Isaiah 21:4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
So I am at a restaurant in Haneda Airport having dinner. I am with friends. As we check out menus I quip on his decision for a dish that has spinach in it to make sure they know where it comes from. So he asks and the worker is quite amazed he asked if the spinach was from Tohoku? So they had to call a manager. No it's not it comes from Kansai. Thank you. So we begin to order he decides on beef. I told him about the Miyazaki Mad Cow disease. So again her comes the manager...NO ITS NOT. Then I jokingly said make sure its yoku yaki...(This means cooked well done). There were several people who died last month or so ago by eating raw meat. In Japan they don't cook the meat medium it is almost always rare unless you say, "Yoku Yaki kudasai." The manager was not happy with us. I got chicken then I am reminded that the chicken from Kansai where the spinach is from was infected with bird flu and they had been killing millions of birds. Was this that road kill? I didn't have the nerve to ask the waiter so I powered it down giving it to the Lord. Then I am thinking if we get green tea what will my friend do? As I sipped my ice water then I freaked is the Tokyo water safe? The government here has been lying to us so much we are loosing trust and faith in their judgement.
We are definitely living in different times for sure. It is so easy to get all freaked out and actually go crazy worrying about all the dangers. We live in a time for fears to run rampant. The news is always sensational. It always wants to grip the reader or listener or viewer and have them hang on for dear life as they have to wait until the end of a broadcast just to find out it wasn't that great of information. They drag you along and keep you in suspense and then..."That's it." What?
Do churches do the same thing? Do they play off the fears of people to keep them in line. Hmm. The Bible says perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because
fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Deut 10:12: And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear
the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to
serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
2 Tim 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
What God requires we must take heed. Spend more time fearing and loving him and these other things won't be a problem.
Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God?
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Where has Dan Been?
Hey guys,
Sorry for not writing. I have not been busy as much as just been sick. I caught pneumonia a month ago and it has been a slow healing process. I still am not 100%. My body is telling me I am not young. I went to the states for about 10 days and I did nothing. I apologize for not hooking up with many of you like we normally do but I needed to rest. Still it was a busy time. I was able to attend the Pastors Conference in Murrietta and kick back with some really great guys. The word of God is so awesome and refreshing. It was good to just sit back and soak it up. The worship was absolutely amazing. I am praying for a worship leader or team to come and bless the Lord here in CC Iruma. I am back in Iruma now and getting back to teaching my ESL classes. Everyone is excited that I am back. It is humbling to have loyal students. Pray for them to receive Christ. I have witnessed to all even sharing with a few end times stuff. It kind of scared one student but she still comes. She actually said why do I need this prophecy in my life. I don't believe it. I laughed and said, "Do you believe in gravity?" she said, "Yes of course." I said, "If someone doesn't believe in gravity that wouldn't change the effect it has on their life. They would still fall and get hurt like everyone else even though they don't believe.
I said, "Prophecy is like a law of gravity. The Bible is 100% accurate and whether you believe it or not does not change the fact that these things will come and happen. God is in control and you will see that the Word of God doesn't need our approval to actually happen." She was shaken by this. I apologized if I freaked her out but Matthew 24 is true and we are seeing it unfold before our eyes. Earthquakes, famines, diseases, Wars, troubling times are going to increase. You think things will calm down. Rude awakening about to happen to this world. The monetary system is crumbling before our eyes and though we all tell you that it will fail as the Bible predicts no one believes it. Israel is going to face some very tough challenges on the horizon. The Bible says a world dictator will come and set up his capital in Jerusalem. The Jewish nation as a democracy will cease to exist but as a Jewish nation it will always remain. The Bible Says Jesus will come again and set up his kingdom on Earth at which time the Jewish nation will revert back to a theocracy with King Jesus as their power and leader and king. All the nations will come and worship him. But before all that happens there are some sick things that will happen on this earth. Some things that are just unimaginable but as accurate as the Bible is you can be sure they will happen.
The great thing is the Bible tells us in three places before all these things transpire Jesus will take his church out of the trouble. The rapture is a doctrine that has not changed. The Bible still teaches us it is real and will happen. Man's views have changed and they twist the scripture but it puts them in a hard position as the rest of their theology falls apart since they have to change everything just because they have a hard time and choke on God's word. Simply believe the Bible at face value and it isn't hard. Faith like a child means you just believe it though your intelligence can't reconcile it. God meant our faith in him to be powered by faith. Faith is the monetary system of Heaven. Faith gains you rewards. Great faith gets great rewards. Diminished and weak faith yields limited and small rewards.
Anyway, I am feeling better. We have teams coming now for relief work every week. Pray for the dynamics of the teams and the gospel going out. Pray for safety. Pray for my health to fully recover. Pray for more ESL students. Pray for the church to grow. Pray for a location for our school and church to happen.
God bless you all,
Sorry for not writing. I have not been busy as much as just been sick. I caught pneumonia a month ago and it has been a slow healing process. I still am not 100%. My body is telling me I am not young. I went to the states for about 10 days and I did nothing. I apologize for not hooking up with many of you like we normally do but I needed to rest. Still it was a busy time. I was able to attend the Pastors Conference in Murrietta and kick back with some really great guys. The word of God is so awesome and refreshing. It was good to just sit back and soak it up. The worship was absolutely amazing. I am praying for a worship leader or team to come and bless the Lord here in CC Iruma. I am back in Iruma now and getting back to teaching my ESL classes. Everyone is excited that I am back. It is humbling to have loyal students. Pray for them to receive Christ. I have witnessed to all even sharing with a few end times stuff. It kind of scared one student but she still comes. She actually said why do I need this prophecy in my life. I don't believe it. I laughed and said, "Do you believe in gravity?" she said, "Yes of course." I said, "If someone doesn't believe in gravity that wouldn't change the effect it has on their life. They would still fall and get hurt like everyone else even though they don't believe.
I said, "Prophecy is like a law of gravity. The Bible is 100% accurate and whether you believe it or not does not change the fact that these things will come and happen. God is in control and you will see that the Word of God doesn't need our approval to actually happen." She was shaken by this. I apologized if I freaked her out but Matthew 24 is true and we are seeing it unfold before our eyes. Earthquakes, famines, diseases, Wars, troubling times are going to increase. You think things will calm down. Rude awakening about to happen to this world. The monetary system is crumbling before our eyes and though we all tell you that it will fail as the Bible predicts no one believes it. Israel is going to face some very tough challenges on the horizon. The Bible says a world dictator will come and set up his capital in Jerusalem. The Jewish nation as a democracy will cease to exist but as a Jewish nation it will always remain. The Bible Says Jesus will come again and set up his kingdom on Earth at which time the Jewish nation will revert back to a theocracy with King Jesus as their power and leader and king. All the nations will come and worship him. But before all that happens there are some sick things that will happen on this earth. Some things that are just unimaginable but as accurate as the Bible is you can be sure they will happen.
The great thing is the Bible tells us in three places before all these things transpire Jesus will take his church out of the trouble. The rapture is a doctrine that has not changed. The Bible still teaches us it is real and will happen. Man's views have changed and they twist the scripture but it puts them in a hard position as the rest of their theology falls apart since they have to change everything just because they have a hard time and choke on God's word. Simply believe the Bible at face value and it isn't hard. Faith like a child means you just believe it though your intelligence can't reconcile it. God meant our faith in him to be powered by faith. Faith is the monetary system of Heaven. Faith gains you rewards. Great faith gets great rewards. Diminished and weak faith yields limited and small rewards.
Anyway, I am feeling better. We have teams coming now for relief work every week. Pray for the dynamics of the teams and the gospel going out. Pray for safety. Pray for my health to fully recover. Pray for more ESL students. Pray for the church to grow. Pray for a location for our school and church to happen.
God bless you all,
Friday, June 3, 2011
Home is in the heart
I live in Japan my home is where my family is. Yet when I return to the US and enter my childhood home I have a tendency to say, "Ah, its good to be home again." Yet when I went to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa a place of Spiritual residence where I did a lot of growing I caught myself saying, "Ah its good to be home." Where is home? We use the cliche "Home is where the heart is." I have to agree. The fondness of good blessings and memories make things worthy of being called home. I have a heavenly home. I haven't seen it and I don't know really what to expect. Yet I know that when I get to that final destination it will be that same thought..."Ah it is good to be home."
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Pet 1:3-5
I can't wait to go home now question is which one am I referring to?
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Pet 1:3-5
I can't wait to go home now question is which one am I referring to?
Sunday, May 8, 2011
From David Hockings Blog
A SPEECH EVERY AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SHOULD GIVE!
May 7th, 2011 A SPEECH EVERY AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SHOULD GIVE!
By Dennis Prager
To the students and faculty of our high school:
I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater
calling than to teach young people.
I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our
school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of
the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked
against you, against your teachers and against our country.
