Jean Of mArc

Have you ever noticed how adding spaces between letters in a title makes it a bit more dramatic? If so, I’ve already got your attention, because that’s what I did for the title of this post. If not, please read on anyway because you’re my friend.

This past weekend I went down to a JET Christian Fellowship Retreat in Okutama, which is about 90 on a train due west of Tokyo, yet is still technically within Greater Tokyo. I tell you that city is HUGE!! Anyway, it was a very lovely and off-the-path location out in the mountains, hosted at “Fukuin no Ie” (or “Gospel House”). Recommended spot if you’re wondering. Here are some pics I nabbed off Facey-Booky without permission (shh… don’t tell!!):

Group Photo!!

Eating one of the Dericious Meals! (I think this one was Bacon-wrapped Salmon)

Looking at the results from the HILARIOUS picture-telephone game!

If you hike out from the cabin a bit, it looks kind of like this…

This is us, musicing for worship time!

On the train back to Tokyo Station

It was a GREAT time, and I really feel like I learned a lot about God and myself while I was there. The guest speaker who came to join us for the weekend’s name is Lewis Rice. He is CRAZY energetic, is very loud, loves his life, and is very passionate about discussing God. But before I get too much into where he is and what he said, there should be something mentioned about me.

For the past few years I’ve been feeling compelled to do something more public in my life. By that, I mean becoming more vulnerable by putting myself out there in front of people on a regular basis. Secondly, the reason I would be in front of these people is to both energize them as well as to share God’s love for them. Thirdly, my heart is broken for the youth of Japan, as I read story after story of Japanese youth who feel they have no identity, they feel unloved by their parents, they tie their self-worth to academic success, and are committing suicide when things don’t work out. So many of them don’t realize that there is a God who loves them unconditionally, who has a plan for their lives, who will forgive them for anything they have done, who birthed them diliberatly, who will free them from any bondage and who will offer them eternal life in heaven. It hurts them if they don’t know that, and it hurts me if they don’t know that.

Now back to Lewis: when he was 15, he had more-or-less the same convictions that I have now. When he was 18, he worked for a few months in New Zealand (his home) to get enough money to get to Japan. When he arrived, he had no place to stay, no where to go, no work, and he knew nobody. He prayed about it, and within a week he had an apartment, work and was a part of the people at Jesus Lifehouse in Tokyo.

Now he spends his days in front of Japanese youth, sharing about God’s love for them, and spending the evenings doing outreach. He basically has a life that is pretty much exactly the kind of thing I have been envisioning. He has amazing stories to tell of lives transformed, from lives of hatred, depression, parental abandonment and suicidal thoughts, to lives that are completely transformed by the gospel of Jesus. They have become loving, happy, people who couldn’t say enough about God’s love.

Lewis shared about many different things to consider and think about. Here are some of the points I can immediately remember:

• Vision vs Goals – Having goals in life is a good thing, because it keeps us focused on what can/should be done next. Things like getting married, having children, getting a house etc would all be example of goals. But these are not God’s “vision” for our lives. By that, I mean that our life is not considered complete just because the goals have been achieved. If that were true, then one you had a wife, children and a house, you wouldn’t know what else to do with your life. The problem is, so many people, even Christians, settle on goals, and then go through mid-life crisises (crisi? Ug… English…) because they don’t know what else to do. Contrast this to vision, which is an endless goal. For example, sharing God’s love with youth. There will always be more youth to share it with, and even after it is shared the relationships and fellowship that comes out of that is endless.
• Don’t think, pray! – So many times we try and figure out our own problems by thinking and mulling over them endlessly. I sure know I do! My general strategy when predicting things is to think about the worst-possible scenarios so that I will be prepared to handle them. Then think of the bes-possible scenarios so I remain optimistic. Then think of the middle ground between the two and realize that’s probably what’s going to happen. But still, my brain will endlessly think of it more and more until I can’t even concentrate on things anymore. This doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does I hate it. But for those of us who know about Jesus, we know that we can cast our cares onto Him and let Him take care of them. We can turn our thoughts and worries into prayers and petitions, and if we get in that habit we will have a consistant relationship with Him. And trust me, God’s a good guy to be talking to! Even if He answers in sometimes very strange, difficult, or hilarious ways…
• Only God and People matter – The only thing that we can take with us to heaven are the people who go with us. Any goals which don’t involve people ultimately won’t matter after we are dead. And since we are only alive on Earth for about 70-90 years and we are alive in heaven for eternity, I would say that goals that focus on the latter are much more important!

When I first came to Japan, I didn’t know where things would lead. Now I feel like they may lead to the big city, to the youth searching for meaning.

For now, though, I am here, in Aomori. And I am more than in my place here for the time being. I feel like there is still a lot to be done here and a lot to learn, not to mention that the free time I’ve been having has been great for learning Japanese and maintaining a strong relationship with my wonderful fiancee Solveig. We will continue to pray about all these things and see where God takes us from there.

This blog post leaves me curious though, what’s YOUR v i s i o n ? Not your goals, but what means the most for you to do while here on this Earth for such a short time? Who will you serve? What will you do? Who will be affected? What is the purpose?

Last night, Dan and I took a trip all the way to Amherst. That’s right, I took a plane all the way here, and then we went to Amherst, of all places. And we drove there, if you can believe it!

