ULNE World Missionary Foundation

 Dear friends,
 

April and May have been almost overwhelming in the daily going ons and working towards things to come. April began on the heels of our All Japan Staff conference and from across the nation Navigator campuses gathered from their respective cities. Our collective ministries gathered to both exchange ideas and strategies, as well as find community in a place where community is far and few between. My first conference was also marked by a goodbye to one of Navigators' most long standing staff in Japan. During one of our large groups the staffer, named Brian Gibbs, shared what he has learned in Japan, represented in three separate ways: The Hourglass, The Small Boat, and the Grapevine. These examples proved profoundly relevant in the last two months and act as perfect windows into what life has been like.

 

 The Hourglass 分銅

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For the Hourglass, Gibbs explained how the top of the hourglass, where all the sand originates, represents the Gospel at its starting point. The bottleneck represents passages through which the Gospel must pass to reach the bottom, which he described as the world. Using Matthew 9:36-38 he explained how disciplined laborers have been called to this bottleneck to bring the Gospel to the world.

 

  “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like a sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.’”
                                                                                                                                      -Matthew 9:36 (NIV)

 This month of May and June are being marked by the arrival of two separate short term teams. The preparation for both has been monumental, but the discipline and commitment have abounded from both teams. Our May team of five from Hawaii, naturally named Aloha, have pursued our students with a fervour many of the long termers cannot accomplish without burning out physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Our June team of six from all across the continental U.S. are set to arrive on June 18th. The journey to get them here has been very arduous due to their lack of a stateside leader; due to this I have been serving as their surrogate team leader.  However week after week they have committed to learning more about Japan, the ministry here, and finishing their respective journeys of support raising. Both teams have served as proper illustrations of the laborers God has called to the bottleneck. They have helped me experience how God has called many here short term, alongside those He has called long term.

 

The Small Boat 丁櫓

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For this Gibbs used Mark 4:37-39, to liken us to the disciples standing in small boat amidst a furious storm. Gibbs described how as we serve in Japan in our delicate small boats, our eyes should be fixed on Jesus, not the storm.

 "A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him' Teacher, don't you care if we drown?' He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind died down and it was completely calm."
                                                                                                                                       -Mark 4:37-39 (NIV)

 

For my personal development with my discipler here, I have been going through the book The Emotionally Healthy Leader. The book focuses on recounting the author’s journey as a pastor from perceived success, realized failure, and then into healthy success based in God. One of the most striking chapters in the book for me personally was his garnered wisdom towards the Sabbath. Like many, I saw the Sabbath as a chore; it was one less day for me to work, or even worse still, a checkpoint to reach at the end of each week to just sleep. The author, Peter Scazzero, mentions this mentality is a “self that’s rooted in their work performance,” not a self that is constantly rooting itself in God. Scazzero then identifies four essentials to a Sabbath:

Stopping- ceasing all work paid/unpaid

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Resting- doing things that refresh you personally

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Delighting- enjoying/delighting in the creation/gifts God has given us

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Contemplating- most central of all, sitting in and pondering the love of God

  All too often in the past have I focused on the storm surrounding our rest day and have ignored the joy that our Sabbath actually is. Only now can I see the importance of looking past the storm weekly to see Jesus in the midst of all of it.

  

  The Grapevine ブドウ

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