First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not
care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white.. I
could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian
or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on
slave ships. The only identity I care about, the only one this school
will recognize, is your individual identity — your character, your
scholarship, your humanity, and the only national identity this school
will care about is American.
This is an American public school, and American public schools were
created to make better Americans. If you wish to affirm an ethnic,
racial or religious identity through school, you will have to go
elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity, race and non-American
nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America,
one of its three central values — e pluribus Unum, “from many, one.”
And this school will be guided by America’s values. This includes all
after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students
based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual
orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a
society divided by political correctness.
Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic,
racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate
narcissism — an unhealthy preoccupation with the self — while the
purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will
have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music,
astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If
the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in
are those based on ethnic, racial or sexual identity, that means that
little outside of yourself really interests you.
Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My
only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school
speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English
language has united America ‘s citizens for over 200 years, and it will
unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this
country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you
leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be
remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully
compete in the American job market. We will learn other languages here
– it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English –but if you
want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this
is not your school.
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in
this school will reflect learning’s elevated status. This means, among
other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many
people in our society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for
church or school. These people have their priorities backward.
Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school’s
property — whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If
you can’t speak without using the f-word, you can’t speak. By obscene
language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications
Commission, plus epithets such as “Nigger,” even when used by one black student to address another black, or “bitch,” even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this
school, you will be among the few your age to instinctively distinguish
between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.
Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem
will be attained in only one way — the way people attained it until
decided otherwise a generation ago — by earning it. One immediate
consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.
Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away
from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring
you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual
harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to
condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or
primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you
that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not
heterosexual or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you
graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately
lucky — to be alive and to be an American.
Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of
our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will
hand them out to you.
By Dennis Prager
To the students and faculty of our high school:
I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater
calling than to teach young people.
I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our
school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of
the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked
against you, against your teachers and against our country.
First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not
care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white.. I
could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian
or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on
slave ships. The only identity I care about, the only one this school
will recognize, is your individual identity — your character, your
scholarship, your humanity, and the only national identity this school
will care about is American.
This is an American public school, and American public schools were
created to make better Americans. If you wish to affirm an ethnic,
racial or religious identity through school, you will have to go
elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity, race and non-American
nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America,
one of its three central values — e pluribus Unum, “from many, one.”
And this school will be guided by America’s values. This includes all
after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students
based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual
orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a
society divided by political correctness.
Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic,
racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate
narcissism — an unhealthy preoccupation with the self — while the
purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will
have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music,
astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If
the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in
are those based on ethnic, racial or sexual identity, that means that
little outside of yourself really interests you.
Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My
only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school
speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English
language has united America ‘s citizens for over 200 years, and it will
unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this
country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you
leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be
remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully
compete in the American job market. We will learn other languages here
– it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English –but if you
want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this
is not your school.
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in
this school will reflect learning’s elevated status. This means, among
other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many
people in our society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for
church or school. These people have their priorities backward.
Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school’s
property — whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If
you can’t speak without using the f-word, you can’t speak. By obscene
language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications
Commission, plus epithets such as “Nigger,” even when used by one black student to address another black, or “bitch,” even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this
school, you will be among the few your age to instinctively distinguish
between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.
Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem
will be attained in only one way — the way people attained it until
decided otherwise a generation ago — by earning it. One immediate
consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.
Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away
from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring
you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual
harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to
condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or
primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you
that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not
heterosexual or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you
graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately
lucky — to be alive and to be an American.
Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of
our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will
hand them out to you.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Harry Robert Fox
Ibaraki Christian University
5 to 6 years ago... I was sitting in Mrs Takada's coffee shop one day in Newport Beach California. She was so excited that an elderly gentleman named Harry Sensei was coming to teach a Japanese Bible Study. I had to stay. He was late 80's and a very sharp man. Perfect keigo Japanese better than most Japanese themselves. Keigo is a polite form not used much now days. Not a hint of age showed as he powerfully spoke from the book of Romans. He was teaching on grace. He had the only one I have ever seen all Romanized Full Japanese Bible. All the words were phonetically spelled out. I learned of Harry Robert Fox as helping to build the Ibaraki Christian University. He and his brother Logan were very instrumental in establishing a wonderful Christ centered educational facility.
Today as I was in a meeting with several of our CRASH team members a gentleman named Jim Brannan (SP) I believe who has been in Japan a long time. I asked if he knew the Fox brothers. Yes his eyes lit up. He told me of their wonderful godly heritage to serve the Lord there in Japan. They just had a rededication of a building that they named after Logan. Harry was the honored guest to come and witness the event.
Here is a snap shot from a blog on the History of the Christ Church in Japan:
Here is a quote of his to the Westside Church of Christ:
http://westsidechurchofchrist.pepperdine.edu/hfox.htm
What an honor and blessing to be now at this time working alongside men of great faith. As far as I know Harry now in his 90's is still teaching the word in Japanese between San Diego CA and in Newport Beach all the way up to Los Angeles. He is such a gracious man if you see him tell him I said hi.
5 to 6 years ago... I was sitting in Mrs Takada's coffee shop one day in Newport Beach California. She was so excited that an elderly gentleman named Harry Sensei was coming to teach a Japanese Bible Study. I had to stay. He was late 80's and a very sharp man. Perfect keigo Japanese better than most Japanese themselves. Keigo is a polite form not used much now days. Not a hint of age showed as he powerfully spoke from the book of Romans. He was teaching on grace. He had the only one I have ever seen all Romanized Full Japanese Bible. All the words were phonetically spelled out. I learned of Harry Robert Fox as helping to build the Ibaraki Christian University. He and his brother Logan were very instrumental in establishing a wonderful Christ centered educational facility.
Today as I was in a meeting with several of our CRASH team members a gentleman named Jim Brannan (SP) I believe who has been in Japan a long time. I asked if he knew the Fox brothers. Yes his eyes lit up. He told me of their wonderful godly heritage to serve the Lord there in Japan. They just had a rededication of a building that they named after Logan. Harry was the honored guest to come and witness the event.
Churches of Christ had already bought a tract of land from the Hitachi Company in Ibaraki Prefecture. Harry Robert Fox, Jr. and his brother, Logan Fox, together with a group of students mainly from Harding College, settled there. Shion Gakuen was started in 1948, Tandai Junior College and the four-year Ibaraki College in 1951.
Here is a quote of his to the Westside Church of Christ:
http://westsidechurchofchrist.pepperdine.edu/hfox.htm
What an honor and blessing to be now at this time working alongside men of great faith. As far as I know Harry now in his 90's is still teaching the word in Japanese between San Diego CA and in Newport Beach all the way up to Los Angeles. He is such a gracious man if you see him tell him I said hi.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Safety Dude
This sounded kind of fun to be a Safety officer but now that I am finally getting my head into this there is a lot more to it. FEMA has hundreds if not thousands of pages on safety stuff. I was thinking just a pamphlet of 10 pages. Ha. Today as I was reviewing driving conditions one of my co-workers was pointing out that may towns and villages have sunk to right at or below sea level and are now experiencing flooding during high tides. So if you park your car in the wrong area it might float away while your out. More fun tomorrow. One of the other problems is so many road have dropped 1 to 2 feet that manhole pipes are sticking up like barrier poles you have to be very careful. Am I safe or what. Pray that God will help me. I am the least safe guy in the whole world. I still open things with my teeth and eat, read a map and talk on a cell phone all while driving with my knee. Dude should I be sharing those things?
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Two Weeks after the Earthquake
Hi Everyone, It is two weeks since the Earthquake.
I know it's been a while but when your in the frying pan all you do is run around and try not to get cooked. It has been one of the most difficult weeks for me. In 1984, my boot camp in Fort Dix New Jersey was a pleasure cruise compared to this time. It isn't the physical demand but the mental and spiritual things that have come my way. I am on the Emotional Care Team. In the US we call it Pastoral Care or Pastoral Crisis Intervention PCI. Here we renamed it Emocare. We have two groups to approach this, one is the team care which I am leading and the survivor care. The UN report said the PTSD symptoms are already beginning to manifest in people earlier than usual. The Children are especially affected.
I am working with a team of people that is changing daily and we are ramping up a training process for different types of teams in the field right now. We first have Assessment teams usually our first responders they love to get out there to be our eyes and ears and survey the land and find possible sights for us to set up camps. After two weeks we now have three full functioning Bases and a fourth on the way.
We now have a second Group in the field known as supply and base staff. There are long term teams who will stay up to two weeks on base and network with churches in the area. Our first one is up to about 35-40 some churches that they are getting aid to and helping with emotional and spiritual care.
We then have our third group of people to train and those are our recovery teams. There are churches and groups from all over the world and in the Tokyo area and we network the local churches with the churches in the affected areas and they then begin the clean up and ministering to the people.
