McBlog

Some urinals in Japan provide the optimal target for your flow… how nice!

It’s been hard, man. You’d think after some rest things would get easier or something… I think I just discovered that if you ask for rest, you get it, but dang, when it’s over… Things just don’t get easier after the rest. They just let up during the rest.

I can’t decide if I’m under spiritual attack or just flirting with depression. Maybe it’s both. It can’t just be the weather–as hot and humid as it is and not being able to run air conditioning. I just can’t seem to enjoy getting out of bed these days… Pray.

God is ridiculously good, and he’s ginormously huge…  That’s why we’re still here.  We’ve got the good stuff coming.  He’s always been good to us.  I think now he might be teaching us patience…

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We just sent our third Bluewater wave of missionaries home and they’ve got great stories to share. Please pray for more opportunities for our mission teams to share. God is doing awesome things out here and we’d love to share the experience with you. Japan is ripe for harvest, and God is showing up in surprising ways. It is truly an experience of a lifetime and God is here doing stuff every day!!!

Please pray that we get back in the groove. This recent bout of fatigue has been a killer in many ways.

So what does one do in a busy city with an afternoon off? Well, I need a windbreaker, so I guess I’ll start there after I finish my Starbucks beverage.

I think I’ll make it a point to stroll today. Usually when in Shibuya, everybody’s rushing everywhere and it’s so easy to get caught up and feel like you’re in a rush when you don’t need to be… I’m taking it slow, and bringing Jesus with me. Like right now… Taking a coffee break before I do anything. So tired of feeling frantic all the time…

So I’ll finish this up and have some coffee with Jesus… Maybe go look for a windbreaker unless Jesus has other plans. There’s hope today that this might actually mark the first time I enjoy this frenzied city… In slow motion.

And for the first time in forever it seems I have a smile on my face for no apparent reason.

God is good.

Michica and I thought we knew about spiritual warfare until we laid our hands on and prayed against a witchdoctor (our new name for the Reiki Man).

After episodes of unnatural pain, vomiting, fatigue, anxiety, and weird and frequent sicknesses, we thought we’d seek the advice of local missionaries.

What we learned is this: we thought we were spiritually in Junior High (Middle School for the rest of you) until we moved to Japan and found there was a whole new side to spiritual warfare that we’d only heard vague rumors about. We are really only Kindergardeners here. Our first 4 months of living here was our preschool crash-course. Our missionary friends let us in on the secret that all the rules change in Japan when you try to grow some roots and stick around for a while… everything’s different.

The good news is that Kindergardeners can still beat up toddlers. (remind me to delete this post before Kaz can read it).

So, here we are at an onsen in the mountains taking a bit of a break before our next missionaries arrive later this week.

We’re expecting more warfare, but we know a bit more about it now. With Jesus in us, we are rather formidable children.

Please pray we rest well. We need it.

This is just outside our apartment in Tokyo. Shaun, Karisa, Kaz and I made our way up to Iwaki today…

…and fed a few hungry people a hot dinner after they’ve been eating the cold stuff they usually get.

Kaz usually has a way with the ladies… He’s my favorite little missionary. We’re a little taken back at how they will search for and find toys from somewhere to give him.

I debate the wisdom in bringing Kaz sometimes, but he seems to bring a smile to more faces than I do, so… I bring him. Who doesn’t want a smile and a hug from a cute kid who tells you all about the trains he rides in Tokyo–in your own language?

I pray he’s somehow blessed by the stuff Mommy and Daddy get him into.

Please pray for our freshly jet-lagged new team members, and rest for our warrior holding things together in Tokyo. Michica needs a serious break. Pray she gets it.

God is good.

Team BW has been clearing a taunami’d out seaweed factory for the last couple days. The smell is really something there. So you know what I’m talking about, take a bag of nori (seaweed), soak it in a glass of sea water and other random chemicals, leave it uncovered and keep it in your cupboard for a couple months. After it’s good and rotten, put it in a coffee filter and strap it to your face all day while you do some hard labor.

Nah, it’s not that bad… Most of the time.

Guess what they gave us as a snack at the end of the day? Just… Awesome.

We shovel sand, clear debris, and look for salvageable items.

So what kind of people would spend big bucks to travel to a foreign place, help clean your totally gutted and uniquely aromatic factory, and then ask for nothing in return?

You think the people we helped were willing to listen to Otosan talk about Jesus and get some prayer today?

You bet. And maybe they’ll be doing crazy stuff for Jesus one day as a result. Now that would be cool, wouldn’t it?

Don’t we look awesome in our jump suits?

So tired…

At breakfast time, Kaz asked if he could just play with his firetruck. So I asked for clarification, “you want your truck instead of food?” “Yes, Daddy”.

Ok, I think. God gives us freewill. I’ll allow a bad decision. Being that we eat our meals together, I put his truck on his plate and we had breakfast together. I had a pastry and Kaz had his firetruck. The truck quickly lost its awesomeness…

I’ll bet he’ll choose food for lunch instead of his firetruck.

I’m hoping he’ll learn that
instant gratification=longer-term sadness

Or, he learns I’m a jerk. Could go either way–or both ways, maybe.

How do you teach kids about instant gratification? Comment below.

Off to riding our bikes in the park now. It’s a beautiful Saturday.

Moldy cheese.

It’s been a while, I know… I’m sorry, we’re having warfare here like we’ve never experienced before.

But let me share with you the gift Auntie gave us a couple days ago… See the picture above?

It seems she’s irritated I don’t pick up on subtle clues that those raised as Japanese seem to get. Funny, Michica doesn’t get them either, and she was raised in Japan. –I think I get the clue in this little gift. (Yes, she knew it was moldy when she gave it to us). This is just one small insignificant thing… There have been much worse.

Please pray we can love her… In spite of all of us. This is a challenge, to be sure. Satan loses.

Please pray… We’re so tired of the stupid, inconsequential drama. We’ve got work to do.

I’ve been struggling with how to put my last trip up to Fukushima into meaningful words. The weight of it is enormous.

I worked alongside people from Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Australia and Japan. While we didn’t all communicate that much, we were there with a common purpose, with a common fearlessness, and a common love for those who lost everything. We didn’t have to say a whole lot; the work is simple. We ate together, slept together, toiled together, loved together and worshipped together. God is doing awesome stuff here in Japan.

He blessed me by giving me rock-solid and passionate followers of Jesus to serve with… I was blessed far more than those we served were–easily.

Please consider helping out. There’s a link to the left for donations, but talk to your friends and see if you wanna bring a handful of them to love on the people of Japan a little. Be a blessing and you’ll be blessed.

“We don’t want the words of politicians, we want action.” ~loose translation.

The last few days have been both exhilarating and exhausting. Working with Christians in Japan has been quite an experience. I’m so glad to have had the opportunity.

There’s lots of work to be done here and we need more willing people like you to help.

Just got home, will write more later. So tired.