Church Location

It's been an exciting season in our work here in Japan. One of the priorities since I've been back has been to secure a place for our church to meet. This had seemed like a challenging task because the city is big, expensive, and not necessarily asking for new churches. People are often weirded out by a religious group wanting to meet in their building. Within just a short time of moving into his new apartment, our guy Jay found a potential place on his street. The long story short is that the location would become the location we are launching this church!

The place is a foreigner themed sports bar called Strikers. We will meet on the second and third floor of the building. The main room isn't huge, but they have some open space they rent out for parties....and now a church. It's got some lighting, sound, and projection equipment we can use, and it's in a very convenient location. I think it's a great fit for our first place.

It's been fun to see the different reactions of people when I've invited people to church and they find out it's a sports bar. Most Japanese people have never been to church, and their impression of church is that is either a place designed for pretty weddings or that it is an archaic, stuffy place. I'm hoping that this place won't fit their paradigm for church, and that they will be more likely to check out what these Christians are up to.

We are hoping to show Japanese people (and keep in mind ourselves) that church is about people, not a fancy building. Church is people coming together to encounter/worship God and encourage one another in the faith...and that can happen anywhere.

Feeling Homeless

Lately I feel homeless. It's been about four months now since we moved out of our house in Japan to hit the road to visit family, reconnect with those who help financially support our work in Japan, raise new money for the work, and do whatever else comes up along the way. In that time I have stayed in 23 different places...hotel rooms, friends' houses, a temporary apartment. There have been a handful of times when, for a moment, I forgot where I was. No joke. In several days we fly back to Japan, where we will stay in two different places (not our own) during the next few months.

Four months of living out of a suitcase just doesn't allow a person to feel settled. The irony of all this is, while I don't have a place to call my own, I have always had a place to lay my head at night. Through God's provision and people's generosity, I have been able to travel around the country and not have to worry about a thing. The reality is, I am not homeless...I am "home-ful".

Honestly, these several months have helped redefine for me what "home" means. I do look forward to settling into an apartment in Nagoya, but I feel like I am learning to be content and peaceful regardless of my context. I can tell I still have a ways to go...but I'm learning.

Blog

So...I've got a blog now. I don't exactly know why I've finally decided to do one, but I think it will be fun. I suppose my blog will be like my normal life...I'll follow my thoughts wherever they lead me and subject other people to the results. Most likely that will mean stuff about life in Japan, theology, family and friends, books, fighting, and anything else that becomes interesting. Off we go!