Yabuki Breeze Blog

One of the cultural fixtures in Texas is football in the fall. Finally, the Yabukis were able to become a part of that cultural rite through flag football. T-9 decided he wanted to play flag football this year. He didn’t feel he was ready for the full blown tackle thing which they play in the local elementary school but we are extremely proud that he took this step. Playing on the YMCA Raiders (gotta love the name Uncle Allen), T-9 was able to play in the trenches on both the offensive and defensive line. While he is one of the smaller players on the team, he became quite adept at slipping his blocker and doing his patented spin move to get to the quarterback. I think he compiled between 5-10 “sacks” of the quarterback. In the second playoff game alone he had had four. On offense, we saw him taking on kids twice his size and winning… what a HEART! Watch out Demarcus Ware! Roy will be coaching basketball in the winter too… sports is coming!!!

Today was a special day for Jonathan, C-6 and myself. We were able to do something a little different and I think we all came away with a smile. Andrea, a member of our church small group, has been a part of the ministry of  Mission Arlington for many years, since she was 19. In fact, while she currently runs the mission’s clinic, she has also personally ministered at a particular apartment church the whole time. She has become a regular part of the community of that apartment. Now her and her family and another member of our small group, Leslie, continue to go to the apartment every week to touch the lives of the kids and their families.

Today, we got to be part of a community “carnival” at that apartment. We played sports with the kids. There was face painting, manicures and pedicures for the girls, arts and crafts for the smaller kids. There also was a baskeball hoop and all kinds of sports equipment. There was lots of food and wonderful fun.

My job was to go around taking pictures of everyone especially the families. Many of the families have very few pictures of them and so taking their picture is a very special thing. One little boy was having so much fun, he kept asking me to take his picture over and over again in funny poses. This will further the long term ministry of the apartment church as Andrea will be bringing these pictures for the families to take as a special gift. It made me very proud to see my kids getting into it and “making sacrifices” to do it. Jonathan was playing football with little Joshua (Understand Jonathan hates football… this was a image sacrifice in a big way) C-6 played with the kids though she cried a bit too because they didn’t want to play with her doing the stuff she wanted to do… Of course that is normal and you should have seen her before we went, we wanted so bad to go.

The people from the church were incredible. A couple of teenage girls were doing the manicures and pedicures… It kind of reminded me of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet. Some of the teenage boys were playing all kinds of stuff with the kids. Seeing some of the guys painting bag “pumpkins” and some of the gals face painting and shaving ice. It was really really special. Anyway, it seemed that everyone came away with a big smile.

Tags: apartment, church, Fielder Road Baptist Church, Kids

(check out pictures and videos) Things have been incredibly busy the last couple of months. Usually summer is time to rest for us, but this year, there have been projects, speaking opportunities, staff conference, Lisa working, busy, busy busy. After thinking about it after school started, we realized that hadn’t taken any time to do stuff together and take a vacation as a WHOLE FAMILY. So the week before, we decided to pack up our family… and go to… HOUSTON! Jonathan and I have been watching a series on the Apollo program and we thought it would be fun to go on over to NASA.

So we got I got online and got a great deal on the Residence Inn and on Labor day, we hopped in our car and drove on down to Houston. On the way down, while driving by the prison facility in Huntsville, TX, we ran into a HUGE and I mean HUGE and important man in Texas history. We stopped into the HUGE statue of Sam Houston. Going there was a wonderful opportunity to talk about Texas history and the type of man that Sam Houston was. (He was an incredible general)

After leaving old Sam, we drove through the city which bears his name. Looking at Google maps on my iPhone, there seemed few routes that did not have Red, which denotes BAD traffic to get to our next destination, Galveston. We took a round about route… only to find that the places that were supposed to be stopped up were indeed clear… Thanks Google…

