Jerry Liang and his wife, Jean Huang, from St. James' Church
celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary on Mount Sinai!
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 was then that God made Jerry know him much better. Having been inspired by something (he says he didn't know exactly what it was 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 the Diocesan 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.
My "camel boy" was very young, just like a 5th or 6th grader at the elementary school. But he was now helping her family make money. Suddenly, he asked me if I had cookies with me. I gave him all the chocolates in my bag. From time to time he yelled at the camel walking beside him and hit it slightly on its hips or hind legs with a stick. The camel would speed up at once, and I had to try my best to ride well along. I had a mixed feeling all the way uphill.
Jerry was behind me, on his bigger camel. Holding a new Nikon in his hand, he tried to take pictures of me while my camel and I were making a turn along the narrow path uphill (see one of those photos on the next page!) I saw him adjusting the lens with the other hand. I told him not to fall. This was especially important because he is suffering from a bone problem called osteoporosis.
Then, something terrible happened to me. My right leg -- the lower part of my right leg was hit by something heavy! A huge camel with no one on its back was walking down in the opposite direction when it collided with my tiny camel, side against side. And my leg was just rammed in between. What a sharp pain! Is my leg broken? If it is, how can I . . . Oh, no! May the Lord save me from the time of trial!
Seeing drops of blood on my leg, I felt rather discouraged. But I managed to calm down. When we arrived at the final point of camel-riding, I thought to myself: Jerry and I are looking forward to celebrating our anniversary at the top of Mt. Sinai, and we are halfway up the mountain now! With Jerry's approval and support, I continued to walk up the steep slope, step by step. The second half of the uphill journey was much more difficult than the first half. Jerry and I kept encouraging each other; we reminded each other that our Lord was (or is) with us all the time.
Lord God (the Holy Trinity) indeed takes good care of each Christian according to their needs. Jerry said so, emphasizing that what we want is quite different from what we need. I would rather believe what he said. But I just wondered if those who were staying at the foot of the mountain would regret not coming along with us. For instance, Fr. Chen would have come with us to visit the top of Mt. Sinai if he had not been kept down there by his family; he was eager to come!
About 4:20 p.m. one of our sisters stopped climbing the mountain; she was obviously too weak to continue. A few minutes later, a second woman gave up, telling her husband that she would return and wait for him at St. Catherine Monastery. Yet Jerry and I kept going, at a snail's pace! Then, as the stone steps became so steep and narrow, Jerry and I were unable to walk side by side. We had to move up very carefully, one after the other. And our chatting became a little bit inconvenient, or unusual.
"Do you think that in the animal world, the bigger would bully the smaller too?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Why did that big camel collide with my little camel? Did he do it on purpose?"
"Oh, we don't really know," Jerry smiled. "Maybe it is their way to greet each other. Maybe the bigger is the father of the smaller!"
Jerry reasoned that it was sensible for a father camel to "encourage" his youngster by tapping him on the side. I didn't agree. He then had a new idea, saying that probably both of us were wrong. The two camels that we had talked about might not be father and son; they could be a very strong husband and a dainty and little wife. "You didn't notice your camel was female, did you?" Jerry spoke with a funny facial expression. "Let me tell you the truth. Camels do not hug each other like humans; instead, a good couple of camels (husband and wife) show their love by kissing each other with their sides!"
Sheer nonsense! But I liked it at the moment because I was rather tired from walking for hours. I knew Jerry was fond of camels. At least he respected them. The phrase "Luo Tuo" (meaning camels) had been the name of his class from 1970 to 1975, when he studied at Chiayi Junior Teachers College. Since then, he and his classmates, all male, have called themselves Luo Tuo Brothers. They meant to be "people who can shoulder heavy responsibilities." In this respect, I would admit that Jerry has been a responsible man, though sometimes too imaginative to be practical.
Anyway I should thank God for granting me such a sweet family: my good husband and our good and interesting son! Our only son Tony is hardworking and responsible too, yet more humorous than his father. "I'll start to use 'Antony' as my English name from now on, because I've grown up," proclaimed Tony one day. In fact, he is going to get married soon. Oh, dear Lord! May you constantly bless this sweet family, and also all other families!
Now my watch read almost 5:00 p.m. We still couldn't see our destination, the top of Mt. Sinai; but we were not too far from it, I thought. Being high up on the steep slope, Jerry and I were very impressed by the grand, noble, and fantastic landscape. Light and shade in this natural "picture" became a sharp contrast: Hundreds of bare rock mountains were already darkened in gray, but tens of the high peaks were still shining in glowing colors. The setting sun was on the other side of Mt. Sinai, that's why only the tops of mountains were in the orange sunshine. Jerry took pictures time and again. I reminded him that we had been told to get to the top no later than 5:10.
Suddenly, someone shouted cheerfully from above, "Hooray! Here we are!" Others echoed, "What a wonderful view! Alleluia! Alleluia!" Jerry and I stepped up our pace, unusually excited. Then, just in time, the very same words "Thanks be to God! With God's help we've made it!" came out of Jerry's and my mouths spontaneously, in such a loud voice that both of us felt a little embarrassed.
As soon as all the 15 persons (we did count all) arrived, Bishop Lai gathered us in front of the only building on the mountaintop, that is, Trinity Church. We stood closely in lines, facing the setting sun. Bishop Lai prayed for us. And we started to sing "Amazing Grace" and so on. We sang with tears in our eyes. I noticed Jerry was deeply moved too. He put his arm around my waist, and I leaned against his shoulder. We became quiet. The setting sun seemed to be right in front of us, or a little bit lower than where we stood. The colorful clouds were floating in the cool breeze. I heard no birds or insects singing; but amazingly, I heard a voice whispering to me: "The Lord God has constantly blessed us; he will abundantly bless our family, and many, many others!"
As you can see, we have celebrated our 30th anniversary in a special way. On the holy mountain Mt. Sinai, our Love has been refined and our Covenant renewed. <#>
Our group from Central Taiwan
後註：今天是農曆七月七日，俗稱七夕，亦作「中國情人節」；謹將去年五月發表於台灣聖公會季刊 Friendship (友愛) (98 年第 2 期) 的舊作，貼入個人部落格，作為紀念！
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