Sunday has been a steep relearning curve for me here in Florida. Since I left in 2008 so many of the usual things have changed, and then an additional batch of things changed as well, so I returned to a home church that was in some ways unrecognizable. Certainly this church is larger than any I attended in Japan, and yet so much smaller than when I left. Many many staff changes including lead pastor, music pastor and church secretary occurred in the interim. We still have a large seasonal group who spend winters only in Florida and they have gradually been returning.
Reading Graham Orr's new book, Not So Secret has encouraged me to look at these changes in a different way than I have in the past, and I am able to begin coming to terms with some things. So, progress, I think.
Today before the service I saw a familiar face and was happy to greet a woman who had moved away from our area to Deland, FL. She has been a supporter for years and she and her late husband and family have been involved with missions for a long time. She invited me to have lunch with her after church and I accepted. Now that I think about it, she is the first person to invite me to lunch after church since I'm back. So we ate and talked and caught up on each others activities for a couple of hours. Here is another person who is sensitive to where my head is these days and is truly interested. Wow, two in one week, how great is that?
I have often wondered what I might face should I return to the States. I wonder if I could hack it. Today, on the return home from rice delivery, Paul and I decided to take the road that runs beside our very first apartment. That little building with four apartments up and four down had one six mat room and one four and a half mat room, a small toilet room sharing one mat space with the genkan, and a one-mat kitchen. There was no shower or bath so we had to use the public bath one block over. Since that apartment is still in use, I wondered if the public bath was still standing. All that area is now big concrete apartment buildings and the bath couldn't be found. Even Japan is changing.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia, so soon your footpath will be full of friends, as you give, so will be given to you. Not always in an instant, but sometime. Lovely to meet friends who really care. who knows what next week will bring for you. Cheers from Jean
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