Xapa to the World

  • A Whirlwind

    I’ve been trying to think of how to describe what all has transpired over the last week…and I believe that the word “whirlwind” fits the best.  You’ll have to excuse me for my grammar tonight because I have been watching the BBC production of “Pride & Prejudice” and it always puts a spin on my talking for at least the rest of the night, sometimes even into my dreams.  🙂  Last week, I received notice of a position available with a church in Japan for an English teacher.  For some time, I think I have given up all hope, really, of being able to leave the US (let alone Cincinnati) for a very long time to pursue my calling into the mission field. 

    When I graduated high school, almost all agencies that I could have wanted to work with required that I have some sort of bachelor’s degree.  So, I went to college and graduated, only to find out that almost all agencies that I could have wanted to work with now frowned on owing money of any sort.  So, I had nailed myself down to a job that I don’t reeeeally care for (selling people things that supposedly bring security…yet I know in my heart never could) for several years at least while I whittled away at my school debt…which is not enormous, but a sum, nonetheless.  More than Mr. Darcy makes in a year, though…I assure you.

    But, then, this opportunity comes up, and for some reason, I saw for the first time how little I really have here to hold me down.  Yes, I have a job, my family is here, most of my friends and support system…but honestly, in the world of communication that we live in today, would it be all that distanced by being a mere halfway around the globe?  And so, with some other messages from God that seem to be pointing at my going to Japan, if not just confirmation that I should be willing to go, I have started seeking how to liquidate my life here in the States as much a possible.  And really, it’s not going to take all that much. 

    At the same time, emotionally, I’m so torn at the thought of leaving my family, my friends, my church, the kids in my church…they are sooo precious to me.  Especially the kids at church, when they don’t really have that understanding of surrender to God in these circumstances…it’s hard for them to understand why I would want to leave them like this…to look in their faces.  Of course, it encourages me that the time I’ve been spending investing in their lives and a relationship with them has been successful…it hurts thinking not to have them in my life each week. 

    I’m going to be hearing finality on my going or not sometime in the beginning of this week.  When that happens, I will let everyone know.  But until then, I better get to sleep!  Later!!

  • Prayer Request – Japan #1

    This is one of a series of emails I sent while preparing and living overseas in Japan, from April 2008 to April 2009.  They are mostly for my own benefit, but also for anyone who may care to read them.  Enjoy 🙂

    Hey! 

    I wanted to get this information out for a prayer request for me.  I could really use y’all praying with me on this one.  I was put in touch with a job opportunity to teach English in southwest Japan for a year.  The biggest “issue” with this position is that I would have to know in the next month if I’m going to do it and then leave at the beginning of April.  Here’s the information on it that I have so far:

    URGENT–English Teacher Needed Immediately.  We just found out this week that our replacement teacher who was scheduled to arrive this March will not be able to join us until at least this summer.  This has put us on RED ALERT for a teacher.  This means about 50 of our students will be without a teacher in two months.  We know that God isn’t surprised by the change of schedule, so we ask you to join us in praying that He connect us with just the right person by the end of this month.  Also, please see if you can have this announced at your church or school and share this information with any single ladies that you know:
    TEACHER NEEDED

    Position: English-teaching missionary

    Contract: one year contact starting from April 2008.
    Requirements: Single lady, a highly recommended, mature Christian, involved in her local church whom would be willing to sponsor her and provide her with prayer and some financial support (see “Needed:” section below), teaching experience of both children and adults, a love for people of other cultures (a missions heart).
    Benefits: 100,000 yen monthly salary (exception: August summer vacation; however, part-time private lessons are a possibility), two weeks paid vacation, two days off each week, low-cost (46,500 yen per month) dorm room in church building where classes are held, assistance in acquiring visa.
    Needed: 50 praying friends, roundtrip airplane ticket (approx. US$1400) and health insurance with international coverage.
    The salary is equivalent to about $950 USD.  But the money’s not important.  I am excited about the opportunity, but a little nervous about the time constraint.  Thanks a bunch for your prayers!
     
    In Him, Sarah ><>

  • Job Opp – Prayer Request

    Hey! 

