“Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God.” (Isaiah 37:20 NLT)
No matter what fear, temptation or challenge you are facing today, God is bigger. God is stronger. He alone is God, and He gets the final word.
This week Keith Drury talks about the current US economic turmoil and asks the question What will happen in the church if we enter a recession or depression? I thought he raised some really good points, and it brought to the front of my mind a lot of stuff I’ve been thinking about lately regarding how it might affect those of us in world missions. Here are the thoughts I posted in the comments section on Drury’s blog:
While it won’t be easy, if we go through a recession/depression, it might end up for the greater good. Would it hurt for us to learn to live below our means? Would it be a bad thing if we were less materialistic? Western culture (and some parts of the east, too, like here in Japan) has become way too consumeristic; we’re spoiled rotten. Maybe we need to learn the hard way…
On the other hand, as a missionary I wonder what it would mean for the future of missions. With less income, churches and individual Christians are less likely to support missionaries. Would we end up sending out less missionaries, or would we change the way we fund missions? Or would missionaries have to learn to live on a LOT less — like missionaries of past generations did, to the point of suffering?
This is so long I should just post it to my own blog… But one more thought: If any non-Americans (like me) reading this think that this won’t affect us if it happens, I disagree. With the world economy being what it is, and America being such a huge part of it, we are ALL in for a rough ride.
As Keith Drury would say, so what do you think?
And yes, I just block-quoted myself. I know.
I just realized that as of yesterday I’ve been back in Japan for FIVE months now! Time flies… Remember when you were a kid and you thought adults were weird when they talked about how time speeds up the older you get? Now that I’m grown-up I know what they meant…
I think about the future a lot. This is partly because my current missionary term is as an “intern”, meaning I’m here to learn and figure out where I fit so that I can have a more effective ministry in the long run. Recently, when thinking about the future I’ve come to realize something about my vision for ministry in Japan:
My vision is now both clearer and less clear at the same time.
I know that seems like a contradiction. Or at least paradox. So let me explain. My vision seems clearer in that I feel very strongly that I will be in Japan for the long-haul. There is such a great need, as well as so much opportunity, that how could I ever think of leaving? On the other hand, my vision is less clear in the specifics. There are so many different directions my life and ministry could take, so many opportunities to pursue and needs to address, that the questions of “what’s next?” and “what’s my role in Japan?” don’t have answers yet.
Funny how the same reasons — the needs and opportunity — lead to both clarity and lack of clarity.
I hesitated to share this story because I don’t want to come across as culturally insensitive or religiously intolerant. So first let me say that I do respect people of other religions (here in Japan it’s Buddhism and Shinto), whether I agree with them (or even understand them), or not. I would never purposely do anything to offend someone. I would never enter a typical Japanese person’s home as a guest and start criticizing them for having a family shrine or Buddhist altar in their house. If I visit a public temple or shrine I try to be quiet and respectful and to not disturb people.
On the other hand, I will celebrate for and with someone who leaves all that behind and embraces Jesus Christ.
And now that I’ve gotten that disclaimer out of the way…
Last night I had the rare privilege of helping the assistant pastor destroy a couple of Buddhist shrines. And it felt really, really, really good.
An elderly lady from the church had them from before she became a Christian. Actually, she came to Christ several years ago but her husband, who died back in November, became a Christian more recently, about a year before passing away. She couldn’t bring herself to destroy them, either for fear (in Japan, religion seems to be more about fear and superstition than anything) or because of the family connection, or both. So she brought them to the church for us to take care of, and for some reason the pastors thought it would be a good experience for me.
What they didn’t know is how much I enjoy breaking stuff.
Unfortunately we live in the city so burning them was out of the question for safety reasons. Plus the neighbors might complain. But we did have some good hammers. And boy, we wrecked those shrines and everything in them — real good. I mean, Buddha’s head just went flying. There was broken wood, nails (I almost impaled myself at least once) torn paper, dust, incense and other wreckage everywhere. It took about a half hour to dismantle everything, and another 10 minutes or so to clean up after ourselves.
Good times.
Seriously, though, it really was a good experience. I’d never seen such literal, tangible idolatry before I came to Japan. Being a part of someone’s deliverance from that felt good (even though I had nothing to do with these people coming to Christ, just laying the physical symbols of that past to rest). It was like something out of the Old Testament during one Israel’s times of turning back to God. It was a symbolic breaking away from the past. It was an outward, visible sign of a changed life. It meant freedom from the past, from superstition, from false gods, from evil spirits.
For Japanese people, making that kind of break is difficult. Not just the getting rid of physical symbols of the past, but actually breaking away from generations of family and community and society tradition in a homogenous, conformist, group-oriented society.
What I saw last night, for me, symbolized what I’d like to see more of. Changed lives. That’s why I’m here.
A missionary friend included these quotes in her email this week. I thought they were worth remembering — and sharing here as well.
“When I get to China, I will have no claim on any one for anything. My claim will be alone in God and I must learn before I leave England to move men through God by prayer alone” – J. Hudson Taylor
“If you are sick, fast and pray; if the language is hard to learn, fast and pray; if the people will not hear you, fast and pray, if you have nothing to eat, fast and pray.” – Frederick Franson