Hope for Japan

Coming off a vacation, we were set to the lead the service this week while the pastor was away with his family. In this season of vacations and summer break, I planned to preach about rest. One of the major purposes behind God designing us to rest is trusting in Him. Everything does not rest completely on our shoulders. Stop and remember that He is in control and will sustain us, even when we rest. God’s humor really came through this weekend!

Knowing our ink was getting low, I bought a replacement the other day and finally installed it last night when I was getting ready to print out music and my sermon. Only to find out I bought the wrong cartridge and it didn’t work. I couldn’t print anything, even using another color. Fortunately, God made a way with my recent gift of an Ipad from my dad. I was able to load the chords for all the songs and even have my sermon on hand (and it worked!!!). Next, I was tuning my guitar that I finally got from my dad. This was to be the first Sunday I was leading worship. Sure enough, a string broke and I didn’t have a spare set. Once again, we had a spare guitar on hand that we borrowed from a friend awhile back. Third, this morning as I entered the church building, the lights wouldn’t work. Turned out the breaker had flipped. I turned on the breaker, but it immediately went off again. Frustrated, I thought of what to do. No lights, no A/C, what could we do? I then went one by one through the switches and found only one was not working. It was the lights for the entrance. Yet, everything in the sanctuary worked fine! Finally, we had planned on a young adult BBQ today after service. Unfortunately, many friends we invited were busy or away this weekend. Yet, we invited some families and they accepted to come. It has been so hot here for weeks. Then, this weekend it decides to rain! We wavered on whether to have it or just postpone. One lady and her child showed up after service, sealing the deal that we will do something.

Apartment "BBQ"

We ended up “grilling” on the stove at our apartment and having the meal in our living room. Instead of being for the young adults, they ended up serving everyone else by cooking and even cleaning up! Even with the rain, sixteen people came out with more than half being from outside the church! Not what we planned, but it turned out to be a great time together.

For the service, God came through and used us despite all these problems. Allie was quiet and good during service, though we couldn’t watch her since we were either presiding, leading music, or preaching. Though I could not put in the time I desire for sermon prep (mainly due to Allie not allowing me many long concentrated study times), a few people expressed how God spoke to them through the message. While it is common to hear comments or praises from people after a service in America, people here are not typically expressive. This has bothered me a bit since I never know how they respond to the message. Today, I was reminded of Paul speaking about God using the weak things of the world. Funny how the times I feel I am best prepared and on point may not be the most powerful messages, but those moments when I have doubts about how it will all work out are when God really uses my preaching.