Strangers in a foreign land

In Japan we are foreigners. We look different. We smell different (apparently). We speak the language in a funny way. We don't always manage to do things the 'right' way. We stick out. We are a bit like aliens. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what we are and we even have to carry around a card to prove it. Along the top of the card with our photo underneath there are nine 'kanji' (the Chinese characters) with a translation below which tells us this our Certificate of Alien Registration. Yes, we are certified aliens. No wonder we get odd looks at times. When we bought a new bike the other day, we received the usual user's manual which told us all we needed to know, complete with lots of illustrated drawings, about riding a bike. It was all in Japanese of course but the front page very helpfully had a sentence in English in large capital letters which read exactly as follows - FOR YOUR SAFETY AND COMFORT, IF YOU ARE ALIEN WHO LIVE IN JAPAN, PLEASE ASK SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTAND THIS MANUAL TO MAKE DETAILED EXPLANATION FOR YOU. Yes, we are aliens here. We will never truly be an insider. But, in a strange way, because we are 'outsiders' there can be a certain attractiveness in that too and our 'foreign-ness' can be a way God can use to connect us with people and then connect them to Jesus. And when that happens, what is the result? The Japanese who believes then also becomes an alien because that is just how the Bible describes followers of Jesus - aliens and strangers in the world, whose ultimate citizenship is in heaven. We look forward to seeing many more aliens in Japan!