This afternoon I made a quick decision to leave today for  Nagoya instead of tomorrow morning, after hearing that we may be hit again with a crazy snowstorm like two weeks ago.  I am still wondering if this will affect the classes I am supposed to teach tomorrow.  Because of the day being cancelled the last time, I am scheduled to teach an extra class, going from 9:30 to 5 tomorrow.  Please do pray for me and for this class — I can’t think of a more important subject for students in seminary (or any of us in Japan) than that of evangelism.  (Blogging to follow!)

This morning our family got up early and headed in a different direction – south — to Kobe.  We caravanned with two families from our neighborhood to participate in the parent/child Kobe City Marathon (the word marathon, when used in this country just means a race, rather than 26 miles!).  Owen and Eric, and three other parent/child pairs who live near us all ran the 1.5 kms.

The younger three kids and I, and one of the grandmothers from our neighborhood had just started waiting at the finish line.  I watched a number of father or mother/child pairs come around the bend, hand-in-hand, and realized it was a pretty short race.  I started to get out my iPhone to be ready to take a picture when Annie yelled, “Hey – there’s Owen!”  I hadn’t seen Eric yet- so I was surprised, and just managed to get the back of him as he headed across the finish line (wearing the orange shirt).  Without Eric!
A few moments later we saw Eric, focused on the orange shirt running in front of him.  They met up after the finish line.  (So – I have no idea why that picture just came in sideways – but I’m too tired to try and change it.  Sorry!)

The race officials had given a sensor for each of the parent’s to wear on their sneaker, and Eric’s showed that they (or he at least) had come in 32nd (4 minute 45 second kilometer). If Owen had been wearing it, they would have been at least 25th…

Eric said when they started out Owen wanted to bolt, as he usually does when they’ve gone jogging at the beginning.  Eric told him just to go, assuming that Owen at some point soon would grow weary and slow down, allowing Eric to catch up.  It never happened.  He was one dashing boy, all the way across the finish line.  Technically they were supposed to hold hands across the finish line, but I don’t think that partnership was on Owen’s mind as much as getting across the finish line as fast as he could.

It was great fun to celebrate with our good friends as they came across the finish line, too, and then to all caravan back to Sanda and enjoy steaming bowls of hot ramen noodles together.  It was a wonderful time for community building and enjoying friendship.

On the way back in the car, as Eric was telling me about Owen sprinting on ahead, I thought that it is often harder than one thinks to stay hand-in-hand with our Japanese and ministry partners.  We have our eyes on the same goal – and that is good- but at some point along the way we drop hands and forget that the plan is for us to be going at this together.  We still get across the goal, but it may not be with all that God intends it to be.  In some ways I think as North Americans we are so used to doing things for ourselves;  setting our own goals and course, and going for it. And Japanese are not always sure quite how to link arms with North Americans.   Alone, we can each get there faster perhaps.  But without all the benefits that come from linking arms with those God has called us to partner with.

We continue to pray for God to show us with whom, and how, He wants us to partner here in Japan.  To perhaps slow us down;  or redirect us, so that we maximize all the benefits of running this race together.

This morning when I woke Olivia up for school, she looked at me very hopefully and said, “Mommy, just one more morning-time and then Daddy is coming home?”  (Eric has been spending time with his family and helping his brother get moved.)

I like the way kids count.  Tonight Owen asked before bed how many minutes until morning.  I said I didn’t know how many minutes but about nine or ten hours.  He went to his room and then came back to where I was tucking in the girls and said, “How many minutes are in an hour again?”  “Sixty.”  I hear his mind working.  “So how many minutes would that all be?”  (Still working on the multiplcation tables!)   “Six hundred minutes, Owen.”

“That’s too long!  That’s too many minutes!  That’s not fair!”

I promised him time would fly very quickly between now and all those minutes if he did what I had asked and jumped into bed.

It’s been a really good eight days with the kids – I think we’ve all done well — until today.  For me.  I’m ready to have him home.   Tomorrow night after a dance practice, sports club, Olivia’s play date and a quick dinner we will all drive to the airport to pick him up.  Meanwhile, those minutes are just ticking away … but – they must have woken up Ian because I hear him crying out upstairs.    Thankfully, just one more morning-time and then Daddy comes home!  Woo hoo!

