Passion to serve

When we look at the world, it seems to be full of problems. There's political issues overseas, extreme poverty in many countries, bombings in neighbouring nations, and even conflict in our cities and communities. Sometimes watching the news is overwhelming and disheartening and is much easier to simply ignore. However, Jesus calls us to serve Him by addressing these problems. It is not enough to meet physical needs, as secular organizations do through good works. It's more important to give what Christ has given us, which is hope of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. But exactly where and to whom do we start serving?

Our church fellowship just started a series called, Outlive Your Life by Max Lucado. It challenged us to become aware of the physical needs around the world and to think about how we can make a difference. In our discussion, we talked about with whom our passion lies or to whom we felt an urgency to witness to. The advice was to look for the people whose language made the most sense to us. This didn't just mean linguistics, but the type of people we connected to. This would be our area of fluency.

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, "are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? ... we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God." (Acts 2:4-8, 11b)

This passage talks about the apostles gathering as the first church in history and how the Holy Spirit was sent to them so they could proclaim the Good News of Jesus in different languages. Notice that each apostle was fluent enough in another language that foreigners were amazed that they could actually understand the apostles in their own language. This is the fluency that is unique to each of us so we also can witness to a unique type of people. We do not have this fluency on our own, but like the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit, so we have the Holy Spirit working in us and gifting us too.

What do I really mean by looking for people we connect to? I'll give you a few examples that our fellowship talked about and then share my own.

One person is an occupational therapist and she has been so blessed because her language of fluency lies with the clients she works with. They are people who have suffered from chronic injuries that are suffering both physically and emotionally. Those are the people she has a passion for. Those are the people to whom she feels the burden to share Jesus with.

Another friend has a passion for international students. She never really seeks out these students on her own but for some reason, God sends them to her. She connects with them well because she understands their feelings of being lost or loneliness. She loves to introduce them to a loving community by inviting them to church or fellowship and that has become her fluency.

My sister has a heart for inner-city kids. While studying to become a teacher, she has spent her summers working with missions that cater directly to inner-city kids coming from low-income families. She has found a love for those kids and hopes to teach in schools in their area. She's able to "speak" their language and finds her passion with these people.

As for me, I may still be looking for my language of fluency, but I feel I have a heart for survivors of natural disasters. My first experience was in New Orleans in 2012, where I built houses with Habitat for Humanity. It was 7 years after Hurricane Katrina, yet there was still such lack of development in the hurricane-hit area. I was able to meet a man who lost his home in the hurricane, moved away, but inevitably returned to New Orleans. We were there when he finally gained property of his new backyard and this small thing made him so happy! I realized that although the people there were surprisingly happy (this may have been because it was Mardi Gras week), they could receive so much greater, everlasting joy if they knew God. I want to bring this gift of joy and hope to the Japanese as well, especially as I will be visiting people on the coastline. They will be the people who have lost their homes in the tsunami and are still restricted to living in temporary homes. However, I think I'll only be able to confirm whether or not I have a passion for these people after this missions trip.

With these examples, it is important to note that we all have a different passion. Just because we don't feel equal burdens doesn't mean we don't care about other people who don't speak our language.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12)

As God tells us in this verse, we as Christians are different parts of the body of the church and therefore have unique gifts for different ministries. However, together we are one body, so our purpose for ministry should be the same, which is to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

As you think about your passion, it might be hard to really know or define where it is. But as evident in the examples above, no one starts by choosing their passion first and then going out in the world to make it come true. The passion is found after going through experiences and discovering where God wants you to be. So what should you do? Get experience! Find those opportunities, pray, and pursue them! God will help you find your passion and you'll have so much joy serving God! I'll cheer you on! :)

Love,
J

Everlasting God

みんなさん、こんにちは！今日は本当にあついですね！

So I have an exciting announcement today. I've raised over $3,200 from friends and family, getting a surplus over the $3,000 I was responsible for raising! I am soooooooo thankful and blessed for the contributions and I never could have raised so much money without God's help. He is faithful! ありがとうございます！(Arigatougozaimasu!) Those extra funds will be going to the missions trip to help out other participants if they need the money and to continue the work of the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society.

What is more exciting is the prayer support I've been receiving. I was given the opportunity to speak at my church during our Sunday service and share about the missions trip. After, the congregation prayed together in groups, and the pastor prayed over me at the end. It was a little awkward standing on the stage while those around me were praying, but I closed my eyes and I could hear the whispers and mumbles of prayers. It was then that I thought, "Wow, God, you love me so much that I don't know what to say. You've blessed me with a loving church and such loving brothers and sisters. How great you are!" I really felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in the sanctuary and it filled me up with so much joy.

After that church service, I left a little early to help set up Coffee Corner, where I would be accepting donations and talking to people. However, as I was leaving, an auntie that I had never talked to before stopped me. She told me in her broken English that she was so grateful to hear me share about my trip and she felt my passion when I was talking about Japan. She gave me a donation, saying that it was a small gift, but it came with her love for God and her joy that I was going to Japan. I was so touched and speechless! I couldn't do anything but give her a smile and a hug and say thank you!

