Uncreative

It has been very busy. We have been leading group from Texas Super Summer, which comprises of 123 high school age teenagers. Hence why I have not blogged for so long! But have no fear! Awesome things are still continuing to happen here, even when I do not have time to contrive a clever blog. God has used the students in great ways, and has reveled Himself through various means. From real life people to the tale of Toy Story 3, our Father has taught us through many means. Even in these times were we are at the end of our rope, we still wake up and lead our teams, because in our weaknesses, He is stronger. I hope to write a few more stories become I come back, which is sadly, soon. Continue to pray for the people of Japan, that they might personally know their maker.

The Better Dessert

It was similar to I-Hop, with a Japanese Country twist: Their main and most famous dishes were omelets. Its a Thursday night, and sitting across the table from me is a very unlikely contact. He is a high class professional businessman in Shibuya, Tokyo. The company he works for is an immense pharmaceutical giant in the world of medicine, and here he is, sitting across from me.

The beginning of our relationship is how many should start, but countless times never do. I am at Starbucks, drinking my overpriced Japanese coffee, when out of the corner of my eye, I see him holding a piece of paper with Kongi and English. This was my segway for conversation. As we began to talk, I soon found out he would travel to New York, Chicago, and LA to close deals for his company. You do not send a low level businessmen to represent your company in America. He was so delighted to talk and interested in my story that he offered to take me to dinner in the future.

We connected at this local Japanese casual restaurant, and it is here the mystery of the Gospel was presented to him. As we dove into the topic of religions, I knew my work was cut out for me. Most Japanese do not believe in a religion, but most believe there are 8 million gods, and everything around you is a god. Not to limit the amount of gods, for the 8 stands for infinity. This man believed somewhere along these lines. So then, after intently listening to his thoughts and views, I begin to layout a case for Christ.

We discuss a multitude of topics, from the historical accuracy of the Bible, the nature of God, and the differences between Christianity and all other worldly religions. But as I found through personal experience, numbers of manuscripts and theological philosophy will not fully capture the image of Christ to those who are lost. The most personal and powerful story of the Gospel is not found in an academic book or in statistics - it is found in us. The story of how Jesus’ good news saved and changed us.

This story comes from the heart. As I began to pour out my life of how Christ changed me, I could see true understanding in his eyes. My friend was not bored with the story. I quoted the end of the beatitudes in Matthew were Jesus calls us to be salt and light in the world, to let our light so shine before men that they will see our works and glorify our God who is in heaven. I told him how I want my life to be different.

This was the sticking point to move into a metaphor of how I wanted my life to be. I heard this example many years ago, and through the years, it has flowed into the context of my conversation. But never before as perfect as this.

“Imagine I am eating a dessert,” I said. “Its just so good, the cream, the chocolate, the little nuts that tie the flavor together...This is perfect.” (Cue waiter, walking to table beside us with breathtaking dessert.) “But wait, look at that dessert over there. It makes mine look like nothing! Look at the precision, the creativity, the flavors, the art. After looking at it, I feel like mine is missing something. I wish I could have that something which makes it different. I want the better dessert.”

God’s perfect timing spurred me on to drive home the point. When people see my life, I want them to see me as the better dessert. I want them to look at their life and say, “What does he have that I don’t?” In this world of darkness and despair, in this world of seeker and sinners, every person is looking for something to fulfill their life. As the believers in Antioch whom first were called Christians, may we be salt to a tasteless life, may we be light to the dark places, and in a world searching for something more, may we be the better dessert.

Pray for my friend, as I connect him with a missionary who lives here, he will continue to have a thirst and desire to know the one and true God of the Bible.

Supernatural

Birds eat worms. Or so they have for as long as I could remember. I was going to meet T, my contact from Hosei University in the afternoon to go to a breakdancing club competition, so I stayed close to home and was doing park ministry in Kichijogi. We had shepherded the group to the park, and dispersed to start-up conversations through frisbees or other means. And yes, I do mean any other means.

