Things I love.

"when there is a question as to whether a man is good, one does not ask what he believes, or what he hopes, but what he loves."

Augustine of Hippo.

"What do you love?" It is in that question and the spiritual dynamics implicit in its answer that belief and behavior are woven together.

Steven Garber ("Fabric of Faithfulness, p. 22).


A few years ago I audited a course at ICS called Worldview Foundations. My professor was Gideon Strauss. On his blog of Sept 13, he references my list of things I love.

The list was written in 2002 and I would like to amend the list, but only slightly. There are definitely a few things and someone that I need to add.

Some of the things I love in no particular order

Aukje, learning, people, tools, woodworking, my family, Nuevo Suyapa, San Salvador, God, 7th Heaven (the ski runs at Blackcomb), books, of all sorts, especially by CS Lewis, JRR Tolkein, William Gibson, Douglas Adams Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy trilogy of five books, and Tom Clancy, computers, sailing and sailboats, creating things, imagination, Playa La Zunganera, paintings, sketching, adventures, the sound of children playing on the playground, fall rains, trees, the stillness of newly falling snow, the smell of a bakery, cars - particularly Vdubs, soccer (the beautiful game), standing on top of a mountain, making others happy, The Simpson’s, all my friends, parts of Osaka especially the castle, Berlin, Vancouver, the harbour in Rotterdam, machines (especially big powerful ones, and simple effective ones), movies, especially The Matrix, and The Fifth Element, sculpture, the Group of 7, fixing things, the sound of babbling brooks, Georgian Bay (especially around Tobermory), the kingdom of God, canoeing, Algonquin Park, moose, Africa, music of all sorts except Country and Western, watching people create/perform live, art galleries, Science Fiction, Jackie Chan's hokey martial arts movies, history, teaching, the students I get to know through teaching, the Bible, Fernie, the tingling of the spine you get when something you’ve created is so obviously great, MC Escher, cycling, camping, hiking, Star Trek, the vastness of the ocean, good humour and laughing, thunder storms, pond hockey, the beauty of the woods, driving, helping others, spring breezes and last and what should be least chocolate.

Fine French Cuisine

Just down the street, a 30 second walk from my pad, was this interesting little french restaurant. I walked by at least twice a day, and was always intiguided by it. Finally near the end of my stay they came out with a nice looking lunch special. I coerced my then future fiancee into going on a date with me to the Belle Epogue.

Supaidaaman 2

I was on the Tanimachi Subway line near the Abeno station and my Spidey sense was tingling. Then I discovered why.

An Invitation

This coming Sunday in the evening service at the GCRC, I will be reporting back to my home congregation about my short term experience in Japan. There will be a few pictures, some commentary and a short sermon as well. Please feel free to join us. (Directions).

Moss Burger?

No, Mos Burger. It sounds a little odd to Anglo ears, not quite so appetizing. I suppose it sounds good to Japanese ears though. It is billed as a healthy and better quality fast food, (as opposed to McDonald's). Aukje and I tested one out after church one Sunday afternoon. I was suitably impressed, it was quite good. We had a spot looking out the front window, watching the passers-by.

Almost home

Coming out of the sekime-takadono subway station, exit number 2. This is the exit I took regularly as I left the subway for the one minute walk to my place of residence. It always struck me as I walked out of the underground back into the real world again. From this view it looks as though it could be from any english speaking country in the world, there is not much to distinguish it as particularly Japanese.

Free Gmail

I have a few free Gmail invites if anyone is interested. Gmail is Google's relatively new free web based e-mail system. It is currently in beta testing and right now the only way to get an account is to be invited. E-mail me if you would like an invite.

It doesn't seem like a year.

Today is the one year anniversary of the day we first met.

Yesterday, published simultaneously in our respective church bulletins was the public announcement of our engagement.

Hear ye, hear ye! Will Dykstra from Georgetown CRC and Aukje vandenBerg of Barrie First CRC are relieved to announce their engagement. It took some time for Sir William John to battle through the deep woods, but the knight in tarnished armour finally found his way to the fair Aukje.

It received good reviews.

School Kids in their natural habitat.

I regularly sighted groups of private school kids when I rode the tube. They can be distinguished by their matching uniforms and often their fairly bright colours. In the wild they often have a look of inquisitiveness, and tend to be fairly sociable within the pack but tend to be intrigued by yet wary of gaijin (foreigners).

The needy in Japan?

When ever my fiancee and I are in different countries we work through a specific daily devotional together, and e-mail our comments to each other (though at times this happens to be a little more sporadic than daily). Last year we worked through a fairly well known devotional by Oswald Chambers called My Utmost for His Highest. This year we have just started our second one called The One Year Walk with God written by Chris Tiegreen.

His August 22nd entry is based on Proverbs 21:13, If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.