Ten days ago, Eric and I had a chance (made the opportunity?) to get away – a month late –  for our thirteenth anniversary celebration.  I’ve finally had time to download our photos!

In recent years we’ve found a get-away more likely to happen if we try and do it in January.  So, the last night before our kids headed back to school from winter break we went to Kyoto, thanks to the gracious help of friends who watched our children overnight.  It was such a wonderful trip!  On Sunday night we chose to eat at a small izakaya called Issei which served a unique, delicious dinner cooked in front of us on a black stone.  After some delicious delicacies we meandered through the crooked romantic streets still haunted by geisha and meiko.

The next morning, we were thrilled to see the city covered with a soft cottony snow.  Snow somehow helps make cold more bearable.

We decided to go and see the ginkakuji temple – the silver temple built five hundred years ago that was supposed to be plated in real silver — until they ran out of money.  It was stunning in the snow.

Just before we left our perfect get-away, we met a beautiful young woman celebrating coming-of-age in one of the most beautiful of cities.  Isn’t she wonderful?

I wrote briefly tonight on Facebook about a discussion that came up in my ladies’ English class.  We were sharing about our favorite restaurants, and who we like to go there with.  My friends in the class were all amazed that I said my husband.  None of them ever go on dates with their husbands.  Like —never.  Period. Later, while having dinner with family friends in our neighborhood, the wife and I were talking about this nationwide marriage problem.  And she said, “Aren’t you so thankful that you married Eric?”  I can only say, like thirteen years ago – – Yes!  We are still learning and growing in our marriage, but I thank God every day for this humble and godly man He has given to me.

Lately, when Ian gets excited about some food, he makes sure everyone knows about it.  You can see the mouth – you just can’t hear the squeals that accompany it.

Our friend Y. has been over the last two nights – we both couldn’t stop laughing.  The other kids think it’s pretty hilarious, too, although when it is dessert time and he tenaciously follows them around wanting more it’s not quite as funny.

This cute face is pretty irresistible.  Without wanting to over-spiritualize a cute face, I have continued the past two days to recall the same Bible verse every time he does this:  “Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it”.  I couldn’t remember which Psalm it was from;  so today I looked up the reference, and read the first part of it:  “I am Jehovah, your God, who brought you out of Egypt;  open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10).

While doing some housework, I wondered if God wants me to be more like Ian…my little boy knows how good that chocolate ice cream bar had tasted a minute ago and wants to do whatever he can to get more.  God in this verse tells me to remember the amazing things he’s already done for me – and keep asking – requesting- His amazing blessings.

One of my favorites, Charles Spurgeon, says:  “Let us take in grace at every door.  Let us drink it in as a sponge sucks up the water in which it lies.  God is ready to fill us if we are only ready to be filled.  Let our needs make us open our mouths;  let our faintness cause us to open our mouths and pant;  yeah, let our alarm make us open our mouths with a child’s cry….”

Today I’ve been asking God — my God who has time after time brought me out of Egypt — for more of His Spirit to fill me.  for our children to be Kingdom-seekers who God uses in ways we couldn’t dream of.  for healing and restoration in relationships that are hurting.  for fruit in Sanda – in Kansai – in Japan –  that astounds us all. for God to use our team here to unite and ignite pastors and churches across our region.  for more love, more power, more boldness, more of Jesus.  more Jesus.

“Open wide your mouth, and I will fill it.”  What are you waiting for?

Yesterday I left before dinner to spend 24 hours in Nagoya, where I was supposed to teach the first of four Mondays at Christ Bible Seminary.  Because of the big snow storm, the classes were cancelled (I will teach three Mondays for 7 hours instead of 5) and I was able to come back a few hours earlier than expected, to all of our delight.  Last night, Eric said Olivia cried herself to sleep, with Annie trying to comfort her.  It’s nice to come home to a family who misses you!

But tonight Eric was leaving for longer – eight days to visit his family in Hawaii and help his brother move.  Our family all drove him to the airport and said goodbye.  As I started to pull away, suddenly from the back seat was a very loud wailing…Olivia just let it rip.  “I miss DADD–YYYY!!!!”  It didn’t matter what any of us said.  The wailing was unstoppable for 25 very long minutes –until we pulled into one of the happiest places on earth for some ice cream.  Ahh -McDonalds — nothing like a little comfort food for the broken-hearted. I hope while Eric flies through the night that our children sleep well, and that God gives me extra love, patience, and joy for the days, and nights, to come.