As I sat down to read more of "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel, the person on the bench next to me moved. Great, I thought, another person running for their life. I looked down on the ground to find a worm willowing in the mud. There were birds over by the pond - this could be fun! The little 10 year-old child came out in me, and with mud crusted fingers, I walked my prize over to a group of greedy and clamorous pigeons. I threw the worm onto the ground, waiting for the immediate demise of the poor worm, but to my surprise, the birds did not even notice it. They continued to jump around, not even acknowledging the miraculous gift I bestowed on them. The early bird gets the worm, right? Birds eat worms, right? But not these! These were the birds who did not eat worms.

I had a quiet audience of one sitting on a nearby bench, quietly smirking and internally laughing as he read the distraught in my face and actions. He pointed to the pond and said, "The fish." Inside the pond, there are fish bigger than your cat. So I threw the worm, who only thought he has escaped fate, into the pond, to be eaten by the abnormal size fish. Since he was the initiator of the conversation, I sat down beside him, and we began to talk.

Talk we did, but communication came easier than it should of. This poor fellow, currently a young businessman, spoke as much English as I do Spanish. For those of you who know me, thats not much at all. But God had used ancient work in this mans life - He knew of Christ and of the Sesisho, or the Bible. I thank God for "The Passion," for by this movie, the Japanese people actually know of the story of Christ. Talk about background information taking coming to life!

He knew of the cross, and made the gesture of a nail going into the wrist of his hand. As I gave him the Gospel of John in Japanese, I would find verses in my English Bible and would have him look it up in his own language. He was open to learning more, so I pulled out our bi-lingual Steps to Peace with God tracts. He heard the gospel and was able to read it in his own language.

He understood. One of the last verses we use is Revelation 3:20 - "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and lets me in, I will come and eat with him, and he with me." We then ask the person, "Where is Jesus knocking? Where is the door?" He answered with the gesture of his heart. Many Japanese do not understand this very fact.

He did not become a Christian, but wanted to learn more of the Bible. I told him I would find a Japanese Christian who he could talk to and teach more of the Bible. For this I am glad, because many people push for salvations on a mission trip so they can check the box and move on with their life. I do not want this for the people I invest in - becoming a Christian is a big deal. It is not a prayer you simply pray. Becoming a Christian will change every day after for eternity. Praise God the people I have ministered to do not want to so blindly place their faith in God. Our God does not want a blind love. But that is a different story.

Supernatural means superseding the normality of nature. The birds who would not eat worms was a supernatural event. Even in the smallest ways, God uses supernatural events so the ordinary may experience the extraordinary love He freely gives. As we are commanded, make use of every opportunity. Especially the supernatural ones.

Pray for the contacts I have here! Sonya (J-girl) and I had dinner with N, my woman of peace from the begenning of the trip. It was amazing! She has so much love in her, but it is misplaced. She went to a Baptist church while living in the states and has had SO many God moments in her life. What a powerful testimony of divine appointments she will have will God calls her to Himself!

Pray for S, a man from Laos whom I was able to pour into. A case for Christ was laid down, and the gospel was presented. He too wanted God very badly, but He wanted his decision to have value to it. Praise Jesus for that. I am going to call him tomorrow to set up a time to meet and study the bible more.

Pray for T, my contact from Hosei University who took me to a club for breakdancers, not a university breakdancing club. Talk about translation error. But our relationship increased from time spent together, and pray God would give me wisdom in how/when to share the gospel with him.

Pray for T, the business man I spoke of from the park. Pray I will find the right Japanese Christian to connect with him!

Pray for H, a co-mamager of marketing at a huge international pharmaceutical company. God let me meet him at Starbucks, and we have dinner on Thursday night. May I be able to connect him with a fluent Japanese missionary who works with business men and professional baseball players here.

Pray for Y, a contact with great english pronunciation but lacking vocabulary. He learned english from music, and was very interested in Bible and wanted me to teach him. Pray I will be able to stay in contact for him, and so he will not fall off of the map.

Pray for T, a Japanese Olympic trampolinist who will be competing in Canada this week for the Canada Cup. He is interested in hanging out with me, and was interested in the Bible. Pray for times and opportunities for when he returns.

Pray for A, an American fluent in Japanese who works here. Pray I would be able to meet with him and pour the love of God into him.

