Tuesday, June 12, 2007

All Deliberate Speed

Ok, so apparently I am doing this thing that whatever song I am listening to is the title of the blog post. Today, it is also Mae. Love them. Anyway, how is everything? I hope fine. I have been pretty out of the American loop, but it looks like the entire nation is in an uproar over Paris Hilton. I don't get it. She broke the law, she should get punished. Plain and simple. Gah, I don't understand. I mean, who exactly is she? Her mommy and daddy are rich so she is popular on principle? Hmm, yeah, whatever. Also, some other things have happened but I do not really care. Oh! I got onto CBS.com to watch the season finale of C.S.I. but I cannot view it because I am not in America. Gah! Oh well. I cannot complain. You know, I am finding it really difficult to complain about anything. I mean, here I am, in a beautiful country, surrounded by great friends, doing His work...what can I complain about? Nothing. Sure, things are difficult here, but it is ok. I am living in Japan!! Come on, how great is that. Ok, enough.

Sunday and Monday were great. I really cannot remember what happened, but they were great. Monday was a pretty busy day, and then I got back to the church and after dinner I went outside and just broke down. Yesterday was June 11, two years to the day that Jacob died. It really hit me that night. I just cried and cried. Holly came outside and sat with me for a while, and then after I was finished crying I went back into the church. The guys left a little after that. That was my breakdown, and honestly, it felt really good to cry.

Today, Tuesday, was a great day. I had 6 readers with only one break. Lunch was swell. Who still says swell? I do! Haha. Ok, that was totally lame. Anyway, today was Adam's party- The Wacky Olympics. Yata (yay in Japanese)!! We had about 40 people there, so that was pretty fantastic. First, we divided the people into six "countries." They had to come up with a country, or team name and then a cheer in about a minute. We got some great answers. We had 6 teams, and we had three competitions, so we had two teams per competition. We had the javelin throw, eating contest, and invisible ball game. I was in charge of the eating competition. Adam went out and bought these Super Extreme Sour Sour Patch kids candy before he left. So, the bags had been with him for quite some time. Now, they were not as sour as we thought. Anyway, there were five people to a team and they had to eat two at the same time without making a face. The team that finished the fastest and without making a face won. After everything, we had the finals, and the teams had to eat six at one time! Awesome! We got some pretty cool faces during that time. Team 1 won. Yata! Haha. The javelin throw were these Nerf dart things that actually went pretty far. The three winning teams lined up for the finals, but this time we distracted them and stood in their way to divert the javelin. We did this so the same teams did not win twice. Awesome. Worked great. After the javelin throw we did the invisible ball game finals. The game is exactly as it sounds. Shane was the leader so we had about 15 people lined up to play. Shane would pretend to have a basketball, beach ball, tennis ball, small bouncy ball...etc and the others had to pay attention to what was being throw and to whom it was being thrown to. Ha...haha...hahahahahaha. It was hilarious. Sometimes we would throw in 3 or four balls and that knocked out people pretty quickly. Awesome. Also, you had to think of a creative way to catch and hit the invisible ball. Ayaka won so her team won! Yay! It was a great party, and it was a beautiful day today. Lovely day for a party.

Well, that is about it. I am really loving all of my readers, even the ones who know very little English. I find them fun and challenging. Basically, I cannot ask them questions and they cannot ask me questions so we just read. I pull out a Japanese Bible and have them read it in Japanese and then in English. I am having some really great conversations and I am anxious to see the Lord slowly working in them. Today, one of my readers Hanna and I were talking about how a cow is one and cattle are plural. Somehow we started talking about buffalo so I had to go downstairs on the computer and show her pictures of buffalo. Then, she wanted to know what rattlesnakes look like, then longhorns, then poisonious spiders. Basically our session ended with us looking at bugs on the internet. It was great. Later, Sara found out that we were going to Tokyo so she offered us some great suggestions about what to see and do. Thanks, Sara! Both of those girls rock. They are both Christians, "Sisters in Christ" as Hanna says. Also, apparently Sara's dad is famous! Her family live on a different island, and last Friday he came to ICC to do a lecture. Apparently he is the Japanese version of Patch Adams, according to Sugao. He works with psychiatry patients, so that was cool.

Whew. That was a lot. I finally finished reading my book The Irresistible Revolution and it was ok for the most part. A few parts I really enjoyed, but mostly it was ok. I would like to share some thing from the book that I enjoyed. Please, if you do not want to read... don't. I will say my goodbyes here! See you!

From the book: "We are not just called to be candles. Candles make for nice Christmas services and a nice peace vigil. They can remind us that God's light dwells within us and that we are to shine that light in this dark world. But we are not just called to be candles. We are called to be fire. Candles can be snuffed out by the slightest wind or by the smallest child on their birthday. But it is harder to put out a fire. We are to be fire, to weave our lives together so that the Spirit's inferno of love spreads across the earth. We are a bride, not a harem...
If you have the gift of frustration and the deep sense that the world is a mess, thank God for that, not everyone has that gift of vision. It also means that you have a responsibility to lead us to new ways. Recognizing something is wrong is the first step toward changing the world. So for those of us who have nearly given up on the church, may we take comfort in the words of St. Augustine: 'The church is a whore, but she is my mother.'...I once heard a pastor say, 'The church is like Noah's ark. It stinks, but if you get out of it, you'll drown.' We are the church. If she were perfect, we'd mess her up as soon as we joined. So may we have some grace, even with those Christians and pastors who make us nauseated and put us to sleep...
Maybe we are a little crazy. After all, we believe in things we don't see. The Scriptures say that faith is 'being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.' We believe poverty can end even though it is around us. We believe in peace even though we hear only rumors of wars. And since we are people of expectation, we are so convinced that another world is coming that we start living as if it were already here. So may we begin living as if poverty were over, and we will see it come to pass. May we begin beating our swords into plowshares now, and the kingdom will begin to be not simply something we hope for when we die but something we see on earth as it is in heaven, the kingdom that is among us and within us. I pray that we will have the integrity of the early church, which, in the same breath that it denounced their empire in Rome, was able to invite people into the Way- little communities scattered throughout the empire. We have a tremendous responsibility to provide an alternative to the children who see military service as their only hope for college, to young people who see the market economy as their only hope for providence. May we spend our lives making the Jesus way of life accessible to people. The world is thirsty. All creation is groaning. Christianity as it is has not satisfied the souls of those who hunger for another way of life...
Welcome to the irresistable revolution, a new and ancient was of life that is so attractive, who would settle for anything else? Welcome to the revolution of little people, guerrilla peacemakers, and dancing prophets, the revolution that loves and laughs. The revolution begins inside each of us, and through little acts of love, it will take over the world. Let us begin to be Christians again. Jesus, give us the courage.

So, I know that was long, but when I read that, it had pretty much been on my heart for some time. It was amazing how much the last chapeter of that mediocre book affected me. Wow.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that was powerful. It sounds like you are blessed as you are a blessing to your precious readers. I think all of us shed a few tears yesterday. Today we all feel better as we go on with our lives the way Jacob would have wanted us to do.

I Love You,
MawMaw

Anonymous said...

Jordan. You have truly been blessed as a writer. I am so proud of you. I shed tears on the 11th also. It was a rough day for me, especially being alone on that day. Just remember, Jacob is looking down on you, and is so proud of the woman you have become and the work you you are doing in God's name. I love you.

Dad