This was only one of the moments where God has showed His love through people as I have been raising support. I could keep writing of many other stories but that would take forever. (Talk to me though, and I'll share!)

Oh! One more awesome moment. Last week, I was invited to share again during my church's prayer meeting. It was similar to the sharing at the church service. What was new, however, was at the end, I sat in the middle and everyone there laid their hands on me as one person prayed. I really felt like they were lifting me to God in prayer. In the Bible, there was a man who was paralyzed, so his loyal friends found a way to get him to Jesus by carrying him on his mat to the roof and lowering it. They loved their friend so much and had so much faith in Jesus that they went through all that trouble. In the end, the man was healed by Jesus and walked away celebrating with his friends. (The story is from Mark 2:1-12) That kind of love is what I felt, and it's a feeling you won't know until you experience it!

With all these experiences, all I can do is praise God! Please continue to pray for me, my prayer warriors (prior worriers for the ACF friends)! I will need it during these days of preparation as our full team hasn't met yet on Skype to discuss children's program planning. As well, please pray that I have discipline to continue spending time daily with God so I can go to Japan as spiritually strong as possible. Thank you!

OH MY GOODNESS. I was listening to Everlasting God by Chris Tomlin while writing this and it was background music until I paid attention to the words. This song is actually about my theme verse, Isaiah 40:31. What is this amazingness!?

One last thing. I have a prayer schedule in a Google Doc set up so there will be prayers every day of the missions trip for me, my team, and the Japanese people. If God places this in your heart, could you please type your name on one or more days so I can praise God for you and thank you for your prayers? Thank you!

Sorry for such a long post, but as you can tell, God is too good for a short post!

Love,

J

Are you on fire?

Are you on fire? Or are you lukewarm? I know for myself that I'm terribly lukewarm.

I came across this video while researching on hope and prayers for Japan. I never realized how disgusting I must be to God when I talk about my own lukewarmness to others, ask if they are also lukewarm, but don't do anything about it. I remember when I first had the conviction to do missions. I was talking to a friend who asked me, "Isn't there more to a Christian life than this? More than just going to church, doing the daily devos, going to prayer meetings, going to fellowship? There must be something more!" I slowly thought about it and realized that to be a Christian means that our lives should look completely different if we weren't following Christ. But so many times, I fall into the materialism of the world and try to live my life out like a "normal" person. But I shouldn't be normal! I should have God, the Holy Spirit, actually living inside me guiding my life.

I admit every day is a constant struggle between living life the way I want and the life the way God wants for me. In my selfish mind, I don't see why God should hold on to the control over my life. But, when we think about ourselves, we are little, itty bitty specks on earth in this giant universe. We are nothing compared to God, who is greater and more powerful than all things and created us. Therefore, why shouldn't we trust that God knows the best for us and has greater things planned for us than we can ever imagine on our own? That should be reason enough to live life on fire.

But, what does it mean to live life on fire? I believe this is different for everyone, but when we are on fire, we'll know. It may be small things in life, like boldly starting conversations about God with our friends and colleagues. It could also be handing out sandwiches to the homeless and refusing to ignore the poor when we walk by them. It could mean following God's call to go to seminary and becoming a pastor. It could even mean dropping everything and moving to another country to minister to people who don't know God. The most important aspect to this life on fire is where we no longer can trust in our own skills or knowledge or pension plans or whatever we have to make sure we're in control. Instead, we place ourselves in a vulnerable position where we can't do anything except trust that God will take care of things.

That is my hope for this missions trip. That I will drop everything that allows me to believe in my abilities and turn to God so He can show me His power. I want to be on fire for God!

Love,
J

Inspiration

Hi everyone! みんなさん、こんにちは！

I realized a while ago that people might be wondering why, out of any place in the world, I would choose Japan to witness to. Here is a bit of history of how I've been inspired come to this area of ministry. But first. I'm saying inspired, not called, because I find it difficult to say whether or not God has called me to Japan. I could really be called to anywhere, knowing my true purpose on earth. As the verse I live by tells me,

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24)

Therefore, as long as I'm testifying the gospel, I am doing my calling! However, the calling of God to a specific area is equally important to discern. As my uncle advised me, I should step through the doors God has opened- in this case, Japan. Only after working there can I discern God's calling based on whether my heart has the urgency and the passion for the salvation of Japanese people.

Now on to Why Japan? My interest in the Japanese culture began, of course, with anime, specifically Yu-gi-oh and Inuyasha. Don't worry, anime's not my thing anymore! In high school, I actually immersed myself in Korean pop music and Korean dramas and wanted to learn the language. Sadly, (but not that sad!) language school didn't offer Korean, but Japanese was the next language I wanted to learn. I enrolled in class and began to learn not just the language but the culture as well.

I admired much about their culture that I couldn't find in North America. The Japanese bow their heads to greet friends and colleagues as a sign of respect and acknowledgment. Here, I may ignore a friend on the way to school if I'm in a rush or I will keep silent if I don't feel like small talk with co-workers. Another aspect of their culture is their collectivism or group-centred behaviour. Japanese feel it is rude to exclude others and care more about their in-group than themselves. This selflessness is hard to come by in North America and I often fall in to selfishness and individualism too. Japan also interested me because it holds one of the world's largest business hubs. As a business student who is considering working abroad, Japan became a country that I could see myself doing business in.

