The Call to Japan

Sometime in the late summer of 2017, I woke up one morning at exactly 3 o'clock and sensed the presence of the Lord. It was dark outside and yet I was wide awake. A passage immediately came to mind so I opened the Bible app on my phone to read the passage. It was a scripture that directly addressed a question that I had long sought clarity regarding salvation. Another passage came to mind, and then another, and another. 

The time I was awakened and the flow of passages repeated the next morning, and then the next. Morning after morning the outpouring repeated, so I began to record a copy of the passages. The initial wave of passages all addressed salvation. 

In my understanding, the many passages affirmed that God’s gift of salvation to an individual can be lost. The idea of an individual losing their salvation refuted a tenet of Christianity that has historically been taught in many churches, and one that I have personally heard in sermons, teachings and discussions in the services and classes that I have attended. In some ways the passages were troubling since they counter such a commonly held belief. But there is greater joy in hearing and knowing God's heart through His word.

Amazingly, this pattern of being awakened to an intimate time with the Lord continued every morning for over six months or so. I cherished the moments and hoped that they would never end. In the past, I had experienced moments where I could sense His presence and would gain an understanding from Him, but these outpourings were unusual because they regularly repeated for so many days.

2017 was already a particularly blessed time in my life. The Lord gifted me with the opportunity to lead my 86 year old mother to faith eight days before her death. That was after over 50 years of my sister and I hoping and praying that the day would come when she would open her heart. 

The spring of 2017 was also when I had a Spirit led encounter with a future daughter-in-law and encouraged one of my sons to meet her. I try to capture that story in The Bougainvillea and the Rare Flower. So I was already riding an amazing spiritual high with these two significant life events.

One morning, many weeks into these early morning outpourings, I received an understanding that Woody and I were to go to Japan. It was an understanding that was completely unexpected. I don’t remember ever thinking about Japan and I certainly did not consider leaving our home to go anywhere. But there in the darkness of this one early morning was this clear understanding that the Lord was directing me to Japan. 

God calling me to Japan might not seem to be a far-fetched calling since I'm Japanese by heritage, have Japanese features, and a Japanese middle and last name. I was born in Japan, and had even attended four years of elementary school outside of Tokyo, albeit on a US Air Force Base. 

However, because of my Japanese names and traits, I faced a certain amount of prejudice over my life. It was mostly minor slights, jokes and comments, and was rarely harsh. They still occur. However, when I was younger I internalized that prejudice into not wanting to stand out from my peers. That led me to dislike the color of my skin and hair and my heritage. When we moved from Japan to Colorado following my father’s last overseas military tour, I never thought or wanted to return.

So this particular morning, the Lord was challenging me with something completely unexpected. As I lay in bed considering the idea, I started to look online into the state of Christianity in Japan. I had heard that missionaries had a difficult time in Japan, but I had never really considered the Japanese heart for God nor God’s heart for the Japanese. I was shocked to learn that Japan has either the least or 2nd least percentage of Christians in the world! In the world!! That was particularly incredible to me when I considered the communist and Hindu and Muslim nations. Japan has been an open and free nation since World War II and has adopted so many ideas from America and the predominantly Christian nations of the west. To think that Japan has a smaller percentage of Christians than countries that ban Christianity or control it through authoritative means was stunning.

As I learned these things, I was most surprised that I was open to what the Lord was asking of me. The thought seemed to come from nowhere, and the move would be life altering. It was counter to my nature of being a homebody. Moreover, it seemed to discount our love for our children and our growing family. It felt like the furthest idea from anything that I would consider, and one that I would certainly reject. But somehow, I was warm to the idea. The more I considered it, the more I embraced the calling. The Lord had prepared my heart, and I wasn’t even aware. 

I wanted to wake Woody to share this new understanding but I decided to wait until daylight. On the prior mornings during this outpouring, she was inquisitive as to what the Lord was showing me. All of the things that I had shared with her on prior mornings were scriptural understandings. This calling would change our lives dramatically. 

Woody was her amazing wonderful self when I told her about Japan. She exhibited excitement with no hesitation. I thought certainly she would need some time to consider the idea, and might even reject it. We discussed the difficulty of leaving our home, relocating and being separated from our children and our extended family. But her resolve was upon wanting to follow God’s will. 

It brought to remembrance a decision that I made when the Lord saved me, and led me to subsequently break up with my first ever girlfriend. After going through that heartache, I never wanted to repeat it. I only wanted a girlfriend if the girl was the person that God wanted for my life. Woody is that person and I am so grateful that God answered that prayer. And I’m equally grateful that, despite my many faults, God opened her heart to love me and to become my wife.

Regarding details about Japan, many have come. I think of this journey as an unfolding of a plan that is being revealed over time. I have tried to keep my heart right and still, and to be patient, humble and to listen for that still, small voice. 

佳信

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