In his devotional for the day he talks about how we should reflect God's grace and His attitude toward the oppressed. Chris says we should be intentional about seeking out the poor and the oppressed. God often meets people's needs through us.

All too often the evangelical worldview trivializes the plight of the poor and the oppressed, focusing only on the fact that they need to be born again, but I think that salvation is holistic involving body, mind, heart and soul, so all of these need to be addressed by us as witnesses of Christ's love.
This is one of the nagging items in the back of my mind about Japan. Every cross-cultural mission field I've ever been to involved the meeting of physical need as well as spiritual need, but in Japan physical need is largely taken care of. Perhaps it is one of the obstacles to spreading the gospel.
In my lifetime thus far I have been blessed to be able to go to the poor to help, being God's hands and feet in places like Honduras, El Salvador, Toronto or Mississippi, that really need help. So often when meeting these physical needs the spiritual side grows (both the giver and receiver) and even afterward continues to bloom.
In Japan the gulf between being poor in spirit and having material wealth is larger than any I've ever encountered.

HEP V Ferriswheel

This ferris wheel is sitting on top of the HEP V department store in Osaka. While riding the ferris wheel you can look out over the city and when the wheel nears the bottom, gaze at the shoppers on the upper floors of the department store.

My Fiancee

My fiancee Aukje is quite likely the most beautiful woman in the world.
Mind you, I'm probably biased.
She left for Japan this morning with a tear in my eye.

Retro Blogging

This is an entry I found on my computer, from before I started blogging. I didn't yet have a digital camera, so no pictures for this one.

April 13, 2004
Today Cherry Blossoms at the mint. The mint you say? During the Meiji reign the person in charge of the mint thought it might be nice to have cherry blossoming trees lining the street in front of the mint so it would be a nice place.
Culture in the carnival like walkway near the mint, since everybody from Osaka comes down to enjoy the week of blossom viewing, it is handy to have all those stalls nearby so they can hawk their octopus laden snacks, octopus being the signature food for Osakaians. I tried some octopus balls, ( somewhat like chicken balls) and something which would best be compared to omelette with octopus strips and onions and green pepper like strips fried into it. Not bad. Later a tiny orange that had been soaked in sugar. Hmm sweet. Back to the base for some Hiragana study.

A Ninja

A Kawasaki Ninja. A nice machine (from my perspective as a machine designer). Nuff said.
Well perhaps not. Motorcycles are plentiful in Japan, and there are many motorcycle enthusiasts to go along with them. This particular machine was often parked outside of the Pizza place. I think it belonged to one of the pizza delivery scooter drivers.

What up party people!

I was talking with my good friends Angela and Gideon and their daughters Summer and Shimmer. We were chatting about the funny english Japanese people come up with. Sometimes I wonder are they so good at it that they are doing it on purpose or is it always accidental? This is a picture of an actual t-shirt in Japan, straight from Aaron's k-tai (cell phone), (Aaron is busy trying to plant a new church in Osaka) to you via this blog. The website www.engrish.com is a site dedicated to Japanese English, tis good for a chuckle.

Debriefing

The following is the debriefing from my trip which I just finished for Missions to Unreached People, the organization I did my short term mission with.


Name: Will Dykstra
Dates of Mission Trips: Apr. 9 - June 30, 2004
Location/Missionary Hosts: Osaka, Japan. Dan and Karen Ellrick, Aukje vandenBerg.

1. What was your missionary assignment while overseas?

Fairly loose. Personally, my objectives were to determine if long term missions was something I could do. Did I have the tools and skills? Did I have 'what it takes'? Is it something God wants me to do or not to do? As I was flying over to Japan I also felt a real call to treat the entire experience as 'learning'. So that was my attitude as I first set foot in Japan.

2. What were your general impressions about your short-term missions experience?

It was positive, wonderful excellent. A 'would like to still be there' sort of experience. Exciting. Enjoyable. Adventurous.

3. Have you had a chance to read Back to the Future and Extending Your Trip and answer the questions that go with them?

Yes. Yes, quite helpful. There are some excellent suggestions and insight from experienced short termers.
One of the things suggested was keeping a journal. It is helpful to be able to recall the many different experiences and reflect on them from more 'normal' environs. But it is something that should be communicated beforehand.
I did work at keeping a 'blog', which serves the purpose of journaling, and it is also an excellent way of keeping in touch with friends and family back home (well those with internet access anyway).
If you are interested the address is http://www.sekime-photolog.blogspot.com/. Scroll through the archives for the blogs I wrote while I was in Japan.

4. What was the best/most memorable part of your short-term mission trip? How did God use this experience to teach you, direct you etc?

The best things for me were simply (or perhaps not so simply) learning about Japanese culture. Trying to understand how Japanese people think, how they understand the world, their worldview. I enjoyed the culture.
I feel that God has been growing in me a passion for Japanese culture.

