During our one-year term in Japan, we did a Bible study called “Loving Jesus.” The author talked about the woman with the alabaster jar who showed lavish devotion to Jesus (Luke 7:36-50); then asked how we can express extravagant devotion to Jesus. “What did it cost the woman and what are the costs for you?”

God was already dealing with us to come back to Japan for a longer time and these were heart-wrenching questions. What would it cost us? These were some of our answers: our family; our friends; our home; our cars; our church; our jobs; our security. (Our family, friends, and church as in being distanced from them.)

Bruce Wilkinson had spoken at an OMS Conference before we went to Japan and said a little boy at the Conference asked him if he would make a donation to the OMS children’s mission project. Bruce said, “Tell you what, I’ll give what you gave. How much did you give?” Without missing a beat, the little boy answered, “Oh, I gave all I had.” Bruce said he took a deep breath and then emptied his wallet of its substantial amount of cash.

As we sang our theme song (“What if I Give All?”) at the end of almost every Japan presentation during the four years before our return to Japan, we thought of this little boy. What could God accomplish if we gave all we had? The end of the song says, “We cannot close our eyes and turn away, when we hear His Spirit call. We see the need, now let Him hear us say, What if I give all? What if I give all?”

The process was every bit as heart wrenching as we anticipated, but I clung to scriptures like Philippians 3:7-8 (But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ...) and Luke 12:33-34 (Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.) These scriptures clarified our direction.

When we sold our home and gave away or sold most of our furniture and many of our possessions in 2008, we didn’t know if we would ever own another home. One of our granddaughters, then ten, said, “But Grandma, where will you live when you come back?” “Oh, we’ll have a house or an apartment somewhere, Honey,” I responded. But we had no idea what the future held. Tokyo’s cost of living is one of the highest in the world and our support needs were huge.

We were committed to using every resource we had ─Donn’s retirement, the money we’d received thus far from the sale of our house (land contract), and my remaining inheritance after paying the cost of our first year in Japan, if the support we raised wasn’t enough. We didn’t know if we’d have any resources left to begin life again in the U.S. after our service in Japan was done.

(To Be Continued….)

Father, enable us to show extravagant devotion to you, even if it means giving you all we have. Help us remember we are only stewards of all we “own.” Amen.