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[2ndlvlmediadr]

Serving, not Being Served

One thing that I had to learn to do while serving at J-Café Church was to serve as they wanted me to serve, and not how I wanted. Of course, they asked us to take the lead on many events and to do things “our way”, Culture Night events in particular, but for the most part, we had to learn to humbly do things differently than we might want.

It’s normal for missionaries to come in to a place and behave as if we have what they need, including the best way to do things. Thankfully, we learned early on in the trip that just because we think our way is better, doesn’t mean we should do it our own way. When we got there, we were full of energy and wanted to work constantly on moving forward with projects or events. But they had their own pace and their own plans which we were there to help with, not take over.

One of the most difficult for me was a day when we were moving to a new host-family house and had to leave the old one in the early morning but could not go to the new one until the evening. That day the church was hosting a conference. There was a miscommunication (happens a lot in Japan) where they had said, “During the 2 day conference, the mission team should take time away and not worry about coming to the church.” What they meant was, “If you come to the church, you’ll be in the way. We’re having hundreds of guests and the best thing would be for you to not come and serve us, but to find something to do away from the church.”

Not understanding what they really wanted, and while still jetlagged, my family showed up at the church around 9am and went into an empty back room where we could do some prep for the upcoming weekend’s events. A few minutes later we were asked to leave. It was very confusing and we didn’t know what to do. I almost cried because we weren’t prepared to go out for the day, we had computer equipment and crafting supplies with us that we were going to work on at the church and were loaded down. We couldn’t go back to the homestay house and trying to go on a family adventure with all the baggage wouldn’t have worked either. We ended up spending the rest of the day at the pastor’s condo feeling like we messed up pretty bad. It was the worst day of the trip for me.

Thoughts like, “Don’t they know we’re here to help them?” and “It’s not like we were in the way in an empty back room.” were going through my mind. I started to wonder why they didn’t want us seen by the conference attendees and if we were just a burden they were putting up with until we would finally leave. I thought didn’t like us.

The pastor invited my family over a couple days afterwards and we had a very nice dinner with them. It turns out, the conference was very heavy for them to bear as it was an East Asian-regional conference for the denomination with guests from all over and J-Café had a lot to be responsible for. We weren’t equipped to help them with it, and they weren’t prepared to give us things to do. So they were simply trying to help us out by asking us to leave (and take a break). They didn’t realize we were carrying much equipment when they asked us to leave, and did they know that we couldn’t take it home because of our unique homestay change situation.

After that, we learned to listen closely to what was said and to try and do what they asked, even if it sounded optional. We were there to serve them, not to be served by them. And sometimes that meant doing things in a new way. My hope is that they found us to be more understanding towards the end of our time there and that their patience with use endured.

[2ndlvlmediadr]

He holds all things together

One interesting thing I’ve noticed about Japan is that many things are old. We are used to things breaking a lot in America, so they get replaced often. But here in Japan, many things seem to be really old.

Beyond being really old, I was surprised at how loosely things seem to be held together. Doing some maintenance around the church, the tools seemed to be so wobbly that I thought they were about to break. The hose is held on to the spigot by a few twisted wires. I borrowed a camera tripod and the legs on it seemed to be about to fall off until they were snapped into place.

I was surprised that these things were not replaced with more durable solutions… at first. Then I used them. The tools that seemed to be almost ready to break turned out to be very sturdy when used. I realized that these things were build intentionally loose, so they would give and take. This made them quite endearing because they did not take impacts as hard as what I typically would use in America.

It turns out that the looseness that makes them seem frail actually made them able to endure more force because they weren’t absorbing the impacts so hard. It is what makes some buildings last hundreds of years in earthquake prone areas.

I tend to be very rigid. I react to force by trying my hardest to stand up and endure it. It may work in the short run, but it has a lasting impact on me that makes me weary with time.

The reason I stay so rigid is probably the same reason American products are build to be tight and strong, because I am afraid of breaking under pressure. I forget that God is in control and holds all things together by the power of His Word. (Col. 1:17)

I know from personal experience that I have gone through a number of lawn tools, camera tripods and hose spigots that all seemed strong when I got them but broke after enduring wear over time. If I want to endure on my walk with Christ, and just my day-to-day living, I am going to have to be more willing to give and take. To hold loosely to this life and the things I am gripping tightly, by trusting in Him to hold things together and not my own force.