If you haven’t figured it out yet, the excitement of missions work has once again took hold of my heart. I had begun to get worried that I had shelved the idea, instead fearing for social and financial security. Ever since I started working in Seattle, work itself has dominated life. From long hours in the winter, to night studying in spring; I’ve spent too much time at it.
Granted forty hours a week is a good thing, for it allows one to provide not just for himself, but also for his church family through general tithing and missionaries in the foreign field. I’ve been supportting the Powers in Latvia for nearly a year, and the Robisons for probably two or three.
But all this to say, I’ve pulled the CPA application back out of my backpack, made a few emails, and am filling out bubbles again.
Then lo and behold, the Thomsons call from Mercer Island. They’re in town! If there’s anyone in Japan I miss from my trip last summer, it’s them! Their breadth of experience floored me, and they taught me that you don’t have to be someone special to give your time or your particular gifts.
I suppose those long meetings at JxJ or translation errors during our VBS trip really made me think I can’t be a missionary. But let’s face it: Jesus was a carpenter and Peter was a fisherman. Okay, okay Matthew was an accountant, but that’s not rocket science either! Or brain surgery. We’re talking about quadruple bypass surgery here, and we’re not even the lead physician. God the Father himself “will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ez. 36:26, ESV)
Additionally, Rita Mulligan, a retired OMF’er, came up to me this Sunday, her face aglow. She told me she was so encouraged by my testimony last week. She couldn’t wait to see what the Lord was going to do with my life. (And here I thought I knew!) And how dearly she hopped to introduce me to some friends at OMF, who were down in Tukwila.
Rita and the Thomsons, I love you guys! You, the Ryus, Reiko, the Clarks, the Mortimers, the Barkmans, the Takahashis, the Hondas all in Japan. Kei, Miyuki, Yohei, TK, Mina, Faith, Nozmoi, Yuki, Masa, and Dave: you rock my world here in Seattle! If it weren’t for people like you, showing what it’s like to engage the enemy, I wouldn’t be back on this path! Thank you for your service!
