Hello! Thanks for continuing to pray! I know something incredible must be happening in the spiritual realm because the personal distraction was just ridiculous this past week. God was amazing, though, in the way He brought about a peace I completely don’t understand but can’t deny. Praise Him for that!

In the midst of that, or maybe even because of it, I’ve been sensing a “go”. That word doesn’t fully describe it, but there’s definitely a forward movement happening. As I was in my church’s worship service this morning, that sense was especially strong.

As the Lord leads you, please pray this week for an increase in momentum in different areas of our ministry, from the basics of building resources to the farthest reaches God allows us and anything in between. If He gives you any clues, please forward them to me. That would be hugely encouraging.

Please continue to pray, also, for Japan. A friend sent a message last week saying he was hoping “to see God open doors, windows, or punch a hole in the wall for you to bring WFI to Japan.” Gotta love that image! [Thanks, friend! You know who you are...] Please intercede on our behalf for that, even as we ask God to reconcile the nation of Japan to Himself through any means possible.

Thanks so much for joining me in this journey!

Immanuel…josie

When I committed a year to Japan, I wasn’t sure how to articulate what I expected, but I knew I wanted to see God work somehow. It was a bit of a surprise, then, to hear several people tell me not to expect to see anyone come to Christ during my time there. I appreciate their concern for me — they only didn’t want me to be too disappointed because the typical Japanese person needs to hear the gospel an average of 7 times before entering into relationship with God.¹

I accepted that piece of advice because I respected the experience from which it came, but I don’t think I received it in the way it came across to me. If I didn’t expect God to do amazing and miraculous things (the highest of which would be granting eternal life to a person condemned to eternal death), what kind of god did I believe in? Why else would anyone interrupt a relatively comfortable life-as-usual? Instead of changing my expectations, I began to examine them. Continue reading…

1. Not sure where that statistic came from, but that’s what I’ve heard repeatedly regarding evangelism in Japan. [↩]

Hello! It’s refreshing (for me) to again start the week dreaming and envisioning with the Lord what He might want to do through worship to fulfill His commission to us in the next 7 days.

As I sat with God this morning, my prominent desire was Japan. With all the movement happening in the Church in Asia, Japan remains tough ground to break. Please pray as the Holy Spirit leads you for future WFI ministry in that nation…and let me know anything He tells you! If you need a starting point, may I suggest:

• entry for WFI into Japan through “persons of peace” (Matthew 10.11-13)

As always, feel free to pray for anything else God puts before you (and let me in on it!). Thank you for interceding for us. I love praying for what we do, but I can’t do it alone…your fellowship in prayer moves us forward.

Have a great week!

Immanuel…josie

For the most recent ministry update, please click here.

I recently came across a book simply entitled Sabbath. The all caps title initially caught my eye, but the first few pages drew me in because they spoke to a hidden need I almost didn’t recognize. Despite my plans to be otherwise productive, I enjoyed the entire 200+ pages that afternoon and evening — something I almost never get to do anymore unless I can justify it as work-related. Fortunately, that day had already been designated as my Sabbath day, and it lent to what I hope will be a growing fruitful practice of the Sabbath principle.
Continue reading…

Reflections of Praise

I’m going to reflect way back and say I’m thankful for one of my college campus fellowship advisers. During one of his messages, he made the point we try to live our lives like a TV dinner — everything in its own distinct compartment — but life is really like a chicken pot pie with distinct ingredients all mixed together.¹ They don’t lose their identity, but they are all necessary for the finished product. I tend to favor the TV dinner approach, and it’s pretty obvious by my file naming conventions and the extensive use of the categories feature in my project management software.

This past month, I felt led to dedicate some time to initiating involvement in social justice for a variety of reasons. It’s been something on my mind and heart over the last several years, but I struggled with being pulled in two different Kingdom directions: worship and justice. To draw on the analogy, it felt like I was going to mix the mac and cheese with the chocolate pudding, and that never sounds appetizing. Although pursuing this direction while simultaneously working with WFI has been confirmed through conversations and prayer, I was still concerned I would be trying to do too much and eventually not do anything well. Continue reading…

1. He must have been really trying to reach the college crowd to use frozen food as an analogy. [↩]