In 1886 Already?!

How else can one explain the comment of a Japanese business man to a visiting Australian, "Whenever I meet a Buddhist leader, I meet a holy man. Whenever I meet a Christian leader, I meet a manager."  - Os Guinness

 

I've been re-reading one of my favorite books, Os Guinness' Dining With The Devil, and I think I am just as moved this time as last time.

 

"In 1886, Nation magazine reported:  "Indeed, so far has the church caught the spirit of the age, so far has it become a business enterprise, that the chief test of ministerial success is now the ability to 'build up' a church. Executive, managerial abilities are now considered more in demand than those which used to be considered the highest in a clergyman."  - Os Guinness

 

What happened to holiness?

 

Moving frustrations!

TUESDAY ... "I'm on my way up to Mary's to help her pack and move out of her apartment. We are beginning to get frazzled! Today I got lost on my way to the visa office, missed my ferry, found the visa office - just in time to find out that for once they let John do it without me(!), gave blood, nearly missed my ferry the second time because when I stopped to pick up some food and take my photo (for my Emergency Travel Document) I left my money in the car. ...sigh... I made the ferry by the skin of my teeth - handing the photos over to John as I drove on - and now I am FERRY SICK!"

WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY... packing! Thursday night we phoned John and asked him to come help us - neither of Mary or I know how to tie knots (to make it all stay on the truck.)

FRIDAY... I drove up just as John's ferry arrived. Then I helplessly watched the boat go out and in and out and in for the next hour - the wind kept blowing them away from the dock wishing all the while that I could contact poor Mary to let her know what was happening. We had told the phone company they could cut Mary's service in the morning and my cell phone died last month. (A cell phone would have made this whole week a whole lot easier!)

Nevertheless, despite our troubles, we did finally get Mary safely moved out! And we even spent a pleasant hour at our favorite coffee shop overlooking Hakodate Bay before catching the ferry back to Aomori.