      I wanted to get this information out for a prayer request for me.  I could really use y’all praying with me on this one.  I was put in touch with a job opportunity to teach English in southwest Japan for a year.  The biggest “issue” with this position is that I would have to know in the next month if I’m going to do it and then leave at the beginning of April.  Here’s the information on it that I have so far:

    URGENT–English Teacher Needed Immediately.  We just found out this week that our replacement teacher who was scheduled to arrive this March will not be able to join us until at least this summer.  This has put us on RED ALERT for a teacher.  This means about 50 of our students will be without a teacher in two months.  We know that God isn’t suprised by the change of schedule, so we ask you to join us in praying that He connect us with just the right person by the end of this month.  Also, please see if you can have this announced at your church or school and share this information with any single ladies that you know:
     
    TEACHER NEEDED
    Position: English-teaching missionary
    Contract: one year contact starting from April 2008.
    Requirements: Single lady, a highly-recommended, mature Christian, involved in her local church whom would be willing to sponsor her and provide her with prayer and some financial support (see “Needed:” section below), teaching experience of both children and adults, a love for people of other cultures (a missions heart).
    Benefits: 100,000 yen monthly salary (exception: August summer vacation; however, part-time private lessons are a possibility), two weeks paid vacation, two days off each week, low cost (46,500 yen per month) dorm room in church building where classes are held, assistance in acquiring visa.
    Needed: 50 praying friends, roundtrip airplane ticket (approx. US$1400) and health insurance with international coverage.
    CLICK HERE for more information at the ministry website
     
    The salary is equivalent to about $950 USD.  But the money’s not important.  I am excited about the opportunity, but a little nervous about the time constraint.  Thanks a bunch for your prayers!
     
    In Him,
    Sarah ><>

  • Suing for a Picture

    In a world where lawsuits are everyday occurences over miniscule events…this is pretty funny. 

    The French President, Sarkozy, and his girlfriend are suing an Irish airline for using a picture of them in an advertisement without their consent.  His girlfriend is a former model, and is suing for 500,000 euros in damages (it’s the standard price for one of her pictures).  The president is suing for a whopping 1 euro.  Count it, 1 euro. 

    Let’s just say that I like this guy.  If I was French, I’d have voted for him.  He’s funny.  Vive la France!

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7219499.stm

    There’s the link.  Enjoy!  🙂

  • Upset in the Tennis World!

    So!!!!!!!!!    Djokovic upset the semifinals by beating #1 seed Roger Federer last night!   Ahh!  It’s amazing!  This means, he’s going against the unseeded French player Tsonga…who could now have a chance to win the Aussie Open!  I wish, I wish, I wish (allusion to Into the Woods) that I could go to that match!  Wow!  I don’t know if y’all understand how crazy this is!  Federer was going for his 11th consecutive Grand Slam title…which would have put him right behind Pete Sampras in the records.  Ahhh-mazing!  So, there you go.  Here’s the full link:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/7208679.stm

    I’m rooting for Tsonga now…with Djokovic going to the finals, he really has a chance to win this.  What a crazy morning!

  • A Couple of Thoughts…for Thought

    Quotes to share with you:

    “I have both wandered and traveled in this life.  The difference is that you wander for distraction, but you walk for travel for fulfillment.”

    “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.”    – James 1:19

    “Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.”    – Abraham Lincoln

    “Think twice before you speak, and then you may be able to say something more insulting than if you spoke right out at once.”  – Evan Esar, Esar’s Comic Dictionary

    “The godly think before speaking; the wicked spout evil words.” – Proverbs 15:28

    So…I’ve been doing quite a bit of instrospection on my primary personality.  I am a “thinker” by nature…meaning I require information in order for me to decide something..even to decide my feelings on that something.  Without information, I feel entirely unqualified to make a decision…even the decision to be joyous or mournful about something.  This can sometimes be hard to convey when you’re in a relationship with someone who is not this way at all.  While I don’t believe that my way is the best, or the only right way…it is still my way, and I cannot get past it.  I need information.  When someone asks me a question, I have to investigate it before I can give them my opinion on it.  If the information is not to be found, or given to me, then I disregard the question until I can get the information I need to be conclusive.

