Do Not Withhold Your Hand

Merry Christmas, family.

This Christmas finds my family and I at the end of a long spiritual journey. 

For the last 14 years, I have been outreaching through English classes to the children in the community of Machida and Setagaya here in Tokyo. I have been blessed that for all of those years aside from the time that I was in bible college, there has never been a time that I did not have students. Even during the time of Corona, God made a way to keep the school open and still have students come. 

And many of the students that God has blessed me with have been with me for a very long time. This last April, a large number of my students graduated and moved on from the English school and entered Junior High. I had been teaching these kids since they were in Kindergarten. They had attended church events, VBS after VBS, I had been able to speak and share with their parents. And I have been blessed to be able to plant many seeds of the gospel over the years in their lives and their family’s. And this is not the first time I had experienced someone I have

taught and shared with for years move on, but this time it hit me quite differently. Years of ministry were about to walk out the door… and I had so little to show for it. None of them believed in Jesus during my time with them, nor did their families. And this caused me to wonder what I am doing it for. Following this I went through a time of crisis. I wanted to leave the children’s outreach behind and move on to something else. I closed the English school in Machida and was about to close the school in Setagaya as well.

However, one night as I was in prayer about moving on to a new season with my wife Tomoko, the Lord brought to mind all the faces of the children from the English School. I could see one face after another flashing in my mind. That night God convicted me that these were all faces of the children that He gave to me to care for. The faces that I was abandoning because of my own pride. Because I had not seen what I wanted to see from them. But I had given no thought to what God wanted for them. That He wanted person that would care about them and listen to them and have fun with them and love on them every week. That He wanted them to know that his church was a place like that. And He convicted me that the time the children spent in my care would be remembered and would bring fruit, for He makes all things beautiful in His time.  And I knew this to be true, for I have heard the testimony of countless Japanese Christian’s of starting in a Sunday school or a kids program when they were young, only to return to the church years later and believe… He made me realize I was throwing something beautiful away.

Ecclessiastes 11:4-6 says that we don’t know how God is going to move or how he is going to bring life to people. And if we spend our life trying to figure it out ourselves, looking for the right situation, we will not plant much seed at all and will not reap much either. So instead, we plant as much as we can. Whether the situation looks favorable or not doesn’t matter. God is able to work through it if we do not withhold our hand, taking every opportunity given to us.

So for the time being, that is what I am convicted to do. For I realize I am blessed with many opportunities.  Whether in pastoring the
International fellowship, teaching at the Horizon Bible College, leading the International Wednesday night bible study, and especially outreaching to Tokyo kids, I am not going to withhold my hand. My wife and I, along with my children started a new English club in Machida since then called “English Time”. It is a real family affair now, with my kids attending the classes and helping other children learn English. They are enjoying it a lot and are natural teachers. We are a small club now, but more children are starting to come. I continue to teach
Shine Kids in Setagaya and have seen the numbers of kids continue to grow. In July we had our VBS in Machida. We had to cut numbers in half due to Corona and social distancing, but we had a 37 kids come, almost entirely from outside the church. Just a couple weeks ago, we had a children’s Christmas program in Machida as well and this time children from the English Programs in both Machida and Setagaya as well as their families attended and heard the true Christmas story. We also have more Christmas outreaches planned in other churches this month, so please be praying for that. 

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We thank you for the letters that you have sent to us and all the encouragement. My family sends their Christmas greetings to you. My children think of their time in America often and excitedly look forward to the time when they can visit you all again. We love you and are praying for you in whatever opportunities God would give you in this season and in whatever conditions He would give them to you. How blessed we are to have a God that goes beyond our understandings. 

With Great Love,

Alex, Tomoko, Daisy, Caleb, Hazel, and little Olive Robinson