Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Our newest ESL addition

Naoka is a fire cracker full of energy. Literally, I thought how hard could it be to sing some songs and play toys with a 2 year old. I am rethinking the wisdom of this venture. He is only signed up for 6 weeks and so we will just continue to hang out and run around. I am really running after him with a flash card of the color Orange and as he runs from me he is shouting ORANJIIIIIII. I am so exhausted from this one little guy than any of my other classes. You can see the one picture where I thought a kid video might capture his attention for 10 minutes. My kids were watching the dumb video and Naoka was bouncing on the couch watching my kids watch a video. Too funny. I only have 4 more weeks. yea me. I need some toddler strategy to get his attention. I must have a combat strategy to not only captivate our mark but to engage in linguistic appropriation tatics that brain wash our subject. This calls for bear puppet, Super flash cards and Old MacDonald heavy metal style. Ready engage. Pray for me I'm going in.

Rachel Turns 9 Yeas Old

She is officially 9 years old. Where does the time go to. Rachel was an easy baby...except for the part about having a heart transplant when she was 4. God is good and gracious giving us so much time with her to enjoy her each and everyday.

We started the day with a hearty breakfast and then going to the church to prepare for our ESL outreach on Thursday. The kids volunteered to be our official Slip-n-Slide testers. They practiced sacrificing their bodies as they discovered where rocks and sticks were hidden in the grass. We'd pull the tarp back and yank it out and then they'd test it again. We then celebrated with a Sushi dinner and a Costco Cake.

I was a little bit more gentle on the lady than I was with Nathan. She had so much fun. She told me not to make any Kusai jokes so I told her I wouldn't. In Japanese to be 9 years old means you are ku or kyu-sai. 9=ku sai = age. But in Japanese to be stinky is the word kusai. Hmm so you can see the real temptation to make fun of this interesting fact about language. But I won't do it. I love my daughter and I won't tell you all she is really kusai.

We Love you Ray God bless your year and have a blessed healthy life.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Jun and Toshiko Yokota

We had the Yokota Family come out and visit us. They were wonderful encouragers. We had a blessed time. Toshiko has a PHD in Japanese Ancient Literature from UCI. She is on fire for Jesus. She came out to the Radio Station and has filled the airwaves with her love for Jesus. It was a great interview and she did awesome staying true to the message.
Toshiko has been teaching me Japanese Language through skype this summer. It has been fun. She was so inspired by her trip she is determined to finish the next 5 chapters of our Language learning in the month of August. Yea for me...I think. Where is the ibuprofen.

Shuji and Sayaka Noda's Wedding

We had the honor and privilege of attending Shuji and Sayaka Noda's wedding. Noda Sensei is the pastor of Ai no Kyoukai. The Church we are renting a building from. He is a musician and loves to do outreach and help the homeless. They are so cute and we pray that God will bless this couple and use them for his glory in the ministry. Have a great marriage guys. Omedetto Gozaimasu.



Saturday, July 24, 2010

Ekimae Plaza Summer Matsuri (Obon)

I woke this morning to some very loud speakers testing Matsuri music. We moved to the other side of our Apartment complex this spring. We are directly over the Matsuri now and as a result we get the full force of the noise. It was fun. Mihoko and I went to a wedding and my In-laws took the kids to the matsuri for an hour. They got to eat Kaki kori (Shaved ice) and yakitori (Skewered Chicken) and some other things. When we came back from the wedding I went out and took some picts with some of the neighborhood kids. A side note is that Obon originally was a festival to honor the dead or family that has passed away. In China they have the Ghost festival.

