Home is where... is where the company assigns me

Well folks, looks like I have a new home! I've never been there, but it will be my home in 2 months and 1 day.

I've been assigned to Yokkaichi City is the Mie Prefecture.

Where is that? you ask. Thats what I asked too. Check it out on google earth. It's a city of 313,000 on a bay on the pacific in central honshu (the main island).

Just a few tidbits:

Mie Prefecture is the home of the Ninja. Its where ninjitsu originated, and the Ninja museum is there.

Mie Prefecture is also the home of the biggest and most sacred Shinto Shrine in all of Japan.

I've never been to Mie Prefecture, but I have three friends that living in the area. And a million friends who will be somewhere within a two hour train ride during the summer. That should make the transition much more pleasant. A friend has already networked me with missionary couple that has been there forever, and they have agreed to show me around. My host family from Tokyo is coming to Kyoto in August, so I will be able to see them so soon! Also, another good friend from Tokyo's family lives close by, so I can see her and her darling little girl when they go to visit the fam.

Also, there is one other teacher working with the company that is in my city, which is quite a rarity. Maybe we will share housing? Or maybe at least we will be nearby? There are two others with the company in the area as well, but they don't have their city assignment yet. I've already been in email contact with one of them, as ASU alum named Cassi who sign off of her emails with things like "ta-ta" and "Ciao." I think we're going to be friends. :)

I'm very very thankful to be so centrally located, and am excited because I know that the people of that city are who God has chosen to be my friends and teachers and students. (BTW, I'm most likely going to be at a jr. high). I'm excited to meet them!

Having a new home makes it so much easier to get excited about going.

Today I Cried...

Today I cried...

In class...

In front of one of my favorite profs...

And my classmates...

And its ok. Because I needed to cry. I cried for loss; it was the last lecture I would ever attend at Biola. I cried for what is yet to be achieved in my education, which I must now pursue alone. I cried for enormity of God's calling on my life and the frailty of my own ability. I cried because I was tired. I cried because I heard the gun that starts the race fire. No more training, time to run.


Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.
1 Cor 9:25-26

I'm in Love.

Yes, its true. I'm in love.

I'm in love with late nights with my roommate.
Laughs with my housemates.
I'm in love with my dear friends.
Sitting on my front porch with a cold drink, watching the hummingbirds fly around our budding tree.
I'm in love with my kitchen; my handmade apron, fresh baked bread and company for lunch or dinner every day of the week.
I'm in live with my roses.
I'm in love with my bicycle, and our journeys together around the neighborhood.
I'm in love with the jacaranda trees that blossom this time of year.
I'm in love with my professors, not in a creepy way, mind you.
I'm in love with the way they make my brain hurt.
I'm in love with the papers that I write, not cause they are good, but because I care for them like a child, born after long hours of suffering.
I'm in love with Berry Cool and Boba-Ya, disc golf and Clark park.
I am in love with life.

Two weeks from tomorrow, I will walk across a stage in the direction of the library, get my diploma, and then make a sharp turn left towards my family and friends. That will be the last time I walk towards Biola's library. Life, as I know it, will be over.

But I will still love life. I will still love because all of these things are shadows, and the reality is Christ. As beautiful as this home is, it is not mine. Like Abraham, I will journey onward, "looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

That is not to say that I will not grieve. I have been taught, and have learned that the gospel has a sharp edge, and the cross is always dangerous. Its dangerous to my pride, my idols, my sense of control, and my belief that I can sustain myself and I am the builder of my own world. The cross calls me to come and die, to give it all up, to follow in faith. Scary? Yes. I will grieve, and I will miss. But scary? No. Would I have any of this, but for His providence? Would I have any of this, but that He took me by the hand and brought me here?

And as he takes my hand again, I will follow.

Graduating from College is Like...

Today my boss told me that graduating from college is like having a baby. It's really scary, but you are so tired of being pregnant you just want it to happen.

A couple years back one of my Japanese friends told me that having a baby is like having a watermelon come out of your nose.

It follows, then, that graduating is like having a watermelon come out of your nose...

There is a feeling of panic, "what the crap is happening to me? WHY is there a WATERMELON coming our of MY NOSE!" And a feeling of desperation, "will I have enough energy to get the watermelon out of my nose?" And a deeper fear that wonders what the abyss left by the now-abscent watermelon will look like and how long it will take to heal.

But its exciting too. MMMMMMmmmmmm... WATERMELON!

You can't you keep a watermelon growing in your nose forever. I guess I have to graduate in 23 days.

Beginnings

Last week I was eating Sushi when I made the comment about my upcoming move to Japan, "This time its FOR REAL!"

As most of you know, the last 7 years of my life has been filled with overseas travel to a number of countries, but somehow I always seem to end up in Japan, or with Japanese people. Until now its seemed like a hobby; something to do with my vacation time. My goal has always been that someday, some trip, I would stay. Move. Settle. Begin a life there.

This time, IT IS FOR REAL. On July 24th I will be boarding a plane and beginning a one year contract with the JET Program as an English teacher in the public school system in Japan.

I have 27 days left until I graduate, 2 months of summer (with a lot packed into them), and then its REAL LIFE. Its time to take all of the training and experience I have gathered over the past years and put it to work.

This blog will tell my story. Thanks for being a part of it!

Soli Deo Gloria