One Life

Dear Friends,

It seems that 2008 has been full of good news to share with you all – surely one of the most blessed years of this ministry and my life. But for every rose there are certainly thorns and this seems to be one of those. We’ve also learned that we need to learn to thank the Lord for the thorns and not only the petals.

To be honest I was surprised that the Korean real estate developer met with me two weeks ago in Korea and then more surprised that he said he would visit Nagoya on the 19th and 20th. I was fully prepared for him to let us know that he would not be able to help us (considering that two years have passed since our first contact with him and he still hasn’t visited Japan), but it seemed like the Lord kept the door open during my positive meeting with him in Korea (in addition to the good meeting we had last November).

Almost two years ago to the day I wrote to you all:

“I have amazing news to share. It seems (we’re still waiting on confirmation) that the Lord may have provided a donor in response to our biggest prayer item over the past months. We’ve been praying for land/campus for CBS as well as for future ministry expansion. We really need dormitories as well. This would be a multi-ministry site with church planting efforts, lay training, CBS, and other future ministries. A Christian real estate developer in Korea has said that he is willing to pay for everything – both land and buildings. He would own the land and we would own our buildings.”

A few months earlier the Lord started to put on our hearts a vision for the future ministry of CBI (plans which for now we’re keeping confidential). The vision, we knew, was humanly impossible and would require land and a campus for multi-ministries. Rather than giving up, we turned to the Lord with prayer and fasting. The fact that CBS even existed was evidence enough that God can do miracles. And then 3 months after starting to fast and pray each Wednesday I heard about Mr. Kim and his proposal. Apparently around the time we started to fast and pray his wife was praying one morning and she believed that the Lord was speaking to her, “This year you must help Japan.” She didn’t know anything about Japan, but she told her husband. He also didn’t know anything, but he told his pastor friend in Chicago. He then told Mr. Kim about Pastor Joshua of Lakeview Church who told them about our vision for a campus and our future ministry hopes. Mr. Kim just “happened” to be a real estate developer.

But sometimes perfect storylines don’t have perfect endings. But we continue to trust in the Lord who works all things perfectly for His glory and His people through imperfect circumstances.

Over the last two weeks we have been scrambling to set up appointments and gather documents about the Yakusa land we were hoping to buy ($2.2 million – 1.8 acres across from two train stations). But we found out that part of the land was withdrawn from the market. We still set up an appointment for Mr. Kim to meet their representative for Sunday to see if we could still buy the whole lot. We also scrambled to find other options in case the land was not purchasable. It was a very difficult and stressful search. The person who has been helping us with much of this all (Hasegawa san – a non-Christian Japanese CEO – the man who has been renting us his home) set up another appointment as well with an investment advisor. Hasegawa san has done all this help for us mainly as a personal favor to me. He’s worked hard to get us various documents and set up appointments (and has been so patiently waiting for Mr. Kim to come to Japan over these past 2 years as well!)

We kept waiting to get information from Mr. Kim about his visit. We spoke with him a few times and even by Friday night (he was to arrive Saturday) he didn’t have a ticket. He told us he would probably come Saturday at 3 pm or 5 pm. Then after that he never contacted us and never came. He didn’t answer any telephone calls or text messages. His assistant also answered his phone only once and then not again.

On Saturday as it seemed clear Mr. Kim would not come I had to go to Hasegawa san’s company and apologize to him face to face. We were very concerned that he would be angry and not help us ever again. This would have been a huge blow to us because he is probably one of the most influential men in our city. But God was so gracious as I was able to talk first with his wife and then to him and they were very understanding. Still the whole situation was a bad witness to a CEO that I’ve been trying to build up a relationship with over the past few years. It also was a poor witness for CBI as well. A very dangerous situation. It was like canceling a meeting that you urgently requested people to fit into their schedules last minute on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend (it was a special 3 day weekend here).

As I said before, our trust was never in Mr. Kim – it was always in God alone. We have today human disappointments but divine hope. We hope to learn more in the next weeks what exactly happened with Mr. Kim, but we’re ready to move forward with seeking the Lord’s grace in showing us what plan B is. We continue to believe that the Lord will allow our vision for the future of CBI to move forward.

Thank you for your prayers this past weekend. We ask for your continued prayers. Our team found comfort this week in 1 Peter:

1Pet. 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
1Pet. 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Michael