Pray for Y and M, two contacts who were good ground but have totally fallen off of the map. Have not heard from them in weeks, which is sad. Pray that if I am to connect with them, God would do so.

Finally, pray for Me. Literally, pray for Dan. It is hard to juggle all these people and relationships. Sometimes I feel like I am cheating on a friend as I try to maintain these relationships all over Tokyo. It would be so easy to shut-down and do nothing. But living a life of purpose comes at a cost. Sometimes we walk into the harvest of another, and other times we sow what we will not reap. We in Japan are sowers, and take joy in being sowers. But the life of a sower is difficult - we must continually look at our life and work through heaven's eyes. Not always an easy thing for us as humans to do. Pray God would use me, and ignite me to further love these people.

Thankyou for your time in reading and for your prayers. Prayer is the number one goal and weapon of the mission in Japan - something you can help us in, even 7,000 miles away. Grace and peace be with you from our Lord Jesus.

Freely Falling

It never fails to happen - something always falls out of your Bible as soon as you open it. Or so is the case with me. Today marks the 37th day I have been on the mission field in Tokyo, Japan, and although the work done here has been amazing, living life here has been a challenge like none other.

I live in an underground apartment floor, split in half for girls and guys, with 27 other people. There is only one place where we can get wireless internet access, which is the winding hallway between both sides of the cave (clever name for the underground apartment floor). We eat, sleep, and do ministry with each other 24 hours a day. Few of us knew each other before we came to Japan, we range from ages 17-22, different colleges, different states, different personalities, and different walks of life. As one of the journeymen missionaries said, "Just add cameras, and you have Christian reality TV. The saddest part is I would actually want to watch it!"

Thus is the story of our lives here. But, through all the differences, we have our common thread - Christ. And what a powerful thread He is. We have had no divisions of unity or any notable strife. I say nothing notable, for the hardest challenge we face is for everyone to wash their own dishes! But pouring our hearts out to the Japanese every day, as well as walking a few to several miles every day within Tokyo, we much be careful. So our head missionary planned a 3 day retreat for us to relax in the mountains and grow as a team, for we still have work to do here.

Here we were, in the valley of the beautiful mountains, so far out (but still inside Tokyo), you have to push a button to make the train doors open. At a Christian camp focused on reaching military kids and serving MKs, we found our place of renewal. I open my Bible, and, almost on cue, I have Hope tracks and Steps to Peace tracks fall out. I annoyingly reached over to pick them up, when a though ran across my head. How ironic it was to have peace and hope fall from my Bible.

But the illustration goes much deeper, as the parables of Jesus often do. As Christians, we have Jesus who lives inside us. As John the Baptist puts it, I must decrease, so He might increase. We are in a process of dying to the old self and putting on the new self, the self which has Jesus as its very core. From John the Apostle we know Jesus is the Word - For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. The same Word by which light, and all things were created, in the beginning. And by the hand of Paul, we are called to be imitators of Christ, imitators of the Word.

We are the Word to a lost world, a world which so desperately needs purpose. A world which needs hope. A world which needs life.

May those who open the pages of our life find peace and hope freely falling upon them; and as they kneel down to pick it up, may they lift their eyes to see the eternal giver of it all.

Conductors

It feels good to be loved. This week has been very busy and hectic, for in the cave, our under-ground apartment complex, we just added another 15 GoTokyo interns (high school age). This is a great addition, for we will be able to minister to more people here in Tokyo! But this also causes changes and additional confusion. We are in the process of training them - taking them to the mission sites, showing the train lines, and helping them figure our the winding streets of Shibuya, all while they are adjusting from being away from home, in a different time zone. Today, I was the only guy on my team, so after we arrived at our mission site in Tachikawa, I let the girls have their “girl time,” while I just walked around and inside the station.