On Monday morning I will teach my first day of an M.Div course on evangelism in Nagoya at Christ Bible Institute.  I have never been there – it actually will be the first time I’ve gotten off the bullet train and entered Nagoya itself.   I’m looking forward to spending the night with our friends the Chapins, who are on staff at the seminary.

Evangelism in Japan- wooh.  Perhaps one of the greatest challenges in one of the most difficult countries in the world.  The catholic author Endo Shusaku says in his famous novel Silence that Japanese culture is a “mud swamp… because it sucks up all sorts of ideologies, transforming them into itself and distorting them in the process.  It is the spider’s web that destroys the butterfly, leaving only the ugly skeleton.”  There have been times in my prep where I have felt stuck in the mud swamp!  But oddly, this topic  has made me really excited.   Exploring the Japanese perspective has remained the biggest challenge, but I’m thankful for the colleagues who have helped with resources and ideas.

When I first started working on the class, I made a first-draft “slot-filler” – a layout of possible lectures.  What has surprised me a bit is how the lectures, and the reading materials, have changed.  The process of preparing for this class over the last five months has been amazing in terms of the things that I have learned and grown in;  the ideas that were out there floating in my head somewhere that have come together and created new models that I hope to be able to share.

Monday’s classes will include:  1) a spiritual formation about the power of one — what God can do when we share our faith with one person;  2) lecture/discussion on conversion and paradigm shifts;  3) a theology of relationships — looking at several models on relationships and evangelism that “work” in Japan.

I’d love your prayers for me and this class — that God would keep teaching all of us;  that the aroma of Jesus would fill our room and guide our discussions;  that there would be some wonderful break-thrus for us as we tackle this topic that I believe is so dear to our Lord.

We are expecting a possible snow storm tomorrow – I’m not sure what that could mean for getting to Nagoya in late afternoon.  Eric will be on the home-front until Monday evening, when he flies to Hawaii to be with his family.  We’re all going to miss him too much!   There will be a two-hour gap before I get home, and our friends the Boehmes will come and hold down the fort.

I will end with a wonderful paragraph about our motivation for mission and evangelism:

Many well-intentioned church leaders have simplistically presented the words of Jesus “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”, as some remote order barked by a stern sergeant-major. If Jesus said it, we should do it! But Bosch points out that missionary service that is motivated by blind obedience to an impersonal order from Jesus is built on a flimsy foundation. If our commitment to mission is only based on Jesus “order” in Matthew 28, it makes mission and obligation for us rather than an act of love and grace. It’s not unlike a woman who complains that her husband never brings her flowers. When the guilty husband rushes out and buys her a bouquet and presents it to her, she is still dissatisfied, because it wasn’t that she wanted flowers in particular. What she wanted was for him to be motivated by his devotion for her so as to buy a gift. When we engage in mission only because we feel guilty that we haven’t pleased Jesus and his order in the so-called Great Commission, we satisfy neither Jesus, nor our own sense of calling. Rather, says Bosch, mission emerges from a deep, rich relationship with Jesus. The woman whose husband never brings her flowers doesn’t want flowers. She wants him and his devotion. (Mike Frost and Alan Hirsch from ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church p.50 (quoting Bosch: Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission )

One of my favorite teaching axioms is “expression deepens impression.”  From a teacher’s perspective, if you want to enhance impact of something, it helps to have participants share with a partner or the class what they are learning.  The very process of sharing it creates a greater likelihood of it being remembered, and hopefully applied.

So, too, it helps me when I read a good book to write down some of the highlights in my journal, and sometimes on my blog as well.  A few weeks ago I finished a book that I’ve owned for a few years (thanks to Scott Shaum’s annual reading list!) but finally read it in early fall.  It’s called Anonymous, by Alicia Britt Chole.  Great book… with the premise being that during the anonymous seasons of our lives, God can do his best work:  “The Father’s work in us does not sleep — though in spiritual winters he retracts all advertisement” (page 3).  Jesus is Chole’s main example — ninety percent of his earthly life was spent in obscurity;  ten percent in the public eye.  It was what God did during that ninety percent that made his ten percent “absolutely indestructible.”  As a friend of the author’s said to her, “I feel that trials do not prepare us for what’s to come as much as they reveal what we’ve done with our lives up to this point”

The anonymous years in our own lives may come from a variety of causes:  change in job; moving; seasons where we are more homebound or removed from leadership for various reasons; starting something new; motherhood :).  Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

“Sweetness through hiddenness guarantees abundance in harvest in God’s good and perfect time.”  (p. 181).