God is at work and there are many coming to faith. The devastation is so great and vast. One pastor from Chicago said he was in Haiti but this was far worse. Another pastor said the amount of devastation was like 5 katrinas. In one area of Kasenuma you can be on the beach and look inland for a mile and then drive for 15 miles north and it is all devastation. The strange feeling team members have is that the place has a deafening silence.
We are having to work on Cultural Sensitivity Training for our American guests. The Japanese are very private persons and since the disaster have very little dignity left. They are in the shelters and have set up chairs for walls and they have a blanket on the floor but members take off their shoes to enter and ask for permission to enter. They feel strange because this is all the home they have left and they are encroaching upon it. In one church a big named organization was said to have a circus driving around with a van full of film crews and as they come to a church they jump out and almost bust the doors of the churches down. You have to understand most churches in this area are small and usually the pastors home. The guys of this group jump out and make a chain carrying relief into the home of the pastor and they start to slide boxes across their very old and precious wood floor. In Japan you don't do those things. It is disrespectful. You take off your shoes no matter if you have the combat boots on you take them off. You honor the home. Anyway, I am on a soap box crying against the so-called relief. The disaster is hard enough to process but the relief crew should not be a disaster and embarrassment to Jesus Christ. I never knew how many hundreds of groups there are. They all claim some kind of fame naming their disasters as badges of honor. It is kind of sickening. They don't remember the people or church name but that disaster..."Yea we were there." So what! These groups come in for a month or two and then leave. Our goal at Crash is we are here for the long term. We are here to help. We live here and aren't going home or off to the next disaster. Just to give you a sense of this. One team called a Pastor to offer relief to them and they said, "Not today. We are not ready to receive you. Come on Monday." That was two days later. They would rather do without and suffer for honor of the family members to all get ready to receive a guest.
I was promoted just today. Yea, but it can change tomorrow so stay tuned. I am now also in charge of Radiation monitoring. We are getting trained on the latest equipment for testing radiation. A group donated 12 units for us to use. Each base camp and each work team will be given a monitor that will have readings for the whole day of how much IF ANY exposure they may have to radiation. So far to my knowledge there is none in the areas we are in but that can change and we need to keep a daily log on the readings and if they spike I have to call teams out of the field. So I am over the Pastoral Care, Survivor care, Radiation Scary (JOKE) and a few others things I think. I have no Idea what I am doing but that Jesus keeps providing the right people to plug into place and have them go to work. The amount of translators that are available are awesome. God is good. We have had Erin Kawaye of OMF international come in and train our HQ team on our roles together and how we are to work together. It was a great time. I am learning how to love people in a new way. I am working with many different denominations and types of Christians. Love is the key.
We had an Emocare information night expecting 30 some people we called to show up. About 200 showed up and we had it U-streamed with 10 churches logging on. It was so awesome. I was terrible and God is using it. HA. I love our God so much. The verse I am enjoying and chewing on right now is Hebrews 12:12 in the New Living Translation. "So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong." There is another meeting next week and they decided to rent out Aoyama Gakuin Hall. That is a big college in Tokyo. They are expecting 700 but have a feeling it may be more.
This next week will be hard and We need prayer. There are two teams from the US arriving and coming to check out our operations and then we will drive up to the bases and check on our teams and perform in field debriefings and radiation checking. Basically talk about the mission and read our Bibles and pray together. But I am supposed to sound real official. We if possible will also do some assessing if time allows for us to go into the Iwate prefecture north of sendai. Pray God to prepare our hearts for the time we have together and also for what we will see and smell.
I am on shaky legs right now. But God is encouraging me to stand firm and not stumble or run away. I think of the Love Song tune "With one hand reach out for Jesus and with the other bring a friend."
Pray for the Calvary Japan Conference coming up it should be awesome for all of us to be refreshed in the Lord. I pray we can all get together and just seek Jesus. I am loving my brothers and sisters in the others groups but there is something special and heart warming about your own family.
The Calvary Churches are responding to the disaster each in their Spirit led way. God is raising them up to respond in so many ways it is awesome. Chizuo and Rick went to the North area and just took a truck and loved on the people. It was very impacting but also a blessing for them to just pray and bless people as they'd come to an area and open the truck and give supplies to people. They touched so many lives. Pastor Jack was at Costco buying supplies to donate and is wanting to do all he can. Jeremiah is helping get teams with trucks off from his church to deliver relief to some churches. So many are helping. Many of the guys are busy but have plans to come and work. Travis and Rich and Kiyomasa are going up to Sendai to deliver relief and supplies soon. It is such a blessing to have brothers like minded and open to the leading to the Holy Spirit. They are such an encouragement to me. This week Travis came in to do some stuff and just took time and prayed for me. I needed it. Jonathan is some how holding together. He is that kind of person that loves to blaze a trail in a jungle where not many have gone before. We follow behind wondering where is he going some times but there are vistas were we see the hand of God working and moving and blessing.
This week was huge for the whole team as Jonathan took time to admit some things that were on the hearts of others and it was a breath of fresh air for everyone to stand back and regroup together. We have been strengthened in Jesus and linked arm in arm as we march forward. The awesome thing is we are not just the foreign missionaries we have hundreds of Japanese Christians all partnering with us and working though Crash. Our goal is to turn the whole thing over to Japanese churches.
There are miracles happening and many stories of hope coming out of this. The greatest thing I see is no one person is getting the glory. God is doing a work and he is getting the glory he deserves. One group commented on our team dynamic and that was that we all have a true heart for Jesus they saw no egos in the leadership. He needs to look harder. Mine is there an I am doing all I can to kill that bad boy daily now it is moment by moment. One team found a man and a woman sitting on the concrete steps of the foundation of their home that had been washed away. They asked if they needed anything. The woman who was a popular radio personality said we have our physical needs but what we need is "Heart Care." The team shared the gospel. She was so glad to hear this she took them down to the studio and put them on the air to share the gospel. In one area, I heard a team was passing out food and Bibles. The people took some food but all wanted Bibles. They are hungry for God and are searching.
In Tokyo it seems as if nothing happened. Many are back to their old ways. In my town the pachinko parlors are packed out. Life is resuming even though there is eminent danger just to the North they are oblivious many of them with consciences seared. The schools all will start back up again Monday. Life will return to normalcy. But many areas of our town now have refugees in the sense of people without homes and jobs are now down here in our area in Government shelters. There is opportunity to minister to them as well. Pray we will have opportunity to visit them and love on them.
There is an awakening beginning in the mountains where churches and pastors are coming together to pray and worship God. We rejoice with all that God is doing. We are expecting God to do things far greater than we could ever imagine or think. Pray for the salvation of Japan. Pray for our teams safety. Pray for the unity among the brethren. Pray that we will be known for our Love for one another. Pray for all the thousands that are now mobilizing in the US coming over to be sensitive to this beautiful culture. Pray that the body of Christ will bring glory to his name.
Mihoko and the kids went back to the states for 30 days and I have asked my Students to allow me a couple of weeks off to work. They are so gracious and some even call me just to see how I am doing. It is such a blessing to have good friends.
Erin from OMF leaves all our teams with Romans 15-1-7 I think I'll do the same as this is the sum of all we are trying to do here. We are creating an organization where by the Japanese churches can link with the affected Churches and bless them and help them.
Dan
I know it's been a while but when your in the frying pan all you do is run around and try not to get cooked. It has been one of the most difficult weeks for me. In 1984, my boot camp in Fort Dix New Jersey was a pleasure cruise compared to this time. It isn't the physical demand but the mental and spiritual things that have come my way. I am on the Emotional Care Team. In the US we call it Pastoral Care or Pastoral Crisis Intervention PCI. Here we renamed it Emocare. We have two groups to approach this, one is the team care which I am leading and the survivor care. The UN report said the PTSD symptoms are already beginning to manifest in people earlier than usual. The Children are especially affected.
I am working with a team of people that is changing daily and we are ramping up a training process for different types of teams in the field right now. We first have Assessment teams usually our first responders they love to get out there to be our eyes and ears and survey the land and find possible sights for us to set up camps. After two weeks we now have three full functioning Bases and a fourth on the way.
We now have a second Group in the field known as supply and base staff. There are long term teams who will stay up to two weeks on base and network with churches in the area. Our first one is up to about 35-40 some churches that they are getting aid to and helping with emotional and spiritual care.
We then have our third group of people to train and those are our recovery teams. There are churches and groups from all over the world and in the Tokyo area and we network the local churches with the churches in the affected areas and they then begin the clean up and ministering to the people.
God is at work and there are many coming to faith. The devastation is so great and vast. One pastor from Chicago said he was in Haiti but this was far worse. Another pastor said the amount of devastation was like 5 katrinas. In one area of Kasenuma you can be on the beach and look inland for a mile and then drive for 15 miles north and it is all devastation. The strange feeling team members have is that the place has a deafening silence.