I went to my favorite super market - it is hard to find, stuck in the basement of a building outside the south exit. They have amazing prices on everything, including chips, bread, sodas, and their best item, meat. I had bought my sodas, bread, and snacks from this store, but I could not buy meat, for Tachikawa is 45 minutes away from Shibuya (on a good day). As I saw a wonderful deal on meat, I flagged down a worker in the store, and through english and a spectacular display of charades to see if I could freeze the meat and come back later, he took me to an ice machine and said “free.” I had nothing to put ice in, but he changed that. After speaking to an employee, a nylon green freezer bad was brought out to me. The perfect solution to get my meat home safety. Even though he could not speak a word of English, even though I was (and have been) the only foreigner shopping in the store, he went out of his way to help me. I felt so humbled and loved by this.

My adventure continued to the gourmet food court of Tachikawa station. It is one of the most beautiful culinary sights I have seen in my entire life. Lines of perfectly lit food stands with every kind of Japanese food and more. I ended up at a cheese stand, were 3 employees greeted me and offered me samples they were handing out. As I looked over the selection, I began to name of cheeses I had previously had, and in simple English, tell them of Christmas traditions and my favorite kinds. I even told them I could not buy anything they had, they still talked to me and offered me samples of the different foods they possessed. Even though I was only able to share such a small part of my life with them, they made me feel loved beyond measure. I had a handful of other experiences such as these while I walked around, seeing what other Japanese would make true eye contact with me.

The Japanese, though having a cold and hard exterior, are the most warm and beautiful people once you are able to get inside. They have so much love to give. So much love, I have been blown away and been blesses beyond measure. I was humbled and thankful that God would let me come and serve people such as these.

Today was a reminder from God. Our call as Christians is to love people. Countless verses in the Bible speak of love - They will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another, abide in faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love, love your neighbor as yourself... It is a dominant theme of the Bible. While I am here, in Japan, God has called me to love people. But today, God used unbelievers to love me. And it felt so wonderful to be loved. It truly moved my emotions. Love is powerful. But the love of God is even greater. These people, who loved on me, were only loving in part. For it is only through the love of God that true love can be made whole. This is the love instilled into our very being - the love which will radiate from us, if we are willing.

Being loved today moved my emotions. But being love to the people around us - it moves people’s lives. May we be conductors of His love.

Unglamorous

I remained in my seat, sulking in a sense of disbelief. Was this really happening to me? Today is the day when Amanda, an intern I am serving with, and I will walk onto the Japanese Technological Hosei University campus. Our goal is to enter the campus without being stopped by campus police, for the IMB Missionaries who work here in Japan are always denied access due to their age, and eat lunch at the cafeteria, meeting students and beginning to cultivate relationships.

But today, things were not going my way. I attempted to text two of my contacts whom I had exchanged information with a few days ago, but my Japanese phone kept flashing error reports I could never hope to read. It was raining on the walk over, and both Amanda and I were without umbrellas. Once on campus, we finally bought lunch and went to sit a reasonable distance from two Japanese guys, only to watch them immediately stand up, grab their gear, and leave the area.

In my heart, I was telling God this was not the way it was suppose to happen. I was here to meet people, to be the social butterfly, not to send people away. Discourage would of taken the heart of me, but Amanda, in her wisdom, spoke the message God was trying to so desperately show me.

What if our purpose at Hosei University was different from God’s purpose? I had one goal, to meet people. But God has one purpose for us all- to be the gospel. And being the gospel is not always as glamorous as we want it to be. We could be light at the campus just by being in prayer for the people who attended, and we could pray for God to soften the hearts of those who will one day hear the good news. Even if we are not the ones who receive the harvest. God called us to this place, and our God wants obedience, not results. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians , What then is Paul? And what then is Apollos? I planted, Apollos watered, but God causes the growth.

We sat there in silence, praying for His work to be accomplished, not our own. As we were taking our trays back to the kitchen, I was stopped by a Japanese guy who wanted to talk. I did not initiate the conversation, I did not even make eye contact with him, he stopped me. And he was not the only one. By the end of the hour, I had five new contacts, all wanting to talk and hangout outside of the University. God provided people for me to begin relationships with as soon as I surrendered my will and began to seek for His. After a few cell phone pictures and many laughs, Amanda and I walked off of the campus, seeing how the not so glamorous work pleases our faithful God.

The Japanese woman who helped me get to Shibuya on my first night has finally contacted me! I will meet her for dinner on Saturday or Sunday night with one of the Journeymen, Sonya. Pray for the meeting to go well! God is faithful!

