“Though the mountains move & the hills shake, my love shall be immovable and never fail, and my covenant of peace shall not be shaken” {Is 54:10}
What surprised me the most about the Great Wall at Badaling wasn’t the vastness of it that extended beyond the imagination, it wasn’t the steepness of the steps that rendered me breathless not even halfway through our climb, it wasn’t the commercialism of merchants peddling souvenirs along the paths or even the dopes who shopped there & had to pack their wares up the grueling incline…it was the Kenny G music wafting out from mini-speakers all along the trek. Kenny G music? Are they kidding? Our tour guide tells me it is to contribute to the tranquility of the experience. Okay, if you say so. The climb was exhilarating and the views defy description. We paused in the middle of the experience to give thanks for a delicious, nutritious chicken sandwich and enjoy a picnic on the Wall. And though Zech hassled me, accusing me of extending the break cos I was “too old to keep up”, I took some extra time to pray by name for friends and family and to praise God for this glorious scene. On the way down, I caught up with Zech, even passed him. Okay, so I was wildly sliding on the handrail at warp-speed but hey, it brought significant relief from leg cramps and it was fun to blow past the kid who starred in utter amazement at his mom’s craziness.
Since we were on our own private tour, on the way back we got a special surprise from our driver. He pulled off to let us see the section of the wall known as Ju Yong Pass. We were so exhausted from the day, we took pictures from the bottom of the hill!
Interesting facts I learned today from our tour guide…Beacon towers on the wall used smoke signals to communicate with commanders afar the number of enemy attackers—1 puff of smoke = 50 soldiers, 2 smokes = 100, 3 smokes = 500 or more; the War towers were soldiers’ residences; it took one fifth of the Province’s population 200 years to build 6,700 kilometers {4165 miles}; people who died in the building of the wall were buried within the wall, and my name in Chinese is broken up into 3 separate characters meaning Di—pretty, an—safe, and na—beautiful. If you say my name really fast, it means “pretty safe and beautiful”. I kinda like that last statement though I’ve no idea what that has to do with anything we saw today.
NOTE: No disrespect to Kenny G, okay…I LOVE saxaphone music…but if you wanna hear sax music that will blow your socks off, check this out: www.robertpwilliams.com This guy is annointed!
Livin4Jesus 
