A Hansel and Gretel Journey through China

Myth and folklore often have roots in truth.

The story of Hansel and Gretel reflects a truth that I saw illustrated on our recent journey across China.

Germany, circa 1840,  famine grips the land, and Hansel and Gretel's stepmother determines to take the children deep into the woods and abandon them there so she and her husband will not starve to death. The brother and sister overhear the stepmother's plan. As they are led through the woods, Hansel leaves a trail of bread crumbs to mark the trail and lead them home. Hansel assures Gretel that God will not forsake them.

Eventually, they discover a cottage made of gingerbread, cakes, and candy, owned by a wicked and cannibalistic witch who uses the candy to lure children in and eat them.The witch tries to fatten up and cook Hansel and Gretel, but some quick thinking on Gretel's part lands the witch in the oven. The tables are turned! The wicked witch is dead, The children discover  precious jewels in the house. They return safely home with the treasure for a happy reunion with their father and with the knowledge that their wicked stepmother is also dead.

Gruesome story with a victorious ending and a kernel of truth.

China, circa 2015, spiritual famine grips the land. Many people, lost in a  dark forest of atheism and humanism, search for the way home to a Father who loves them. But the wicked one is prowling the forest, seeking whom he may devour, luring them with sweet promises.The forest looms, fearsome and foreboding. An oven awaits those who take shelter in the way of evil. "Home" with their Heavenly Father means a rich inheritance of spiritual blessings and a final victory. This is TRUTH.

And so, we played Hansel and Gretel this summer, dropping bits and pieces of the "bread of life," from east to west in China, leaving a trail to lead the lost "home" to their loving Father. Far and wide, we scattered the "bread of life," in the form of mp3 audio devices called "Pathlighters" and "Wildlife Storytellers," from the East China Sea to the borders of Tibet.

Piper lives at the children's home. His "daddy"
there reports that he listens to
one story every day.

The Pathlighters and Wildlife Storytellers were collected by

taxi, van, and bus drivers,

bus passengers,

teachers,

cooks,

college students,

twenty-somethings,

grandmas and grandpas,

employees of large companies,

street vendors, 

children.

An excellent family.

THESE ARE THE FACES OF BEAUTUFUL PEOPLE YOU HAVE IMPACTED, DEAR FRIENDS! ...

THEY FOUND THE "BREAD" THAT YOU  SENT TO LEAD THEM "HOME."

THANK YOU FOR GIVING. THANK YOU FOR SENDING.

Sweet fellow travelers and companions.

University students.

My former junior high school students ... all grown up as teachers, parents, and
company employees.

A local senior citizen get-together.

Children in our orphanage.

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty . . . whoever comes to me I will never drive away . . . For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." 

John 6:35-40 (NIV)

THANK YOU FOR SENDING BREAD TO LEAD THESE PRECIOUS ONES . . . HOME.