We are having to work on Cultural Sensitivity Training for our American guests. The Japanese are very private persons and since the disaster have very little dignity left. They are in the shelters and have set up chairs for walls and they have a blanket on the floor but members take off their shoes to enter and ask for permission to enter. They feel strange because this is all the home they have left and they are encroaching upon it. In one church a big named organization was said to have a circus driving around with a van full of film crews and as they come to a church they jump out and almost bust the doors of the churches down. You have to understand most churches in this area are small and usually the pastors home. The guys of this group jump out and make a chain carrying relief into the home of the pastor and they start to slide boxes across their very old and precious wood floor. In Japan you don't do those things. It is disrespectful. You take off your shoes no matter if you have the combat boots on you take them off. You honor the home. Anyway, I am on a soap box crying against the so-called relief. The disaster is hard enough to process but the relief crew should not be a disaster and embarrassment to Jesus Christ. I never knew how many hundreds of groups there are. They all claim some kind of fame naming their disasters as badges of honor. It is kind of sickening. They don't remember the people or church name but that disaster..."Yea we were there." So what! These groups come in for a month or two and then leave. Our goal at Crash is we are here for the long term. We are here to help. We live here and aren't going home or off to the next disaster. Just to give you a sense of this. One team called a Pastor to offer relief to them and they said, "Not today. We are not ready to receive you. Come on Monday." That was two days later. They would rather do without and suffer for honor of the family members to all get ready to receive a guest.
I was promoted just today. Yea, but it can change tomorrow so stay tuned. I am now also in charge of Radiation monitoring. We are getting trained on the latest equipment for testing radiation. A group donated 12 units for us to use. Each base camp and each work team will be given a monitor that will have readings for the whole day of how much IF ANY exposure they may have to radiation. So far to my knowledge there is none in the areas we are in but that can change and we need to keep a daily log on the readings and if they spike I have to call teams out of the field. So I am over the Pastoral Care, Survivor care, Radiation Scary (JOKE) and a few others things I think. I have no Idea what I am doing but that Jesus keeps providing the right people to plug into place and have them go to work. The amount of translators that are available are awesome. God is good. We have had Erin Kawaye of OMF international come in and train our HQ team on our roles together and how we are to work together. It was a great time. I am learning how to love people in a new way. I am working with many different denominations and types of Christians. Love is the key.
We had an Emocare information night expecting 30 some people we called to show up. About 200 showed up and we had it U-streamed with 10 churches logging on. It was so awesome. I was terrible and God is using it. HA. I love our God so much. The verse I am enjoying and chewing on right now is Hebrews 12:12 in the New Living Translation. "So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong." There is another meeting next week and they decided to rent out Aoyama Gakuin Hall. That is a big college in Tokyo. They are expecting 700 but have a feeling it may be more.
This next week will be hard and We need prayer. There are two teams from the US arriving and coming to check out our operations and then we will drive up to the bases and check on our teams and perform in field debriefings and radiation checking. Basically talk about the mission and read our Bibles and pray together. But I am supposed to sound real official. We if possible will also do some assessing if time allows for us to go into the Iwate prefecture north of sendai. Pray God to prepare our hearts for the time we have together and also for what we will see and smell.
I am on shaky legs right now. But God is encouraging me to stand firm and not stumble or run away. I think of the Love Song tune "With one hand reach out for Jesus and with the other bring a friend."
Pray for the Calvary Japan Conference coming up it should be awesome for all of us to be refreshed in the Lord. I pray we can all get together and just seek Jesus. I am loving my brothers and sisters in the others groups but there is something special and heart warming about your own family.
The Calvary Churches are responding to the disaster each in their Spirit led way. God is raising them up to respond in so many ways it is awesome. Chizuo and Rick went to the North area and just took a truck and loved on the people. It was very impacting but also a blessing for them to just pray and bless people as they'd come to an area and open the truck and give supplies to people. They touched so many lives. Pastor Jack was at Costco buying supplies to donate and is wanting to do all he can. Jeremiah is helping get teams with trucks off from his church to deliver relief to some churches. So many are helping. Many of the guys are busy but have plans to come and work. Travis and Rich and Kiyomasa are going up to Sendai to deliver relief and supplies soon. It is such a blessing to have brothers like minded and open to the leading to the Holy Spirit. They are such an encouragement to me. This week Travis came in to do some stuff and just took time and prayed for me. I needed it. Jonathan is some how holding together. He is that kind of person that loves to blaze a trail in a jungle where not many have gone before. We follow behind wondering where is he going some times but there are vistas were we see the hand of God working and moving and blessing.
This week was huge for the whole team as Jonathan took time to admit some things that were on the hearts of others and it was a breath of fresh air for everyone to stand back and regroup together. We have been strengthened in Jesus and linked arm in arm as we march forward. The awesome thing is we are not just the foreign missionaries we have hundreds of Japanese Christians all partnering with us and working though Crash. Our goal is to turn the whole thing over to Japanese churches.
There are miracles happening and many stories of hope coming out of this. The greatest thing I see is no one person is getting the glory. God is doing a work and he is getting the glory he deserves. One group commented on our team dynamic and that was that we all have a true heart for Jesus they saw no egos in the leadership. He needs to look harder. Mine is there an I am doing all I can to kill that bad boy daily now it is moment by moment. One team found a man and a woman sitting on the concrete steps of the foundation of their home that had been washed away. They asked if they needed anything. The woman who was a popular radio personality said we have our physical needs but what we need is "Heart Care." The team shared the gospel. She was so glad to hear this she took them down to the studio and put them on the air to share the gospel. In one area, I heard a team was passing out food and Bibles. The people took some food but all wanted Bibles. They are hungry for God and are searching.
In Tokyo it seems as if nothing happened. Many are back to their old ways. In my town the pachinko parlors are packed out. Life is resuming even though there is eminent danger just to the North they are oblivious many of them with consciences seared. The schools all will start back up again Monday. Life will return to normalcy. But many areas of our town now have refugees in the sense of people without homes and jobs are now down here in our area in Government shelters. There is opportunity to minister to them as well. Pray we will have opportunity to visit them and love on them.
There is an awakening beginning in the mountains where churches and pastors are coming together to pray and worship God. We rejoice with all that God is doing. We are expecting God to do things far greater than we could ever imagine or think. Pray for the salvation of Japan. Pray for our teams safety. Pray for the unity among the brethren. Pray that we will be known for our Love for one another. Pray for all the thousands that are now mobilizing in the US coming over to be sensitive to this beautiful culture. Pray that the body of Christ will bring glory to his name.
Mihoko and the kids went back to the states for 30 days and I have asked my Students to allow me a couple of weeks off to work. They are so gracious and some even call me just to see how I am doing. It is such a blessing to have good friends.
Erin from OMF leaves all our teams with Romans 15-1-7 I think I'll do the same as this is the sum of all we are trying to do here. We are creating an organization where by the Japanese churches can link with the affected Churches and bless them and help them.
1 We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. 2 Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up. 3 For even Christ did not please himself but, as it is written: “The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.”[a] 4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. Romans 15:1-7 NIV
God bless you all. Do all to Glorify HimDan
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Crash Meeting
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Normalcy or not?
The Earthquake in Japan is very hard to process. We are grieving so hard. We are all tired and overwhelmed. After my sons (@3-1/2) death in 2000 and my daughters @ 5 heart transplant I have learned it is important to try as hard as it is to get back to some kind of normalcy. I thought about ending all my ESL classes and just bury myself into the relief work. Problem is the danger of losing touch with reality. Processing grief is real and very hard but not processing real life is escapism and leads to darkness within the soul. Depression will settle in and isolation will dominate. It is very important we extend ourselves out to serving and loving others. Focusing on self will only spiral into deeper depression and will lead to dangerous behaviors like medicating self or seeking ways to end self. The road to normalcy is very rough and hard. But is is absolutely necessary.
Today for our kids ESL I tried to keep it simple. I also allowed the kids to process their grief and fears through play. We first taught the phrases "I need help?" We substituted the word help with water, medicine, my mom and the last one was Chocolate. I also taught the phrases, "Are you okay?" and also "I'm hurt." "I'm hungry." "I'm thirsty.""I'm crazy."
We then modeled our lesson with building a city for 15 minutes reviewing past vocabulary: truck, people, animals, building, store, park, zoo...etc. I had each student pick a lego character and place themselves in the city. After we built the city we then simulated an earthquake and destroyed it. Then we played search and rescue. Using our flash lights we then looked for ourselves and went through our ESL phrases. "Are you okay?" No I'm hurt. I need chocolate.
At the end we modeled our phrases once more after clean up we ended with the phrase I need chocolate. Then I rewarded our good students with good chocolate. I hope they will remember the sentences. It was a fun class.