Wikipedia had this blurb: Bon Odori originates from the story of Maha Maudgalyayana (Mokuren), a disciple of the Buddha, who used his supernatural powers to look upon his deceased mother. He discovered she had fallen into the Realm of Hungry Ghosts and was suffering.[3] Greatly disturbed, he went to the Buddha and asked how he could release his mother from this realm. Buddha instructed him to make offerings to the many Buddhist monks who had just completed their summer retreat, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The disciple did this and, thus, saw his mother's release. He also began to see the true nature of her past unselfishness and the many sacrifices that she had made for him. The disciple, happy because of his mother's release and grateful for his mother's kindness, danced with joy. From this dance of joy comes Bon Odori or "Bon Dance", a time in which ancestors and their sacrifices are remembered and appreciated. The festival ends with Toro Nagashi, or the floating of lanterns. Paper lanterns are illuminated and then floated down rivers symbolically signaling the ancestral spirits' return to the world of the dead. This ceremony usually culminates in a fireworks display.
Luke 24:5 says: And as they were afraid, and bowed down [their] faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? This is in reference to the ladies seeking for Jesus' body and he was risen from the dead. The angels comment is fascinating because even them as spiritual beings knew dead meant dead and they weren't coming back to life. It seems to me that there is no way to communicate with the dead from their answer. So as Christian's we do not believe in worshiping the dead. We are not to seek to try to communicate with the dead because that leads to demonic activity that is deceptive and against God's desire for us to seek to communicate with him. Is it wrong for us to hang out with our neighbors while they drink beer and dance around a drum on a tower? Do Christians celebrate Halloween. I did as a kid and loved it. I was taught a sanitized version of the origins of Halloween and my parents just sought to allow us to have fun and not be imprisoned by legalism. In America do millions of kids and parents alike worship the devil on halloween or are they just out for some fun and candy. In Japan, the Obon festival has after 500 years of history, reached a similar point of celebration. It is part of the culture. The community centers, Apartment complexes, City halls, corporate companies and shopping centers all use the festival for marketing and sales and to get community people out together. I don't dance around the drum and I don't drink beer. But I will love on the kids and eat a hot dog and shaved ice. I met many of the parents of the kids for the first time since they work too much. I believe in these last days we are to take advantage of every opportunity we can to be real Christians in a real community and love on people.

A side note: One little boy has a ADD problem and he is 5 years old. His dad had a little too much to drink and did knock the boy on the head for something he did. Crying and running away he comes to me and knows I'm good for a hug. The tears dry and the smiles come and he says, "Hori Kun no Papa, eigo hanashitte kudasai." (Hori kun-is Nathan my son-please speak English to me. So I taught him, "Good Evening." He gave me a hug and ran back to his mother telling everyone on the way. "Good Evening, sore wa eigo no kon ban wa,-it's English for Kon Ban Wa." The community saw what I did and was very glad to have us in their apartment complex. I was very glad I could be there to comfort the boy and shine some love not only into his heart but those around who saw the whole thing. Jesus may not attend a pagan festival but then again as God he is everywhere and is wanting to express his love to all.
The only thing that puzzles me is that they are so strict about saving the environment and CO2 and they separate trash religiously, yet they have a festival that makes too much noise, puts toxic gas into the air with all the fireworks, and sends tons of trash into the rivers and oceans with the Toro Nagashi lanterns going to to the bottom of the sea. What is up with that double message. Japan could lower the Co2 rate by 80% just by having everyone quit smoking. That is going to be a great day on Earth when that industry is gone.

Jane's Yochien Sleepover

Jane's yochien or Kindergarten had a summer sleep over. They wore yukatas (girls)and Jimbe for the boys. Rachel was blessed to get one too. They love to wear the Japanese costumes. Jane had a blast at her sleepover. She did come home tired but then I think that is par for the course of any sleep over.



Friday, July 23, 2010

Private Worlds

The following article is from another website: https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/86/private-worlds.html. It is not religious but is very eye opening into the sociological changes over time that Japan has experienced. This is a very open country and yet the people are very private and closed. This article reveals some reasoning why.

Late last year when Japan’s master animation artist Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Totoro) addressed a room of mostly Western journalists in Tokyo, many of us were expecting him to talk about his latest fantastical feature film, Ponyo, which was just about to open worldwide. Instead, the 68-year-old director spent 15 minutes issuing a stern warning about the dangers and delusions of living through virtual media. “All of our young people today derive their pleasure, entertainment, communication and information from virtual worlds,” he declared. “And all of those worlds have one thing in common: They’re making young Japanese weak.”

Miyazaki ticked off the usual suspects – cell phones, emails, video games, television – and he also included two more categories: manga and anime. “These things take away [young peoples’] inherent natural strengths,” he continued, “and so they lose their ability to cope with the real world. They lose their imaginations.”

