The Tokyo Health Spa, A Place to Grow, and The God Who Sees - Part 1

The irony was blatant.

A known hot spot for prostitution with rumored ties to human trafficking, the Tokyo Health Spa sat feet away from our church’s entrance. With these seedy sins on our doorstep, it felt as if the enemy was flaunting the Rebellion of Adam on a daily basis. And though our sign reads, “A Place to Grow”, our influence couldn’t grow a mere fifty feet beyond the property line.

The irony became infuriating.

As I daily drove past the spa, the angrier I became. The angrier I became, the more I’d plot…could we just purchase the building? After all, it was a dump and everything has a price. Was there someone in the city who could put pressure on the spa, perhaps making it uncomfortable for ownership?

The weeks turned into months, until finally He spoke.

The weeks turned into months, until finally I listened.

Pray unto me.

It seemed way too simple. Around the time this impression was received, I'd just finished reading The Good News About Injustice. A particular paragraph kept resurfacing:

In Rawanda, where I had to bear the burden of digging through the twisted, reeking remains of horrific mass graves, I tried to imagine, for just a minute, what it must have been like for God to be present at each of the massacre sites as thousands of Tutsi women and children were murdered. Frankly, the idea was impossible to bear. But the thought led me to imagine what it must be like for God to be present, this year, at the rape of all the world's child prostitutes, at the beating of all the worlds's prisoners of conscience, at the moment the last breath of hope expires from the breast of each of the millions of small children languishing in slavery. As I would approach my God in prayer, I could hear his gentle voice saying to me, "Son do you have any idea where your Father's been lately (95).

Pray unto me. Pray unto your holy, omniscient, omnipresent Father. I know all things and I've seen all things. I know the spa. Do you, you who daily struggle with temptation and sin; are you more incensed than I? Are you more invested than I? I see all that unfolds, I see the complexities, I care infinitely more about the families being wrecked, the bondage being proliferated, and the women being exploited.

While our righteous anger is grounded in our being made in God's image, it pales in comparison to His anger. While I, in my creatureliness, was fuming about injustice, unrighteousness, and ineptitude - He, as the Creator, was infinitely more invested and aware.

Pray unto me. Apart from me you can do nothing. Pray unto me. Allow me to lead whatever efforts might ensue. Pray unto me.

Feeling a little sheepish for running ahead, I began to pray. Several times a day for several weeks. As God would have it, within a few short months the spa was boarded up and the operators taken away. Still green in many ways, it was a humbling, joyous moment. And as tears swelled I found great comfort in knowing that God does see, that He can act, and that He is infinitely more invested, concerned, and attentive then any of His creations could ever be.

And while there are many more issues ahead, many more areas to underscore, many more parasites that may or may not be addressed in such spectacular fashion - I'm grateful for this one, humbling event.

I share the spa story for a couple reasons, one of which is that I plan to use it as a starting point for a series of posts. These posts will focus on the underlying theological issues concerning social engagement and Christian duty. For some, this may seem dry and dusty but I'd submit to you that it was an imbalanced perspective on the Book that allowed us to meet for worship and pass quietly by this predatory establishment.

We're learning together. And may we, together, continue to press in, open to change, open to His sustaining graces.

Grace and Peace.