These pictures were my Tigers level 2 class and I also did it with my next class Zebras level 1 both responded to the play very well. My daughter Jane enjoyed being in the class too. It was at least therapeutic to see these kids process and play and learn. Thanks guys you helped me more than you realize.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Reflections of a Disaster
Staring at Kaneko, a twenty something college student, whom I am teaching English to, we were discussing Moscow deporting hundreds of stray dogs to Siberia. Our coffee spills onto the table and we are looking like deer in the headlights as the most violent shaking begins. Things start to fall in the bathrooms and off shelves. The doors and windows start to rattle. We both say at the same time Jishin! which means earthquake. We think it is going to stop 30 seconds go by then a minute, the shaking is still violent we go outside and people are running away from the building. We are on the 7th floor thinking we should go down stairs. So we walk to the Elevator but it is flashing emergency signs and is not running. That's right don't take elevators in Earthquakes. So we go down the stairs. It is about 3 minutes now and the shaking is still going on. When is this going to stop? Buildings and trees are swaying, birds are in the air squawking alarms to something really big happening. Kaneko and I decided to end class early and part ways. At the bridge from our train station to our apartment Mrs Sasaki San who is dealing with life threatening bone cancer approaches me and is rattling off her story. We talk and I encourage her. Her husband is in Tokyo and she is worried if he'll get home. The shaking had stopped but there is an eerie feeling that something terrible had just occurred and we were not the center of it. I call Mihoko and the phones are dead...Uh oh? The shaking had stopped so I went back to go to our apartment elevator to go back and check on our home. Drat it still is out of commission... That's right never take an elevator during an earthquake. I climb up 7 flights of stairs. The disaster was my legs at this point wow I am so out of shape. As soon as I get into my apartment there is a tremendous aftershock almost equal to the original. I stay inside and then go out on the balcony should I stay or should I go. The shaking stops I do what any good post baby boomer pre-gen xer guy would do. I facebook the event. The shaking returns a little less. I can't reach my family. I go outside and downstairs and talk to neighbors. I walk around town to access damage. An ambulance is at the pachinko parlor someone must have had a heart attack when their balls fell on the floor? People are out dazed. I go in to a familiar convenience store. The clerk at the counter is frazzled. I ask, "Daijoubu?" (You okay?) She says very loud as if she had been holding it in for a while, "KOWAIIII!" (Scary!) We laugh I tell her I will pray for her and her family. She is thankful and relieved. I go outside trying to call missionary friends, family, neighbors. Phones don't work. My kids are still at school which is 30 minutes away. I walk back to the apartment and climb the 7 flights of stairs. It is amazing how much Oxygen we demand the higher we go. I look on the computer which is still up and running. The devastation reports are beginning to filter in the Tsunami pictures are already within minutes of the events happening being broadcast on national television.
What has happened is the worst national disaster known in the history of Japan. The devastation is not just one local area or prefecture but it is the whole East Coast about 5 prefectures (States) have declared states of emergency. There are many more prefectures with lots of structure damage but their infrastructure is still in tact. The 5 main prefectures hit have severe infrastructure problems with electricity, water, gas all shut off or broken. Roads are impassible, and fires are spreading in some areas. Landslides have wiped out some small villages and Tsunami's have washed away whole communities. The military and many organizations are already on the ground working but are completely overwhelmed. Children are displaced because while at school their families were washed away or killed in accidents. The trauma and questions being asked are great and we are praying how to best be involved in the recovery and ministry to those hardest affected.
We are partnering with CRASH Japan a disaster relief organization from Grace Christian Fellowship with Pastor Jonathan Wilson. I am heading up Pastoral Care and running admin on coordinating teams from CC churches in Japan to group up and aid in various recovery efforts. Samaritans Purse, World Vision, Campus Crusade for Christ, OMF, JEMA, JEA and many other organizations are all behind us now and we will be having a meeting tomorrow for assessment teams to be assigned and to move out. Over the next few days we will be getting teams of missionaries from all over Japan to pair up and go into the areas and locate churches and missionaries and find our their needs. We are looking to establishing command centers in multiple communities for the express purpose of serving those communities. The recovery process will not be easy or short. One report says over 10 thousand people are missing. We know of about a couple of thousand dead from reports.
We are here in Japan for such a time as this. We are making ourselves available to the Lord for his glory and to use in this effort. Tomorrow we will have an assessment meeting at 2pm in Tokyo. Mihoko with be simultaneous translating it. Pray for her to be anointed to impart the information necessary to direct the teams and train the staff. We are feeling multiple aftershocks some very strong and we are over 250KM away from it all but those in the epicenter are feeling scared and need help.
We need you all to be praying for us. We need the leading of the Holy Spirit for the things he will have us do. Right now we are uncertain what all the details will hold. I will try to post after the meeting to let you all know what's going on. We need your prayers. God is at work and we look forward to what he will bring out of the ashes. Teams in the US are forming up and mobilizing to come over. Pray how to be apart if the Lord allows. God bless
What has happened is the worst national disaster known in the history of Japan. The devastation is not just one local area or prefecture but it is the whole East Coast about 5 prefectures (States) have declared states of emergency. There are many more prefectures with lots of structure damage but their infrastructure is still in tact. The 5 main prefectures hit have severe infrastructure problems with electricity, water, gas all shut off or broken. Roads are impassible, and fires are spreading in some areas. Landslides have wiped out some small villages and Tsunami's have washed away whole communities. The military and many organizations are already on the ground working but are completely overwhelmed. Children are displaced because while at school their families were washed away or killed in accidents. The trauma and questions being asked are great and we are praying how to best be involved in the recovery and ministry to those hardest affected.
We are partnering with CRASH Japan a disaster relief organization from Grace Christian Fellowship with Pastor Jonathan Wilson. I am heading up Pastoral Care and running admin on coordinating teams from CC churches in Japan to group up and aid in various recovery efforts. Samaritans Purse, World Vision, Campus Crusade for Christ, OMF, JEMA, JEA and many other organizations are all behind us now and we will be having a meeting tomorrow for assessment teams to be assigned and to move out. Over the next few days we will be getting teams of missionaries from all over Japan to pair up and go into the areas and locate churches and missionaries and find our their needs. We are looking to establishing command centers in multiple communities for the express purpose of serving those communities. The recovery process will not be easy or short. One report says over 10 thousand people are missing. We know of about a couple of thousand dead from reports.
We are here in Japan for such a time as this. We are making ourselves available to the Lord for his glory and to use in this effort. Tomorrow we will have an assessment meeting at 2pm in Tokyo. Mihoko with be simultaneous translating it. Pray for her to be anointed to impart the information necessary to direct the teams and train the staff. We are feeling multiple aftershocks some very strong and we are over 250KM away from it all but those in the epicenter are feeling scared and need help.
We need you all to be praying for us. We need the leading of the Holy Spirit for the things he will have us do. Right now we are uncertain what all the details will hold. I will try to post after the meeting to let you all know what's going on. We need your prayers. God is at work and we look forward to what he will bring out of the ashes. Teams in the US are forming up and mobilizing to come over. Pray how to be apart if the Lord allows. God bless
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Jane's first tooth
Sunday School
Puppet Show
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| Aren't we cute? |
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| I'm not sure what to expect so let's pray. |
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| Nathan is fingering Kazuma for his jokes he plays. |
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| Day 1 |
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| Adam and Eve listen to the serpent BOO |
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| All that work and it was over so fast. Wow! |
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Gideons
Today we got to meet some very cool Christian Pastors. There was a meeting here in Iruma and about some 15 pastors got together for fellowship. They had one of the guys play two harmonicas simultaneously. That was fabulous. He was playing the melody line and the harmony using two different keyed harmonicas at once. I'd like to see Darrell Mansfield do that? Another Pastor and His wife played a song on a traditional Japanese Okarina  |
| Okarina |
The organization, an early American parachurch organization dedicated to Christian evangelism, was founded in 1899 at the YMCA in Janesville, Wisconsin by two traveling businessmen who met by chance when they shared a hotel room in Boscobel, Wisconsin and refined their idea in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.[2] It began distributing free Bibles, the work it is chiefly known for, in 1908, when the first Bibles were placed in the rooms of the Superior Hotel in Superior, Montana.[3] The local railway station at the time was named Iron Mountain, causing confusion as to the name of the town.[4] From Wikipedia.
The organization describes its link to the story of Gideon:
- Gideon was a man who was willing to do exactly what God wanted him to do, regardless of his own judgment as to the plans or results. Humility, faith, and obedience were his great elements of character. This is the standard that The Gideons International is trying to establish in all its members, each man to be ready to do God's will at any time, at any place, and in any way that the Holy Spirit leads.
Gideons are in pop-culture too-
- The Beatles – song – "Rocky Raccoon" - "Rocky Raccoon, checked in to his room, only to find Gideon's Bible."
- Beulah – song – "Maroon Bible"
- Bill Hicks – comedy album – Rant in E-Minor, He speculates how Gideons operate and considers capturing and studying them as a hobby.
- Clutch – song – "Profits of Doom" – "Genesis and Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, Gideon is knocking in your hotel while you slumber."
- Fall Out Boy – song – "XO"
- Frank Zappa – song – "Room Service"
- Jay Brannan - song - "Home" - "Why don't the Gideons leave condoms in the drawer? Bibles don't save many people anymore."
