a two day relationship seminar for singles called OnePlusOne
New Hope Taipei
During our visit to Taiwan (Jan 3-13) we got to spend quality time with the pastors of New Hope Taipei, Steven and Joyce Hsaio. They shared their vision for the new church, scheduled to open in August of this year, and introduced us to other team members. It was a great trip of discovering more of how we would fit into this ministry and also the practical side of living in Taipei. And of course, we did some touristy stuff! Steven and Joyce took us to a museum, drove us out to nearby mountains too see an amazing view of Taipei, took us to Taipei 101, and all throughout, treated us to delicious Taiwanese food! We were also blessed to visit a YWAM base in the nearby county of Danshui and throughout the trip, reconnected with old friends from Hawaii who were living in or visiting Taipei. Now, back in Japan, we are prayerfully considering what we should do in the future. We know that God has great plans and we’re trusting in Him to speak to us!
OnePlusOne
As for the “Relationship Seminar”, it started from a casual conversation between us and Elisabeth’s sister, Joanna, who leads the youth ministry at church. Families in Japan often have no real sense of love, security, or trust. Many fathers are absent (physically and emotionally) and sexual immorality is commonplace. Many single Christians in Japan struggle with finding a suitable spouse and relationship problems between family members seem too difficult to overcome. But, we know Someone who has the answers! We are so excited about presenting this 2 day seminar to single Christians in our city of Hamamatsu and have invited 8 churches to participate! Please pray for us as we prepare and seek God for what to say, how to say it, and most of all, for His presence and power to touch the lives of these dear believers. The dates are March 26th and 27th!
On the night before Elisabeth’s birthday the Fowler’s watched Noah so we could go out on a movie date, our first movie out since Truman’s mom watched Noah back in May 2009 so we could see Star Trek. First we went to a fantastic little mom-n-pop tempura restaurant where the cook actually dips the tempura into the boiling pot of oil with his fingers. Then we got to watch Avatar in 3D. That was fun! On her birthday we had a surprise party with lots of family and friends that have known her since she was a child.
We are so thankful for all of you and never stop missing you!!! Thank you for your prayers…they REALLY help! Keep sending us updates and pics of you and your family! We love hearing from you!
Love,
Truman, Elisabeth and Noah
p.s. You can click on any of the above pictures to see more photos.
If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. (John 12:47-48)
We know theologically that Jesus Christ was both human and divine. As a human being, he is the prime example of what a sinless person looks like … someone who is completely yielded and obedient to God; someone who is in constant and unbroken connection with God. He was a prophet who was perfectly true, without the influence of the flesh.
Jesus never spoke independently of the Father God. Everything he said was in obedience to a command the Father had given for him to deliver as the Father’s message. The Christ was the perfect example of a servant of God, who does not inject his own personal message, but truly represents God and delivers messages of God.
High fidelity (or hi-fi) sound systems reproduce recorded sound with very high quality, that is to say that it reproduces sound with minimal amounts of noise or distortion. Christ, of course, was a prophet who spoke with perfect fidelity. Everyone who speaks as a representative of the Lord, must strive for high fidelity reproduction of God’s holy word.
Moses, one of the greatest prophets of the Lord, had to be sentenced to death because he interjected his personal anger into a miracle that God commanded him to perform (Numbers 20:11). Moses tainted the purity of God’s message by striking the rock when God hadn’t commanded him to do so. Anyone who speaks on God’s behalf, or teaches in church, is to be like an interpreter. The interpreter is responsible to both the speaker and listeners that they translate what was spoken with high fidelity. If the original meaning is distorted in translation, the interpreter breaches the trust placed in them by the speaker and listener. Failing to stay true to the original meaning and intent of the speaker is a severe ethical failure in legal/courtroom interpretation. Certainly the holy word of the Lord deserves the highest fidelity interpretation possible.
