"And being mindful of the time..."

During my first year of university, I distinctly remember visiting a church where the pastor was speaking about a text from Romans...something about being mindful of the present time...anyway, the pastor was talking about the sense of urgency that we should feel when we reflect upon the time that God has given us to speak to people about His love and draw near to Him. People often talk about faith, love, hope, joy...even obedience, and discipline, but I was struck by the pastor's talk about urgency, and the fact that I so often think of this world as being all there is...forgetting that man's life "is but a breath" and that it's eternity that stretches on forever...

Anyway, this is not meant to be an exposition about a sermon that's several years old. :)

Pamela came to visit me last Friday, and it was wonderful to see her again...wonderful for many different reasons. One of those reasons was simply because it was good to not feel like the only crazy person around... :) Anyway, Pamela and I hung out for awhile with my older adopted grandmother, who was in the beginning not very happy with my decision to go to Japan. I haven't really undertaken any deep faith discussions with her, but have reflected often upon the fact that even though she doesn't get the world view of sending the gospel to the nations (my opinion, obviously...I can't see her heart!), she has a simple sort of faith that I really love. Since coming back to Japan, I have made small comments about Japan, but she has not seemed interested at all in hearing about the country or my time there...and seemed to hold the opinion of, "Well, you've done your dirty work for the Lord...now you're back where you belong."

Until yesterday, when she started asking Pamela a few questions about Japan. Pamela and I shared in the answering of the questions, and somehow we ended up quite naturally on the topic of religion. My adopted grandmother was kind of perplexed a little bit at our discussion of Buddhism and Shintoism and the like, and finally asked me very bluntly, "Do you think that all those Japanese people are going to hell?" I stopped with my mouth open, not wanting to answer her, but finally managed a rather weak, "Well, they don't believe in Jesus."

The next several minutes held one of the most beautiful pictures of "being mindful of the time" that I have ever seen...my grandmother's face changed from perplexity to pain as she said, "But you can't tell many people in such a short time! What about the ones who don't know about Jesus? What do they do?"

It was as if she finally caught the idea that there are people dying without salvation...people who need it. And, being a woman of faith and relationship with God, she responded with urgency and love...

Pamela and I assured her that we weren't the only missionaries in Japan :)...and that God had plenty of Japanese Christians working for Him too...and that God's heart is for the salvation of Japan...

It was so beautiful to see the realization come across her face...a good reminder that God is raising up pray-ers from all generations and peoples...and a reminder to me that yes, even though I am back in America right now, there is an urgency and a pain that comes from opening our eyes to the spiritual chains surrounding so many...an urgency that should not just be pushed away or shelved for missionary work, and is not just for a specific people group...an urgency to pray that God would move mightily, and touch people's eyes and ears and hearts so they can experience His salvation...