A Far Green Country

There are days when I weep about leaving Japan. It will hit me from time to time - this is my last July as a resident in Japan. That was my last Cherry Blossom Festival to enjoy as a resident. In a matter of months, several short weeks, I will no longer have the opportunity, challenge, & privilege of walking among the world's second largest unreached people group trying to be salt & light in such a hardened and dark culture. I cannot explain the feeling, when sharing with a Japanese who has never heard before, that you feel when the Holy Spirit takes over & is speaking for you, answering things you weren't prepared for, the feeling of being poured out, even when time after time it lands on concrete hearts.

In full disclosure, there are certainly days when I also feel ready to kiss the challenges of living here goodbye & I am eager to be among a fellowship of believers, stirring one another up to good works, being impacted by the Gospel in a community, hopefully shepherding and caring for His flock by making disciples while also supporting and encouraging His shepherds.

But when I think about the primary reason we are returning, to pursue adoption, the sadness of leaving Japan quickly leaves. On that note, get your tissues ready; I came across this video this week & wept & rejoiced at what God is doing in the hearts of his children by moving them to care for widows & orphans. Watch, be challenged, & rejoice - it is the earthly picture of His love for us:

Johansson Interview on Vimeo.

pretty sure I've posted this before, but it's so good, I simply don't care - it should be posted daily somewhere:

HIDE AWAY in the LOVE of JESUS

Come, weary saints, though tired and weak
Hide away in the love of Jesus
Your strength will return by His quiet streams
Hide away in the love of Jesus

Come, wandering souls, and find your home
Hide away in the love of Jesus
He offers the rest that you yearn to know
Hide away in the love of Jesus

Hear Him calling your name
See the depths of His love
In the wounds of His grace
Hide away

Come, guilty ones weighed down with sin
Hide away in the love of Jesus
The freedom you long for is found in Him
Hide away in the love of Jesus

Come, hopeless hearts, do not despair
Hide away in the love of Jesus
For ten thousand joys await you there
Hide away in the love of Jesus


- listen to it here

During World War II, the Second Army and Chugoku Regional Army were headquartered in Hiroshima, and the Army Marine Headquarters was located at Ujina port. The city also had large depots of military supplies, and was a key center for shipping.

The bombing of Tokyo and other cities in Japan during World War II caused widespread destruction and hundreds of thousands of deaths, nearly all civilians, predominantly women and children. For example, Toyama, an urban area of 128,000, was nearly fully destroyed, and incendiary attacks on Tokyo are believed to have claimed 90,000 lives. There were no such air raids in Hiroshima. However, the threat was certainly there and to protect against potential firebombings in Hiroshima, students (between 11–14 years) were mobilized to demolish houses and create firebreaks.

On Monday, August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the Atomic Bomb "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima by an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, directly killing an estimated 80,000 people. By the end of the year, injury and radiation brought total casualties to 90,000–140,000. Approximately 69% of the city's buildings were completely destroyed, and about 7% severely damaged.

Research about the effects of the attack was restricted during the occupation of Japan, and information censored until the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, restoring control to the Japanese.

The oleander is the official flower of the city of Hiroshima because it was the first to bloom again after the explosion of the atomic bomb in 1945.

- the ever trustworthy wikipedia

“You do not become a 'dissident' just because you decide one day to take up this most unusual career. You are thrown into it by your personal sense of responsibility, combined with a complex set of external circumstances. You are cast out of the existing structures and placed in a position of conflict with them. It begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society.”

- Vaclav Havel Czech Playwright and President of Czechoslovakia(1989-92), b.1936)