- Jethro Tull – song – "Locomotive Breath" - "He picks up Gideon's Bible, open at page one."
- John Cale – song – "Gideon's Bible"
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| Double Harmonica too Cool |
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| Husband and Wife Okarina duet--sweet. |
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Valentines Day Party
We had a Valentines day party in our home. There are many neighborhood kids that we want to get to come to Sunday School in our home. So we have these parties and love on the kids and have fun. We then share with them about God's love and invited them to Sunday School.
It was a great time. We colored Valentine coloring books played some games, Dan told a hilarious version of the Valentine history in broken Japanese. The kids looked perplexed but those that knew Japanese and English were laughing as I slaughtered the language. Towards the end of the party all the kids were correcting my Japanese for me. Humbling but amusing.
We ate snacks and valentine cup cakes with whip cream frosting. It was a raging party. Someone even threw up on the carpet in the bathroom. When I was in the Army that meant the party was a good one. I'll take that as a compliment.
Pray for the kids to come to Sunday School. Pray that they come and learn how much Jesus loves them. One lady today in church who is of years remembers when she was a girl how she snuck away to go to Sunday School. This led to her becoming a Christian later on in life.
Jane's first tooth
Jane our 6 year old daughter just lost her first tooth. It was uneventful as she was showing mom how loose it is. I over heard and said, "Let me see how loose it is." She said, "No way I know you. You'll just rip the tooth out of my mouth." She's right and so I let her be. I said, "your right I'd go to wiggle that thing and I just push it bending back inside your mouth, it'll come right out. Mihoko and I went to discussing ancient methodology for tooth extractions and to our surprise she bent the thing herself. She said, "Hora I did myself!" LOOK MOM I TOOK OUT MY TOOTH." I was bummed because I didn't get to do it but I was happy she was less dramatic and there were no tears just a toothless smile saying, "Hey when does the tooth fairy pay up?" We all laughed. Good job Jane this is the first of many more to come out. I can wait to see the uppers come out too.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
No one ever spoke like this man
John 7:46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards replied.
The Pharisees are wanting to kill Jesus they are wanting to cut him off. They, the Pharisees, for the whole Feast of Tabernacles have been look for Jesus. He is reported to be in the temple itself. The officers are dispatched. It is a very busy time of year. Josephus says that near 2 million people ascend into Jerusalem during this time. It is the last day of the festival. The culmination of all events. At the climax Jesus stands up and in front of everyone cries out. 7:37; “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”. The crowd is mesmerized. No one has ever done this with such grace and authoritative speaking. The Officers are in full riot gear for show. They are all decked out and ready for action. But something keeps them from acting. Their determination to disrupt and arrest a situation and a person is diffused. They are standing there jaw dropped. The words of Jesus are ringing in their heads and they somehow are walking back deep in thought about Jesus and they walk into the headquarters. The Pharisees are wondering, "Why didn't you bring him in?" ... I wonder if there was silence as the officers are waking up to the reality that they have failed in their job. Someone from the back speaks up sheepishly, "No one ever spoke like this man."
In Luke 4:22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.
Some try to depict Jesus as a revolutionary radical. But the Bible speaks of how loving and gracious he was when he spoke. Now he did have some rough words for the religious leaders. But for the everyday people he blew them away not by cleaver jibes or intellectual terror. He spoke in such a way that people always walked away deep in thought about his words.
I think of the Rich man who had it all, his confidence in self was strong. But after his encounter with Jesus he went away deep in thought and saddened.
Nicodemus came to Jesus late at night and before the compliments are wasted Jesus cuts him off and says, "Nic you need to be born again." I wonder how deep in thought he went home that night thinking on Jesus' words?
The Men who brought the woman caught in adultery one by one went away deep in thought. Or how about the woman who was a stones throw away from eternity. How did she walk away from Jesus' words..."Neither do I condemn you, go your way and sin no more."
When we spend time in the word do we hear Jesus in the same way? What effect does his words have on us? I think of all the times I have read the Bible and studied with an eye for teaching in using it in some other way other than hearing it for myself. I want to hear Jesus in such a way so that I walk away in deep thought. Then when I speak to others I want Jesus' words to be what people hear and see them impacted in the same way.
When I was into sales, I worked for a short time for a motivational company as a telemarketer. I know I'm one of those people. But the fascinating part was the training I got through the Nightingale, Zig Ziglar, Mike Ferry and many others training programs. It was a type of language called NLP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming. Neural Linguistic Programming is used in Psychology to reprogram people who have some kind of mental trauma. It is a brainwashing technique. I know my Calvary Family is flipping their lid thinking I am a Freudian-Evangelist. Bear me out I had an experience that has resulted in a positive behavior I think is important for many to understand. Now some will take issue with me here and I am just speaking from what I learned not on behalf of the whole NLP science. I am not a psychologist. I don't believe in a Christian going to years of therapy away from the Bible. Jesus is our wonderful counselor. You can program the mind. Jesus can also program our minds. The company I worked for had a script that was so well written with this language that the folks who were victims didn't know what hit them. I could call 200 people a day and contact about 40 of them and present about 15 times and sell 10 of them. This would make me $400-500 a day depending on the skill and amount of peripherals I could sell. There were some guys who made over 100,000 dollars a year with their techniques. I could ask questions in such a way so as to illicit a response that would beg for me to ask the next question and have them so wanting what I was selling that when I asked for their credit card they already had it out. Now that is power. There was a rush of power and control that was addicting. The Hunt was fun and like fishing there is a style and art to the catch.
It didn't last long because I was pressuring people to buy what they didn't need. I knew folks didn't have the money for it as they'd give three credit cards which would all be maxed out. I was willfully programming a mind against their will to do something that may or may not benefit them. I am a Christian and I struggled with that so I quit.
But I am in tuned to this language Jesus is using to illicit from the people a response and desire for more of God. His gracious words were powerful. Romans says the Gospel is the power unto Salvation. David in Psalms says, "he meditates on God's words day and night." The reason I bring all this up is that instead of a Neural Linguistic programming I want to have a Biblical Linguistic Programming. We are to meditate on the Scriptures day and night to be like a tree planted by a river bearing its fruit. We are to be speaking to one another in Psalms, Hymns and spiritual songs. We are to take every thought captive unto Christ. We are to let our minds be transformed through the washing of the word. Biblical Linguistic Programming is lost in the plethora of media disrupting the process.
We all have a deep desire for meaning and purpose in our relationship to God and for God. When are we, now, going to begin, right now, the process of washing our minds? How long until we, stop, the madness of striving for generality and status quo Christianity. What time, today, are you going to begin meditating. How much will you spend on life change? What mental activity stands in the way that is unprofitable or meaningless for eternity. So at this moment, with Jesus, you can over come every issue through the Biblical Linguistic Programming. READ YOUR BIBLE!
Note: Embedded commands for this last paragraph are, Now, right now, stop today spend mental activity with Jesus. Some of the commands are not true examples of NLP I am just messing with your head...or am I? Buwaaaahhaaaahahahaha
The Pharisees are wanting to kill Jesus they are wanting to cut him off. They, the Pharisees, for the whole Feast of Tabernacles have been look for Jesus. He is reported to be in the temple itself. The officers are dispatched. It is a very busy time of year. Josephus says that near 2 million people ascend into Jerusalem during this time. It is the last day of the festival. The culmination of all events. At the climax Jesus stands up and in front of everyone cries out. 7:37; “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”. The crowd is mesmerized. No one has ever done this with such grace and authoritative speaking. The Officers are in full riot gear for show. They are all decked out and ready for action. But something keeps them from acting. Their determination to disrupt and arrest a situation and a person is diffused. They are standing there jaw dropped. The words of Jesus are ringing in their heads and they somehow are walking back deep in thought about Jesus and they walk into the headquarters. The Pharisees are wondering, "Why didn't you bring him in?" ... I wonder if there was silence as the officers are waking up to the reality that they have failed in their job. Someone from the back speaks up sheepishly, "No one ever spoke like this man."
In Luke 4:22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.
Some try to depict Jesus as a revolutionary radical. But the Bible speaks of how loving and gracious he was when he spoke. Now he did have some rough words for the religious leaders. But for the everyday people he blew them away not by cleaver jibes or intellectual terror. He spoke in such a way that people always walked away deep in thought about his words.
I think of the Rich man who had it all, his confidence in self was strong. But after his encounter with Jesus he went away deep in thought and saddened.
Nicodemus came to Jesus late at night and before the compliments are wasted Jesus cuts him off and says, "Nic you need to be born again." I wonder how deep in thought he went home that night thinking on Jesus' words?
The Men who brought the woman caught in adultery one by one went away deep in thought. Or how about the woman who was a stones throw away from eternity. How did she walk away from Jesus' words..."Neither do I condemn you, go your way and sin no more."
