Book Review #2: Poison Study

This is the second of an 8-part series, and the book behind today's review is courtesy of Nikki Maldonado: Maria Snyder's Poison Study.

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The story starts in media res. Teenage Yelena, condemned to death by the new military government for pleading guilty to murdering the son of a top general, is granted a fresh lease on life with a new career: food taster of the Commander. Just to ensure that she doesn't run away, the Commander's right-hand assassin Valek slips her a dose of poison that will cause an excruciating death if she doesn't report every morning for a dose of the antidote--an artful leash. Almost as painful as the memories that drove Yelena to murder.

Admittedly, the prose has the artistic appeal of cardboard, as shown in sentences such as "I dodged ineffectively, hampered by the rope tied to my wrist, which anchored me to a post in the center of the room." Still, the story's set-up is clever: a haunted yet strong-willed anti-heroine struggling to overcome the confines of her situation. Additionally, Snyder plants not only doubts about the trustworthiness of her new friends but also details about the regime change, allowing the reader to question initial opinions about whose side Yelena should be on.

As the book progresses, we learn more and more about this world's use of magic, which sounds very close to occult practices of mind control and floating-soul experiences. Demonic arts are still repugnant to me even when secularized (no offhand references to God here, only "fate"), especially as I hope to see Christ's victory in the cross over such powers in Japan in the months ahead. The morality of the characters is also never seriously examined, suggesting instead that violence and sex are more than excusable in extreme situations. From a purely literary standpoint, I wish I could say that these failings and the stiffness of the writing was made somewhat tolerable by a thrilling climax and fitting denouement--but alas. The pacing of the story weakens as the story's focus switches from medieval-fantasy elements to a lust-mance, while the ending offers too many pat solutions to complex plot issues--the logic is apparently: 'resist your demons once and they flee'--and is too abrupt, though it is the start of a series.

Admittedly, my standard for the young-woman-resisting-government-with-hidden-talent genre is high after reading the excellent Hunger Games trilogy earlier this summer, which is much better written. Snyder does a good job realistically depicting a girl's response to abuse and danger, but in my opinion she only imprisons Yelena further in decidedly dark content and second-rate wording.

SUMMARY

Appreciated the political & plot intrigue and conceptual courage

Disliked the New Age elements of mind control & magic, wooden prose and collapse of plot potential in the final act

Though it has an interesting beginning, I would not recommend this book.

Disclaimer--Poison Study includes mild profanity, strong violence, sexual immorality and disturbing scenes.

Rest: God's Prescription

Writing about rest, coming from a can-do culture with a let-things-slide personality and heading to the nation that gave the world a term for "death through overexertion"*, requires some labor. It is akin to describing the joys of playing music to someone who has never picked up an instrument and has no vocabulary or apparent use for the idea.

Yet in the handful of years I have been seeking to actively take Sabbath rests one day a week (generally Sunday), I know that rest is not only Biblical but extremely blessed. May this short refresher (ha!) of a review encourage you to more deeply depend on and glorify God.

Why do we rest? There are two variants of the same command given to God's people in the journey to Israel.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
(Exodus 20.8-11)

"Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day."
(Deuteronomy 5.12-15)

The similarities predominate: it's God's will that His people keep this day holy; it's not merely for their own benefit but also that of their family, dependents (employees perhaps comes closest in modern terminology) and livestock.

But the rationale differs. The original command from the Lord on Mt. Sinai points back to the creation order that He set in motion--we were created to reflect God's ownership of all things and imitate Him in this rhythm. The repetition by Moses in one of his farewell addresses is equally of the Holy Spirit, pointing back to the redemption from Egypt. In that country, the Hebrews were given over to continual, unbroken labor; now and in the new land God is giving them, they are to remember that His rescue of them means that their identity isn't defined by their work, but His buying of them through a definite act of salvation.

My question to us: Is what we call 'rest' merely an interruption of activity? The Lord clearly intends that our down time would remember Him: His creative power, displayed from the beginning until now, and our redemptive history.

In future posts until we get word that our visa paperwork is on the way, I hope to explore this topic a bit more. At the very least it will help me think a little more clearly on the subject once the ministry floodgates open overseas.