We were able to go to Galveston by early afternoon and our plan was to go to the beach. None of our kids ever swam in the ocean before. We passed the really crowded beaches around the Galveston Strand and drove a little further up the island to Galveston Island State Park. It was wonderful there. The water was not too rough and was very warm (thanks gulf), the sand was very fine and soft, the beach only gradually sloped into the sea. Honestly, it was a better “beginner” beach than anything that we grew up with in the LA area. The kids had a blast! They swam, they built sand castles, they ran, they dodged waves. One especially fun activity was digging up live sea shells and then watching them dig themselves back into the sand when the water came up. It was great… the wonder in their eyes… I was never a beach guy… sand gets everywhere. But this day was especially nice. After a filling meal at Olive Garden (the incredible sea food restaurants in Galveston were incredibly full this night…), we drove up near NASA to spend the night (and lots of showering off the sand) with everyone extremely tired but very happy to be together.

After visiting University Baptist Church, a partner church in our ISI Houston ministry, we went to NASA space center. All the images from Tom Hank’s video From the Earth to the Moon about the Apollo program came alive as we toured the Apollo mission control, etc. The kids really enjoyed all the videos, interactive displays, etc. The highlight of the day was the chance to touch an actual moon rock.

After a long day of exploring the outer reaches, we went below the sea as aquanauts as we had dinner at the Aquarium restaurant at the quaint (but super crowded that day) Kemah Boardwalk. We ate next to the sea but also next to several sharks, rays, morey eels and an especially large grouper in large blue tank as big as the restaurant. The kids had a lot of fun, often out of their seats looking at the wonders of the sea more than each other.

The next day, after a dose of late morning TV cartoon, we piled into the car and headed home. I remember on the last evening as the children slept, I was reflecting on how nice it was to be able to get away from computer, phone, and all the stresses of the typical week and just spend time together. It really was a huge blessing in so many ways. In some ways, it is during these vacations that we see the progress that our kids make: physically as well as as a person. It was fun seeing how much they have grown but also how much they (and we) need to grow.

Tags: Galveston, Houston, NASA, vacation

Our good  friend Jessica passed away. She was only 36. Lisa and I met her the day she first met her husband Sean. The two of them were a match made in heaven (I guess we all are in some ways…) She was young, sweet, sophisticated, had traveled the world and a firm Believer. Sean was gentle, kind, passionate about people from around the world. We all were part of a team of people led by our mentors Dan and Tammy who were all in our twenties and thirties who loved international students and did all kinds of crazy things together. Looking back it was a very special time. Sean shared during the memorial service that we used to call them the velcro couple… I don’t remember that… sounds like something our buddy Warren would say… but I believe it might have been true because they really were. I could still see her that first night at the Samuels’ house. I think she was wearing a red beret or something…

Anyway, they eventually went to Africa with Wycliffe Bible Translators as Sean (and Jessica) felt a strong calling toward that special continent. But due to some health problems they ended up back… first in California, then in Texas. By that time, Lisa and I had already moved to Texas ourselves and we felt they needed some hugs and some friendship in this new place and so we tried to get together at least once a month for dinner. It was fun and we got to watch a lot of movies, eat exotic stuff, enjoy cats, compare notes about missionary life. Eventually, as they settled, we slowly lost touch. Fast forward to three years ago and Jessica got breast cancer. We lived on different sides of the metroplex and we never seemed to have enough time to just call them.

Then last week, we got a call. Sean called us, “Jessica was in the hospital and was just about to go home for hospice care.” We jumped in our car and went to go see her. Even in the midst of her suffering and difficulty, she still was the same optimistic Jessica. Her brother, Jasper, an officer in the US Navy was there and was gently and faithfully helping her. They must have had a special family judging by the products.

She passed away on Saturday. I heard about it from some Wycliffe missionaries who were at the Big Howdy party. In the midst of the celebration, I felt like something tugging at me. So today was her memorial service. It was nice. Person after person shared about her and how she lived. It was nice… Then Sean shared… A lot of it was about the times we knew them when they first met. It reminded me… we all did have something really special back when we were young in serving students back in Orange County… Now we miss Jessica. No question she is laughing it up with the Lord, Jesus now but still, our group is missing something without Jess around. I also know Sean enough to know how much he loved her… That is going to be so hard. Please pray!