    One thing that I’m trying to learn is how to not allow my lack of a stance be shown as apathy for what is going on.  I want to be involved…desperately…but I cannot, in good conscience, become involved until I have the necessary information.  It’s the reason why I seldom get involved in politics, or discussions on the economy…because I don’t have a lot of information on it…something that changes daily…for me to really be able to discuss it.  Sports are another thing for me.  I do not understand a lot of it…I don’t have a lot of information, therefore, I really don’t think I’m qualified to discuss issues of athletics with others…especially those who are die-hard sports-addicts.  (And no, this statement does not retract my claim that I prefer the Steelers to any other pro football team out there).

    What I’m trying to say is…basically something for my own benefit…and maybe for the benefit of some others.  If you have trouble communicating with someone…there might not be anything wrong other than they require something different than you for them to understand.  You might be prone to just be an exciteable person, but they might need as much information as possible to be just as excited as you are.  Or, you might feel like you need to give all the information you can to someone, when really, all they want are the basics.  The suggestion I have…make sure you know your audience before you draw conclusions about their reactions.  Then maybe, maybe you’ll be able to get the reaction you want, if you are sympathetic to how their mind works.

    My sociology lesson for the day.  Thank you.

  • Bonhoeffer – The Good Fruit

    I was just praying last night that God would reveal the quality of fruit from a certain situation…and soon.  I have trepidation about something, and I know that in the end, the thing will be revealed by the fruit it produces.  So, I prayed.  And then I read….in my daily devotional of collective writings by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Here’s what I got:

    —————————————————-

    “There is an old argument about whether only the will, the act of the mind, the person, can be good, or whether achievement, work, consequence, or condition can be called good as well – and if so, which comes first and which is more important.  This argument, which has also seeped into theology, leading there as elsewhere to serious aberrations, proceeds from a basically perverse way of putting the question.  It tears apart what is originally and essentially one, namely, the good and the real, the person and the work.  Ther objection that Jesus, too, had this distinction between person and work in mind, when he spoke about the good tree that brings forth good fruits, distorts this saying of Jesus into its exact opposite.  Its meaning is not that first the person is good and then the work, but that only the two together, only both as united in one, are to be understood as good or bad.”

                                              – from “Ethics”, pg 51

  • What is the one thing that you’ll never do in life? Why?

    Let’s see.  I could name any number of things that I hope I would never do in life…but I know that I am only human.  I could say that I would never have an affair on my spouse…or with someone else’s spouse.  Given my family history…that would be something predictable to say…BUT…can I really truly say that I would never do what I haven’t been challenged with?  I think we are all capable of the most base and tragic crimes.  Aren’t we?

    I could say I’d never lie…but I know that hasn’t been true.  I could say that I’d never steal…but given an occurrence where I am thrown into abject poverty…would I steal, given the option?  If I were living on the street…could I ever be driven to the state of necessity as to steal food?  What if I had children who were starving? 

    The point is…there are some things that you just can never tell your actions until you are actually in that situation.  You can pray for the grace to resist temptation, mercy to supply needs, strength to take the road less travelled…but can you really know what that decision will be from you?

    I think the one thing that I can confidently say that I will never do in this life is, I will never be able to love God as much as I should.  My heart is still too attached to the world, still sitting in this dank, dark, and seething mess of a world to be truly able to cut those ropes holding it down, keeping it from completely being free in Christ.  That is what I will never be able to do in this life…but…in the next?  Well, that’s another story.  🙂  And praise God for that next chapter!
       

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  • What is the worst movie you have ever watched and why?

    In the Name of the King – 2008

    DO NOT GO SEE THIS IF YOU HAVE HALF A BRAIN…or even a quarter of one. Seriously…the worst movie of the year. It’s like an 80’s-class movie that missed the decade. Picture the Scorpion King with every one of Vin Diesel’s serious movies…mixed with B Lord of the Rings…maybe the Labyrinth, minus David Bowie…and you’ve got ITNOTK.