Jesus makes a very interesting statement in John 12:47-48 when He said that he won’t judge people for not obeying his words; the word itself will judge the disobedient. Isn’t the Christ divine? Doesn’t He sit on the throne in heaven? Isn’t He also the Word of God so isn’t Jesus the same as the word He spoke? I believe Jesus was speaking as a human being while on earth. I believe he was speaking as a human prophet should, perfectly yielded to God, in constant connection with Holy Spirit, reproducing with perfect fidelity the messages of God. The Christ did not come to judge the world, but to save it by dying for us on the cross. But while he was on earth in public ministry, he served as the perfect example of a human servant of God.
We, too, are not to judge people. If God gives us His messages to deliver, that doesn’t give us equal standing with God that we should presume we are qualified to judge others by our own wisdom. Even the Christ did not do that. Instead we are to humble ourselves by quieting our own fleshly reactions and yield all lordship over our thoughts and feelings over to Holy Spirit. This internal kneeling before the Lord is the proper posture for God’s prophets, teachers, worship leaders and all servants of God. No one should presume to speak on God’s behalf out of fleshly wisdom. But if God commands us to speak, we should reproduce His word with high fidelity. Our job is always to love our neighbor. But in this case our job will be to love our neighbor and to act as a delivery mechanism for God’s word: a mouthpiece, a speaker cabinet, a hi-fi sound system. By commanding us to speak, God has placed a trust in us to reproduce His word without noise or distortion. We dare not breach that trust by contaminating His holy word with fleshly opinion. If we have truly delivered the word of God, then the word itself will judge people for disobedience. It is never our place to judge.
And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation (Luke 20:45-47).
What a sobering critique! I would be ashamed to be spoken of by You that way by my Lord. Religious people, listen up (…and I’m speaking to myself, too): fake “Christian” busybodies will receive the greater condemnation.
Long Robes
The scribes liked being admired and honored by others. They enjoyed a high position in society. Their long robes were a mark of that position. They were greeted in the marketplace and sat in the best seats in the synagogues.
What are some outward symbols of religious status today? Perhaps some of these:
sitting in the front row at church
sitting on the stage
being on a soloist at church
having people call you “Pastor” or “Dr.”
having the title “elder” or “deacon”
wearing WWJD pins (who does that anymore?)
Do you rush to grab seats in the front row? Maybe this isn’t wrong. Perhaps you just want to be up close because you think you can worship God better right at the front of the church. Perhaps it is to show enthusiastic participation in the “body life” of the church. Or is it because you want to be seen by others in the best seats in the church? Only God knows our own heart motivations.
When I sang on the worship team at a megachurch, I was easily recognized in the hallways and greeted by people I didn’t know. It always made me feel uncomfortable. I shied away from such honor. But that’s not the right approach either. It smacks of false humility. I should rather graciously love each person who greets me and endeavor to have a true heart-to-heart connection, with joy and warmth.
Long Prayers
It’s not wrong to pray long prayers as long as its Spirit-led and sincere. The Lord taught us to pray and not give up, even if you have to ask again and again (Luke 18:1). We aren’t, however, supposed to drone on and on meaninglessly with canned mantras. But there isn’t anything wrong with praying for a long time. Jesus would pray all night long! He did encourage us however to pray in secret rather than in public to be seen by others. The problem with the scribes is that they made long prayers in public only so people would think they are holy. These kinds of prayers will offer no reward whatsoever.
If the long robes were outward symbols of “fake faith”, then the scribe’s long prayers were behaviors of false religion. Long prayers can represent anything we do in the name of God that really isn’t backed by true faith acting out in response to a command of God.
Long Noses
The scribes practiced their religion before others so they could be seen. Their long robes and long prayers made them “look” holy, but it was all a lie! So they had proverbial “long noses” like Pinnochio. Religion-for-show is not pure faith. Jesus elsewhere says that we’ll get no reward for that kind of religion. Pure religion rather is keeping yourself from evil and helping orphans and widows. In contrast the scribes devoured widows’ houses. What did that mean? Did they demand some exorbitant temple tax from poor widows who couldn’t afford it? Maybe that was the poor widow who gave her last two pennies. Perhaps they scribes over preached the religious importance of giving to the temple.
