Michelle and I just returned from a wonderful 8-day adventure in Japan.  We visited our friends and missionaries, Leon and Cheryl Hill, who have been living in the greater Tokyo area for the past 24 years.  Over the last two years, Leon and I have faithfully talked to each other and prayed together once-a-month on Skype, so it was a real blessing for me to be able to see first-hand the people and places he has been telling me about during those conversations.

We’ve been back in the states for 40 hours now, and we’re completely messed up!  Jet lag has set in.  Our flights to and from Japan reminded me of my family’s frequent trips to Milwaukee over the years to see Michelle’s parents. When we lived in Ohio, the only way to get to Milwaukee was to go through Chicago.  We tried every route known to man, but inevitably, we had to go through the Windy City to get to Milwaukee…and we dreaded it.  After driving five stress-filled hours with three little ones in tow, we would hit Chicago, and nine times out of ten, we’d get ourselves stuck in a traffic jam that would have us crawling through the city at 10 miles per hour for the next two hours.  By the time we would finally get to the other side of the city, the kids – locked in their car seats – would be sweaty, smelly, and furious for the final one-and-a-half hour portion of the journey.

Traveling to Japan comes with that same dynamic.  No matter how you slice it, you have to cross the International Date Line, meaning your days and nights will get messed up.  By the time you get to Japan (or home from Japan), you’ll be sweaty, smelly, and possibly a little angry as well!  This phenomenon is called “jet lag,” and Michelle and I have it bad!

Over the last 40 hours, even though we’ve slept 14 hours (all at once!), we’re still struggling to get our lives back on the Mountain Time day/night schedule.  Case in point: I’m writing this post at 4AM after trying unsuccessfully for the last three hours to sleep.  Please pray for Michelle as she has to go to work this morning.  You don’t have to worry about me.  I’m taking this week off, so hopefully I’ll get it all figured out before I have to return to work!

In between periods of sleep, I intend to blog this week about some of the different aspects of our experience in Japan: things like the food we ate, the people we met, the work of Leon and Cheryl Hill, the Keisen church network that is winning people to Christ with a missional church strategy, our Tokyo experience, and the lessons we learned.  My writing will serve as an exercise designed to help me process the incredible experience we had, but I invite you to check back daily if you’d like to read about and see some of the things we experienced.

Our hearts were pricked by the sweet brothers and sisters-in-Christ that we met while we were there, and Lord willing, yours will be too as you interact with my blog this week.  In the meantime, I’m off to bed to give it another try!