    And the trump is: Burt Reynolds…as the king…in a sword fight.

    Need I say more?

    So, I repeat…the only movie worse than this was probably Black Snake Moan or Snakes on a Plane…

    although the preview for LOST in the opening was good.

    Do NOT see In the Name of the King…do not. Thank you.

       

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  • Coaching Corner: The Beautiful Facade

     I really just liked this article…plus, Michael quotes Wilde, which always is a good idea to me.
    ———————————————————————————————
    Michael D. Warden

    One’s real life is often the life that one does not lead.

    –Oscar Wilde

    “You know, Michael, there’s something I’ve really noticed about you. You always come across as very polished.” My friend Tim lightly grinned as he looked at me. That evening I had presented a talk to a group of Bible students in Denver, and I was reviewing the event with Tim afterward at a nearby restaurant.

    His comment was intended as a compliment, of course. But why then did I suddenly feel like a deer caught in the headlights? Tim’s observation unnerved me. I felt exposed and ashamed, like my cover had been blown. But it was just a compliment, right?

    My proclivity for “polished” behavior started early on, while I was just a kid living under the shadow of my father’s role as pastor in the local church. In a small town like that, everybody knows you’re the preacher’s kid. And they’re all too quick to report back to Dad anytime you do anything that might reflect badly on him. With all the eyes that were constantly watching me in every context of my life, it was like being trailed by a film crew, every moment recorded and, if necessary, replayed repeatedly through the gossip chain until it got back to Mom and Dad. I quickly learned to filter my behavior and project a polished front to keep me (and, by association, my dad) out of trouble.

    The problem is, after so many years of such meticulous image management, the false front I had created for survival became a comfortable second skin. It was automatic–be polished, sound eloquent, project that you’ve got it all together. Without realizing it, I began to believe that polished act was actually, authentically me. Only, it wasn’t. Not really. Not deep in my core. I lost touch with myself, and became a bit of an automaton. Even my spontaneity seemed practiced–not quite fake, but not quite real either. My only awareness that something was wrong came in the form of a subtle but nagging sense of detachment. I had trouble deeply, honestly connecting … with people, with experiences, with anything. It seemed no matter where I went or what I did or who I did it with, I never quite felt truly, fully alive.

    I’ve come to call this practiced persona–this projection of what I thought others required me to be–my Beautiful Façade. Sharp. Together. Acceptable. So close to the real me in many ways, but not me … an assemblage of carefully chosen aspects of my personality sewn together to present the image I think the world demands. But it’s not all of me. And it’s certainly not the soul of me.

    In the years since I became aware of my Beautiful Façade, I’ve noticed that most everyone I’ve ever met has one too. Do you? If so, what’s it like? What image does your Beautiful Façade project to others … in the office, in your church, with your friends? What personality traits is your façade committed to maintain at all costs? And because of your façade, what parts of your true soul remain locked away, unseen?

    “The thief comes only to steal and destroy; I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly”–Jesus (John 10:10). A Beautiful Façade may make you feel safe; it may even keep you from being judged or hurt by those who would not understand your heart–but it cannot bring you true life. Jesus didn’t come to save your façade. He came to save you–the real you, unedited and raw, beneath the polish and front. And if you let him, Christ will show you how to lay aside the façade for good, and live free in the authentic abundance he always intended.

    In this New Year season of fresh starts and new beginnings, what if, instead of resolving (again) to pursue a list of “shoulds” designed to shore up your façade, you made the resolution to lay it aside altogether–to give yourself permission to be who you really are, and fully engage with life from a place of honesty and brazen authenticity? What would happen if you engaged with God from that place this entire year? What would happen if you engaged with others in that way? What level of transformation and genuine freedom might be possible if you really–no kidding–came out of hiding?

    Isn’t it time you found out?



    Michael D. Warden is a Professional Co-Active Coach, nationally certified through the Coaches Training Institute, and a member of the International Coach Federation. Michael’s clients’ one common trait is their passion to live a bigger life–to discover what they’re here for, and boldly go after that vision with confidence and authenticity. Find more on his life and work at ascentcoachinggroup.com.