Japan has long been recognized as a global leader in the development of virtual realms. A land of limited physical space and, yes, very active imaginations has applied artifice to often highly sophisticated uses in order to enhance livability. Traditionally, the artful arrangement of a tokonoma – a raised alcove displaying seasonal flowers and hanging scrolls in a teahouse – created an artificial environment where samurai warriors could temporarily duck the realities of ongoing warfare and engage in peaceful meditation and reflection. (Battling enemies would allegedly set aside their swords and hostilities for a few quiet moments of matcha, Japanese green tea.) Similarly, rock gardens, carp pools and bonsai trees take elements of the natural world and reshape them into objects of visual and spiritual refuge: escapes from the otherwise chaotic and untamable world of the actual.

Adding technology to the mix has expanded Japan’s virtual zones exponentially, of course, and its related exports have arguably transformed lives far beyond its shores. The world’s first digital answering machine came from Japan, allowing us to forever exist in the virtual state of being perpetually “at home.” The Sony Walkman helped us shut out our physical surroundings, wherever we might be, to indulge in the concert halls and recording studios of our minds. Virtual pets like the Tamagotchi gave us a portable, ever-present someone or something to feed, clean up after and keep alive through anthropomorphic love. As author William Gibson, one of the first Western writers to see the face of the 21st century in Japan, notes: “If you believe, as I do, that all cultural change is essentially technology-driven, you pay attention to Japan.”

The Japanese have also proven particularly adept at cultivating private virtual worlds amid very crowded public realities. Author and translator Frederik L. Schodt, a veteran authority on Japanese pop culture media, has used the term “autistic” to define the characteristics of a comparatively inward-looking, narrowly focused sensibility. I often find myself trekking between Japan and the US, and the differences in spatial perceptions and public behaviors have become glaringly obvious.

For Americans accustomed to traversing space, reaching out across the vast distances to “touch someone,” as an old AT&T ad campaign once exhorted people to do, speaking out to a stranger in a subway car or on an elevator or sidewalk is practically de rigueur. Arriving at a US airport, for example, I am often peppered with spontaneous questions from a cab driver or fellow traveler about my port of departure, my work and my preferred airline. It’s often coupled with chitchat about the local weather and sometimes more intimate disclosures about the speaker’s family and personal histories – all this from someone I’ve never met before and likely won’t meet again.

Arriving in Japan, by contrast, involves only the most necessary exchanges with customs and immigration officials and baggage handlers. And most of the time, the voices of jet-lagged conversationalists on the bus or train entering Tokyo issue from non-Japanese. An elevator in Japan is a womb of silent transport; a subway car is equally hushed: a train’s muted whoosh down a tunnel is broken only by the occasional clicks, bleeps and jingles of passengers’ cell phones – their vivid screens held mere centimeters from their users’ mesmerized eyes. With the exception of the oft-muttered “sumimasen,” or “excuse me,” as passengers jostle for space, no one says a word.

The sum effect of being surrounded in close quarters by people whose thoughts and attentions are deliberately displaced through willful distraction or digital media, is that privacy is not simply sustained, it’s thrust upon you. Even the stray pair of eyes that might fix upon you momentarily will soon flicker away out of politeness or sheer discomfort. Directness – let alone contact of any kind – is to be avoided.

Miyazaki’s comments about this very issue resonated against a backdrop of unsettling news. Cases of hikikomori, or socially withdrawn youths, who seclude themselves in their rooms and rely exclusively upon digital communications in order to avoid any kind of public interaction, were reportedly on the rise. The same with so-called “parasite singles” (young women who refuse to get married, get pregnant or move out of their parents’ homes); hakken and arubaito workers and internet homeless (part-time, contract laborers who often seek employment during overnight stays in internet cafes); internet suicide pacts (online suicidal meet & greets); and the recently branded soshoku-danshi (grass-eating/herbivore men) young males who reject the very tenets of masculinity – from eating meat to the fleshly pursuit the opposite sex, from following career paths to buying in to brand-name consumerism.

