Soggy September

As an American, I was raised to value efficiency. Stock up, and shop for a month's worth of groceries in one trip! Send out emails to the whole group. Lead a large meeting, to be sure everyone is welcome.

English practice with Japanese school friends

In contrast, my neighbors bike to the grocery store daily, to shop for one or two meals. Invitations come in person, with a smile and comment for each friend in turn. News travels from mouth to mouth. Each piece of laundry is hung on the clips to dry, taken down, folded, placed on each tiny body. I am often struck with what feels like staggering inefficiency of daily life.

In our roles of teacher and worship leader, we pray for an amazing lesson, one poignant uplifting song set to draw the congregation toward revival, or to awaken epiphany in our students. Yet, life more often takes a daily, walking pace. Catching a student in the hall to discuss a plagiarized paper. Stopping mid-song to deal with a broken guitar string.

Yet, I think about the life Jesus chose. Traveling on foot, eating long, slow meals, welcoming long, interrupted, rambling conversations and inconvenient relationships. The theme for next week's bible study is the Eternal God. It strikes me, an Eternal God has little need for efficiency, which is a product of those bound by time. God, being outside of time, engages each moment without rush. Eugene Peterson calls it the "long obedience in the same direction." Lamentations says, "Your mercies are new every morning." The Israelites found manna each day, and had to trust for more tomorrow.

Rainbow over our river path!

As we give thanks and petition this month, I am mindful of the need for daily faithfulness. For the need of God's eternal perspective - outside of the tyranny of efficiency, outside of the urgency of time.

1) We're grateful: Plans are underway for a rich and meaningful "school without walls" week for CAJ high school students. Ryan works together with the HS principal to plan this curriculum, spiraling servant leadership and teamwork qualities for each grade level. Please pray for safety and great learning experiences for the students and teachers as they spread out all over campus and all over Japan next week!

2) We're grateful for the group of wonderful Christian moms at our public school. I'm so grateful for the new members, and for my wise and patient co-leader. I'm grateful that my language skills are developing too! Please pray as we meet on Monday to pray through the theme of God as Eternal Father.

3) We're grateful for our local church, Kurume Bible Fellowship and our church plant, Tokyo Life Church. We will go on a retreat this coming weekend as a whole body, to rest, pray and enjoy fellowship. Please pray as our church goes through a re-visioning time, and continues searching for a new pastoral team to lead the congregation as our current pastoral team plans for retirement.

Leaving August

Come morning, our entry way is once more filled with assorted bags, helmets and shoes; the kitchen counter a jumble of lunch boxes amid breakfast fixings - we're back in the swing of our regular life!

Our suitcases are empty, and the last waft of American dryer sheets has faded from our clothes. Tonight we're catching our breath after the first English play time with neighborhood friends after the summer holidays. We miss each of you! And are so grateful for the time we had together with many of you this summer. 

We're grateful!

- Ryan's summer studies ended well, with a clearer focus for his final semester of masters work. 

- CAJ is back in full swing, with a theme of Love God, Serve Others. We even had a special concert last week from Christian artist Michael W. Smith! Many students don't know who he is, but the staff were happily snapping pictures. 

- We were concerned that the long summer away from pre-school would mean a hard transition back, but instead, there were many smiles and hugs and excited reunions; we're all growing up! 

Please pray with us:

Baptism for V, with some of our "cloud of witnesses"

- Ryan has a full month ahead with many student events, and a week of hands-on learning for the whole high school, which he plans with the high school principal. Please pray for wisdom and attention to detail in planning. Please pray that students would learn about servant leadership, and experience God, the world, their classmates and themselves in new ways through the curriculum Ryan plans. 

- I'm leading the Moms in Prayer group for our preschool along with another mom, and feel the weight of the former leader's absence, and my lack of vocabulary. On the one hand, a friend commented, "wow - you remembered your Japanese when you were in America!" but on the other hand, I struggle to describe how praying for your child on his way to school is different from hanging a good luck charm on his backpack. Please pray for me as I lead this group of wonderful and inquiring women. Pray especially for Yuko, who is curious about Christianity. 

- Please pray for our children's spiritual, emotional and intellectual health. We know we're asking a lot of them, functioning in multiple languages daily, and between a variety of sometimes conflicting cultures. Pray for their development of truth, values, sense of identity, formation of friendships, as well as language development. 

A prayer from this month:

"Let me use disappointment as material for patience; 

Let me use success as material for thankfulness; 

Let me use suspense as material for perseverance; 

Let me use danger as material for courage; 

Let me use reproach as material for longsuffering; 

Let me use praise as material for humility; 

Let me use pleasures as material for temperance; 

Let me use pains as material for endurance." (John Baillie, 1949)