No more straw…

Several years ago, my husband and I were privileged to go to western China to “teach” English to Chinese teenagers…I use “teach” loosely ….they knew English very well, but the pronunciation was a bit off…so basically we had lots of conversations with them…about a lot of subjects…lots of questions…they watched reruns of old western movies or when they were allowed, games shows, anything they could watch about the West…we had classroom time with them or just wandered around their city…

One of the main manufacturing plants there was for making bricks…the buildings were built out bricks,the sidewalks , the walls around buildings, fences…all brick…would have liked going through a brick factory, but was not able to…

I took lots of pictures of old buildings, but the people would rather show you all the new stuff as it was finished much better…there was a decided difference…”no, no, look at new”, they would say…

The Israelites were making bricks for Pharaoh and his task masters during their captivity…what a hard job…

And then Pharaoh gets mad at the audacity of the Israelite leaders asking for “time-off”…then he says, don’t supply the straw, let them find their own…spiteful, anger, controlling…lets make them work harder…”are you sure God will rescue us?”…

Sometimes, Just when you think events are as hard as it will get, it gets harder….but, God has a bigger plan…we think the events are just about us, but He deals with a lot, maybe nations, maybe individuals…but they all meld together working for good those who love Him…he does it do it out of spite for us…He loves us…and we can learn from His teaching…in His timing….his path…

Thank YOU…

These are days of Elijah…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j63-J0GBG5c

Bits and pieces I found along the walks we took in the city, working with teens…

Pharaoh’s brick makers…

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-egypt/pharaohs-brick-makers/

The history of brick making…

https://brickarchitecture.com/about-brick/why-brick/the-history-of-bricks-brickmaking

Terra cotta soldiers…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army