Friday, December 9, 2011

Sushi and a Sense of Calling

Vocation: lit. "a calling."

I stumbled upon the following trailer for a soon to be released documentary.  A word of warning: if you like sushi (Sam?), you are about to be hit with major temptation.  Seriously, I am thinking sushi might have been the fruit that Adam and Eve fell for...


I had a couple of thoughts when I saw this.  First, with Sam's Sunday message ("Living a Mission Driven Life") fresh on my mind, I connected with Jiro's singularity of focus. What happens when we understand our calling as disciples that deeply?  Might it cause people to take notice? 

Second, vocation.  Our small group discussion this week was partly on vocation.  What if we understood our vocation like that?  Jiro dreams about sushi.  And at 80 years old, having had all the accolades, he is strangely not about finding success in the 'world's terms.'  No franchising, no opening of larger restaurants, no fancy cars, no life of leisure, no long vacations to exotic places, no retirement to look forward to.  I mean, don't you get the sense that he would dream about sushi even if his little subway restaurant was all there was?  What if we measured the success of our work in different terms?

Contrast this with the movie I just saw, Margin Call.  Ultimately, it is the story of people willing to sacrifice whatever principle they call dear, for the sake of making lots of money.  The ends justify the means, and the ends are nothing more than having lots and lots of money.

Tell me your reaction to the video.  Whatever that might be.


8 comments:

  1. (This is Hannah Yoon Villasenor)

    Seriously craving sushi now. Thanks a lot, PJ. : /

    I was really challenged by P. Sam's message (I took advantage of the sermon player, woot!). I actually ended up listening to like 4 messages online....but I digress....

    I agree with P. Sam that to know what your singular driving force/mission from God is like life's 'secret sauce.' I wish I could say that I had that. I feel like it would help me a lot...making decisions, help me prioritize my time, etc. One part that really challenged me was how P. Sam said that God never gives us a mission that will take 10 hours when we only have 3 hours. I guess I'm in an interesting time in my life when I actually have the 10 hours but it's hard for me to know what to do missionally with my time (since I have no car and no money). I'm still trying to figure out what my focus is to be in this season and my life in fact but I decided that I'd better try to figure things out while fumbling around rather than being stationary.

    So I decided to bake some biscotti for our neighbors whom we have yet to meet. The holidays are a good excuse to be friendly and I've been meaning to introduce myself but the message gave me that extra nudge to go through with it. I figure I'm always stuck at home so maybe my focus for this season might involve the people that I 'live' with.

    I'd like to say that I'm really disappointed that I'm not at church to attend the MBTI seminars. I hope everyone is going. Jealous...

    In closing I'd also like to agree with Henry that 3 Tommy's burgers is definitely better than 1. Preach it, brother. Miss you guys...

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  2. (I need to try a Tommy's burger.)

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  3. I want to see this movie now, and, like Hannah, eat sushi...living differently is inspiring, but sometimes it can look crazy. He is working on another level entirely.

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  4. I really liked the video and the sushi! The message that I got from this video is that when someone finds contentment in the things they do, they become a happier person. Jiro knows that money doesn't buy happiness. I wish I would one day be like Jiro and find contentment in the little things that God gives us on a day to day basis.

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  5. Jiro Dreams of Sushi will be playing at Pasadena Laemmle beginning 3/23. If anyone is interested, maybe we can meet up to watch the movie, then go eat some sushi afterwards! What say y'all?

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    1. This sounds fun. I am going to post it on the church Facebook page.

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  6. Ellison & I want to go, but the drive from Laguna Hills (where I work) to Pasadena is too far and will take too long on a Friday night.

    It's also playing at the Edwards University Town Center 6 (4245 Campus Drive Irvine, CA 92612). How about after church on Sunday (3/26 - 4:30pm showing)?

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