The best discoveries come after one has been on the quest for some time. Lists are endless; God, a special sweater, or ______? One of the most memorable quests I have been involved in wasn’t even mine. The setting was Tokyo in early spring.
Work had called us to a two-week assignment in our Tokyo office. On the first weekend we decided that taking two days off to play tourist was our “present” for things progressing as well as they were. My colleague had lived in Tokyo recently so he offered to show me the neighborhoods not on the tourist’s maps.
The Sunday was sunny, bright, crisp, and clear. The rains of the previous week had left everything cleaner than normal. The leaves and blossoms were just emerging on the trees. Everything carried signs of hope and rebirth.
Eager to contribute something to the day, I asked if there was something that we could shop for his wife. It turned out that she had seen a particular colored oversized bowl years before but had never been able to locate one since the first sighting. The quest was on! Neighborhoods, one after another, passed beneath our feet as we combed large shops and small. For me it was an amazing journey into a society I had only seen in National Geographic photo essays. People in all types of situations, families out for a Sunday event, young couples emerging after a late Saturday night, and individuals on their special missions were out in force. Amazing scenes, one after another, played out as backdrops to our shopping efforts.
We never gave up but the quest was increasingly futile. As one hoped but never expects, the last shop in the last neighborhood as light faded brought results; not just any results “the” perfect bowl! Hope exists for Life’s Quest.
“John pointed him out and called, ‘This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.’” (John 1.15)