The Pursuit of Perfection

Its a compliment - really. The fat rich man, a common japanese card game, clearly portrays the culture here. This game is played with 4 or more people, and all the cards in the deck are dealt. The goal of the game is to get rid of all the cards in your hand. At the beginning, the person with the 3 of spades (3's are the lowest card) starts. He will lay down a single 3, or a pair of 3's, or if he has it, three 3's. Then going in clockwise order, the next player must lay down a higher card than the one on the table. So if a single 3 was laid down, the next person would lay down a single 4 or higher, a pair of 3's, a pair of 4's or higher, ect. If you cannot play a card (either you do not have a high enough card or the right number of cards) you say "pass." Once everyone "passes," the person who laid down the highest card then starts the entire process again. It is a game of strategy, between laying down the right cards at the right time. The first person to get rid of all of their cards by this process becomes "The fat rich man." The rest battle it out for second, third, and fourth.

Now here is the catch - The "rich fat man" will take the head of the table, and everyone will sit in order of their position. Then, after the cards are dealt, the rich fat man will take the highest 2 cards of the person in fourth place, giving them their 2 lowest cards, and the second place person will take the third person's highest card, giving them their lowest card.

This is the mentality the Japanese are born into. Those who rise to power stay in power, and those who aren't "good enough" are continually bashed into the ground. This is in all aspects of life - from academics to sports. For these reasons, the japanese students push themselves beyond all reasons. Their entire worth in life is how they can succeed, how much money they can get. But the pursuit of perfection can have drastic ends.

Japan has the highest suicide for any nation in the world. Business men who do not get the job, students who do not make it into a select school, or even those who get trampled in the rush for success all decide there is nothing more to live for. They become jumpers - throwing themselves in front of the fast moving trains. And the saddest part of all is the way the Japanese view this. The loss of a life is not disheartening to them. No, they are now late to work. There is an inconvenience. They are more worried about the stopped train system than the stop of someone's existence.

We come with a message of Hope.

Jesus.

Continue to pray as we make contacts here. I have a new contact thanks to the CBU Music team - Y. He is struggling between choosing Buddhism and Christianity. Pray God will use me to reach him for the glory of Christ.

Cilantro

I finally found meat. Because of the expensive food costs in Japan, we normally have to eat one meal a day from the cave (the place we stay). Because of some really delicious and expensive meals, we may go for a few days packing sandwiches and such. I bought what I thought was ground beef for some hamburgers, but I’m not sure what kind of meat it actually is. Maybe ground pork? None the less, the price was right, 105 yen for 100 grams. But the chicken breasts, well, not sure of that, but it was chicken, cooked nicely.

One of my other food adventures was to find the ingredients for the world famous dish, guacamole. I went to 3 different stores before I found the cheapest and best quality avocados I could find (128 yen), some, not many tomatoes (138 yen), white onions, for there are no onions on the island so it seems (198 yen), and the hardest ingredient to find, cilantro. In previous weeks I had found the garlic powder, the salt, the pepper, but nowhere could I find my precious cilantro.

I was at a speciality food store I had stumbled upon on a different trek, and thought I had seen cilantro there before. But this time, there was none anywhere. After a through search, I began to attempt communication with one of the employees, to no avail. Laugh if you must, but next time you play sharades, I want to see how you act out “cilantro.” But thankfully, there was a local who spoke wonderful English to help me. She translated for me, as we soon found out they only receive one packet of cilantro a day, and even helped me call another store close to my station to see if they would have it. This whole process took over 10 minutes, and after she finished on the phone and had bought a few things, offered to walk with me as far as her path home would take her.

She was a single mother who had a son about my age. She lived in LA for 5 years, but later came back to Tokyo. Once finding out my purpose in Japan, she was very respectful and open to conversing about religion. Shinto is her religion, and she believes because her family before her also believed. The walk was short, and we were not able to get far into the conversation. She was a very polite and nice woman, and I hope I will be able to meet her again to talk about the differences in our religions. I pray that through the adventure for finding a simple food, the Lord will continue to bring more to Himself.