*過労死 or karōshi; I knew someone out there would also care for this parenthetical detail

P.S. The idea of keeping the Sabbath weekly as not only feasible but desirable for a college student came from a conversation I had with Lisa Chu (now Ro) and was further encouraged by the Fulton family.

Book Review #1: As I Lay Dying

This is the first of an 8-part series, begun as a team bonding exercise. I resolved to read one book beloved by each of my teammates as a way of getting to know them better and discovering new, good literature.

The book behind today's review is courtesy of Amy Ledin: William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying.

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It's one of the most challenging books I have ever read. Bear in mind that I have a generally fast reading speed in English and am accustomed to cruising through books of Harry Potter length in 2 days or less. However, Faulkner deliberately toys with language, not merely to obfuscate the plot's direction (though it is tempting to believe this sometimes!) but rather to present the thoughts of his characters in a far more compelling manner than a simple summary of their ideas could ever do.

The book details the plight of the Bundren family, which is almost elemental in its tragedy: matriarch Adie slowly fades from life and her husband and children seek to bury her in her county of birth, as she requested long before. The real story, though, lies in the interaction between the characters as each tells their perspective in idiosyncratically narrated, non-numbered chapters. Key to this are the feuds between the siblings--as Amy pointed out to me after I'd finished reading, main narrator Darl constantly describes the actions of his hot-blooded younger brother Jewel, usually with an eye toward putting him in his place. Occasional narration by outsiders to the family keep at bay the natural inclination to take this sad clan at face value, showing just how pathetic they appear.

This unique structure forces the reader to read between the lines and infer what has happened to horrify or upset each of the characters. Faulkner repeatedly takes simple events, usually bad decisions, and describes them in ways that draw out their pathos and suggest the futility of man to overcome his own inhumanity and petty problems. Fire on one character's clothes, for instance, is described as flowers of sparks blossoming into holes in the fabric--beautiful in the abstract, awful in practical effect. At times the work bears hints of the despair that surfaces more clearly in some of Faulkner's other novels.

Though quite a bit of effort, in my opinion all the confusion and disparate opinions coalesce brilliantly in the powerful final chapter. I don't dare spoil it, and if I did it would have nowhere near its impact without explanation--not unlike a joke's punchline. This wisecrack, though, is not meant to draw forth laughter.

SUMMARY

Appreciated the deft characterization through narration style as well as viewpoint, descriptive power, tour-de-force of an ending

Disliked the pace of the story, which occasionally plodded along; the clearly evil hearts of the characters, though true to life in this respect;

I would recommend this book to adventurous, experienced readers looking for a change of literary perspective, with both a strong stomach for tragedy and quite a bit of free time.

Disclaimer--As I Lay Dying includes sexual immorality and disturbing situations, even though described in cryptic ways

"Hurry Up and Wait On the Lord"

Thank you, Petra, for that great turn of phrase (from their song "More Power to Ya"). It's something I am learning to appreciate as it loses its humor in the matter of our team's visas.

Right now, my two least-favorite questions in the world are:

"So when are you leaving?"

"Any news on your visa yet?"

There are two main reasons why I dislike them. I hear them constantly, in almost every conversation, and I know in my head that friends ask because they care. However, when coupled with reason #2--my utter lack of knowledge and mild resulting frustration with the whole situation--I am put in the position of having no easy answer besides a shrug or head-shake on something that is clearly important to me. Feeling powerless, even when I know the reasons are bureaucratic and clearly out of my hands, still stinks.

I also don't like these questions because they suggest that my life and my trip are inextricable. The undertone, which I realize is only in my head, is that my time in the current liminal state is being wasted or at least not worth similar inquiry.

I wonder if other missionaries struggle with this problem: people from their home area only asking about ministry business instead of interacting with them as they would with friends back home and also asking a few questions to draw them out about their specialized role in the Body of Christ. Perhaps that kind of situation is simply another way we overly elevate those in full-time ministry work above 'regular' folk even though God clearly states through Paul that leadership in different areas is to equip all the saints to do ministry together, with no status differentiation (Ephesians 4:7-16).

Thank God for those of you who have encouraged me to take things step by step and invest this time in spiritual preparation balanced with physical & psychological rest. I have been able to do so, if with fewer immediate results than I might wish.

