A letter from Bill Geppert in Japan
May 2012
Greetings from Kinjo Gakuin University in Japan. On August 31 it will be 17 years that I have been here. The time has gone by quickly. I’ve seen 16 graduating classes get their certificates of graduation. For me it has been about 2,000 students whom I have personally taught in my classes. I have photo cards of about 1,000 of them from the required classes. Many of the faces and names have faded from my memory. But sitting down yesterday with all the cards brought back a flood of memories. I have tried to remember at least one positive characteristic about each student. I am afraid I have to write it down on the card to remember it. But it is something I enjoy doing as I try to make even the smallest difference in a student’s life. None of the classes are giant lecture classes, so I am able to interact with each individual. The photo included with this letter is the 2012 graduating class. Only about 60 percent of the 107 students attended the graduation party. Some were busy, others balked at the $200 cost for a two-hour party. But it was a nice send-off. It was also sad, as I will not be able to keep track of most of them as they launch out into their lives.
Bill (bowtie -center) with graduates at graduation party.
The apostle Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians talks about the planting, watering and growing of plants as an analogy to the field of harvest that is the church. But of course there is a much larger field of harvest that is outside the doors of the church. This field is very large, and each one of us comes into contact with some of the individuals growing out there. Have I done some planting? Have I contributed a little water to the growth of the plants? Paul reminds us that it is God who makes a plant grow. Often God works like the sun. He simply shines and provides all the mediums of growth. At other times God works more directly with the plant. As a plant myself, I can vouch to having been replanted and pruned many times, and I could swear ripped up and tossed onto the compost pile a couple of times, only to be rescued later by a repentant gardener. God, however, doesn’t repent at his work in the growth of the plants. Everything He does is necessary and by design.
Our jobs are much simpler, yet very important. But they are, after all, our tasks given to us by God. At different times I have planted, and have watered. But most of the time I feel like I walk down the rows and do just a little weeding or just simply watch the plants grow. At one time it was called the work of husbandry. Now I suppose it is called just “tending the garden.”
The Japanese do have one gardening hobby that involves an incredible amount of work. It is growing bonsai. These are trees planted in small pots and tended, nurtured, and literally forced to grow into small trees that absolutely mimic their larger counterparts. I have seen 3-foot-high Japanese maples that have turned red in the fall and have thick little trunks and are miniature in every way. I have seen mikans (tangerines) growing on 2-foot-high trees. They are too small to be eaten, but they are the real thing. I tried my hand at the hobby, but I couldn’t make them grow. I planted, I watered, and finally I killed them. It requires daily dedication. One must constantly take care of the plant, prune it, replant it into new soil, move it in and out of the sun, curry the roots, and water it only when needed and in the proper amount. I greatly admire the work of the experts. Some are tending trees that have been in the family since the 1600s. I can’t even imagine tending such a bonsai. I would absolutely have to give it to a master who would care for it. If I killed a 400-year-old tree I think I would mourn over it for the rest of my life. The sadness would be almost too much to bear.
I have realized why it is that God is the one trusted to make people grow spiritually. We simply aren’t qualified. We can plant a seed, water it, tend it with care—but only God can truly make it grow. Paul said it like this: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor. 3:6-9a).
“We are not anything” is a powerful statement, and often forgotten in our rush to further the Kingdom of God. As an education missionary, I am constantly reminded of my task. I have the purpose of teaching, and it is my labor in the harvest field. I have thoroughly enjoyed it, and I hope to keep on affecting in some small way the young ladies who pass through the university. The singer Gordon Lightfoot wrote a song called "Just a Painter Passing Through." He was reflecting on his singing and songwriting as a medium of spreading the feelings and meanings of his life with all those with whom he came in contact. I am a missionary passing through life in a distant place, but being used by God for a particular purpose. The same can be said of anyone, anywhere. Anyone reading this letter can consider himself or herself a missionary working in some small way to further the purposes of God, regardless of their occupation. We need not, and must not, try to do the work of God himself. Our own labor is enough.
Yours In Christ,
William Geppert
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 200
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