Urbana 2012

I continued learning Japanese in university during first and second year and thought of pursuing opportunities to vacation, teach English, or become an exchange student in Japan. No doors opened for me to travel there until third year. Urbana 2012, a student missions conference, introduced to me the idea that students my age can go on missions. I always imagined missions as a radical lifestyle for someone else or for an age when I'm retired, but I discovered that I have so much freedom in my role in life to go on missions. I was not tied down with a relationship, with family (as in, spouse and kids), or with money. At Urbana, I committed to serving both short-term and long-term in God's mission field. It was then that I considered going to Japan for missions rather than for pleasure. I connected with a Japanese organization, called Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society (JEMS) and learned of this summer opportunity.

As I did more research, Japan became increasing important as a mission field. For over 150 years, Christianity has stayed at below 1% of population. This pressing statistic shows how strong spiritual warfare exists in Japan and the potential for so much growth. Other urging statistics include high suicide rates and depression rates. It has become so terrible that there are websites online where people can meet up to commit suicide together. If only they knew how valuable their life is to God!

Therefore, my hope for this missions trip is to introduce to kids their creator, God, and His great love for them through Jesus. God can give them the hope that forgiveness covers all in their shame-based culture, joy so there is no reason to be depressed, and the love that they may not receive in a conservative home.

I hope that explains my passion for this mission for you!

Love,
J

A crowd of witnesses

Hi friends!

So God just showed me His amazing encouragement! In my devotionals, the passage of focus was from Philippians 3:10-16.

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained."

The whole concept was how this Christian life is a race. Day after day, I trip and fall in my sin, and I have the choice to give up and walk away or to get up and press on. However, God doesn't expect me or you to do this all on our own; God gives us His strength and He sends us people to encourage us.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

I've actually memorized this passage twice in my life- first as a requirement to finish my church fellowship's "Amazing Race" event and second as a Bible Memory workshop in my university fellowship's "Couch Hop" event. I never really sought out this verse on my own, so it's funny and amazing how God reminds me of this verse once again just to stress the importance of it. I've always been confused about the "great cloud of witnesses" because I couldn't quite grasp the metaphor. But after the explanation of the verse in the devotional, I've come to interpret it as God's witnesses cheering me on from a cloud. My imagination depicts this crowd of God's people, sitting in a cloud, watching me run the race of a Christian life, and cheering me on as an athlete. (It actually reminded me of the cloud guy from Mario Kart, which makes me laugh, but that's irrelevant.) Knowing how the body of Christ, made up of all believers, encourages me to get up after I fall is amazing! I've realized that this truth will be important to remember when I prepare and when I go to Japan. I might get easily frustrated when I must wait on God to answer prayers, when the team is not united, or when the people there are not receptive of my faith. Please pray for me to remember these verses and to continue pressing on whenever I encounter these frustrations.

Lastly, the devotionals challenged us to look up Isaiah 40:28-31 and fill in the blanks:

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the ­­­­______________ ______, the _______________ of the ends of the earth. He will not grow ________ or ___________, and his __________________ no one can fathom. He gives ________________ to the _______________and increases the ____________ of the ____________. Even youths grow _____________ and ____________, and young men _____________ and _____; but those who _________ in the LORD will ___________ their _____________. They will _________ on wings like eagles; they will _______ and not grow weary, they will ___________ and not be ______________.”

And as I was doing that, I realized that my theme verse was in this passage! I was like, "Wow God! The way you work, the way everything falls into place (almost like a coincidence, but not really), and the way you encourage is beyond awesome!" Now I'm super super encouraged that God will be there in my weakness and weariness to strengthen me always. I hope you can all be encouraged by these verses too!

Love,
J

I've been JUST renewed!

Welcome to JUST renewed!

This is a blog for me to share with you how amazing God is and how He is working in my life as I embark on a missions trip to Japan this summer!

"But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not be faint."

Isaiah 40: 31

My theme verse is centered on renewal, which is provided by God everyday. He first renewed me by covering all my sins with Jesus' death on the cross. I put all my terrible, sin-stained clothes in to God's hands and He renewed me with a new, pure clothes. Now, as I struggle with sin from morning to night, God's grace and mercy renews me every time I confess my sins to Him and I get to receive His forgiveness. As I prepare and go on the missions trip to Japan, I know that God will renew me through my prayers, your prayers, and His Word so I can face each struggle, frustration, and disappointment with His strength. Even though I think I am strong, determined, and able, I will get tired on my own. But, like it says in the verse, God will renew my strength- He is almost like my fuel!- so I can keep walking, running, and flying to fulfill God's purpose for my life.

Please also pray for my 'twin sister', Renee, who is leading a missions team in El Salvador! Her blog is at: http://justrenewed.blogspot.ca/. We'll be keeping each other accountable and sharing our stories along the way.

Love,

J