26 days until Pentecost… beginning now.
A number of years ago someone shared (on FB) one of Beth Moore’s blog posts “Something on My Mind” and it has really stuck with me.
In Beth Moore’s words… “listen. GIVE GOD HIS GLORY! When He does something for you, don’t sit there and wonder if that may have been Him. GIVE HIM SOME GLORY!! Jump up and down about it. Get excited about it! I don’t know about you, but I want God to ENJOY doing some things for me. I want Him to think I’m fun to get a reaction out of. I want to dang well NOTICE. Can you imagine when we thank Him for something that He’s up there on His Throne shrugging His shoulders and saying, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. I didn’t have anything to do with that”? Does Phil. 2:13 not say that God works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose? Ain’t no doubt, Girlfriend. It is GOD.
Beth Moore doesn’t speak (or write!) like I would, but I feel the same passion to give God the credit for what He has done.
Because God has done SO MUCH for me in the last couple of years and I want Him to feel it was worth it. And – to be brutally honest - I want Him to feel its worth doing more for me in the future.
With that in mind, I made a tentative stab at writing last December. I tried again in February. And last week I thought this time I really must write. So I started writing this last Saturday.Its now Tuesday!
I never got farther than:
Most years I try to choose some sort of activity for Lent that will increase my consciousness of God’s work in my life. A few years ago, I blogged about my blessings.
This year I didn’t do anything. In fact, I felt like what with the transition back to Japan, I almost missed Easter!
At that point the weekend overtook me. A special weekend – the 50th anniversary of my baptism and the 37th of our landing in Japan. I decided to celebrate by attending a violin concert at Asunaro Church, the first church my husband and I trained in after language school.
Enjoying the Music with Granddaughter
But really, the problem was that I didn’t know how to go on….
I kept coming back to this joke my husband often tells to illustrate cultural barriers:
Q. How did the first Newfie get to Toronto?
A. A bunch of Newfies were playing hockey on the frozen-over Gulf of St. Lawrence, and one guy got a breakaway.
What’s a Newfie? What’s a breakaway? There was a time when I would have also needed Toronto, St. Lawrence and hockey explained! (I was pretty ignorant when I left New England for Bible School in Saskatchewan as a just barely 17 year old.)
Perhaps I can illustrate the connection between the joke and my dilemma.
A really key experience for me occurred in the fall of 2014 as I was sitting (stark naked) in the bath at Kappa no Yu in Aomori City. The woman next to me asked me what I did for work.
Right here I’ve probably lost many of my readers – I imagine you’re wondering why I was sitting stark naked in the bath with this woman (to say nothing of the half dozen women with us.) But this detail is important to my feeling of wonder at the way God works.
My physical nakedness accentuated my feelings of vulnerability… and at that point in my life I felt very vulnerable! How could I say to her “I’m a missionary” when my life was in such confusion?!
However, I did say it and moved on quickly, “But this week I’ve been thinking about… ‘
And sitting right there stark naked in the bath we talked about sin and grace and God. It was amazing. And it was God. God saying to me, “Don’t fret. You can still speak about what matters. They can’t take away your voice.”
That experience in the bath stuck with me through all the dark days of confusion that followed.
And in one of those little twists of circumstance – coincidences that I’m sure God takes pleasure in planning – on my first visit to Kappa no Yu after our return to Japan last month, again sitting stark naked in the bath, I had another opportunity to talk about what matters.
Yes, God has done amazing things for me – and I want to give him credit!
So I’ve decided to embark on a “Journey to Pentecost” – I will to try to write something every day for the next 4 weeks. For some readers my words may not make much more sense than my husband’s Newfie joke makes to me. But I hope that for some others my testimony will give a glimpse of God.
Through many danger, toils and snares
I have already come,
Tis grace has brought us safe this far
And grace will lead us home. - John Newton
God’s Amazing Grace!
John Elliot Family in Sapporo, Japan 1979
1 comment:
Laurie,
I haven't heard from you in a long time. I do keep in touch regularly with Dale and Karen. They have a wonderful new ministry going now in a Cafe teaching English, serving coffee and sweets and preaching. They have a lot of younger people in their group, which is really unusual for Japan. Sometimes it takes a little more creativity and flexibility to engage a culture at the point of its need than just traditional church planting. I can't believe they are taking this on when they are old enough to be retiring. They are such a wonderful, devoted couple. And they have a real passion for Japan. That's why I am so happy to be able to contribute to their support every month.
So I see you are taking graduate courses at a Japanese university. Impressive! Handling graduate level courses in Japanese has to be a real challenge.
Shan and I have been going to an Orthodox Presbyterian Church for the past few years. We are learning all about Reformed Theology, the confessions, church history, the Puritans, etc. What a rich tradition!! The evangelical churches we have attended are all adopting the latest church growth strategies ----modern marketing methods, seeker friendly worship, contemporary music, etc. Reformed churches practice regulative worship. That is, they only worship in ways explicitly prescribed in scripture. As a result, our services exalt Jesus Christ in a way that is very uplifting. We are in the choir, too. So practicing before church prepares our hearts for the worship service. You should take a listen to our pastor. His sermons always focus on the person and work of Jesus Christ, not our needs. He has been a featured speaker at the Banner of Truth Conference with folks like Allistair Begg. Here is a link to our website:
https://bethelopc.org/sermon-library/
Download any sermon by Craig Troxel.
Do you ever listen to John MacArthur? He is our favorite preacher. His most recent broadcast series is a repeat of a sermon series on the family that he did back in the 1980s. It's uncanny how he predicted the very sexual immorality that is occurring today based on trends taking shape back then. Last night's broadcast explained where the idea of the head covering for women originated. It was was a reaction to ancient Roman cultural corruption and has nothing to do with the modern era. That might interest you.
https://www.gty.org/broadcasts/radio/recent
I, too like to blog. My interests are apologetics and eschatology. You might like to check it out. You can find it at
https:lukewarmchurch.me
I hear that the camp had a fire and got shut down by the city because it was out of code. What a shame that the local churches never took any responsibility for the upkeep and operation of the camp, especially given all the benefits they received. When I realized I was just there to do a job no one else wanted to do, I decided I could find better things to do with my life. That is the sad story of the entire Japanese church.
Does Luke still want to start up the camp again? I hope he doesn't decide to take it on all by himself with no help from the mission or the churches. That would do him in. He's a great kid and I would hate to see him disappointed. I guess he must have really loved his times at camp!!
I was gratified to get a note from a former camper who married an American girl and moved to the States. He thanked me for my part in his spiritual growth. It is so gratifying to get letters like that. I guess my work was not entirely in vain.
Well, give my regards to John and the kids. Glad to see you are doing well.
In Christ,
Craig Olson
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