Who turned out the lights?

It was about 6:30pm and suddenly our apartment went quiet and Angie and I were left in complete darkness. That afternoon at school someone had mentioned that the power was out at their apartment complex so I just assumed that there was something wrong with the building. But when we opened the door to the stairway, light came pouring into our apartment. It was only number 602 (our apartment number) that seemed to be having technical difficulties. Angie didn’t really seemed to be bothered by this though; she began digging through drawers mumbling something about emergency electricity with only the light from the open door to guide her until she found a small plastic stick resembling a thumb drive. She plugged it into a box in the hallway the lights turned back on.
It was then explained to me that we ran out of electricity. That’s right, it was not that we lost power, we ran out. You see in China bills aren’t mailed to you regularly every month, rather you are responsible to find them and pay them yourself. We had ten emergency units that allowed us to finish cooking dinner and then see what we were eating. But in the morning we had to go to the bank to buy more. This is how many bills work here. You pay your phone, electricity, and internet bill at the bank. Also every month I go to the China Mobil store and add more money to my cell phone. It is a different culture and I can’t decide if I like it or not.
I have been ingrained in the American culture of credit cards, where I can sit at my computer and pay my bills, download music and order my text books without leaving my room. The system is quick and efficient. I cannot say the same thing about life in China. Here everything is done in Cash. Though there are some tourist places that accept Visa and there is a Chinese Debit card that many of the larger supermarkets will accept but other than that everything is paid in cash. Most of my vegetables are bought from the local street vendors and there is a little place that sells chicken not too far down the road. Here the prices are only spoken; there are no helpful price tags. My tuition was paid in cash, my rent is paid in cash and even plane tickets are bought with cash. Though sometimes it seems like a wild goose chase figuring out where and how to pay your bills, you have to interact with another living breathing human being to get what you need done (sometimes 5 or 6 other human beings).
When you pay for everything in cash you are aware there is no separation between you and the money, and the cost of living is more evident. I have a much harder time buying something when I physically have to depart with the cash rather than just clicking a button. Somehow having to prepay electricity rather than just paying for what you use makes me think twice before I turn on the lights or the TV. So while at times I get tired of the non efficiency there is something that is healthy about this system. There is a greater responsibility involved.
The power loss occurred right round the same time I led a discussion on environmental issues. Preparing for the meeting I was reminded again about the call that we have to care for creation. I have never been more aware of the effects of pollution than I am here, where I can see the pollution as I am breathing it in. I was preparing a lesson on “how do we have a correct and right view of creation and its Creator”. As I shared with my friends my “passionate voice came out”. We talked about people suffering because they don’t have access to clean water and talked about how our usage of resources can affect the world. I left the meeting feeling more convinced than ever that I needed to be a good steward and conserve my resources.
When there were only ten emergency units of electricity, we were turning out ever light. We lit a candle and ate our supper in the dark. We didn’t want to use any more than we had, because there was a limited amount. But suddenly when we have 10,000 units it doesn’t really seem like that big of a deal to use a few extra. There was enough to go around.
I am learning here in a very concrete way that though some resources are limited, there is one thing that is not. For a while I was struggling here with how much of myself I could give way, at what point would I run out of love, of energy or of mental capacity. There are days where it seems like everyone wants something from you and I think “there is only so much that I can do right?” Well, if I have learned one thing, it is that while I am limited, I have connections to a limitless Father. I often feel like I am running on my last ten units but He is Faithful and abundant - when I step back and follow His leading, I find that I am filled to overflowing.
So don’t forget to turn out the lights or to turn to the true Light!