“The One who planted us… will be faithful to grow us.  Father knows best and would never sabotage his own.  He is, after all, good.  We are stewards, not owners, of the fruit he cultivates in our lives…”

This quote gets me every time I read it:  “When our potential seems stifled, we can easily begin to believe that someone or something is standing in our way:  our leaders are nearsighted or that supervisor is jealous or our spouse is holding us back, the old guard has lost vision… But is God’s will really that fragile?  Does he not foresee?  Is he caught offguard?  Is he unprepared?  Along with unmodified obedience, a sweet spirit is one of the most powerful guardians of tomorrow.”  (p. 173)

“Over the years, Jesus’ consistent choice to submit to his Father God’s will and Word clustered and built momentum as he stepped out of his anonymous season and into the waters of the Jordan River.  There, the Holy Spirit descended not on talent, title, or worldly possessions but upon the submitted heart, mind and spirit of Jesus.”  (p. 150).

Powerful words.  I want God to descend on my submitted heart, whatever the present, past, or future holds.  My mentor used to often say – paraphrased — that it’s not so important what happens, but how we respond to it. Thank  God that His will – it really is not that fragile.

Just found this – and as someone who has been helped to understand myself and others through this personality inventory, enjoyed these prayers.  See what you think!  (BTW, I’m ENFJ).

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The first two days have been a wonderful start to 2011, with some sweet touches of the new year, Japanese-style.

The highlight of our first day of the new year was fun time spent with our  friends the Thomsons.   We were all thrilled to discover near the end of our evening several inches of snow.   There was no stopping the kids from having fun outside, even in the dark.

During the night, the snow had started to melt but then froze over, so we weren’t able to drive to church. But it was perfect for sledding in the park!  Ian might have had the most fun…

…though it’s hard to say.

After the snow play, we had a chance to go through our nengajou – the New Year’s cards that many Japanese send out to friends and colleagues (similar to the North American Christmas card tradition).  Since this is the year of the rabbit according to the Japanese/Chinese zodiac, we love seeing the creative ways the rabbit gets incorporated into people’s cards:

This is our year!  Eric and I both were born in the year of the rabbit, so we had to splurge on a special Starbucks mug that is out here for just the first week or so of January:

Tonight, I cooked my favorite Japanese New Year’s food for the first time – ozouni soup.  It uses a green leafy vegetable called mizuna, which I have never used before.  (The dictionary defines it as potherb mustard, which is probably why I’ve never imagined cooking with!)

It was a fun dish to make – and we liked it a lot.  Here is our simple version of a recipe that has many, many versions.

New Year’s Ozoni Soup

2 skinless chicken breasts

1 1/2 C carrots, peeled and cut

1 1/2 C daikon (Japanese radish), peeled and cut into small pieces

1 C mizuna (cut into 1-2 inch sections)

1 package kamaboko (fish cake), cut into thin slices

1 package mochi (pounded rice cake), cut into bite-size pieces

1-2 Tablespoons dashi (fish stock)

2 cubes chicken broth/boullion

salt to taste

Cook chicken breasts in 6-8 C boiling water and 2 T salt.  Boil for ten minutes, then lower heat and cook about 30 more minutes.  Remove chicken, shred, then return to stock. Wash and prepare vegetables.  Add carrots and daikon and cook until tender (10-15 minutes). Add mizuna the last minute of cooking (should stay crisp).  For mochi, either add to the soup last five minutes;  or put into toaster oven and toast until puffy, then add to soup bowl and pour soup over mochi to serve.  Add kamaboko on top and serve.

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I hope this is a year of trying more new things… letting our kids play outside at night once and a while… taking advantage of snow days to go sledding in the park…. splurging at times on rabbit mugs that make my husband smile a lot.  You, too.