IDOP

April 23rd was Cru's International Day of Prayer- like IHOP, but a little different  (^_^). Around the world, Cru staff gathered to pray for the needs of different ministries and people groups and praise God for all he is doing around the world.

My STINT team met with the SI Tokyo staff for a day of praying for the nations, for Japan, for Tokyo, and for each other. It was a really sweet time in the Lord's presence. To literally pray our way around the world and across the nation of Japan was a humbling experience. I was reminded of how important it is to make time in our busy lives to step back and remember our brothers and sisters living faithfully for the Lord in every culture and within every people group. Also, how important it is to lift up those who are still walking in darkness, praying for the Lord's mercy and grace to be revealed to them.

As believers we are called to pray. Called, but also given the privilege and honor of communicating with the God of the Universe in such an intimate way. When life gets crazy I often forget what a gift it is, how crucial it is to the success of ministry and the christian life. It was a gift to have a day to remember the power of prayer in fulfilling the Great Commission.

I'm confident the Lord heard all the prayers lifted up by his children yesterday. And the cool thing is, we don't need another IDOP in order to come into his presence again. He is always there, always listening when we lift our eyes and bare our souls to him.


As Isaiah says in chapter 37 verse 4, "it may be...therefore pray." We need no greater reason than this to come before the Lord. Let us be people who faithfully take advantage of this gift!

Life-living

Just memories I like from the past few weeks (^_^)

Perchin'

I swear I got dye on the eggs too- Easter 2013

Dyeing Easter eggs with Yukari on Easter Sunday

Assembly line for our Freshmen Goodie Bags

Welcome week chaos at Waseda University

Boba! First time in Tokyo

Looking down from my high place at Toyama park

Making new friends at ICUHS

Post- Easter egg hunt at ICUHS!

Making ourselves at home at Homey's- American Burgers

Many thanks to Christine for supplying me with awesome photos as always. 

My camera died a slow painful death recently so I've been depending on her to document life for awhile. Another teammate has let me borrow his camera during the remainder of our time here so I can supply some photos on my own again!

The Crazy Life- belated March update

 Now that ministry is settling into a more normal schedule again, I thought I would jump back to the past two crazy weeks and do a little show and tell. Following are photos from our high school ministry event- an American Games Overnighter with special guests from the UCLA spring break vision team, as well as a few snapshots from my Tap Lovers recital for the incoming freshmen.

The stint life is a chaotic one, but it is also a fulfilling and exciting one. I'm blessed to be living this life here in Japan.

Enjoy!

Doing introductions at the student center

Group shot at the park after capture the flag and a scavenger hunt

Everybody and the cake

Group shot with our awesome seniors

Action shot of one of our relay games

Sleepyheads

With half of the awesome UCLA team- Go Bruins!

With James, on the UCLA team and an old family friend

With my wonderful friend Laura, co-leader of the spring break team and my discipler in college

Christine and I with Hiro, one of our ICUHS grads

Class 8 of Tap Lovers before our Shinkan performance

The whole Tap Lovers gang (^_^)

Pray

Pray for the people of Boston today, all the runners in the marathon, and their families in this time. Along with so many other events, this one shows what a broken world we live in, pray too that the truth and healing Jesus' death and resurrection offers would be proclaimed in this dark age.

Colossians 2:17b

"...the reality, however, is found in Christ."

In Christ, our reality is victory over death. 

In Christ, our reality is freedom from the bondage of sin. 

In Christ, our reality is abounding grace. 

In Christ, our reality is abundant, joyful life. 

In Christ, our reality is eternal glory in the presence of the Lord. 

 

Being and Leaving a Legacy

 

"We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because 

we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God's people- the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world- just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God's grace. You learned it from Epaphras..."

~ Colossians 1:3-7~

I've been reading and re-reading Colossians the past week or two and was struck by this passage. With my first stint year quickly coming to an end I've been reflecting a lot on what it looks like to be a fruitful disciple of Christ. When you define that in terms of seeing people coming to Christ, I don't really have any fruit from my ministry time in Japan. Spiritually, people move very slowly here. There is very little tangible fruit or change even after years of faithful labor and prayer. 

This became an even greater reality for me this past week. It was the first week of the new school term when all the freshmen come to campus for their orientations. All of the clubs set up tables and hand out flyers, trying to recruit new members.

My team of eight joined the chaos at Waseda trying to meet freshmen with spiritual interest surveys and flyers promoting our English Talk time at the campus. We prayed for big things and took big steps of faith.

In earthly terms of success our efforts last week failed. No new students came to our first two events of the week, and only four came to our final event, a movie and discussion night. After all the hours of planning, preparation, and actually being on campus, frustration and discouragement would be a completely reasonable response.

But I believe the Lord gave me this passage in Colossians to keep me in a healthy mindset for this weeks' challenges. Even though we didn't have tons of new students come to our events or find many people who were spiritually open, we got to be part of the Lord's work here in Japan. We got to be part of seeing the gospel bearing fruit throughout the whole world, as Paul talks about in verse six. 

The humble efforts we make now are, by the power of the Holy Spirit, seeds planted in peoples' hearts that God-willing, will be watered and tended until they grow into gospel-believing disciples. The gospel is alive and well in Japan, it is changing people from the inside out and transforming the culture bit by bit. 

Besides regaining perspective on my role in the Great Comission, I was also reminded by Paul that I am the legacy of others before me. People have been teaching, shepherding, encouraging, and praying for me my whole life. Their example and faithfulness along with the Lord's great mercy on me is why I'm in Japan to share my faith with others. Because they poured into me, the work I do now is part of their legacy. They are my Epaphras. 

It's an honor to be someone else's legacy in Christ. It's a privilege to be serving the Lord and building a legacy of my own for his glory. And it's a delight to be reminded by Paul that the gospel has been growing throughout the whole world just as it has since the day I first heard it and believed. I have faith that this will remain true here in Japan.