isn't it selfish of God to exploit you and transform you just for His own pleasure? No. We are so selfish, filthy, fickled, that the best thing God can do for us is to change our nature, rid us of the filthy habits, and mold us towards the image of perfect goodness, that of His Son.

  It is like this: Imagine I have adopted the girl into my home in America. She is pretty, but rough shorn. She may not be gentle nor polite. She may wipe her nose with her sleeves. I can say hundreds of times, "Hey, that is not the way we live in America." She may say, "America is so foreign to my nature. I don't like it." I would say, "Do you really want to go back to Miao land?" That makes her think. One day my real daughter (who is now married) comes back to my home for a few days. I would say to the girl, "Just watch my daughter. Do whatever she does, and don't do whatever she doesn't." Ah, this is a much easier way for her, for it is concrete, constructive, positive.

  Similarly, God wants you to be like Jesus, not just because it brings Himself joy, but that it brings you joy, and righteousness (i.e., right way of thinking) and holiness (i.e., good habits). Just watch over His Son. Do whatever he does, and desist what ever he doesn't. It is up to you. God does not force you. But He longs and yearns for you to understand His heart and feelings for you.

  P.P. Bliss' hymn says, "I'm so happy, for Jesus loves me ... Jesus loves even me." It is exciting to become the object of some one's love, and much more so when it is God Himself. You may say, "How can I experience His love?" By asking Him to open your eyes to see it, to relax in His care for your daily life, and to discipline your life to be molded into the image of His Son. It costs you something: You have to identify and give up unholy habits, wanton thoughts, negative thinking about God, about life, about people around you, and about yourself. That is called surrender to God. "Know ye not that Chist who is in you is not powerless?" (II Cor. 13:3) If you don't, then you remain in your Miao ways, or worse, sinner's ways.

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  I was watching over that girl. She is so much like my daughter, and yet so different. My daughter is American and she is Miao. Her net worth financially is at least a hundred times less than my daughter's. Moreover, my daughter can enjoy all things in my house. This girl cannot, unless I adopt her. Worse, I may never see her again the rest of my life unless I make a special effort to come to see her again. But God did make a special effort, He did come to meet you at your environment. He wants you to enjoy all things in His house that His Son enjoys... Doesn't that enable us to sing "hallelujah" to Him, and begin to learn to love Him?

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  Why did God bring me to meet this girl? Perhaps it is His way to remind me and you to remember the lost souls among Miao land. There are many Christians among the Miao, but percentage is still low. They have been bullied and persecuted for centuries by the majority Han Chinese. How they need Christ! Would I ask my daughter, "There is a people, some of whom resemble your looks quite remarkably. Would you leave America, live among them for 10 years, learn their language, and share Jesus with them?" Most likely I won't. Even if I do, I don't think my daughter would. Yet that exactly happened. The Son of God was willing to commit Himself to the Father in His project of salvation for the human race.

  I think it was like this: The Father said, "Son, do you know how much I care for these earthlings." The Son said, "Father, I love them too." The Father said, "There is only one way to deliver them out of the punishment of sin. But it will cost you your life though." The Son knelt down, like Isaac must have had done, willingly before the altar, where his father Abraham raised the knife, ready to slay. Then He said, "Father, not my will, but Thine be done. I've come to do Thy will, O Lord." (Ps. 40:6,7)

  Would you be willing to die for the Miao people, or other ethnic groups in China, the Yao, the Gelo, Tujia, Buyi, Dong, Yi... There are millions of them. May be you feel a little of the heart of the Son of God, and part of you is willing. Would you love Jesus so much that you would truly like to see your own son or daughter to live and die for the Miao? It is hard to say yes. God did send Jesus to die for the Miao, the Yi, the Yao, the 1000+ millions of Han Chinese. God sent Him even if you had been the only sinner on earth. Would you ask Him to fill your heart with that love, so that you can say with Hudson Taylor, "I would give it all to China, if I had 1000 lives."

  May such love constrain us to reorder our values and priorities. It did for Paul. II Cor. 5:14, "For the love of Christ constrains us..."