When we spend time in the word do we hear Jesus in the same way? What effect does his words have on us? I think of all the times I have read the Bible and studied with an eye for teaching in using it in some other way other than hearing it for myself. I want to hear Jesus in such a way so that I walk away in deep thought. Then when I speak to others I want Jesus' words to be what people hear and see them impacted in the same way.
When I was into sales, I worked for a short time for a motivational company as a telemarketer. I know I'm one of those people. But the fascinating part was the training I got through the Nightingale, Zig Ziglar, Mike Ferry and many others training programs. It was a type of language called NLP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming. Neural Linguistic Programming is used in Psychology to reprogram people who have some kind of mental trauma. It is a brainwashing technique. I know my Calvary Family is flipping their lid thinking I am a Freudian-Evangelist. Bear me out I had an experience that has resulted in a positive behavior I think is important for many to understand. Now some will take issue with me here and I am just speaking from what I learned not on behalf of the whole NLP science. I am not a psychologist. I don't believe in a Christian going to years of therapy away from the Bible. Jesus is our wonderful counselor. You can program the mind. Jesus can also program our minds. The company I worked for had a script that was so well written with this language that the folks who were victims didn't know what hit them. I could call 200 people a day and contact about 40 of them and present about 15 times and sell 10 of them. This would make me $400-500 a day depending on the skill and amount of peripherals I could sell. There were some guys who made over 100,000 dollars a year with their techniques. I could ask questions in such a way so as to illicit a response that would beg for me to ask the next question and have them so wanting what I was selling that when I asked for their credit card they already had it out. Now that is power. There was a rush of power and control that was addicting. The Hunt was fun and like fishing there is a style and art to the catch.
It didn't last long because I was pressuring people to buy what they didn't need. I knew folks didn't have the money for it as they'd give three credit cards which would all be maxed out. I was willfully programming a mind against their will to do something that may or may not benefit them. I am a Christian and I struggled with that so I quit.
But I am in tuned to this language Jesus is using to illicit from the people a response and desire for more of God. His gracious words were powerful. Romans says the Gospel is the power unto Salvation. David in Psalms says, "he meditates on God's words day and night." The reason I bring all this up is that instead of a Neural Linguistic programming I want to have a Biblical Linguistic Programming. We are to meditate on the Scriptures day and night to be like a tree planted by a river bearing its fruit. We are to be speaking to one another in Psalms, Hymns and spiritual songs. We are to take every thought captive unto Christ. We are to let our minds be transformed through the washing of the word. Biblical Linguistic Programming is lost in the plethora of media disrupting the process.
(CAUTION EMBEDDED COMANDS
MAY CAUSE YOU TO RESPOND
AGAINST YOUR FLESH)
Note: Embedded commands for this last paragraph are, Now, right now, stop today spend mental activity with Jesus. Some of the commands are not true examples of NLP I am just messing with your head...or am I? Buwaaaahhaaaahahahaha
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Setsubun February 3rd. Casting out demons day with beans
This is way too long if you just do the first sentence you will be fine and not need to read any of my ramblings. below.
Pray and seek the Holy Spirit in all this. Don't do what I say but what the Lord says.
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Setsubun (節分, Bean-Throwing Festival or Bean-Throwing Ceremony) is the day before the beginning of each season in Japan.[1][2] The name literally means "seasonal division", but usually the term refers to the spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun (立春) celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the Spring Festival (春祭 haru matsuri). In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be and was previously thought of as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. This special ritual is called mamemaki (豆撒き, lit. bean throwing).
Mamemaki (Bean-Throwing) is usually performed by the toshiotoko (年男) of the household (i.e., the male who was born on the corresponding animal year on the Chinese zodiac), or else the male head of the household. Roasted soybeans (called fuku mame (福豆)) are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing an Oni (demon or ogre) mask, while the throwers chant "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (鬼は外! 福は内!).[3] The words roughly translate to "Demons out! Luck in!" The beans are thought to symbolically purify the home by driving away the evil spirits that bring misfortune and bad health with them. Then, as part of bringing luck in, it is customary to eat roasted soybeans, one for each year of one's life, and in some areas, one for each year of one's life plus one more for bringing good luck for the year to come.[4]
This is my opinion open for criticism:
I received and email from a Christian Mom here in Japan with concerns about this event and her families participation. I am not an authority on this but as I seek the Lord I have shared my convictions.
setsubun the mame throwing tradition of scaring out the demons from the house? We don't do it. Our kids were at school where they were to do it. We have taught them what the tradition means and why we don't participate. We openly told the teachers and Kochou sensei that we are Christians and we don't participate in that. Jane our youngest at Yochien just walked by the mochi in a school ceremony and didn't bow or clap her hands. She openly told her teachers that is not God. Now we are very American in our cultural influence. But our desire here is to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of heaven. What is citizen behavior to look like. If a person who has died and gone to heaven and seen the golden streets and Jesus and millions of saints what would they act like if they came back to this earth? Would those citizens of heaven try to be culturally correct and bow to gods out of respect for the citizens? Would they throw mame to make Obaa chan happy? Somehow I understand the scripture says that we are not to participate in any of that no matter how silly it is. At the risk of being labeled legalistic here I have to guard against syncretism that permeates this culture.
Is it okay to do both? The Japanese can do these things and attend church and see it as okay. The Christian on the other hand is by the Scriptural stand point to be in the world but not of the world. The missiologists of the day are telling us to like Hudson Taylor become one with the culture and dress like it and appropriate it and join it then share the gospel. I feel like a virus in this. I am to infect the culture by infiltrating it and spreading the germs. The problem with this model to me is the result is the host gets sick and dies and the virus dies with it. The Bible shows God's way as narrow road that is lonely and marked with lots of struggle. We are to in many ways parallel the culture with our heavenly grace culture and be there in these things not condemning them but being ready to give an account as to why we don't do these things. Some may not approve here but as I work out this still developing mission this is how we are living at the present. We this last year pulled our kids out of public school and put them in Grace Christian International School because of the Culture teachings. It was becoming evident that the education system here wasn't as much about appropriating knowledge for maturing and living and making right choices as it was about what it means to be Japanese. We saw a government agenda to indoctrinate the minds of the youth into the Japanese Kingdom thinking. They don't want God or the Bible but they teach Buddhism and Shintoism openly and unashamedly. They purposely seek to use demonic terror to scare the kids into good behavior. The demon creature chases the kids in some events and tells them to obey their parents and terrorizes the kids making them cry. I don't find this funny or wise at all.
There are two types of Christian groups I see here. One joins everything and the kids participate in all school events and they allow the kids to do everything and later explain the good and bad to the kids but the culture around them sees them as one with them. Somehow at some point they then share who they are and what they are doing and it is usually shocking and unnerving for people. Just my point of view. Some may be accepting. There is fruit in this model unto salvation and it takes a long time to build trusting relationships that may or may not last when evangelism begins.
The second model comes in and tells everyone openly who they are why they are here and is very open in explaining things. I have seen more fruit from this model as the word of God is being honored and those who are interested desire to build the relationship based on seeking knowledge of the Bible and the Lord. There are tons of people who resent this and hate this. But My ministry here...My Call here is to seek out those that are called by God to come out of the darkness and into his glorious light. I am open to share with all and desire that all come to repentance. I am not Japanese nor am I called to become Japanese. I am a citizen of heaven ministering God's grace and truth to those living in sin and darkness. Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. This is Jesus' words to the Apostle Paul.
Has this commission changed? Has the gospel lost its power to transform? Have Christians been sold a lie from the enemy to neuter them and make them of no affect on the culture? Do I want to stand before God some day and as the scenes of my life are displayed for all in heaven to see that I came to Japan and participated in all these dark cute pagan things and sowed very little gospel seed? I shutter at the thought. God give us grace to give grace to this culture and love them into the kingdom but I can't allow my family to do these things so that people won't get mad. How mad are they going to be for all eternity when they are lost because someone didn't stand. It won't be easy and it will be very hard and the meanness of people can be overwhelming.
Also you need to pray because your kids are the ones growing up here in Japan. Will they have to endure hardship because of Mom and Dads' faith? YES! They will ultimately make their own decisions later on but you build a solid foundation for them and when they are old they will not depart from it. If I compromise the Kids faith foundations what do they have to stand on.
At this point I am at risk for telling you how to behave when you should be listening to the Holy Spirit and draw from Him and the Word of God how you should live. Pray and obey. I am sure the Lord has already spoken to you but one may question the narrow way as being too narrow and hard. You know what to do already but are wondering if there is some other way. Jesus said it best, "Father if there be some other way but never the less not my will be done but thy will be done." God bless.
Pray and seek the Holy Spirit in all this. Don't do what I say but what the Lord says.