All this makes me want to be a “secret Christian”. Is there something undesirable about that term. “If you are a real believer, shouldn’t you stand up for your faith?” Yes, but most of the time I think we can keep our faith to ourselves. Jesus taught that we should give, pray and fast in secret (Matthew 6). The heavenly Father will see our spiritual acts of obedience done in secret for an audience of One. There are definitely times for public unashamed ministry where we preach or lead worship, exhort or rebuke. But we should do public ministry in response to God’s leading. We should speak what we hear God speaking; and do what we see Him doing … whether in public or in private.
Lord God, make me a true servant that serves You alone. Help me not to usurp Your rightful place as Lord and Master over my life. Let me steward this life for Your glory, not mine. Lord, may this blog bring glory to You, not to me. In Jesus’ name, amen.
I finally just figured out how to sign into the paid wifi account I signed up for a month ago with Wireless Gate’s Yodobashi 380 yen per month plan. That’s a great price! But making it work for an English speaker is not a simple task.
It took a lot of Google Translating of their webpages to get through the signup form. The last field on the signup form requires a promo code, which I found somewhere online. Look for プロモーションコード in the last field which means Promotion Code. It looks like they prefill 12601231 now. Here’s the form translated into English for your convenience.
It took a LOT of trial and error before I was able to finally connect via the BB Mobile Point hotspots which are available at McDonald’s across Japan. To save someone else from frustration, here’s how to do it.
First connect find a McDonald’s near you. You can use their online map to search for available hotspots. Here’s a link to a map of area of Hamamatsu where I’m living. Hotspots don’t load up right away on the map, you may have to click and drag the map.
Once, you’re at a McDonalds, connect to the mobilepoint wifi hotspot.
You have to connect via WEP and enter this code: 696177616b
Once you’ve connected to the hotspot, open up your browser. You’ll be taken to a login form that says “BB Mobile Point” at the top.
For your username enter: your-user-ID@wig
For your password, just enter whatever password you had set when you signed up.
Unfortunately, the BB Mobile Point hotspot at the McDonalds (i.e., the one near Zaza in downtown Hamamatsu) where I’m first trying this is very spotty and continually loses connection. I do not recommend the Wireless Gate wifi service. Save yourself the headache and stay home. Maybe the connection is better at other McDonalds. I hope so.
UPDATE: The MobilePoint connection at the McDonalds on the ground floor of the Hamamatsu eki is reasonably fast. It also doesn’t drop quite as often … only once in the last ten minutes! Also, I’m sitting at Tully’s (which is right by the McDonalds) so I’ve finally almost duplicated my Starbucks in the U.S. with free AT&T wifi work environment.
You have to connect via WEP and enter this code: 696177616b
Then once you’ve connected to the hotspot, open up your browser. You’ll be taken to a login form that says “BB Mobile Point” at the top.
For your username enter your username, the @ symbol and then “wig”.
For your password, just enter whatever password you had set when you signed up.
Noah got sick on Tuesday and by Thursday night both Elisabeth and I vomited twice and ended up sleeping away all day and night on Friday and much of Saturday. Thankfully Elisabeth’s family are nearby and they helped us watch Noah both on Friday and Saturday so we could recover. But we may move soon not be near help like that. It’s time we learned how to best to keep the entire family from getting sick at the same time.
Wash Hands, Wash Hands!
This is the heartfelt advice our doctor friend, Steven Orimoto, MD. Florence Nightingale’s hand-washing campaign for hygiene maybe 150 years old but its wisdom still rings true.
A BabyZone article recommends that frequent hand washing be a rule for every family member especially:
before eating and cooking
after using the bathroom
after cleaning around the house
after touching animals, including family pets
after visiting or taking care of any sick friends or relatives
after blowing one’s nose, coughing, or sneezing
after being outside (playing, doing yard work, walking the dog, etc.)
