Heart-Level Healing

To sum up the trip, I'd like to talk about. I learned a lot through the six-week ministry experience in Tokyo, as I'd hoped, but this was the biggest inadvertant lesson.

I am prone to dismiss psychological talk. Yes, the Bible has much to say in terms of comfort and encouragement, and I realize the value of such edification, but seeing in childhood pain the root of today's actions seemed to avoid responsibility. That was before project debriefing.

A dear friend of mine, who was very honest about his personal struggles while in Tokyo, has long battled depression. If he feels down or excluded, sometimes voices inside his head tell him that he deserves what he's going through, leading him to further isolate himself. I noticed that while our team was getting ready to head back to the U.S. in high spirits, he was present for games (Nertz, Settlers of Catan) but otherwise shying away from group activity. Tried to encourage him in pursuing interaction--without success.

Back in LA, Campus Crusade had scheduled a two-hour period where we as a team could air any remaining concerns or apologize to one another. Though I knew I had some selfishness/isolation tendencies of my own to confess, I wasn't anticipating what came next. My friend had a panic attack! Another friend treated his hyperventilation by having him breathe into a paper bag, but then the struggle began.

We asked him what was going on; he began saying that he was "rotten to the core" and always ruining everything. The latter, as several of us pointed out, was not true at all--he had actually been a huge source of joy and strength by unashamedly sharing his weaknesses and growing in love for us & the Japanese students. The former was a lie of the devil, given that my friend is fully redeemed with the blood of Jesus and thus given His perfect character! We prayed truth from the Bible over him, but it was heartbreaking to hear him sob that we should be spending our time on someone else. Several people, including myself, were able to share deeper sins than expected because of his public struggle.

At the next day's encouragement session, he had retreated inward and kept silent while we shared what we each loved about every team member. When the time was over, his team leader came up and gave him a big, unreciprocated hug. I left while the embrace was still in progress. A few others stayed behind and read him Scripture, particularly Romans 5 & 8, as they prayed over him again. When confronted directly with the fact that Christ has already seen us at our worst and borne our every sin, requiring us only to have faith in [trust & obey] Him, my friend finally accepted healing--and I saw him next with a ridiculous grin all across his face. God restored his joy!

What did I learn from this?

1) The Word of God is true: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (1 John 1:8-10) We must acknowledge our sins, even to one another.

2) The truth of God's Word, not even seemingly sound advice, is what we need to effectively combat our & other's problems.

3) God is still healing people, and this is something nonbelievers as well as Christians need from Him. Past hurts matter to Him Who has already dealt with them, and I trust that my brother will be specially equipped for ministry through this process of growth.

4) Perseverance in relationships & prayer bear real Spiritual fruit as God gives the increase.

5) God is merciful!

Deep Encouragement

Rest is critical to our lives, as we have been given eternal freedom from our work through trust in Jesus and His voluntary sacrifice in our place. In addition, God has created the Sabbath for man so that we remember our limitations and have time to specifically acknowledge His Lordship over our lives. This weekend, I was able to enjoy my necessary rest by visiting my old church (Horizon Chapel) for Saturday night & Sunday morning services.

The first time I came out to church, each completely unfamiliar Japanese station name only furthered fears of missing the station; the half-hour train ride seemed endless. This time, it felt like I barely had time to continue reading the Japanese novel Freezing Point (an exploration of original sin) before stepping off the platform at Machida and working my way through streets crowded with Sunday shoppers. As soon as I saw the church building, I started running with excitement, eager to rejoin my Spiritual family!

Reaction of the night: Hide-kun, my closest Japanese friend. I snuck into the sanctuary without catching his eye and tapped him on the shoulder. He was so surprised that all he could say for a minute was my name! I was super-glad to see my pastor Jeremiah and former boss Kevin as well as several other familiar faces.

The message was focused applying Jesus's model prayer when on our knees (though Jeremiah stressed that only the position of our hearts is important to God). I was particularly reminded to be directly praising the Lord and giving specific thanks to Him--things we tend to omit when coming to prayer solely to receive from God. This is one of the reasons why Jesus placed worship and requests for the Father's kingdom before our personal requests.

Went over to "Auntie" Shigeko-san's house for a delicious feast, over which Michiko-san and I got to share about grace and true religion with Shigeko-san's husband. Kevin also persuaded two college students from Texas, also visiting for campus ministry, to try natto for the first time. I ended up scarfing down their "interesting"-tasting portions and thus tainting all my further cultural suggestions in their eyes. Those to whom it is given to enjoy tastefully decomposing food should accept it, right?

