Airport
After
Peter’s flight left we came to our nearly empty terminal. Sitting across from
us was a couple going to Brazil. They struck up a conversation with us and
asked where we were going and what we would be doing there. We told them that
we were going to Japan in a Trek 7 trip. Although we didn’t know a lot of the
details at the time, we told them that we would be doing different things there
including teaching English. They were excited and told us that they were
Christians and that several people they knew were Christians.
The
woman then asked if we were “praying folk,” to which we excitedly said “yes!”
She pulled out her phone and tuned on the lock screen. “It’s my son.” On the
lock screen was a young man in a hospital garb, bald, smiling, going through chemo.
She told us how he his cancer was one that was hard to cure and that he was
going through chemo in a desperate attempt to save his life. What amazed me
more was this man’s attitude. He saw his diagnosis as having no downside.
Either he live and got to spend more time with his wife and kids, or he got to
go be with Jesus. Even though he wasn’t there, his faith, and his parent’s
faith, amazed us, affirming our decision to go on this trip.
Please
pray for their son, Brent.
PRAY YAMANOTE
For those of you who, like me, can’t read
kanji (Chinese characters) the lime green train line is the Yamanote
(Yah-mah-no-teh) train line. The Yamanote line makes a circle around the middle
of Tokyo. The ministry gathers believers to ride the whole Yamanote line and
pray for Tokyo. Each time they also get off at one of the many stations and
pray for the station.
Our
group met the group at one of the train stations. Many Christians were
gathered, both short-term teams like Trek 7 and long-term missionaries, all
praying for Japan to glorify Christ. We rode the Yamanote line, praying for the
people riding on the train along with praying for Japan as a whole. Some people
prayed quietly in groups, others read their Bibles, some sat or wrote quietly,
and some listened to worship music.
We
got off at the Shinagawa (She-nah-gah-wah) station. This station is over 100
years old, making it one of the oldest stations in Tokyo. It is near many
offices in Tokyo and many salary men get off at this station. In Japan, an
average work week is about 60 hours a week or more. The Japanese try to find
meaning in their work and rank instead of in Christ. Despite all the time and
effort they put into their work, many realize that it seems fulfilling and
commit suicide.
Praying
in the train was an amazing experience. Despite the fact that it took over an
hour to ride the whole track, we didn’t run out of things to pray about. I have
the feeling that we could ride the train line from the first train (5:00AM) to
the last train (11:00PM) and not run out of things to pray about.
Colossians 1:9-14
And so, from the day we heard, we
have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the
knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk
in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every
good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with
all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with
joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualifies you to share in the
inheritance of the saints in light. He as delivered us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have
redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
