Distant Dads

As I become older, I realize more and more the rarity of this fact: one of the most sobering days in my life was realizing that my dad isn't perfect. I've spent my whole life looking up to him. When I realized that my dad makes mistakes I was floored. I am still awestruck with my dad, and when I was young it was no different. He was (and still would be if not for his body breaking down) a distance runner, able to control a room with his sense of humor--and clever; timely assertiveness, and constantly teaching me the truths of scripture and of faith.

The lessons and teachings came with a great degree of frequency. He always seemed to have an answer when I was hurting or acting out, and the answer always mysteriously involved Christ.  A quote that stands out to me growing up that he would tell me often was, "Who do ______ (fill in the blank with any religion, individual, institution, friend, bully, etc.) say that Jesus Christ is? That determines who they are." The constant reminder that we are all sinners, in need of grace, in need of a savior, was something I heard often--whether I liked it or not.

With the passing of Father's Day, the way my dad loved and continues to love me are reminders of the Lord's blessing on my life.

Father's Day also reminds me of one of my greatest burdens for Japan: the fatherless. The statistics are staggering. 73% of fathers reported having never or only once playing sports or participating in leisure activities with their children (source). I've had numerous conversations with people who have grown up not even knowing what their father does for a living. The culture demands such time from fathers (and mothers, if they want to have a job). High cost of living, demands of the workplace, demands from the culture all compound to create generation after generation of fatherless.

I would suggest that the pervading reason for fatherlessness in Japan is a lack of gospel influence. The very word and law that the Lord writes on our hearts and minds as believers in Jesus Christ. The truth of the knowledge that children are an inheritance from the Lord. Despite the difficulties of marriage and parenting the joy that comes in glorifying God through obedience is worth it. The example of Christ's love for the church is our example to love our wives. If there is no knowledge of truth, joy, love, and hope, what's left? One of the most comforting passages in scripture to me is Paul writing to the church in Rome:

"So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells within my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Romans 7:21-25a

Life is hard. For everyone. The only deliverance and redemption of this life is through Jesus Christ.

The Lord has allowed us the opportunity to go to Japan not so we can go and teach a culture that is better, but rather share a truth that gives meaning and life. Like so many other cultures, the Japanese culture is rich, beautiful--and flawed. The good news of Jesus Christ, granting us life abundant, is our hope to see Japanese men come to a saving faith. It is in this faith that we hope to see Japanese men realizing that while their careers and friends are important, they come second to their investment in the lives of their families to the glory of God. We long to see the Lord transform Japan to be a place where the stories of so many isn't that their fathers weren't around, but that they knew nothing other than fathers pointing them to the love of our Father in heaven.