Tags: Cancer, FTI, Jessica, Orange County, Sean & Jessica Scott

I recently got an e-mail from a dear friend with the picture here with the subject as, “Anyone else see the similarity?” What is this all about!?!?!? Just because a guy has a round head, glasses, short nose, short straight hair, a hat, small eyes, a smiley face, loves the mountains… Wait a minute… Aren’t those two the same guys…

Some times God “benches” us in the craziest times to force us to rest. Often he uses illness or family issues to do this important thing. This last week I was exposed to a new way, Jury Duty.

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic. Our DFW team has really been pouring much time into preparing for the three night, three location Aradhna concert (http://aradhna.isidfw.com), we have been working on developing new international student ministry strategies for the DFW area and in Arlington and TCU, we have been preparing for the coming of students. (not to mention the other campuses – UTD, SMU, Northlake, UNT, Collin College, University of Dallas, UT Tyler) Last I checked our UTA Big Howdy team (www.utabighowdy.com – which includes ISI and from 10-20 other campus and community ministry organizations around UTA including BSM, Lutheran Center, Cornerstone etc.) picked up over 160 international students from the airport, took around 70 student to Walmart welcomed nearly 500 new students a orientation events and made quite a few meaningful connections. The bulk of Big Howdy is still ahead with the Used Item sale this Saturday and the approximately 450 attender Big Howdy Party on the 29th, the rides around Arlington on the 7th (already 50 sign ups) and the Aradhna concert on the 19th where we expect 350-400 students. Of course this all wouldn’t be possible without our incredible and dedicated team of volunteers and staff. At UTA, Ron leads our Howdy team of approximately 150-200 volunteers. It is a generally crazy time and God is blessing us in so many ways.

Back to Jury Duty… I got my notice in the mail several weeks ago and noted that it was during this crazy time. Thankfully it was at municipal court and I figured the cases are relatively short (it’s really traffic court). As it got closer and closer, I was feeling more frantic about being able to make the time to go. Still, to be able to finish out jury duty with one day of service (likely sitting around and waiting) and to not have to serve again for a while was very inviting. Anyway, I decided to go with an attitude of rest. This was a day off from the frantic daily requirements of life;  a time when “I could legitimately say, I can’t do it… I am serving my country.” I was going to take a good book, my facebook app on my phone and just relax.

When I got there, after standing in line for a while, I found out I couldn’t go into the court building with my mini-Swiss army knife on my keys. Back to the car… back to the back of the line… “I’m taking a day of rest.” I sat in the waiting room. I get an e-mail about Aradhna and something I have to do… I’m taking a day of rest… We are taken to the court room to be picked… We find out they just handle 30 minutes to 2 hour traffic (mostly speeding) cases. This time I want to be picked… I can go home quicker and I can honestly say I served on a jury in the last 2 years when asked next time. First jury… No… “I’m taking a day of rest… relax” Second Jury… YES! I am picked… but we have to go up to the 9th floor to wait for our turn for the second case.

The eighth floor was nice. In a city with few multistory buildings 8 stories gives you a birds eye view. What an incredible view. We could see all the way to Dallas, Six Flags, and the Ballpark and the beautiful new Cowboy stadium and its oblong shape is front and center. But we had to wait… and wait… 1-2 hours… “I am taking a day of rest…” It really was nice talking to one of the other juror, reading a book about family, having fun with Facebook. By the end of the time, I really did feel rested.