Well, okay, it was Amherst, Massachusetts. But they were impressed that I could pronounce it correctly! It was actually a nice University town, something I have grown fond of.

Driving around here is pretty nice right now, although we really haven’t seen much sun since my getting here. This state is a little further into spring than we are; there are already quite a number of leaves springing out. Hence why it’s called Spring. Most of the drive is woodsy, and is actually pretty nice that way. Our only hold up on the way was a sign that said “Do Not Pass”. We weren’t really sure what to do about it, but we decided that in order to continue, we had to pass the sign. I hope we didn’t break any laws.

Anyway, the House Church was interesting. It was hosted at a church called MERCYhouse. We met a guy named Aaron who we’ve determined is Dan’s twin: he works at a gas station, watches anime, is a Christian, and has a similar sense of humour as Dan. The only difference is he looks older, and has a big awesome red beard. And he’s really good at mental arithmetic. I said to him “Quick! What’s 3 + 2?” and he immediately said “5!” I figured it might have been a fluke, so I said “Oh yeah, well what’s 3 x 2?” and he said “6!”. Wow… Dan jumped in, figuring that maybe our numbers were too low, and said “Well, what’s 3,843,946 x 0?” and without missing a beat he said “0!”. Impressive. I guess he really is just that good at that stuff.

But, he didn’t join our small group, because I guess there were two male groups. Seemed unnecessary to me considering the small group of guys there, but anyway he joined the “old people” guy group (as he called it) and we joined the “other” guy group. There were a grand total of four of us: Dan, myself, Steve, and Mike.

Mike mostly sat there with his arms crossed, so I’m not really sure what he was thinking. Steve was leading the study, and Dan was doing most of the response. The form of the study was looking at John 14 and analysing the meaning of the story. The reason I didn’t say much (and the reason I often don’t say much at these things when something about them is new to me) is because when I hear new ideas, I like to have time to process them and develop them before having opinions and thoughts to share back. So, Dan did most of the responding. It was about when:

Jesus told his disciples “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” But Thomas was confused and (understandably) asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus gave him a Jesus-style answer: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” And then Jesus answers with “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

So, we were discussing this passage, and the point of it basically broke down to this:
Jesus was telling them that to near to Him is to be near to the Father. However, the disciples didn’t understand that and were all like “But we don’t know how to get there! Show us a road map!”, but Jesus was explaining that there is no roadmap to get to the Father: being near to Jesus Himself IS the way, the “road map” if you will.

Most Christians know this, but he also wanted to apply this principle to God’s will. To paraphrase, let’s use the example Bible example above, but re-write it to be about God’s will. No, this is no longer quoted from the Bible. Please don’t flog me for hearsay.

Jesus told his disciples “My Father has a will for your life. You know this will.” But Thomas was confused and asked, “Lord, we don’t what that will is. Can’t you tell us what God’s will is for our lives?” Jesus answered: “I am the way and the truth and the life. If you really knew me, you would know my Father’s will as well. From now on, you do know his will.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father’s will and that will be enough for us.” And then Jesus answers with “Don’t you know me, (insert your name here), even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who knows me knows the Father’s will.”

So, basically the argument is, rather than always trying to find a road map of God’s will for our lives, we should just be focusing on being closer to Jesus. And the more we do that, the more our thoughts and decisions will be in line with what God would want us to be doing.

He extended the argument further and said that if everyone has a roadmap of how they think a Christian should live, it would be very difficult to find two road maps exactly alike. And that’s where a lot of hurt can come into the church, when everyone thinks that their road map is the road map. Of course, the Bible is clear on a lot of subjects, but there are many in which it is not. Many Christians have differing opinions about alcohol, swearing (without the Lord’s name), free will, etc. And a lot of these opinions clash. However, if a brother has sinned against you, it is important to restore them gently. (Matt. 18:17). However this suggests that when someone is sinning, and sinning means missing God’s mark, it does not mean they are an awful person, it means that there is some part of them that isn’t fully given over to Jesus. Maybe they haven’t given a part of their life over, and therefore still have the power to control it and do whatever they want with it. But rather than just rebuking them with your own road map, it might be more significant to find out if there is something that they are keeping from Jesus, the source of what is causing them to sin.

Anyhow, I thought that it was pretty interesting stuff, and a new way to think about some things. Look into it however you would like.

Afterwards, Dan and I went to a board games shop. I like those kinds of shops, but never know what most of the games are like. The owner of the store said we could come back any time and test out any game we’d like, so we think we might take him up on the offer, to check out a game.

After that, we went to a little ice cream shoppe called “Bart’s”. It was a pretty nice shop and actually had a huge menu of non-ice cream things as well. Dan and I had a good chat about his life and where he is and how he’s trying to find out where to go next, while I sipped on a great lemonade and Dan munched down on this cause-of-death in 50 years: a really thick sundae thing with lots of chocolate and sauce. I saw a shirt there that said “What Would Jesus Brew?” and below it it said “100% Organic 100% Fair Trade”. And then I thought about it. Jesus wasn’t a coffee roaster. But if he were, would he sell organic and fair-trade, or would he just draw water from the well and turn the water into coffee? I have no idea. It probably wasn’t meant to be contemplated, actually.

After that we headed back to Dan’s, nearly hitting a deer along the way.

The End.