Getting Started

Dale and I, along with Elliott, leave tomorrow morning from Indianapolis at 9:20 a.m. We arrive in Chicago an hour later at O'Hare for a brief layover before heading off to Tokyo at 12:03 p.m. Our departure times are etched into my brain. I have checked and rechecked them, again and again. I want to avoid making the same mistake I made last time.

We traveled to Japan last year at this time. We had been saving airmiles for several years and we decided to use them to visit the Allison family in South Korea. The Allisons are members of our church stationed in South Korea in the military. Scotty A. is the Commander of a base in the Pusan region. Travelling to South Korea meant having to pass through Narita airport in Tokyo. I found out from the airlines that we could stay as long as we wished in Tokyo before flying on to Pusan without it costing anything extra. So we thought we would use the opportunity to make contact with some missionaries to Japan I got to know a couple of years ago because of a trip I made to mediate a conflict.

Anyway, for our last trip we arrived at the Indy airport and discovered to our chagrin that we had missed our flight. The airline had changed the departure schedule several times in the weeks that led up to the flight. The arrival time in Detroit from Indy on the last change turned out to be the same as the old departure time out of Indy. Unfortunately, it was the time that stuck in my mind as the time we were scheduled to fly from here. The bottom line--we missed our flight.

The airline counterperson told us that all of the flights into Pusan were full for that day. Then she said, "I could get you as far as Tokyo, but then you would be on your own for a couple of days."

We told her, "Great! We'll go!" At that point, we had all of 5 minutes to make it to the plane before it took off. We also would have only about 15 minutes to make it to the connecting flight once we landed in Detroit. In the meantime, we also had to make hotel reservations in Tokyo and let the Allisons know not to drive the 2-3 hours to Pusan that night to pick us up. Thank the Lord for Beverly's help and for the internet! Beverly sent Scotty an email, which he received right away because he "just happened" to get up early that morning (around 4:00 a.m. South Korea time). In the end, details came together. We got word to the Allisons and made hotel reservations near the Narita airport.

As it turned out, the two extra days we stayed in Japan made a huge impact on our hearts. It was during those days that we visited a city called Asakusa. We were unable to make phone or email contact with any of the missionaries, so we truly were on our own. We decided to visit Asakusa simply because it looked like it might be an interesting place to see, and we found out there was an outdoor market there. When I was in Japan previously to mediate the conflict, I did not do any sightseeing at all, nor did I really have much exposure to the religious climate. But, in Asakusa, there is a large Bhuddist temple. And for the first time in my life, I saw people bowing and praying to an idol, to a lifeless statue. I explained to Elliott what the people were doing as they prayed to Bhudda. In the best way I knew how, I also explained how our God, the God of the Bible, is not a lifeless idol. He is, in fact, the only God who is able to hear and answer prayer.

I also remember thinking, "Jesus deserves better than this! He deserves for this to be a place where people call on him as Lord, rather than on a lifeless idol. I was moved in that moment to say the words outloud, "Jesus is Lord!" And I told the Lord I was willing to do whatever he would want me to do to tell people there the truth about who he is.

As I reflect on all of this just now, I am reminded that our experiences in Japan last time came to pass partly because I made the mistake about our departure time. I think I'll sign off for now and recheck tomorrow's schedule one more time.









http://www.hamiltonhills.org/update_sept7.html