The case was relatively short, cut and dried. The defendant was trying to be “Denny Crane” on Boston Legal but no one bothered to tell him he was in traffic court and really, in real court… Boston Legal would not cut it. Actually in contrast to the obviously new, just-out-of-law-school but professional Assistant DA, his case really felt like a grown up version of “My dog ate my homework” with little substance but much passion. Anyway… I’m not going to let it bother me because “I’m taking a day of rest…”

And what a day of rest it was… Thank you Lord of traffic court…

Tags: Aradhna, Big Howdy, civic duty, jury duty, Rest, traffic court

One of the special things about being a father of two boys is that we get to do some fun “guy” stuff. My guys are not sports guys, but they both have a great interest in chivalry, games and other things like that. This last weekend the three of us shared something very special.

Back when J-13 (not 12 any more) turned 9, feeling that I wanted to integrate rites of passage in my kids development, we went to a Japanese garden in Fort Worth and I shared with him about his heritage, how he is descended from samurai/teachers though Yabuki blood and from John Muir, Alexander Hamilton, Daniel Boone & Davey Crockett through Lisa’s family and how… wait… I guess it wouldn’t be all the special if I told you everything… suffice it to say, I tried to emphasize our heritage of service and now in our family love and devotion to God and people around the world. I then outlined a process of passing on what I am to him… He began the process as a “page” at 9, being instructed in the ways of men. At 13, he would move on to being a “squire,” given more responsibility but also more freedom as he learns how to apply what he learned in the previous four years. Finally he moves on to full knighthood, the full attaining to manhood, when I feel like he is ready, probably around when he is 18.

This last weekend was special because both T-9 and J-13 went through the ceremony in going to next levels. We were not able to go to the Japanese garden because as we left, a huge storm came by. But that make things more memorable in a way as we sat under a picnic shelter as a huge thunderstorm came by and a river swelled beside us.  J-13 shared the “essential Yabuki things” with T-9 and I passed on the rites of passage to J-13.

The rest of the day, I really saw a noticable change in both boys. It was really fun and I was really proud of them. It was a special time. We then proceeded to celebrate J-13’s birthday with a trip to the aquarium. The kids took tons of pictures. Here is a link to a few of them.

Tags: Birthday, Boys, Heritage, Knights, Park, Rites of Passage, Samurai

It has been a while since my last post. There have been many very time consuming projects afoot. Anyway, I wanted to post some things that have been on my heart but I haven’t had time to post. I am going to bring in some tidbits from our most recent prayer letter that share what is on my heart right now…

In many ways this has all the indications of being a very emotionally draining week for me and my family. So many difficult things happened (see Prayer needs below). There were some sleepless nights and lots more prayer than usual. Still, God is here and working and for that I am truly grateful. We have lots of huge prayer requests this week. Please pray specially. The next couple of weeks will feel difficult and the effects of the last couple of weeks will start to be felt.

Praises

• God gave our DFW team a wonderful, wonderful retreat. We looked at a new strategy for ministry for the DFW area that incorporates what we already do but looks to expand on it using a new paradigm. We will need some prayer warriors if this will work, but if it does, it could be really special. Let me know if you are interested in praying specifically for this for the next year in a concentrated way.
• I have been really blessed by seeing how my kids have been getting along at this point of the summer. I will miss the special times together working at home with them here when the summer is over.
• We had a wonderful banquet for the Chinese EMBA students at UTA where they got to hear from a wonderful Christian business man who spoke at their level and also they connected well with their friendship partners.