Eat Your Own Food
One of the first things I learned as a husband was that I was now the household garbage can. Any food Elisabeth didn’t want to eat, I ate. When I became a father and Noah started to eat table food, I ate Noah’s leftovers, too. Yes, it’s a wonder that I didn’t gain weight!
When Noah was sick, I automatically ate his leftover food. Maybe I got his stomach virus then and later passed it onto Elisabeth.
Every family member should have their own cups, eating utensils, own towel and own food.
Cough Into Your Elbow
Coughing in your hands lends itself to spreading germs because you will mostly likely touch something two seconds later. Instead cough into elbow which almost nothing touches.
Disinfect
Just so you know I’m not a germophobe, I’ll admit that I think people who use hand sanitizers ten times a day are over doing it. Once I was at Borders Cafe and I watched a man find a table and use a hand sanitizer squirt bottle to wiped down his entire table before using it. That might be a bit excessive.
However it makes sense to use an alcohol to sanitize a phone or remote control after it’s been used by a family member who is sick. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can kill bacteria and some virus that won’t go away with just hand washing. And studies show that using hand alcohol doesn’t dry out your skin.
A study entitled, “Illness Transmission in the Home: A Possible Role for Alcohol-Based Hand Gels“, published in 2005 made the following conclusion: “In homes with young children enrolled in child care, illness transmission to family members occurs frequently. Alcohol-based hand gel use was associated with reduced respiratory illness transmission in the home.” A full-text version of the article is available online.
I hate stomach flu, don’t you? Gastroenteritis, or stomach flu, as it is commonly known, is caused by the one of several viruses including the rotavirus. Interestingly, the above study noted that alcohol kills the rotavirus whereas hand washing with plain soap only served to spread it around. Did you know that half a million children under the age of five die from the rotavirus every year? This sobering factoid (PDF) is from the World Health Organization. Okay, that’s mostly from developing countries. But the rotavirus can be deadly.
Beware of the poop! Feces of a person infected with the rotavirus may contain 10+ trillion infectious particles per gram. It only takes a hundred particles to infect you.
Word to the wise: use a hand sanitizer after blowing your nose or changing a diaper.
Go Easy on Milk Products After Stomach Flu
This isn’t anything about preventing other family members from getting sick, but it is so interesting. My mom always told me not to eat dairy products after you get sick. Now I’ve found medical evidence why. The rotavirus destroys cells in your intestines called enterocytes, which are responsible for secreting lactase which is what allows you to digest milk. Restoration of enterocytes may take a few weeks, so go easy on the milk and cheese for a while.
An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure
Make sure not to skip meals. Immunity doesn’t function well when you’re malnourished.
Get plenty of liquid so your system can flush away viruses and waste that can cause sickness.
Eat good bacteria found in yogurt or probiotic capsules.
Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
100% Faith, 100% Healing
“Go and show yourselves to the priests,” Jesus told the ten lepers who pleaded with Him to heal them. Only one, a Samaritan, returned to thank the Lord. And Jesus’ response was, “Weren’t all ten cleansed?” One thing that strikes me here is the Lord’s firm conviction that all ten were healed. He knew they were healed. There was no doubt in His mind. He believed and knew that there was 100% healing.
Lord, give me faith to believe. Help me to be at that place where I believe that You are working through me and that I will have not even a single trace of doubt. Lord, transform me and help me to grow.
10% Worship
Receiving the blessing of God is not a time to be all prim and proper. The response of the Samaritan leper was to praise God with a loud voice. He was happy! He was ecstatic! He couldn’t help but go back to the Lord Jesus, fall at his feet, and on his face give thanks to the Lord. This is a picture of gratitude and rejoicing. Hallelujah!
Sadly, though, just as in this story, even today not many rejoice at their salvation. Even if they are saved, they don’t rejoice and worship the Lord with abandon.
