The Covenant Renewed (standard:Creative non-fiction, 1995 words)
Author: Mookoo Liang	Added: May 05 2009	Views/Reads: 3993/2240	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
This story was originally written by my wife in Chinese; a week later, I translated it into English. We would like to share our . . . with you!

The Covenant Renewed 

by Jean Huang; translated by Mookoo Liang 

= = = = = = = = 

Both my husband and I were born in the traditional families, his parents
believing in the deity En-Zhu-Gong and my parents in Ma-Zu. When we 
were young, it seemed to us that "God" was only an abstract noun and 
"Christianity" was just a name for one of the religions in the world. 
So, quite naturally, our wedding ceremony took place [on January 30] in 
accordance with the traditional Taiwanese folk customs, with a male pig 
sacrificed especially for blessings from gods and goddesses. 

My husband Jerry and I have been richly blessed indeed. Although we
lived in poverty in the beginning, we worked very hard, and we truly 
loved and helped each other. In order to make Jerry's dream come true, 
I encouraged him to quit his job at the elementary school where he had 
taught for seven years, and to apply for the English department at 
National Taiwan Normal University. Then, he became a student again! 

It is then that God made Jerry know him much better. Inspired or
motivated by something Jerry says he didn't know clearly at first, 
Jerry took a selective course called "Biblical Literature." Jerry loves 
literature very much. God must have known that this subject would be a 
perfect key to open Jerry's heart and mind with. In the end, Jerry was 
so much moved by Jesus Christ that he decided to become a Christian and 
was baptized. Oh! How amazing it is that not only Jerry but also I and 
our son Tony have been Christians . . . for years! 

On January 4 this year (2009) we attended a special ceremony at St.
James' Church, in Taichung. It was Fr. Charles Chen and his wife Mary 
Jo's 50th wedding anniversary. To celebrate it, the congregation had 
arranged a cheerful party; yet more significantly, Bishop David Lai 
came and conducted a Christian matrimonial blessing at St. James'. This 
was extremely surprising and exciting to Fr. Chen and his wife, for 50 
years ago they could only have a traditional wedding party, just as 
Jerry and I did 30 years ago. 

This year, Jerry and I joined a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. (How
grateful we have been for God's amazing grace!) The group of us, 27 
persons in all, including Fr. Chen and his family, was led by Bishop 
Lai in person, happily visiting various places in Israel, Egypt, and 
Jordan from January 26 through February 5. 

Incidentally, weeks before we set off, we heard that war broke out
around the area of Gaza. Like many members of the group, Jerry and I 
prayed really hard for this trip, which we had very much wanted to 
join. 

The fact is the group set out on time, as scheduled; we had a
meaningful, enjoyable, and memorable journey; and all of us were 
spiritually strengthened during the trip. With Lord God blessing us day 
and night, our heart and our mind were repeatedly renewed, and even our 
physical strength was improved to some extent. 

Now it was January 30, the day for some of us to climb the holy mountain
Mt. Sinai. This mountain is 2,285 meters above sea level. It is not as 
tall as Yu-Shan, the tallest mountain in Taiwan; however, it is totally 
made of rocks and stones, without any trees or green grass on it. And 
it is very steep. You could freely choose to climb it or to stay 
downhill. But Jerry and I decided to celebrate our 30th anniversary in 
a special way. We walked toward St. Catherine Monastery, at the foot of 
the mountain. 

The mountain-climbing group, 16 or 17 of us, left from St. Catherine
Monastery at 2:30 p.m. As it was recommended, each of us rode a camel 
on the first half of the uphill journey except Rev. Sam Cheng and his 
wife, who were strong enough to cover the whole journey on foot. Well, 
it was my first time to ride on a camel. A camel that was almost too 
small and thin to carry me! (Jerry told me later that those Bedouin 
boys were smart -- they gave me a smaller animal just because I looked 
thinner than others.) I was excited. And I was a little scared whenever 
my camel suddenly moved quickly or swayed to one end. 



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