Prayer Needs

• Many of you have been praying for the Chinese student, N, who police are looking for as she has been missing since Saturday. There is no new news to report. Please keep on praying for wisdom on the part of the police and that she will be found one way or another.
• My grandfather in Japan passed away today. I did not know him too well as he was always so far but I do know he was a very special man who was a huge influence for my mother. I’ll never forget his wonderful laugh, his constant smile and his deep but simple wisdom. I just wish I could have gotten to know him better. I don’t believe he ever knew the Lord. That saddens my heart.
• My oldest son turns 13 this week. I can’t believe that that little boy who was little more than one year old when we came to Texas is going to be a teenager. In many ways I am so proud of him and yet I feel compelled to pray for him and all the kids every day. There is so little we control and so much we depend on God’s grace.
• We began our “Politics, international relations and religion” discussion group at Starbucks on Wednesdays two weeks ago. The first one had one Italian student. This week we doubled our attendance with the Italian student, an Iranian couple and myself. Please pray for good conversations about worldviews and stuff eventually opening up discussion about Jesus.
• We are winding down our summer groups and getting ready for the craziest month of every year when we welcome new students. At UTA alone there are over 600 new international students coming and we meet most of them in this busy month.
• Pray for wisdom on some financial and priorities things we need to decide on for the city ministry soon.

Tags: Big Howdy, Birthday, discussion group, Grandfather, international relations, Japan, Loss, missing, paradigm, police, politics, Praise, Prayer, Staff retreat, Strategy, Teenager

(See Pictures) As Lisa and I walked off the airplane in Colorado Springs, the first thing we saw was the sign of the driver that said, “Modano, Morrow & Turco.” For those of you who don’t know Dallas sports too well, those are the names of the superstar players on the Dallas Stars hockey team and apparently they were on our plane. Thus began a remarkable week of remarkable occurrences in Colorado Springs last week.

Every year, as ISI staff, we are required to go to our annual staff conference. Often it is in Colorado Springs, but sometimes it is at some other exotic location, like Seattle, Niagara Falls, Amsterdam, etc. (2011, a family conference will be in Hong Kong, pray for how we can do that) Sometimes it is a family conference, other times it is not and we cannot bring our kids. This year, it was not but for the first time, through the generous offer by Lisa’s mom of watching the kids during the conference Lisa and I were able to go together, just the two of us. On reflection, it was the longest we were together without any kids since Jonathan was born, a full 8 days.

Actually the conference itself was 5 days but there was a chance I would have to lead ministry technology related seminars before or after the conference so we put some buffer days before and after AND this is the 15th year that we have been married and we had not celebrated our anniversary in much of a special way, we decided to make this trip special.

The first couple of nights we stayed at the Navigators’  Glen Eyrie Conference Center. On arrival we were told that we would be in General Palmer’s room in “The Castle.” While walking around we learned that General Palmer was a Civil War General and railroad magnate who was the founder of Colorado Springs. “The Castle,”  a long time fixture in Colorado Springs, nestled between mountains and monolithic rocks much like Garden of the Gods, was build by General Palmer as the home for his family. It really looks like a Medieval castle complete with a great room with fireplace, stone walls, a “keep-like” tower, vaulted ceilings, and even a coat of armor. On arrival to the 19th century styled “General Palmer” room, we found out that the room was the good general’s actual bedroom and bathroom and that the bed we slept in was the actual bed he used. It was an incredible couple of nights. The ground were beautiful too. On one of the days, we took a hike the day before my Birthday that took us to varied places like Dawson Trotman’s grave, to the top of a mono-lithic rock formation, under a overhanging cave, through and English rose garden and through many other gardens kept up by volunteers on a daily basis. On the same day, Lisa treated me to a delightful dinner at the Flying W Ranch for my birthday. While there we were treated to an authentic outdoor Chuckwagon meal complete with a show presented by a bunch of believing singing cowboys (the second oldest western singing group in the world). I’m not much of a cowboy music devotee but it REALLY was FUN! All in all, the unique peacefulness of Glen Eyrie, made the time very special and a great way to decompress to focus on God before our conference. In fact during this week, Lisa and I read three books each (but with each other which was very rare indeed).

We then went on to the conference which was one of the best ISI has ever done. We heard from Singapore pastor Edmund Chan (excellent), Political Commentator Dinesh  D’souza(even better), Biola president Barry Corey(first rate), and a former muslim terrorist who is now a believer(inspirational). The talks were extremely relevant to what we do and timely and contemporary. The workshops were very good too. I was able to lead two of them and in one of them, we had all the tech savvy people personally help the less tech savvy ones and it was wonderful watching people working together to grow together. We came away energized and raring to go.