Lord, help me to have the Samaritan’s kind of joy at my salvation! I want to return to You and praise You loudly, falling on my face and give thanks to You, Lord. Help me to see Your blessings. I want to be that ten percent that realizes the wonderful gift given to me. I don’t want to be the ninety percent that simply goes on my way, unthankful, with the blessing of God but an unchanged heart. Lord, transform me that I may not only receive Your blessing but also be transformed on the inside to humbly and gratefully rejoice with excitement!
Help me to believe in You 100% and be the 10% that worships You with joy!
Monday, February 15th was President’s Day in the U.S. It wasn’t a holiday in Japan but that didn’t stop us from taking the day off and going on a road trip. Funny thing was that I didn’t realize it was a holiday in the U.S. until after we came back. We had a great trip to Iga and Suzuka in Mie Prefecture with Joanna, Youko and Daisuke! Thank you, Daisuke, for doing all the research for our trip.
The tour guide showed us how ninja would install secret doors in their homes to hide from the enemy.
We made a friend at the museum, a recent law school graduate from Mexico City named, Manuel, who is currently studying Chinese in Beijing. Here’s Joanna, me and Manuel trying on the ninja chain mail vest.
After that we had beef-don for lunch at a nice restaurant.
After lunch we went to a cute dessert shop with a hilarious host, who claimed that his house was the last remaining ninja house.
As we were leaving, just after we stepped out into the street, the tea shop man rushed out with two fake pistols and shot them off right by Joanna’s head making a big sound. She screamed and laughed.
After our dessert, we headed back up the hill to visit the Iga Ueno Castle (伊賀上野城). The first level had a museum gallery of artifacts including a warrior helmet with ridiculous dragon-fly wings. We couldn’t resist each posing for a shot.
Onsen (温泉)
We said goodbye to our new friend Manuel and drove out to Suzuka in Mie Prefecture go to an onsen … my very first time to go to a Japanese onsen, much less any kind of spa. The Hana Shoubu Onsen (鈴鹿天然温泉花しょうぶ 三重のかけ流し天然温泉) dashed my preconceptions of what an onsen would be like. I had thought an onsen would be a really traditional Japanese building tucked away in the mountains. The Hana Shoubu Onsen, instead, was situated right in a ÆON Jusco mall in the middle of Suzuka City. The facility was completely modern. It’s lobby looked like the lobby of a nice hotel.
Even though it was so modern and well-appointed, our three hours there were surprisingly affordable. The weekday admission ticket to use the bath facilities was only 600 yen per adult. Including dinner for two at the onsen’s restaurant, we paid a total of 3,300 yen (about USD $36 according to WolframAlpha). What a deal!
The Japanese sure do know how to enjoy a hot bath. My favorite was the CO2 bath. It was like taking a bath in hot 7-Up. After being in the water about a minute or so, your skin gets covered with carbon dioxide bubbles.
When we prepared to move to Japan for about half a year, it didn’t cross my mind that God would open up doors for me and Elisabeth to speak.
On Christmas night, I got to share my first message at a church. My father-in-law, Ben Fowler, pastor of Hamamatsu Sukuinushi Kyokai invited me to share at the Friday night Bible study which happened to fall on Christmas day. After much Bible study, I shared a message using Keynote with lots of slides of scripture about how we must get ready for Christ’s second coming because it will not be like his first.
Back in December, Yukio Okada invited me to speak at his church, J.MEAD Takaoka. Last night we got to lead the congregation in the worship song, “Above All” which in Portuguese is “Bem mais que tudo”. I listened to the Aline Barros recording on YouTube over and over and practically memorized the song in Portuguese!
We were welcomed so warmly by the church members and the pastor. We felt so blessed. I love the J.MEAD church in Takaoka. They love the Lord and are exuberant in praise and powerful in prayer.
