08.08.14 

…there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. - Proverbs 18:24b NKJV. 

For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore (carry - MSG) our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed. - 1 Peter 2:21-24 NKJV. 

“China’s most beautiful student” is beautiful because she has a beautiful heart. The student is He Qin-Jiao, and she is just a 13-year-old little girl living in the Hunan Province. Her heart is beautiful because of what she has been doing for her friend He Ying-hui for three years. Qin-Jiao has been carrying her friend, who has polio, to and from school, which is a four mile round trip. She says, “Ying-hui is my best friend and school would not have been the same without her. If that meant, I had to carry her then that’s what I had to do. I didn’t mind it at all. It gave us a chance to have a good chat before and after school every day.” In a creative writing project Ying-hui described the most important person in her life as she wrote, “He Qin-jiao uses her little young shoulders to prop up my sky. I wouldn’t have been to school at all if it hadn’t been for her. She is the best friend anyone could have.” (China.org; Shanghaist 08.07.14) 

For today’s students in the United States just walking one way two miles to school, would be beyond difficult. Now we have all heard stories, some true, of our parents or grandparents walking five miles to school in the rain and snow. That kind of difficulty in attending school is hard for students today to really understand. It is almost beyond belief that a young student would make the sacrifice to carry a disabled friend those many miles for those many years. He Qin-Jiao truly is a very beautiful child inside and out! May the Lord bless her and heal her friend! 

Think for a moment about that friend that sticks closer than a brother, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is hard to wrap our minds around, why did Jesus, the Creator of the Universe die for our sins? Jesus “bore (carry - MSG) our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.” Jesus left the glorious comforts of Heaven to come down to this earth and walk among us for some 30 years. Jesus did not come in this modern age where so many have so much that makes life easy. Instead, Jesus was born into this world, fully God, fully human, in a time without the modern conveniences we have now. The world Jesus was born into was a cruel world where bad things happened at a far greater frequency than they do for many of us today. 

We are told that the suffering of Jesus was an example in 1 Peter, “…leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.” The most beautiful student in China, He Qin-Jiao, is an example of someone knowingly or unknowingly following the example of Jesus. Jesus carried our sins, “bore” our sins on the cross. He Qin-Jiao has carried her friend with polio four miles round trip back and forth to school for three years. Qin-Jiao has been “a friend who sticks closer than a brother” to her friend. May we too follow in the steps of Jesus!