on the road yet again...

I will be going with my church's youth group on Monday morning into the inner city of Chicago for a missions/service trip for the week. "Have you lost your mind!" you may be wondering, considering the fact that I will be with a group of adolescents for an entire week, in a wee-bit of a space... I'm actually looking forward to it. I may be biased, but I think my church has the best group of youth IN THE WORLD!! We will be a small group of 3 adults and 6 youth (great ratio!) working with the Jesus People and with a Kid's Club that meets in Cabrini Green. Cabrini Green is a public housing community that used to house around 20,000 people in high rise (and some low-rise) buildings. In the 90's, this community began to be demolished and the families dispersed. From what I can tell this is a move on the cities part to for "safety" and making it a more "beautiful" place to live. It sounds like a lot of consumerism crap to me.

The building in the background is one of the high-rise buildings being torn down to make room for shopping and luxury condominiums.

It's pretty sad that these people are being moved around like pawns that have no voices or opinions. Anytime a kid from the suburbs gets an opportunity to have their life intersect with the lives of those who have experienced something completely different--it's a good thing. I'm happy to help these kids unpack their thoughts about the whole thing. Please pray for me and the rest of the group. My prayer is that these kids would have a glimpse of a world that is much bigger than the mall--and how God is ALIVE in the city.

THEN---I'll be heading to Nashville to celebrate with my family for my Dad's birthday. 66 years of life!! We love you Papa-san!

Binding up the brokenhearted

What I love about no longer being a grad student is that I actually have time to read books that I want to read again! It's not uncommon for me to go to bed at 9:30 and end up reading until 11:30 every night! I love it.

I've been gobbling up anything Japanesey from the library for a couple of weeks. Mostly not anything good. The Japanese literature (and movies) I've been reading and watching have been for the most part depressing! But some have left me hopeful.

The Girl I Left Behind, Shusaku Endo

This is a story about compassion and selfless love. Endo was a Japanese Christian who has written other books that I hear are amazing but have not had gotten my hands on yet. I liked this one a lot and would recommend it. I'll let you know about the others later on... By the way, the figure in this picture is an old-fashioned egg basket. I orignally thought it was supposed to be a sculpture of a woman. I guess I was trying to be too artsy?

Right now I am reading The Secrets of Mariko: a year in the life of a Japanese woman and her family by Elizabeth Bumiller. I'm a couple of chapters in and have found it really insightful into the minds and hearts of the "average" Japanese family. The author was pleasantly surprised that Mariko (the mother of the family) would be so willing, without any persuasion to allow a year-long, invasive interview to happen in her household. In a culture that is so concerned with "saving face" and not shaming the family name, her candidacy was shocking. Mariko offered this explanation:

"For me, this is a good opportunity to look back at the old days--and to look forward to the future...It doesn't happen very often that you can open yourself to people like this. I can't say this to anybody else-there are so many things you try to hide here. Sometimes you just want to bring them out, all these things that are stuck inside. I feel very happy to bring all those things out that I have hidden for so long. This is a tremendous opportunity for me to think about myself, and my life."

Can you hear this woman's cry for being truly known and truly loved? She has such a desire to be led beside calm waters and to have her soul restored, to be given a new song to sing!

Jesus, you know this woman's heart. You were there when she was knit together in her mother's womb. There are so many more like her in Japan. They don't know you. They don't know the intimacy of living a redeemed life with You. Lord, have mercy on Japan! Bring them to you! Prepare me and many others to LISTEN and to BIND UP the BROKENHEARTED! Give us your heart and may we weep for them as you do. AMEN

Take a look see

The Asian Access website is being updated all the time. This week my staff profile was posted. Have a look for yourself!

http://www.asianaccess.org/people/staff/michael.html

holding steady...

Sorry about the trickery from last time!! I couldn't resist! There was a little bump up today. My record keeping and math skills are not the greatest, so the percentage isn't always 100% (is that redundant???). But, it's close enough to get you all excited and praying with me.
34%
Monthly support raised so far: $1,057.50 (needed: $3,095.62/month)
100%+
Initial start-up fees: $10,308 (needed: around $10,000)!!!!!!!!!!!

100%!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of the start-up expenses, that is!!! But it feels good to write 100%. I can now officially get to Japan. Now it's all about staying there!! Praise God for His continued provision!

Monthly support raised so far: $1,027.50 (needed: $3,095.62/month)
Initial start-up fees: $10,308 (needed: around $10,000)!!!!!!!!!!!