Contentment in the Rain and Heat

The weather is absolutely perfect right now. We are in that brief window of time between needing both a heater and a humidifier and starting up our air conditioner and dehumidifier.

Most of the time I'm fairly content. A little (or a lot of) rain doesn't usually cause me much distress. But every once in awhile when the combination of heat and rain makes me feel like a wet garment being ironed as steam escapes from every pore of my body, I just don't like it. Rainy season usually begins in early- or mid-June here in Tokyo and lasts for about a month. Some years it rains pretty much all day every day. Other years we only get rain every few days but it comes in torrents. I don't know what this year will be like.

What I do know is that I've never really thought to prepare my heart for this season of the year. It just comes. Some days I complain and sometimes I don't. But this year I decided to think about rainy season and the sultry days that follow and formulate a plan. What prompted this?

We are looking forward to having a 17-year-old young lady from Texas come in a few weeks to spend a month with us to help us out. I wrote and told her about rainy season thinking it was only fair to warn her. She replied, "I'm so excited! I love rain!" Now there's a perspective to consider. Hmm...

Then I read about a missionary back a few generations who always exuded contentment. Her daughter discovered a list of this godly woman's intentions. Her first goal was to not complain about anything, ever...not even the weather. She served in a harsh African climate without the luxury of fans or air conditioning. I find her resolve amazing.

This summer with the need to cut down on electricity in Tokyo due to the nuclear reactor problem, we've been told to prepare to use air conditioners as little as possible. This will not be easy in this hot and humid metropolis where people breathing and sunshine radiating off of cement produce more heat than many man-made heaters.

We had a light rain today. It was a piece of cake. I didn't even have to try not to complain. I know there will be days it will be more of a struggle. I've never been a huge complainer, but my husband doesn't ever complain even though with his disability he has so much he COULD complain about. He lost his speech with his stroke. He worked and worked to be able to speak again but never regained his ability to complain. He makes good choices!

I'm taking the challenge. I will not complain about the weather before September 31. Right around that time the weather gets gorgeous anyway. I'm allowing myself the privilege of sharing weather reports...just no disparaging commentary.

Enjoy your weather today!...By the way. As long as I'm not complaining I do want to take the opportunity to do the opposite. After battling pain in his overused left arm for nine months, Russ is now pain free in his elbow! Thank you, Lord!

Steps of Faith

It's encouraging to see faith grow in the lives of our friends who were baptized on Easter Sunday.

Thursday the mom and daughter came over. When my rice cooker died I took it in for repairs but it was going to cost almost as much as a new one so I took the plunge and purchased one. This one has a cake cycle. I decided to have my friends come over so we could try making a cake in it together. Actually the mom misread the directions and it really wasn't turning out. While we waited for it to cook we had some left-over pizza for lunch. The five-year-old daughter prayed for our meal. She told God that the cake really flopped, but could He please fix it. When we opened the lid, the cake worked. Immediately she said, "I prayed!"



The mom told me about what I really think is a miracle. She said she thought the Holy Spirit was telling her that they should tear out the ceiling in their house. She is a new Christian so listening to the Spirit is something she is learning. She asked her husband to tear out the ceiling and he did (pretty trusting husband!). While tearing it out he discovered that someone who had remodeled the house years ago had put cement blocks up above the ceiling.

It is not permissible to throw away cement in Tokyo because of the landfill problem. You can't put it out in the trash and they won't even take it if you pay for "big trash." I know. I have a cement block from an old laundry pole that I can't get rid of.

Back to the story...It is such a blessing that they discovered these cement blocks because it is a very old house and with all the aftershocks we're having, their ceiling could have easily caved in and killed them. On top of that the dad discovered that a mouse had chewed through electrical wires and they easily could have had a fire. The husband was able to fix the wires and they are all working hard to break down the cement blocks into little pieces. God protected this Christian family growing in their faith.