I participated in a Japan seminar in 2001. I struggled greatly trying to grasp religion in Japan. The lack of a “why” clouds the issues in my mind. One of the leaders shared he has a religious practice/tradition without any real personal spiritual implications. I have observed similar things among friends and acquaintances. Large crowds come to church on Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, though they may not know why.
But my experience with religion and spirituality diverges from what others have described, and I would like to briefly share it with you.
My faith in Jesus Christ is vibrant and real, and was not inherited from my parents’ practices. They went to churches across the street from one another, and did not agree on doctrinal issues. My childhood was spent in a divided home. Though my parents never divorced, I related strongly to those whose parents were.
In college, when I rebelled against the legalism of one church’s doctrine with loose morality, God got my attention, not in an emotionally charged revival service, but in a theater during a John Travolta movie. I understood my rebellion and immorality separated me from God, and it broke my heart. At that moment, I experienced His forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus Christ. That day, I devoted myself to this God who loved me so much that He would go to such extremes to reveal Himself, His character, and His ways to me.
My faith is not about following a set of rules, laws, creeds, or traditions. It is about a love relationship with God through Jesus Christ that is personal and real. And because I love Him, I try to live to honor God and serve others. Humility is not my forte, but the Spirit of God at work in my life empowers me to be humble, thinking of others first.
God answered me as I cried out over my firstborn in a neo-natal intensive care unit after he had been twice resuscitated. God told me that Jesse was healed. Two years later, in church, God gave my wife the name of our second child, more than two years before he was born. His name was a promise, Josiah, Jehovah heals.
My daughter, Janae Elisabeth, is a precious gift in answer to my wife’s unintended prayers about being outnumbered by the opposite gender and associated body parts.
Years later, God gave me the name of our fourth (and hopefully final) child after six months of my praying in protest of a dream God gave me that I had four kids. I thought three was enough, but God wanted us to have a Joel (Jehovah is God) to bring us joy. This word came almost three years before Joel was born.
This only scratches the surface of all I could tell you about how God has nurtured me, spoken to me, comforted me, and literally put songs in my mouth. But now is not the time.
Thanks for indulging me.
February 2001
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