January Jitters

"Sometimes you have to depend on others to find what you need."

-Old man in a yellow poncho, Bicycle

I leave for Tokyo, Japan in ten days.

I could not possibly feel weirder.

There are so many things for which I feel unprepared. Japanese. Dollars to Yen. Toilets. Speed trains. Tokyo airport. The list goes on. Thankfully, I'm not terrible with chopsticks.

I bought my ticket on January 10, ten days ago. I normally don't feel apprehensive about traveling, but this is a little bit outside the bounds of my experience. I'm getting excited. Keenly excited. Jittery. It's as if I'm not here anymore, already. There's so much to do, and so little time left in which to accomplish it. I think it makes even small tasks daunting knowing that I'll be leaving soon.

But everything has already been accomplished. I feel confident of that. The things I've been working toward in faith-partnership with those around me are coming to fruition, and it is mind-blowing.

A small update is that on Tuesday we hosted another screening of Bicycle and raised $250. I'm sitting right around $1900 right now, and I believe this to be excellent footing by which to set forth. I do not fear not being able to raise enough money. There is still time for many to contribute and I've been so blessed already by friends and loved ones. This has been a truly moving experience of faith.

The great thing is that if you missed your chance to contribute financially so far, you can still do so even as I'm in Japan.

For those of you who've partnered with me, thank you. I cannot wait to share this experience with you, and one of the key ways I'll be doing that is sending out bi-monthly email updates, as well as blogging. The 21st century has given this "partnership" a whole new dimension, to the point where we can all share actively in what God is doing in real time with email, blogs, twitter, and facebook. Hang on to your hats, kids. I'm going to be UPDATING you. That's right. And it will be fierce.

Please pray for me as this week transpires and I prepare for my 7 am flight on Sunday, Jan 30. Pray that God will prepare everything according to His purposes.

I love you all. Michael out.