The interesting thing about getting to know Yukio and other Japanese Brazilians is that it dawned on me that my last two pastors have the same ethnic mix as they do, being that they are both part Japanese and part Portuguese: John Vierra and Wayne Cordeiro. What a coincidence! Being at Yukio’s church made me so happy to see how God has blessed Japan by bringing such strong believers from Brazil to Japan. And I also got to eat super ono Portuguese Bean Soup (Sopa de Feijao) last night after the service! So even though we missed out on the Punahou Carnival this year, at least I got to eat authentic Portuguese bean soup!
Also, my always-joyful sister-in-law, Joanna, is organizing a two day relationship seminar on March 26-27, 2010 for Christian singles in Hamamatsu that Elisabeth and I get to team teach. It will be called OnePlusOne where the idea is 1+1 equals two people connected by the cross. Check out the flyer Joanna made: OnePlusOne Flyer We’ve never done anything like this before. So please pray for us!
Today I attended a Christmas concert attended by about two hundred people and put on by the Hamamatsu Christian Center at the Hamanako Royal Hotel in Hamamatsu, Japan. The church is co-pastored by Elisabeth’s grand aunt, Berni Marsh, who has been a missionary in Japan for almost 50 years!
The charity concert raised $3,000 for Food for the Hungry to feed hungry children. The artists who sang at the concert were Chu Kosaka and his adult daughter Ami Asiah. The concert was also evangelistic. Chu Kosaka told his testimony of how his daughter, when she was two years old, pulled down a hot pot from the stove and his daughter was burned all over her body. During that terrible trial, Chu couldn’t even sing. It was then that he began to find hope in Christ.
Please pray for the people who don’t believe in Jesus who attended the concert that they will themselves desire to know Christ. Probably about half of the attendees were not Christians. Aunt Berni says that most times these people that will come to concerts will never also show up to church.
Become Corporate via Individuation and Internalization
The Sanfords define the goal of maturity as “becoming corporate”. In this chapter, they throw around big words such as individuation, internalization and incorporation. It might be difficult to follow, but if you dig in and think about this chapter there are valuable gems to be found.
Normally we think of someone as mature if they think about others before they think about themselves. Good people skills and the ability to function well in community requires a healthy sense of trust that no matter what happens to them life will be okay. Mature people adopt values of love, humility and self-discipline. However before people can adopt these values their own (i.e., internalize those values), the Sanfords explain that they must first figure out who they are (i.e., individuation).
Beginning at conception in the womb, a person goes through a back and forth process between separating and “becoming one” … one with others and one with God. Here are some examples:
Individuation
Incorporation
conception
attached via placenta
birth
breastfeeding
weaning
being carried
walking
being part of the family
Parents have a narrow window of time, from birth to age twelve, in which to train a child in foundational values. Such training helps a child to grow deep roots (hidden underground like in a tree) which will support a healthy fruitful life later (visible above ground for everyone to see).
The alternating process climaxes during the teenage years. Though it might be tumultuous season, there are no shortcuts: a teenager must be allowed wrestle on their own with conflicting thoughts and emotions in order to successfully pass into adulthood. At each stage of individuating/incorporating process, a person must graduate successfully otherwise they cannot advance to the next stage. There is a proper sequence of development that is best accomplished at the right time, at the optimum season in a person’s maturation process. As prayer ministers, we should ask Holy Spirit to guide us understand God’s proper sequence of maturation and like detectives to discern what is out of time and place.
To Parents of Teenagers
Some Christians fail as parents precisely because they try too hard. They are too strict with their children, never allow them to explore life on their own and complete the individuating process. If a teenager is too sheltered, sequestered and squelched, they will not be able to figure out for themselves who they are, what they believe and why. Young women should not move too quickly from their father’s house to submission to a husband and house-bound duties as a wife and mother. If they do so, she runs the risk of feeling the need later in life to abandon her husband and children in order to find herself.
