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Asako Eguichi serves as biblical counseling staff and trainer at Christ Bible Institute and Seminary in Nagoya Japan. Her husband Yu serves as the pastor for All Nations Fellowship church. They have two children. Last month, Lighthouse financially provided for her and several other biblical counseling leaders in Japan to participate in the Biblical Counseling Coalition’s Global Summit at Mt Hermon. These are her reflections.Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
Asako Eguichi serves as biblical counseling staff and trainer at Christ Bible Institute and Seminary in Nagoya Japan. Her husband Yu serves as the pastor for All Nations Fellowship church. They have two children. Last month, Lighthouse financially provided for her and several other biblical counseling leaders in Japan to participate in the Biblical Counseling Coalition’s Global Summit at Mt Hermon. These are her reflections.
Thank you so much for inviting us into fellowship with your church and for inviting us to the conference. I truly do not know how to put into words how grateful we are. The Lord is good.
Through this trip to the United States, we received so many blessings—more than I can gather into a single point. Please forgive me for not being able to keep this very short.
First, I want to share about our arrival at the airport. I have been to the U.S. several times before, but I had never experienced being welcomed by someone who came to meet me. Before I became a Christian, when I traveled for work, no one came to the airport—I simply took a bus to the hotel. Another time, when I came to the U.S. after being scammed, of course, no one was there to greet me.
This time, when we arrived, Pastor Gavin welcomed us with a warm smile. Lighthouse invited us, prepared for our arrival, waited for us, and welcomed us so warmly. Enjoyed spending time with us. I thought to myself, this must be what the kingdom of God is like.
The conference itself was also filled with so much joy and blessing. Two things especially stayed with me.
First, at Mount Hermon, through the kindness of the LCC, we were able to hear a lecture about the ecology of redwood trees, and I was deeply moved. Redwoods grow to about 300 feet tall and can live for 300 or even 600 years, yet their roots go down only about two feet. I heard this explanation while standing high up among the trees, and honestly, it made me feel a little scared. How can such tall trees stand with such shallow roots?
We learned that redwoods survive because their roots are intertwined with the roots of other trees. They support one another by spreading their roots horizontally. Trees near rivers absorb water and share it through this network, carrying life-giving water far away. The roots can stretch as far as 200 feet.
This reminded me of how Christians encourage and support one another. During our visit, we were deeply touched by the love and dedication Lighthouse has for the church in Japan. Your prayers, generosity, and joy in fellowship amazed us. Ministry in Japan is difficult, and our souls often feel tired and dry. Just as the trees at Mount Hermon carry water far through their roots, we felt that through your generous love, we received rich blessing that is being carried all the way to Japan.
Second, Pastor Kim’s message at the summit deeply shook me—both because of the depth of darkness in Japan and because of the certainty and power of God’s Word. In July of this year, I lost my father to cancer. He was not a believer. He came to church many times, and my husband, who is a pastor, shared God’s Word with him again and again. We prayed together and even sang hymns together. Still, my father passed away without a clear assurance of salvation.
Not only my father, but my husband’s parents also passed away in recent years, all without faith. We tried to cover our grief with words like “God’s sovereignty” or “the Lord knows,” creating a thin layer of peace for ourselves. Pastor Kim’s message gently but clearly exposed the darkness and sorrow we had been trying to cover. What grief could be greater than losing those we love without the assurance of salvation? I realized that I had been covering real sorrow with a false sense of peace. I was running away from lament because the darkness felt too heavy to face.
But as Pastor Kim shared his own weakness, I felt as though God was telling me, “It is okay to lament.” This lament is Jesus’ own lament. The grief over missions not moving forward, over the gospel not spreading, over loved ones dying without knowing the joy of salvation—this grief belongs to Jesus. It is a grief born out of love. I realized I do not need to run from it. Jesus is with me.
At the same time, I was overwhelmed by the brightness and certainty of God’s Word and His promises. The darkness of unreached Japan is almost impossible to look at directly—and God’s Word is also almost too bright to look at directly. Living between these two realities, we move forward with weakness, yet with our eyes fixed on the light. At times, it feels as if darkness has won. But Christ will surely overcome the darkness. His victory is too clear to be covered by a thin, fragile layer of peace. It is a peace that shines clearly on its own, without my effort. I want to walk forward believing this.