Delight in Weakness
This past week, Theresa and I took a trip up to the Osaka area to meet some pastors using the method of church planting we hope to participate in during our next term. We were able to attend a workshop where various issues related to this method were discussed. We departed early Saturday morning and got off to kind of a rocky start.
To begin with we were feeling quite discouraged. Because this method is different than what the Christar workers here in Japan have used in the past, we have been basically on our own in figuring out who we could work with and how to go about getting involved in this type of ministry. Thanks to some seminars we have been attending, we met a retired pastor who was able to introduce us to two other pastors in his area (near Osaka) who were doing this kind of work.
Emailing a person who you have only ever been introduced to via email and saying, “We are interested in the type of church planting you are doing. Would it be possible for us to come and talk with you and observe your church for a few days?” could be tricky in the US, but is definitely tricky in Japan where connections are very important and people who are not in one’s circle of acquaintances must be talked to with the utmost politeness.
We managed to arrange meetings with both pastors. However because we had to make our requests in round about ways, we had some frustrating misunderstandings and weren’t totally sure they understood exactly what we were hoping to get out of the visits. Still we made our hotel reservations, looked up our train schedule, and hoped for the best.
By Saturday morning, we had two very full backpacks, plus our computers and various reading in a third bag and a fourth filled with gifts to give the various people we hoped to visit. As we were just about to leave, we remembered that we had yet to print off a map so we could get from the last train to the church. As you might have guessed, the printer decided to malfunction. After 15 minutes of wrangling, I finally gave up. At that point we were already 15 minutes behind schedule for the train we hoped to catch. Unfortunately, because we are in a rural area, our train only runs once an hour and so missing it would have nullified all the schedules we had researched earlier in the week and mean a lot more wandering through the various stations.
As we scrambled to grab our bags and head out, I noticed Theresa begin to cry as she bent down to tie her shoes. It was then that she told me that her lower back, which she had injured picking something up earlier in the week, had been getting progressively worse instead of better and now it hurt so bad that she couldn’t bend over to tie her shoes. (She’s better now.) This was not a good thing given that we had a 20 minute walk to the train station and plenty more the rest of the week. So, after putting on her shoes and mine, I put on both our backpacks and we headed out, trying to make the best time we could.
…oh, and it was raining.
I have to say I don’t know if I have ever been so discouraged and wanting to give up and go home in our past three years here as I was then. But as we walked to the station, I began to pray. At first, I was just asking God to help us get to the station on time and catch our train. But soon I found myself pouring out my heart to God, expressing all the frustration, tiredness, discouragement, and anxiety that I had been trying so hard to bear-up under over the past few weeks.
Paul’s statement about his own difficulties has proven exceedingly true in my life.
“Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor 12:9-10, NLT)
I am the kind of person who doesn’t face up to my own weakness very well. I am tempted to think that if I just try hard enough I can take care of everything. In my head, I know I can’t do anything without God’s strength, but I don’t always know it with my heart. This is a very painful position to be in because often the only way God can get through to people like me is to allow is to come to the end of ourselves. When I am broken, my reliance on God hits home because I have nowhere else to turn.
And God always proves faithful. We did actually make it to the station with just a minute to spare, and had good visits with both of the pastors. Because of that and some other positive things with our ministry here in Ube, I finished the week much more encouraged than I started it, but having very clearly in my mind that it was all from God’s working in various situations.
On a humorous note, something funny from our trip: When we checked into our hotel, the desk clerk told us that the hotel offered a western style breakfast buffet. We purchased tickets for the following morning, but knew we shouldn’t get our hopes up too much. Here was what we found.
our yummy breakfast buffet
From back to front the selections are: shredded cabbage with various dressings, potato salad, wakame seaweed, steamed broccoli, sliced cucumbers, canned corn, canned mixed fruit, and then the sausage and scrambled eggs. I know you’re all probably thinking, “How come my local restaurant doesn’t have seaweed on its breakfast buffet?!” Well, come visit us here and we will make sure you can enjoy one that does.
Praise God for the good times we had with Pastor Endo (en-dough) and Pastor Ueda (oo-ay-da). Pray for their churches in Hirakata (hee-ra-ka-ta) and Otsu (oh-tsu) as they seek to connect with and reach out to those communities. Pray also for wisdom for Theresa and I as we continue to seek God’s guidance for our next term.