Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:13-14).
After arriving in Taiwan on Friday night, our host missionary (*Betsy) and one of her daughters transported us from the airport to our home away from home for the next week. It was time to wash away two days of travel grime and get some sleep.
(Note: The threat of Chinese action toward Taiwan is always present. The island nation is, at the moment, a very open and tolerant country, but aggression from the mainland could bring that openness to a sudden end, potentially putting Taiwanese Christians (and foreign missionaries) in a precarious position. Therefore, out of caution, I will mark the names of our hosts, escorts, and translators with an asterisk (*) to indicate that these are pseudonyms.)
Saturday, November 30
When we awoke, Jan and I met the other only English language member of our team, *Julia, who is a Southern Baptist missionary with an amazing story of her own. She took part of her personal vacation time to travel to Taiwan and join us for the Christmas presentation.
On our first full day in Taiwan – specifically Taipei City – Betsy took us for a walk … actually, a series of walks … to acclimate us to the area, help us recognize our home for the week, and learn how traffic works in the maze of narrow side streets and alleys. We quickly learned to always be on the lookout for the ever-present and often-unheard scooters!
On our first excursion, Betsy led us out the front door and to the left, going around the block and pointing out a few places, including our nearest convenience store just two doors down and across the street. We made the block and came back to home base. Then Betsy took us to the right, going around that area before returning home again. I believe we went around several other circuitous routes, traveling through numerous alleys, but we always came back to our starting point – back to home.
After a lunch of steamed and fried dumplings, we met some of our translators for the coming week. One of them was a young woman named *Lydia, who was filled with a great amount of energy, an ocean of love for Jesus and people, and an infectious zeal for sharing the gospel.
That afternoon, Lydia and Betsy showed us what our presentation should look like, explaining how to work with our translators and to present shorter portions of the script – single ideas – to translate. If we said too much at one time, something important might be missed in the process.
Three other translators we met that day were Taiwanese siblings – eighth-, ninth-, and tenth-grade homeschoolers – who would work with us when we went to their older brother’s high school the following Friday. That would be our only opportunity to practice with them, and since we needed the practice, we went through the presentation a couple of times.
During this rehearsal, Jan began to feel greatly distressed as she struggled to deliver her part of the presentation. Some might suggest that it was an issue of jetlag or tiredness or that it was just because she was not accustomed to speaking in front of an audience. While those were all realities at that moment, Jan was convinced they were not the root of the problem; she felt very strongly that it was the enemy trying to convince her that she was incapable of fulfilling her very purpose for being there. That was a very low point for her.
All of that brings me to the picture above.
Do you see the green strip marked on the side of the road? That is the pedestrian lane, essentially the “safe zone,” which is marked on the smaller roads and alleys in Taipei City. If you aren’t paying attention and stray out of that lane, it is not uncommon to suddenly hear a scooter or car directly behind you – spoken from the voice of experience! Also, as you can see on the opposite side of the street, scooters often take up more than the allotted parking lane. Therefore, the driving lane becomes very small for the automobiles that navigate between pedestrians and parked scooters. Staying in that green zone is pretty imperative!
For life on Earth, God has given us some clear instructions in His Word – particularly the 10 Commandments, as recorded in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. While the first four of these refer to honoring God (which people who do not worship the God of the Bible find irrelevant), the others are instructive for anyone desiring to live at least a moral and relatively “safe” life – kind of like that green zone. You cannot control what other people do, but staying in that zone means you are doing your best to follow the instructions for safely navigating your environment.
In Taipei City, simply staying in the “safe zone” might get you around town – but it won’t necessarily take you home. Spiritually, following the rules may keep you fairly safe, but you will nevertheless be lost. Without knowing the proper path, you will not get home; you must follow some very specific directions.
A funny thing happened the first time Jan and I ventured forth on our own to the convenience store “just two doors down and across the street.” When we left our building, we checked for oncoming traffic and safely navigated our way across the street to the green zone; then we trekked all 40ish yards to the store. We went inside, looked at almost every item in the store, and made our purchases. We had been away from the house for a total of about 30 minutes.
Yet when we emerged from the store, we were both disoriented … and we were thoroughly confused as to why we were so disoriented! I mean, it was only maybe 40 yards down the road and then across the street – right? We had walked that path with Betsy at least two or three times already, but for some reason, when we tried it on our own, nothing looked like our home base!
Thankfully, we knew from which direction we had come, so we had that as a first step. We also knew that a church was next door to our building. So, off we went – though very hesitantly. Then our struggle was to find the right door to our building because there were multiple entrances, and while they looked so similar, only one was the correct entry to home.
As we approached the entryways, we recalled that there had been a watchman at the desk when we left, and there was no watchman at the first entrance. How thankful we were to find a familiar face on duty next door! He greeted us when we entered, and we knew we had found home.
As I mentioned before, Taiwanese people are generally open and tolerant; many of them will listen to a presentation of the gospel – but they will consider it just one option of many possible paths in life. And I think that is why Jan experienced such a profound attack of the enemy during that first rehearsal – because her part of the presentation was to introduce our students to the Son of God Who left Heaven to become the perfect sacrifice to reconcile God and man. He is the Watchman Who will welcome all who trust in Him.
I pray that lost people in Taiwan – and everywhere – will come to know the truth and find the way to eternal Life.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6).
(Editor's Note: Click HERE to read Part 1 and click HERE to listen to a podcast on The Stand Radio about Jennifer's trip.)