FROM WIKIPEDIA:
Setsubun (節分, Bean-Throwing Festival or Bean-Throwing Ceremony) is the day before the beginning of each season in Japan.[1][2] The name literally means "seasonal division", but usually the term refers to the spring Setsubun, properly called Risshun (立春) celebrated yearly on February 3 as part of the Spring Festival (春祭 haru matsuri). In its association with the Lunar New Year, Spring Setsubun can be and was previously thought of as a sort of New Year's Eve, and so was accompanied by a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil of the former year and drive away disease-bringing evil spirits for the year to come. This special ritual is called mamemaki (豆撒き, lit. bean throwing).
Mamemaki (Bean-Throwing) is usually performed by the toshiotoko (年男) of the household (i.e., the male who was born on the corresponding animal year on the Chinese zodiac), or else the male head of the household. Roasted soybeans (called fuku mame (福豆)) are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing an Oni (demon or ogre) mask, while the throwers chant "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (鬼は外! 福は内!).[3] The words roughly translate to "Demons out! Luck in!" The beans are thought to symbolically purify the home by driving away the evil spirits that bring misfortune and bad health with them. Then, as part of bringing luck in, it is customary to eat roasted soybeans, one for each year of one's life, and in some areas, one for each year of one's life plus one more for bringing good luck for the year to come.[4]
This is my opinion open for criticism:
I received and email from a Christian Mom here in Japan with concerns about this event and her families participation. I am not an authority on this but as I seek the Lord I have shared my convictions.
setsubun the mame throwing tradition of scaring out the demons from the house? We don't do it. Our kids were at school where they were to do it. We have taught them what the tradition means and why we don't participate. We openly told the teachers and Kochou sensei that we are Christians and we don't participate in that. Jane our youngest at Yochien just walked by the mochi in a school ceremony and didn't bow or clap her hands. She openly told her teachers that is not God. Now we are very American in our cultural influence. But our desire here is to live as a citizen of the Kingdom of heaven. What is citizen behavior to look like. If a person who has died and gone to heaven and seen the golden streets and Jesus and millions of saints what would they act like if they came back to this earth? Would those citizens of heaven try to be culturally correct and bow to gods out of respect for the citizens? Would they throw mame to make Obaa chan happy? Somehow I understand the scripture says that we are not to participate in any of that no matter how silly it is. At the risk of being labeled legalistic here I have to guard against syncretism that permeates this culture.
Is it okay to do both? The Japanese can do these things and attend church and see it as okay. The Christian on the other hand is by the Scriptural stand point to be in the world but not of the world. The missiologists of the day are telling us to like Hudson Taylor become one with the culture and dress like it and appropriate it and join it then share the gospel. I feel like a virus in this. I am to infect the culture by infiltrating it and spreading the germs. The problem with this model to me is the result is the host gets sick and dies and the virus dies with it. The Bible shows God's way as narrow road that is lonely and marked with lots of struggle. We are to in many ways parallel the culture with our heavenly grace culture and be there in these things not condemning them but being ready to give an account as to why we don't do these things. Some may not approve here but as I work out this still developing mission this is how we are living at the present. We this last year pulled our kids out of public school and put them in Grace Christian International School because of the Culture teachings. It was becoming evident that the education system here wasn't as much about appropriating knowledge for maturing and living and making right choices as it was about what it means to be Japanese. We saw a government agenda to indoctrinate the minds of the youth into the Japanese Kingdom thinking. They don't want God or the Bible but they teach Buddhism and Shintoism openly and unashamedly. They purposely seek to use demonic terror to scare the kids into good behavior. The demon creature chases the kids in some events and tells them to obey their parents and terrorizes the kids making them cry. I don't find this funny or wise at all.
There are two types of Christian groups I see here. One joins everything and the kids participate in all school events and they allow the kids to do everything and later explain the good and bad to the kids but the culture around them sees them as one with them. Somehow at some point they then share who they are and what they are doing and it is usually shocking and unnerving for people. Just my point of view. Some may be accepting. There is fruit in this model unto salvation and it takes a long time to build trusting relationships that may or may not last when evangelism begins.
The second model comes in and tells everyone openly who they are why they are here and is very open in explaining things. I have seen more fruit from this model as the word of God is being honored and those who are interested desire to build the relationship based on seeking knowledge of the Bible and the Lord. There are tons of people who resent this and hate this. But My ministry here...My Call here is to seek out those that are called by God to come out of the darkness and into his glorious light. I am open to share with all and desire that all come to repentance. I am not Japanese nor am I called to become Japanese. I am a citizen of heaven ministering God's grace and truth to those living in sin and darkness. Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. This is Jesus' words to the Apostle Paul.
Has this commission changed? Has the gospel lost its power to transform? Have Christians been sold a lie from the enemy to neuter them and make them of no affect on the culture? Do I want to stand before God some day and as the scenes of my life are displayed for all in heaven to see that I came to Japan and participated in all these dark cute pagan things and sowed very little gospel seed? I shutter at the thought. God give us grace to give grace to this culture and love them into the kingdom but I can't allow my family to do these things so that people won't get mad. How mad are they going to be for all eternity when they are lost because someone didn't stand. It won't be easy and it will be very hard and the meanness of people can be overwhelming.
Also you need to pray because your kids are the ones growing up here in Japan. Will they have to endure hardship because of Mom and Dads' faith? YES! They will ultimately make their own decisions later on but you build a solid foundation for them and when they are old they will not depart from it. If I compromise the Kids faith foundations what do they have to stand on.
At this point I am at risk for telling you how to behave when you should be listening to the Holy Spirit and draw from Him and the Word of God how you should live. Pray and obey. I am sure the Lord has already spoken to you but one may question the narrow way as being too narrow and hard. You know what to do already but are wondering if there is some other way. Jesus said it best, "Father if there be some other way but never the less not my will be done but thy will be done." God bless.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Friday Night Home Fellowship
I shared my heart as to what God is doing in Japan and more specifically what is Jesus doing in my heart. In John 6 the feeding of the 5000 Jesus escapes them trying to make him a King prematurely. He is found by the thousands later the next day as they were working hard to find Jesus. The people who were fed the bread were working and laboring to find Jesus. Jesus says labor not for the bread that perishes but for the bread that leads to eternal life. He also told them you are not seeking me but the bread.
Today in the church so many people are being sold a bill of goods claiming life enhancement in exchange for religious devotion. Many are being taught; "Come to Jesus for riches." "Come to Jesus for a better marriage." "Come to Jesus for drug rehab." "Come to Jesus for a job." ETC. The problem is as Jesus points out in the passage that the people are not coming to Jesus. He says, "Your are not seeking me you are seeking the bread." Those reasons to come to Jesus are not bad per-se but they are not the real reason of why we should come to Jesus.
This caught my attention as I have been guilty in the act of planting a church to try to turn people on to church or turn them on to the benefits of attending the church. I have been guilty of trying to turn people on to the benefits of coming to church more than coming to Jesus. I have been taught not to do that I have been taught to focus on Jesus but in my carnality I think if only I can convince them of this they'll come to Jesus. To which Jesus says later in the chapter. "No one can come to the father unless he draws them." I am trying to draw people in without the work of the Father. Ouch. It is true. I am working to draw people into the church my focus is well meaning and the benefits do happen yet that is not how God the Father wants us to believe and come to faith. I can take a robotic arm that mixes powerful chemicals to make medicines that cure and I can use that robotic arm as a back scratcher. I can then tell people to get the robotic arm as a great back scratcher and it make medicines. But that is wrong. So too with the way churches are being built. But How does the Father draw them? V29 "This is the work of God that you believe in Him He has sent." Believe in Jesus! Preach Jesus, Live Jesus, Love Jesus. When Peter made his glorious confession saying, "Thou art the Christ the Son of God." Jesus said upon that confession is what he will build his church. Jesus even called it a key to the kingdom. Jesus unlocks many things for us but we are not to focused on the things we are to focus on Jesus himself.
The church today in Japan or in the US is selling the benefits of Jesus but I see (myself included) our focus is not on Jesus and who he is. He is God the Word John 1:1 come in the flesh as the Son of God. He is the second person of the unified God. Col tells us Jesus is the creator of the universe and he holds it altogether. Jesus is so awesome and worthy the Bible even tells us that one day at the Name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is LORD. Jesus is worthy to be worshiped. For HE alone is worthy. Christ the Lord. Let's this season of Christmas seek to worship Jesus for who he is and because he is worthy rather than trying to gain brownie points with God to gain some benefit. When you seek God for healing but not Jesus...When you seek God for a job but not Jesus...When you seek God for provision but not Jesus you are not seeking Jesus you have not because you ask amiss says James. This year let's get our eyes off of self-centered life enhancement and get out eyes on the giver of life and worship him for who he is for HE ALONE IS WORTHY. AMEN
A note of thanks: The Fujikura's Yumiko and Keizo have been wonderful hosts of our meetings and it is such a blessing to know them and see them grow in the Lord. Blessings of God upon your family and home. Also a note of thanks to Toshiko Yokota for coming and blessing us. She is a Professor at CSLA and teaches Japanese. Thank you for the lessons Sensei. God bless you.
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