Yeah! Miriam is Here!

A few weeks ago we were honored to welcome one of our Brazilian friends to Japan as a mid-term missionary, assisting our church with sports evangelism. She had a rough start, even getting sick in the airplane and having to miss her connecting flight because of that.  But our God is mighty and here she is.  She has been enveloped into our family, and the joy in my heart is great.  She has left her home to come halfway around the world to share the love of Jesus with Japanese people who are dying without Jesus.  She must live alone, away from her family.  She must adjust to new language, new foods, new families, a new church. 

Is it worth it?  Yes!!!  It is always worth what it takes to obey God.  It is never worth the cost to disobey God.  Miriam, I am thankful you obeyed and are here in Japan to be part of our team.  Let us all expect great things in your ministry because we serve a great and mighty God.  Hallelujah!

Learning Obedience

A few years ago after the huge triple disaster in Japan, a team of Brazilian soccer players came to Japan to help recovery efforts.  These team members came for a bigger purpose, however.  They came to deliver the love of Jesus.  Yes, they were Christians intent on doing an act of obedience to the Lord.  They were men and women of faith.  They came at great cost to themselves.  Some were poor; others had wealth.  They all had Jesus. 

One day I got to ride the bus with them.  It is an experience I will always remember and cherish.  I was able to sit in the midst of these mighty men of God, and share in their passion for the Gospel.  Most were young and still finding their path in life.  They were a large team and it took much work to facilitate this event here in Japan.  Many contacts were made as a result of this team.  However, they could not point to any definite decisions or salvations from this trip. I think they were disappointed a bit. 

Six years later what do we see?  There have been decisions in people who attended the events involved in this team.  My family and I have made two trips to minister in Brazil.  We have friends in Brazil.  But what about the team?  Life has gone on with them. Some got married, some had babies.  Some became less passionate in faith.  To me, however, it is exciting to see some involved in ministry, and best of all some becoming missionaries.  It reminds me that the biggest work accomplished in that team was in their own hearts.  Learning obedience to the Master.  I view them as mighty men of God.  I pray we will always strive to be mighty men of God for His glory!

Brazil: Doing Kingdom Work

This summer we went to Sao Paulo, Brazil with a short term team from Japan.  In Brazil we joined a team from the States to work helping a relatively new church serve their neighborhood and paint the inside of the church.  We did not do anything extraordinary.  We painted, moved furniture, and cleaned.  It was mundane work that did not require great language skills. One member of the Japan team and I knew Portuguese.  Since I know it but cannot speak much it took great faith for our team.  There were times we just quietly did the task assigned to us.  We often worked alongside Brazilian believers and accomplished the day’s task.  Words were few, but smiles and hugs were abundant.  We demonstrated the body of Christ functioning together to show Jesus to the world.  We got hot, tired, and dirty. 

The Brazilian Christians took care of us.  We made more work for them in many ways.  The drove us to our destinations.  They gave up their beds for us.  They cooked great food to nourish us.  They tried to communicate with us.  They shared their music, and even let me participate.  They shared the love of Jesus with us. 

We went to Brazil as strangers to these people and left as family.  In their eyes we saw they resembled our Heavenly Father.  We felt the heat of their passion for Jesus, and it sparked new flames of our own passion. We left Brazil feeling we had experiences a small preview of heaven.  It sharpened our longing for the day when we will all stand before Jesus and sing praise to the King.  I am sure some of that music will be Brazilian.  I sure hope so. 

Until that day we will be faithful to do Kingdom work here.  Some in Brazil, some in the States, some in Japan.  Because the real point is to be obedient to the task.  So I am back in Japan doing my work for Jesus. Our friends in Brazil are doing their work for Jesus.  Our friends in the States are doing their work for Jesus.  Together we are doing kingdom work and looking for the day we will join together before the King and offer our praises too Him.