And don't worry; when I know the answers I will share them loud & clear. Our social networking technologies, while a Godsend for long-distance communication, have accustomed us (at least me) to thinking about people more as tidbits of data and factoids than whole beings created in the image of our Creator. In this respect, then, they curse us by trivializing authentic relationships--or at the very least carry the threat of doing so.

Yet while I realize this and don't like it, I know that personal data is important. I also know that I don't know squat about the current visa progress and that in God's timing that's quite all right.

"Many seek the ruler's favor,

But justice for man comes from the Lord."

(Proverbs 29:27)

If that's the case, then let's ask Him for it!

Prayer for Japan: Sins of Saul (Feb. 2011)

Dear prayer family,

Thank you for your continued prayer support and concern regarding my calling to Japan! Not only am I blessed by your care, but it's a critical part of the spiritual battle for the glory of God there in the souls of Japanese--the "air war," as my pastor once called it.

In keeping with the pattern of providing topical prayer needs, this month we'll focus on perhaps the two greatest obstacles in the Japanese heart to true repentance & faith. Both are exemplified in the pitiful life of Israel's first king Saul.

The first sin is pride, which is linked to the second: witchcraft/demonic involvement.

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...Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”

And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”

So Samuel said:

"Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He also has rejected you from being king." (1 Samuel 15:17-23)

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So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. But he did not inquire of the LORD; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. (1 Chronicles 10:13-14)

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1. Please pray that the Lord would break down the national pride of the Japanese. Not only must every material import, from McDonald's to electronics, be adapted to their tastes, but outside ideas and beliefs must also 'fit' with what already exists rather than be accepted on their own merits. In addition, there has been no apologizing for the war crimes and imperialism of the 20th century. May Japanese believers lead their country and people in humility, especially in seeking to bless other Asian people groups.

2. Please pray that individual pride would be brought low. There is considerable personal cost to truly follow Christ in this society; believers are often alone in their families and religion that goes beyond annual rituals is frowned upon as abnormal. May the gospel be preached and listeners humbled to repent & believe!

3. Please pray that fleshly pride would be confessed and repented of in the church. Japan is in desperate need of bold, holy and pure groups of believers...but the few congregations are more known for division and legalism than heart transformation by the Holy Spirit and submission to the Lord's revealed will in Scripture. May love and unity in the truth prevail.

4. Please pray against the rampant spiritual deception. Fortune-tellers and palm-readers at street stands near train stations in the evening are perhaps the most obvious indicator, but the enemy of souls is having a real field day deluding this land. From Western cults (Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons) to a slew of so-called "new religions" mixing a bit of 'Christianity' into Buddhist and New Age techniques, there are thousands of counterfeits. Pray that those bound by these lies would be freed by the truth of the true Jesus--just as in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6.

5. Please pray for Christians to renounce all ways of darkness. In a land where most can still think "To be Japanese is to go to a [Buddhist] temple on New Year's Day," compromise is a daily temptation. This--not marriage, as commonly supposed--is the actual context for 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, good verses to pray for the Body here as well.

6. Please pray for Jesus's victory over all demonic powers in the cross (Colossians 2:15) to be powerfully displayed.

7. Please pray for me to give up my attempts to earn God's or man's approval and rest in the grace given through Christ's life, death and resurrection--that as I do so, He would open up doors in the Nagoya area for ministry soon.


Your brother in Jesus ("humble in heart"--Matthew 11:29 NIV),

Kylan

Prayer for Japan #2: Children (January 2011)

Dear sinners made sons of the Most High in His only Son,

May a deeper sense of His mercy (Exodus 33:15-19) stir your heart to think of and praise our Lord today.

Thank you for your prayers! God has been showing answers in many ways, and one which some have heard is that while at a friend's wedding in the country town of Turlock, I made the acquaintance of a minister involved in training church planters. I told him that I was passionate about raising up new churches, was asked where and replied "Japan."

"Where in Japan?"

"Nagoya," I said, preparing to explain its location.

He then told me that he is training several pastors there already! Our God is so faithful to bring about His will before we even know what's going on.