By the time a child reaches their teenage years, parents need to let go and entrust their teenagers to the Lord and to the moral training they gave their kids before the age of twelve. So if you are a parent of teenagers, don’t badger your kids. Maintain rules, but show compassion and respect to your young adult. If you push them at this crucial stage, they may feel backed into a corner. If you pressure them in one direction, don’t be surprised if they go in the opposite in order to be different. The more you push them, the further out they may have to go.
Even if the teenager is forced into compliance, they will not internalize the values. Later in life, they might push further into sin than they otherwise would have in order to find out what they really believe about it. Unfortunately by then, as an adult, they will not have have the proper protection of parents to help them out of a bad situation. Also extra suffering (e.g., a spouse, children and career) may be caused as a result of the individuating process occurring out-of-order and the wrong time in life.
In some situations, when a parent just can’t control their own tongue, it might be a good idea to let the teenager live with a trusted relative (an aunt or grandparent). In a less stressful environment, the teenager may be given the opportunity to choose what is right for themselves when given freedom to do so.
To Individuating Adults and Spouses Who Love Them
If your spouse never properly completed the individuating process as a teenager, they may need to do so later in life while married to you. The Sanfords offer you some advice on how to handle it.
Let your spouse have some time and money to explore suppressed talents and “safe” hobbies.
Don’t let your spouse treat you as her parent and don’t treat her as your child.
Show interest in your spouse’s new hobby, but don’t get too involved. Give him space.
If your wife is a homemaker, encourage her to get a part-time job or something else to allow her to explore life outside the home.
Go out on dates with your spouse and have fun! Make believe you’re teenagers again.
Be sensitive to your spouse’s mood: when he want to have fun or when she wants to have a serious talk. Don’t nag.
Help pick up the slack in your spouse’s responsibilities without complaint.
Destiny Malaise
The final step in the maturation process is to discover and fulfill our destiny. Each believer is God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works (Ephesians 2:10). These are God’s works, done by Holy Spirit in us. They are not religious feats of accomplishment pushed through by human tenacity. Finding out what our destiny is requires submission. We must give up trying to make it happen on our own strength.
Destiny malaise is a sickness of heart when you think you’ve missed God’s purpose for your life. Symptoms of destiny malaise include shoulder-slumping fatigue or overly dramatic emotionalism. If you’re suffering from destiny malaise, take the Sanfords’ advice: “Put it all on the altar. Stop searching and striving. Do what comes to hand. Bloom where you are planted.”
Letting Go of Your Past, a book by John & Paula Sanford, is part of the curriculum of the Elijah House Basic I training course which Elisabeth and I took in 2008. This is a book summary where each blog post will summarize a chapter.
During our visit to Taiwan (Jan 3-13) we got to spend quality time with the pastors of New Hope Taipei, Steven and Joyce Hsaio. They shared their vision for the new church, scheduled to open in August of this year, and introduced us to other team members. It was a great trip of discovering more of how we would fit into this ministry and also the practical side of living in Taipei. And of course, we did some touristy stuff! Steven and Joyce took us to a museum, drove us out to nearby mountains too see an amazing view of Taipei, took us to Taipei 101, and all throughout, treated us to delicious Taiwanese food! We were also blessed to visit a YWAM base in the nearby county of Danshui and throughout the trip, reconnected with old friends from Hawaii who were living in or visiting Taipei. Now, back in Japan, we are prayerfully considering what we should do in the future. We know that God has great plans and we’re trusting in Him to speak to us!
OnePlusOne seminar flyer (2.6 MB)
On the night before Elisabeth’s birthday the Fowler’s watched Noah so we could go out on a movie date, our first movie out since Truman’s mom watched Noah back in May 2009 so we could see Star Trek. First we went to a fantastic little mom-n-pop tempura restaurant where the cook actually dips the tempura into the boiling pot of oil with his fingers. Then we got to watch Avatar in 3D. That was fun! On her birthday we had a surprise party with lots of family and friends that have known her since she was a child.