Today, I enjoyed breakfast at the Boeks just like old times (though I missed meeting their daughter, who's away at a summer camp). The two little dudes had a soccer tournament and took off as soon as Geigy finished making their Japanese-style boxed lunches. She then shared that she thinks Christians could be much more effective witnesses in Japan if church was moved to, say, Saturday evening and Sunday was a free day to develop loving relationships with the shoppers and resting businessmen.

The second service also focused on prayer, this time from James 5. Going to God in every circumstance with faith is clearly the key, but the verses on healing received unexpected emphasis when Scott shared about his wife's miraculous physical recovery (still awaiting doctor confirmation) last week in response to corporate prayer & oil anointing.

Finally, I was taken out to lunch (eel over rice--my favorite) by brother Stephen, a dear friend who continually shows love by Scripturally encouraging & exhorting me onward in Christlikeness. He specifically charged me with Isaiah 50:4, which speaks of the faithfulness of the prophecied Servant of Israel, to take time in the mornings to study the Word and hear from Him Who came as that Servant in order to strengthen myself and others. That's true education. May we also continue speaking the Word to one another and grow up together in all things into Christ our Head. Thankfully, that growth will develop through times of rest.

Ministry in Motion

It's been three weeks on campus so far and the weather is slowly getting summery, a nice mirror of how our team has been growing together and slowly seeing the Lord work among our new Japanese friends. One thing that has been personally difficult is that few of the students I've met have become friends--I'm not used to slowly building relationships, and my desire to move things to a Spiritual level may have alienated some of the guys I've talked with thus far. That said, one person in Gakugei University's wind ensemble with whom I had a long chat came out to our English lunch, which was exciting.

To balance this out, I am learning to rejoice with those on my team who are rejoicing, sharing in their triumphs. My co-leader Jess, for instance, struck up a near-instant friendship with a girl who works at our local bread shop; after several brief conversations while she was on the job, they met and talked for 4 hours! Jack & Kyle met someone who could speak English well and had such a great conversation that their new friend skipped work to come to our "Discover Friends" party last night!

Yes, it's frustrating to spend an afternoon walking around campus (especially on a bright, sunny day) and find no one willing to talk--partially because class schedules are more like American high schools and lounging around isn't popular. However, I can take joy in the special things God lets me do, like serving as a translator when the language barrier is high or directly addressing Spiritual things in Japanese with other teammate's friends.

While we have gotten to share about who God is and why He sent Jesus with several people, it's awesome to know that two have definitely accepted Christ as their Savior and others are seriously considering it! Considering that the Japanese culture is generally apathetic to Jesus and hostile to religion, this is amazing. The other team has been barred from returning to one of their campuses, in part because the administration thinks that we are out to recruit their students. They are wrong--God is doing the work, and He cannot be stopped!

Group Go-Round

Even now, being in Japan again as part of a long-awaited missionary assignment, everything feels slightly surreal. The cries of shopkeepers inviting customers inside, the otherwise quiet streets where no one looks you in the eye, the octopus and natto [fermented soybeans] and way-too-expensive cereal available in supermarkets...all familiar voices and vistas. This time, however, I am not alone.

No, I'm not subtly referring to Jesus, though His presence and love is the ultimate reason for my presence here. I came with 16 American brothers and sisters in Christ--from Arizona, Michigan, South Carolina and (boo, hiss) Trojan country [University of Southern California]. We have bonded over prayerful trust that our Creator and Savior would provide, as when we arrived at briefing we had about $20K of team expenses left to raise and one passport left at home in Arizona. Yet He faithfully provided for both of these and I'm glad to actually be here!

I am living with my team in Koenji, more centrally located than last time. We are in apartments that have tatami [woven bamboo matting] rooms, a wonderful feature that is unfortunately less forgiving as a mattress than I'd remembered. Despite prices, we as an apartment are still hooked on cereal, as well as juice, squishier bread, dango [rice balls covered with sweetened sauce] or doughnuts for breakfast.

Our team is visiting four major universities, so we divided in half. My half has been assigned to Hitotsubashi--back again--and Gakugei University, an college focused on training future educators. There have been several neat stories already, but in the interest of time I'll just share one.

As most of our team doesn't speak Japanese, we generally strike up student conversations by asking if they speak English. Andrew and I approached someone sitting by himself at Hitotsubashi, asked if he was able & willing to chat and sat down with him. Right away--probably clued in by my necklace--he asked if we were Christians, the obvious subtext being that he thought we were out to hunt him down and convert him. I said yes, but also explained that I had been a foreign exchange student there just a year before and pretty soon we figured out that we both knew one of my seminar professors. That put him at ease and allowed us to ask him why he was concerned about religion (most people regard non-ritualistic spiritual things with suspicion). Prior connections can really help!