Now as to my prayer requests:

1. The greater Nagoya area has over 8.7 million people (denser than 3500/square mile) and, as I mentioned last letter, the highest concentration of cities & large towns without churches in all Japan. Please continue to pray for not only more believers but holy and bold believers to be multiplied in this area, then gathered into worshipping congregations that are taught the rightly-divided Word of truth.

2. For the low number of Japanese children. The nation is at a crisis point given that its birthrate is one of the world's lowest, some factors being the prevalence of abortion (no Godly understanding of life's worth), the rising age of marriage (lack of family cohesion) and the tendency to see kids as a burden on time and finances (materialism and selfishness). Please pray that these spiritual barriers, so contrary to Genesis 1:25-31, would be broken down and the hearts of parents turned toward their children.

3. For the great opportunity afforded by children's ministry. Many of us know about the "10/40 window" of unreached people groups, but a new buzzword is the "10-14 window": the age range in which most believers either first believed or truly believed with understanding (myself included). Salvation is of the Lord and His grace alone, so please beg Him to have mercy on the current generation of Japanese kids: that they would be in contact with believers and hear the gospel; that many, hearing, would believe; that the enemy's strongholds of worldly pleasures, peer approval and despair (suicides by middle-schoolers sadden but no longer shock) would be broken; that new young believers would be effectively discipled.

4. For the kids of missionaries and believers. Many pastor's kids are more influenced by the school clubs where they spend the majority of their time and cultural values than the Word. Pray for them to repent and have their own faith in Jesus, as well as for their witness to and example among their peers. Pray for their parents to be filled with His love, wisdom and Godly counsel, and for many kids to spend their lives serving the Lord in Japan.

5. For orphans and kids from broken families. There is a near-total lack of cultural altruism, as the people you help belong to your club or social circle, and as a result adoption and care of neglected children is rare. There is apparently only one orphanage in the entire country with entirely Christian staff, as the others don't have enough believers (or those with the desired qualifications) to fill positions. Cults and social groups have stepped into the void, so please pray for the salvation of these kids as well as the church to truly serve the orphan & widow (James 1:27).

6. For my further preparation in repentance and faith, deepening in real love of the Lord and mortification of the flesh daily.

Your brother in Jesus,

Kylan

Prayer for Japan #1 (December 2010)

Dear spiritual family,

Greetings from east Oakland! I pray that you are growing in obedient separation to Jesus and wonder at our Triune God.

It’s been over 3 months since I finished my church internship at ReGeneration, during which the Lord confirmed my calling as a missionary to Japan. It grieves me to know that over 400,000 Japanese live in 20 towns in or around the city of Nagoya—none of which has believers gathering in it! (Last I heard, there were more Jehovah's Witnesses--a mission field!--nationwide than professing evangelical Christians.)

Through the Perspectives course on world missions, I caught the vision for local church planting: trusting God to save [Japanese] people, training them in simple and reproducible Christian living, then appointing elders and departing in order to let them be sustained by the Holy Spirit. My heart is to become part of a mostly national team devoted to such work in this least-churched region of Japan in or shortly after July 2011.

What will it take? Being broken of my own pride and cowardice in personal witness—how else can I minister to a people who have yet to apologize for their actions in greater Asia during World War II and do not see themselves as needing to repent & find forgiveness? Being placed in a team—how else can the fullness of Christ’s body be seen and the Biblical model for sowing together ( ) be replicated?

And, most germane to you, dear reader: it will take being lifted up in prayer—only God can do these things, and when He answers it will be clear that His is the glory for accomplishing them!

1) Please pray for me to be broken in humility at my own sinfulness and totally dependent on the will & grace of the Lord—which will as a side effect produce boldness, I think

2) Please ask that God would be glorified in and Christ preached to the greater Nagoya area’s 400,000+ people in towns & cities without a church body

3) Please ask God to provide laborers, especially from within Japan, for this region and task

4) Please ask the Lord to give me wisdom for obtaining necessary or helpful personal things: a visa, contact with church planting mentor(s), experience in evangelism and other ministries, understanding of the Japanese language & culture

If you have any Scripture, advice, or questions, please let me know! I am so grateful I can send this to you and appreciate in advance your faithful prayers. Feel free to forward it to others who will also pray.


Your brother in Him Who was broken for us,

Kylan