I feel like I’m looking up at Everest… Will I ever climb this mountain path… or can I!? This is the real feeling I had when I started to seek to be the JCFN staff a few years ago.
I have many opportunities to talk about the reasons that led me to the ministry, but surprisingly few opportunities to talk about the period between my return to Japan and the installation. For the first two years after returning to Japan, I worked part-time as a couple. I made shiso rolls (have you ever heard of shiso rolls? ), my wife had a part-time job teaching English at a children’s school, and on weekends, we visited churches that asked us to come. At the churches I have visited, I have been told, “That’s a great decision and faith.” At such times, I could not say, “I believe in God, I am filled with peace, and I have no worries…” It wasn’t that great. I was happy and sad, and sometimes depressed. But each time I was shown that it was not up to me to do something about it, but that God would always open the door. Everything is in God’s hands, and “what He does, He does!” It was a period of time when I saw this obvious thing. I realized how easy it is to forget or doubt this simple thing. It’s like the Israelites in the Bible. Whenever I feel weak, I realize, “So that’s why I need to rely on God!” Through this repetition, I think I have been able to take one step at a time.
In the past, there were many times when I wondered if my family size would be a hurdle to overcome, or if I would have to worry too much about my financial situation. However, I have not taken this step alone, but as a family, and my wife and children have been led to this point while going through their own challenges. I believe that this was a preparation period that God gave us in order to be used as a family. It is definitely God’s best for this family to be led together. It is definitely God’s best for us to be led as a family because God, who is full of wisdom and love, has opened this time as the best time for us to be led.
Please pray that they will be granted visas. Also, our daughters have been meeting and parting with friends, and each time it has been painful, but new friends have been given to them everywhere. Please pray that they will be given good friends and a good environment in the midst of future changes, and pray that the ministry will be used in the places where they are given.
Daisuke Tsuchida
If you would like to support Daisuke Tsuchida, please click here. (Please specify Daisuke Tsuchida.)