After the conference, Lisa and I spent some time in another part of Colorado Springs. After visiting the cliff dwelling in nearby Manitou Springs and the special internet related ministry All about God/Got Questions?, we checked in at the reasonably priced, Spur and Lace Bed and Breakfast in the Colorado City portion of Colorado Springs. When inn keepers Leo and Sharen Janzen greeted us as we arrived we had not idea what to expect. The intriguing name and theme (cowboy & lace) made for some mystery. Leo is an amiable man with a smile permanently etched into his weather worn face. He later shared that he was farm boy who became an educator. On hearing that we were campus ministers, he shared that he had a grandson who worked in some capacity in campus ministry. After he checked us in, we were touched by how he visited the guests just to chat an catch up.

After checking in, we went down the street to a coffee shop and bookstore, Agia Sophia. On going inside, we found that it was run by the local Orthodox Church, there were books all over about Jesus and the church as presented from the Orthodox perspective. For me it was like being a kid in a candystore. There were some theology books that you can’t just find anywhere, especially in the area of the Trinity. Good coffee too. A couple of nights later, we talked with Father George, who in addition to serving up Coffee Frappe’s was the pastor of the church. It turns out he became a believer through the ministry of Young Life, went to Fuller and turned to the Orthodox tradition because he was seeking the deeper life that he read about through people like John Michael Talbot, Henri Nouwen, etc. It was really fun talking.

After visiting the coffee shop, we walked along the Colorado City Streets and ran into a outdoor Jazz concert which just happened to be at the band stand in the center of town. While there we just happened to run into an ISI home office staff person with her family enjoying a time of rest after serving us so well at the conference. Having enjoyed the company and music our stomachs were ready to be filled with some great Greek food. Wow!

The next day, we took the 3 hour trip via the Cog Railway up to the rarefied heights of Pikes Peak. It was absolutely beautiful up top (though my legs felt like lead because of the altitude). We really could understand how Katherine Lee Bates would have been inspired to write America the Beautiful because of her time up there. You could see so much!

The next day, we boarded our plane for home. It was really nice seeing our family again… but the time together was very, very special for Lisa and I. It really felt like a second honeymoon in many ways and we learned so much about each other and SO many other things. Thanks all so much for your prayers and support during this time. It was a blessing in so many ways and I believe God will be able to use us more effectively because of this time.

Tags: anniversary, Birthday, Colorado, Conference, Glen Eyrie, ISI, Pikes Peak, Summer, travel, trip

Yesterday was a good day. It started with me sleepily waking up to the great joy of my kids. C-6 was jumping up and down with excitement as I walked into the kitchen. I felt like I had won the NBA Championship or something. (Go Lakers!) There was genuine excitement as they were able to share gifts for me (a basketball, and a wrist rest for my computer… Yeah! No Tie!) and honor me. I really felt honored and loved. Even our pre-adolescent had a smile on his face (rare these days). I love being a husband and dad. Though it is not all easy.

Lately, my oldest is beginning to feel the pull of independence. He is exploring whether the things we have taught him all his life is really his. He is questioning the authority of what we have taught him and he is recognizing our fallibility. I am actually very excited but a bit anxious too. Will what we implanted deep within him: faith, truth, epistemology (big word… how do we know what is true), morals, grace, sense of justice, etc. take root so that it becomes his. I feel like for the first time we are flying solo without a net and its exhilarating and scary.

The last couple of weeks our church has been doing a series on families. The one about marriage and parenthood was nothing new but it really hit me how much I had been so focused on work and ministry that I was losing touch with my family. I felt like I wasn’t doing a good job at home and so it was easier to focus on stuff that seemed easier. I am trying to learn how to re-connect with the family and design in more time just sitting and being available for the family (which is really hard in our action oriented culture).

Tags: Family, Father