Jia Xuewei finds toothpicks jammed into his entrance keyhole, a reminder to dump "stuff"


Sunday, February 14, 2021


Toothpicks jammed into Jia Xuewei’s door keyhole.
(Photo: ChinaAid resource/WeChat Moments)


(Chengdu, Sichuan Province —Feb. 14, 2021) On the evening of February 12, the first day of the first lunar month, when Jia Xuewei, a Christian attending Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC), returned to his rental residence, he could not unlock his door. As he started to insert his key into the front door keyhole, he saw that "someone" had jammed several toothpicks into it so that he could not enter his apartment.

One typical tactic Chinese Communist Party (CCP) state security officers use to pressure and expel Christians from their residences includes disconnecting electricity, water, and gas. As CCP authorities had shut off Brother Jia’s utilities on October 27, he had intermittently practiced wilderness survival at his residence with staying in the homes of friends. At his residence, he used candles for light, ate unheated meals, and took cold showers. With the arrival of colder weather, brothers and sisters of Chengdu ERCC opened their homes to Brother Jia, providing meals, a warm place to sleep, and a shower with heated water.

Brother Jia wrote in his devotional diary:

A lot of hassles in life, but I am not angry nor worried. I do not even fret. My soul and spirit renew every day. This experience in my flesh convinces me that it is painful to live in truth.

Like roaring waves, life crashes into me. Whether struggle or war does not matter—my life has been thrown into the ferocious storm. I do not believe I will live a peaceful, warm, and ordinary life any more nor that a stable and happy future awaits me. Regardless of my willingness, I have been… I am involved in life. 

Three Spring Festivals have gone since the 129 Crackdown of 2018. Christians of Early Rain Covenant Church cannot be spared from being spied on and harassed during each important traditional Chinese festival.

 

Most likely, if I can still stand firmly, I need to dump a lot of "stuff," and heed the still small voice inside. I need to lean on the ark… invisible in history but oh, so very real. 


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The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
The Lord on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea.
                                                                                                
                                                                                                               ~ Psalm 93:3-4 (NKJV)




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