Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret

While counting down the weeks until our departure, we have been spending what free time we have this summer on studying Chinese and reading more about Chinese history. Sure we have been doing other things, such as helping friends out, visiting family, and hiding under the stairs of our apartment on our three-year anniversary— turns out it was just a dinky little tornado that may or may not have actually touched down south of here— but we want to prepare as much as possible for our transition back to the Middle Kingdom.  We have also resolved to update the blog once a week. Because not much else has developed for the Hurry Up & Wait Game, we plan to inundate you with recommendations for various books, articles, audiobooks, songs, and lectures that we love. While most of them will have to do with China, we make no guarantees!

For our first installment of "Daniel and Marta's Highly Sought-After List of Excellent Reads and Listens" ... no, that doesn't sound quite right, but I like it anyway... we will be talking about Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret by Dr. & Mrs. Howard Taylor. We have both read it and really appreciate it, not because it's a fantastic piece of literature, but because it talks about a truly inspiring man. Hudson Taylor was one of the first prominent missionaries to China (Note: there are no missionaries in China now! Perhaps we'll write a post on that sometime soon), from about 1853 to 1905. He dressed like the Chinese and cut his hair in the style that was fashionable back then. 

Hudson Taylor

Cool, huh? Not only that, but he pressed on into China's unreached interior and touched many lives through his knowledge of medicine and his heart for the Divine. Nationals wanted to hear what he had to say because he was a foreigner who obviously cared about the Chinese people enough that he was willing to look like them, as much as his European profile would allow. This is encouraging to us, that even though Chinese people nowadays dress much like Westerners, we can still appear like them in our attitudes, with a willingness to use the language and to learn about their country's history.

This book is a quick read, and we suggest it for everyone, even if you know you'll never live in China. His spiritual insights can apply to anyone. And don't worry, you do find out what his "secret" is, so it's not quite a secret anymore!