Goodbye Two Thousand and Seven
Comments(0) I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. -Ephesians 4:1-3.
As I reflect on the year that was, I cannot help but think how blessed I am. January of last year marked my first full month working for a Christian ministry, it’s been a year now, and I have been blessed with a great experience, great coworkers and many fond memories. I’m especially thankful for my opportunities to see prayer and humility lived out in concrete ways by my coworker Andrew Woodyard. He has a huge faith, which is only challenged in size by his heart –I’ve been blessed to share an office with him for the past year. When I’ve lost my cool, he’s been a steady anchor; he’s helped me through a lot of bad days and set an example for me to follow.
Just a little over a year ago I was also blessed to have been invited to join the Perspectives course by a member of Christian Veterinary Mission named Karen Stoufer. For fifteen weeks my mind and heart were enlarged with the Word of God and with powerful testimonies and training regarding world missions. It had been a long time since I’d done any writing or homework, and it wasn’t as bad as I had remembered. I got to meet a lot of new people through the course and gained many great insights. I’m especially thankful for meeting my new friends Colin Wilson and Chad Mason through the course.
In April I also made a great new acquaintance, a dear friend named Fred Slover. At the time I had started my pursuit for the ‘perfect bible’ of which I’ve now abandoned all rational hope –but it did lead me to do a search for Christian books on craigslist. I saw an ad in the books section for ‘Free Christian books by conservative Evangelical authors.’ I answered immediately, he replied and asked what I was currently reading, and I said that I was reading some Tozer, and he replied that he had a bunch of Tozer and some other books that I could have. When I visited his house the first time, I left with three full boxes of books! It turns out that this wonderful older gentleman is a former missionary, and has a passion for reaching Jews with the Gospel. I have been able to meet with him every couple of weeks since then and have been very blessed by his passion and his prayers. My coworker Andrew is convinced that craigslist isn’t good for anything, but I was blessed by God to be able to make a connection like this one through craigslist, I plan to visit Mr. Slover tonight.
In June I was able to visit Japan for the first time. Back in 2002 I was able to visit South Korea and China during our summer mission trip, and even though I’d taken several years worth of Japanese history classes in college, I’d never gotten to go to Japan. While taking the Perspectives course I picked the Japanese as my unreached people group project, and was able to see their Spiritual need more clearly. Our church has several missionaries working full time in Japan, and a small group of believers who meet together for church and bible studies. I am so grateful to have been able to meet our missionaries and church members; Joshua JDSN and Akie SMN, Atsuro-san and Ayano, Minjin, Aiko and brother Yu.
I was especially thankful for meeting brother Yu. Yu is a graduate from the engineering program at Tokyo University, and a very committed member of the church. In fact he even turned down a lucrative and highly sought after job because it would have taken him away from the body of believers. He’s currently trying to get into medical school (which isn’t regarded very highly in Japan) in order to be able to continue to grow and serve in the church. Yu is also the only brother at our Tokyo church; in Japan it is very unusual for men to attend church. I was shown just how precious fellowship with other brothers is, and I was rebuked for my own lack of concern for my brothers in Seattle. It is so easy to take our brothers for granted when they’re around, I’m glad I could meet brother Yu and see his passion and commitment, I hope to visit again soon and continue to fellowship with him.
This past year I have also been meeting one on one with Brother Tom Han here at New Covenant Baptist Church in Seattle. I’ve been really blessed to have him as an older brother and I’m thankful for his patience with me despite all of my trouble making. Tom has a lot on his plate having just started his own business as well as having just had a baby girl named Abigail with his wife Heejin. Despite being pulled in many directions he still has time to get together for lunch or coffee to talk. Looking back over the last year, I’ve put Tom through a lot of trouble; I should really try to do something nice for him.
On September first I finally took the GRE, more than a year after I first scheduled it. I planned to take it in October of the previous year, then rescheduled it for March, then for July and finally for September. Considering it costs $40 to reschedule it, I actually ended up paying to take the test twice even though I only took it once. Even though in September I didn’t feel like I was ready, I took it anyways. I hadn’t studied for the math section at all and it showed, but I did better on the writing than I expected and did well on the verbal section also. In fact I got a perfect score on the Analytical Writing which kind of boosted my ego (until I looked at my quantitative score, then I was humbled). All in all, it looks like I’ve got good enough scores to get into most graduate programs in the country, I just need to get my act together and start applying.
In October I was able to attend Seattle Missions Fest and see many familiar faces from the Perspectives course as well as put some faces to people I’d talked with on the phone. I had volunteered earlier in the year at Agros International and it was great to see David from Agros at Missions Fest. I was also able to meet Brian Curnutt from Wycliffe USA, one of the people I work with at Intercristo. In addition I was able to fellowship with Chad Mason and Colin, as well as see other class members, staff and instructors from Perspectives, like Heather Brown, Nate Sholtz from Frontiers
For the past couple of months I’ve been involved in the Perspectives class again, this time as part of the Task Force. I’ll be helping with enrichment activities for the Thursday night class at University Presbyterian Church. One of the coordinators is Christina who also works here at Crista for Christian Veterinary Mission. I realize now that there’s a lot more that goes into coordinating one of these classes than I would have ever thought. All of the coordinators and staff are Presbyterian, which means everything needs to be planned to the finest detail, which kind of drives me nuts. I realize that I have a tendency to be more of a spontaneous person when it comes to details. I don’t like to plan things ahead of time, at least to the level that they do –but I think this is a good opportunity to learn to work better in a team and also to submit to authority. My reflexive action would be to plan a loose framework and then just fill it in as things progress, but I realize that this can also be selfish, because it makes others uncomfortable who aren’t used to being unscripted and impromptu.
Another great perk of working for Crista ministries is the Deli. I’m not a big fan of the food (although I do drink way too many lattes) but the company is great. Many of the seniors from the Crista senior communities visit the deli during the day and I’ve had a chance to meet a wonderful man named Al Bartlett. He often comes to our Monday prayer meetings and has a real heart for prayer. He’s always telling me how thankful he is, and I’ve never seen him without a smile, he’s a genuine blessing to be around. Whenever I get a chance I like to sit and talk with Al. He’s had many friends over the years, including Pete Fleming, one of the missionaries martyred in Ecuador in the 1956. One of his favorite stories to tell is how he used to do a small group bible study with four other Christian brothers during college, one of them being Pete, and how even though he was the oldest by age, he was the youngest Christian and he was always challenged by how passionate the younger men were –three of those five young men went on to be missionaries. He loves to reminisce about his friends and loved ones. He’ll also tell you what bible verse has been a blessing to him that day, even if not prompted.
I’ve done a lot of reading over the past year, but I think there were few things that have made as great an impression on me as the Biography of George Muller by Arthur Pierson. The story of his conversion and his life of prayer and faith have challenged me greatly. Along with my readings in DL Moody, Hudson Taylor and Charles Spurgeon I don’t think anyone has had a bigger impact on me lately than George Muller. His testimony is just so applicable to what I’ve been feeling recently –that change is possible. I could go into greater detail than that, but I’m already running long.
No one deserves any of the credit for the blessings I’ve experienced this past year more than Jesus. Even when I look back on the hardest times and the darkest moments I can see that His hand was in it all, to help break me of my stubbornness and pride, or help lift me up to get a new glimpse of His heart and His love. I am truly grateful to be able to call on the Lord in all circumstances and know that He hears me. Even if I had no blessings to list from this year, I wouldn’t feel slighted, knowing that the greatest blessing I have ever received happened a little more than two thousand years ago on a crucifix in Palestine.
Over the past couple of weeks