5. What was the worst/most discouraging or difficult part of your short term mission trip? How did God use this experience to teach you, direct you etc.

There were times when I was when I felt utterly and absolutely inadequate. It was very discouraging when that happened.
I think God was trying to teach me that my skills and talents don't matter. He is the one to lean on. I should not be leaning on my own understanding. I know it intellectually, but I haven't yet learned to do it.

6. How did you see God at work in the lives of individuals?

As a leader of an Alpha group it was wonderful to see how often God was at work in our group. It wasn't so much a matter of what I was doing but how God was meeting people were they needed to be met, using the group as a vehicle to achieve what He had in mind.

In Team Dynamics?

Meeting and supporting Aaron. It was very fulfilling to be able to feel that I was used by God to help Aaron in his efforts to start a Bible fellowship. Particularly the first time we met, we had a long conversation, a time of getting to know each other, but of more importance a time of encouragement.
Also at the weekly prayer meetings, these meetings always struck me as meetings of great importance, even though at times they seemed to be a great expense, from an energy and time available point of view.

In You?

He was very near to me as I went about the things of daily life in Japan. For an example, I was riding the subway and I accidentally dropped my subway card. As I was about to exit at the gate a lady ran up behind me to give me back my dropped card.
That was a little thing but a typical example of how God was looking after me while I was in Japan.

7. In what ways will you integrate what you have learned on your short-term trip into your life at home? How will you make this a long-term change or how will it influence your decisions for your future?
I am going to continue with my weblog, using it as a platform to explore Japanese culture and further reflect on my experiences. I shall endeavors to pray and encourage those whom I met in Japan, and who continue to work at missions in Japan, and I shall explore what God has in store for me and my future.

8. Did you receive enough information and support from out home office prior to your short-term trip?

I got a lot out of the information you sent me. The articles I was supposed to read in the five weeks prior to my departure were interesting and quite helpful. Even as a seasoned veteran of short term missions experiences, there was some great food for thought there.

9. What could we have done better to help you plan and prepare, logistically, spiritually or mentally?

I think a little more integration with the missionaries in the field would be helpful. I'm not sure how to accomplish that but it seemed to me to be somewhat disjointed from office to field.

10. Would you be interested in going on another short-term mission with Mission to Unreached Peoples? Why or why not?

Yes. No reason to stop now. Though I think maybe more of a long-term commitment may be in order.

Coke Bus

Coca cola C2 made a huge splash while I was in Japan. This bus was in the Osaka castle lot when I was there.

Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi

On the weekend I took in the movie Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi in Japanese). It is a Japanese Animation released by Disney in North America. It is a movie about a young girl who has to rescue her parents from the evil spirit in charge of a bath house for spirits.
The word ‘spirit’ in this case is translated from the Japanese Kami which means god. So the English has already been changed compared to the Japanese for this case, and I sure there are other such discrepancies as well.
Nevertheless it was an interesting look into a portion of the Japanese worldview, in particular the Shinto religion, and it’s many gods. I didn’t have an easy time understanding the movie, though it is entertaining on different levels.
There are quite a few concepts that a person without Japanese cultural background has difficulty picking up. After watching the movie I read a review of the movie at hollywoodjesus.com and while I did gain some valuable insight, I don’t think they can quite grasp the worldview behind the movie either. The author of the review has written the review from his own Christian worldview perspective.
I enjoyed the movie and it gave me some interesting food for thought.

Temple Gate

Back to the mountain shrine of a few days ago...

This temple gate is close to that shrine.  This temple takes up a significant amount of space on the mountain.  This would be the destination of many of the climbers.  Temples and shrines are  often located on mountains and in out-of-the-way places. 

Redeemed Culture

In an article titled Can the Christian University Thrive, Chuck Colson writes: 
 

The real issue at Baylor is whether the price of academic respectability is the surrender of Christian identity. Is it true that “smart people outgrow God,” as secular critics insist? Or can Baylor provide an alternative, namely, a university that, in Dreher’s words, “can speak to the broader culture from an intellectually sound but morally distinct vantage point”?

 
This strikes me today as a crucial issue for North American culture as we find it in our current day and age.  If the "smart people outgrow God" forces win this battle and others like it then North America culture loses. 
 
It definitely contrasts Japanese culture, where Christianity has very little influence and the Christian world view can be incomprehensible to the average person.  The cultural basics that North American culture takes for granted, the underlying Christian ethics that the culture grew up on are still there. 
 
In Japan that Christian basis does not exist, so explaining concepts such as good and evil becomes very difficult.  It cause the newly landed missionary in Japan to completely rethink how to go about doing missions.  It causes frustration at how little progress seems to be made.  Japan needs to be redeemed.  It is crying out to be redeemed.  A lot of work needs to be done however at the very basis of its culture.