February fast forward

"What do you mean I have to connect the resurrection of Christ to water scarcity in Zimbabwe??" A lot of big ideas coalesce (collide?) in February for CAJ seniors. After more than a year of individualized research, intense conversations with teachers and classmates, hinged on a core question, seniors do the complicated work of connecting their sense of the story of scripture (creation, fall, redemption and restoration) to their chosen issue (water scarcity in Zimbabwe, teenage depression, gaming addiction, etc). 

Visiting Edo period museum (we're inside!)

And March is when it all becomes hands-on. Students have saved and studied for the past four years for a ministry trip to northern Thailand, where they will work with a local hill tribe school. This year's project is helping to build a foundation for a handicapped school. This is the first school of its kind in the area; a much needed resource! Together with the senior class teachers, Ryan has authored much of the curriculum preparing for and experienced on this trip. Please pray for safety, and rich learning as students culminate their four years of learning about stewarding, collaborating, leading and following. 

I mentioned last month that I'm working on a three month research project for my church, which takes me to coffee chats, shared lunches and church fellowship halls. What intense, beautiful, shoulder-bending work is going on in our city. The stream rushes by as I listen to stories - the boy who goes home every day to an empty house, the pregnant teenage girl making the agonizing choice between giving her baby up for adoption or going it alone as a single mom, the family struggling between yes and no when yet another needy mouth shows up at the doorstep, asking for a place to stay; I pray for humility to listen well and ask before planning where to jump in. And yet, I've got a big dream percolating, the kind that I catch myself daydreaming about and realize my arms are all goosebumps. Feels like waiting for another baby to be born. Please pray for humility to listen and learn before I speak or suggest. Please pray for wisdom as I collect ideas and present them to my church council at the end of March. 

Firewood for next winter!

For those on the Japanese school calendar, March is the end of the school year, and a brief spring holiday, with the new school year beginning with April's blooming cherry blossoms. Please pray for the smooth end to this year, and a joyful start to the next year.

And sometimes you find them like this. . .