Just six months prior to Miyazaki’s appearance, Japan suffered one of its worst killing sprees on record when 25-year-old Tomohiro Kato plowed a rental truck into masses of pedestrians, then began to indiscriminately stab passersby, slashing 17 and killing seven. Even more chilling was the way Kato conducted his attacks. He committed his crime at midday on a Sunday, primetime for Japan’s shopping masses, in the heart of Akihabara, Tokyo’s locus of digital media marketing (electronics, cell phones, video and computer games) and virtual realities (anime, manga and porn). And he posted a running commentary in the hours and minutes leading up to the murders on an internet Bulletin Board System (BBS) from his mobile phone.

Subsequent police report revealed that Kato had made some 3,000-plus internet postings in a span of 30 days, many of which complain of loneliness, unattractiveness and social failure. “I’m tired of life,” Kato told the cops by way of an explanation.

Scholars, sociologists and commentators East and West have identified a generation-wide malaise in Japan following its late 20th-century economic juggernaut. University of California Berkeley professor Michael Zielenziger argues in his book Shutting Out the Sun that post-bubble Japan has created its own “lost generation” of the young and aimless. The grafting of capitalism onto Japan’s unique “social architecture,” writes Zielenziger, has resulted in a Japan with “nothing to believe in,” a spiritual crisis whose only balm is sought in cycles of materialism that neither satisfy nor heal.

What the pathologies affecting Japanese all have in common is a rejection of active engagement, a refusal to participate in the actual world beyond the confines of specifically tailored, intimately controllable private spaces – a bedroom, a booth in an internet café, an online chat room or a bulletin board site. It’s something I’ve taken to calling Japan’s “Bartleby rebellion,” after Herman Melville’s eponymous 19th-century law staffer in his novel Bartleby the Scrivener, whose refusal to accede to societal expectations eventually results in his rejection of sustenance itself. He starves himself to death in his prison cell. Bartleby’s irreverent mantra? “I’d prefer not to.” Tell that to the cops.

But Bartleby didn’t have a wired virtual world at his disposal – no multifunctional cell phone, Wi-Fi laptop or any of the other conduits of an enticing, seductive and infinitely elaborate digital reality – nowhere to air his darkest insecurities and perceptions. One can only imagine the beleaguered legal scribe in contemporary Tokyo posting thousands of complaints about the inanity of his boss’s requests, the stupidity of his colleagues and the increasing loneliness of his isolated outpost. The question is: would anyone listen or, better yet, reply?

Consumer and cultural critic Mariko Fujiwara believes that one of the most dangerous deceptions of virtual life, especially for lonely and isolated individuals like Kato, is that it creates a false sense of belonging. Internet communities, she says, are fundamentally different from communities in the real world, largely because they are so fleeting and fundamentally insubstantial.

“When we talk about communities, there should be a certain amount of commitment,” Fujiwara says, distinguishing between participants in online forums and offline groups of like-minded individuals. “When we talk about quote-unquote communities on the internet, some people are very committed, while others are simply casual visitors to the site. They say whatever they feel like saying at the moment in five words … and then go on surfing the web for a few hours, never paying attention to what other members of the online community might go through in the next five hours.”

Kato’s thousands of postings made him feel like he was connected to others, she adds, “but he didn’t really have any connections to the real communities around him, like his coworkers or neighbors, or even his divorced parents. Only on the internet was he somebody who could talk and hope that other people would respond. But his virtual community didn’t exist in a way that could really support him – especially at the moment he so desperately needed support.”

Japan’s virtual communities are vast and very active. While Japan ranks third behind the US and China in overall internet usage, it is home to what is often cited as the world’s largest public internet forum, the now famous 2-channel, a Japanese language-dominant social networking site (SNS) called Mixi and a Japanese language-only, YouTube-styled video sharing site called Nico Nico Douga – plus a host of other forums, BBSs and chat rooms devoted to nearly every topic imaginable. Japanese internet users have access to the fastest consumer broadband connections in the world at 160 megabytes per second, meaning they can post, watch and download high-quality media and multitask with comparable ease.

But the one thing most Japanese won’t do in their virtual lives is reveal anything about their real lives – or even tell you who they are.

An AP report published last year stated that “the vast majority of Mixi’s roughly 15 million users don’t reveal anything about themselves,” using fake names, ages and addresses to maintain privacy, but also anonymity, a crucial factor in a culture where standing out and drawing attention to oneself is still frowned on. The same article revealed that less than half of the Japanese customers of the dating site Match.com were willing to post their own photographs, a practice gleefully undertaken by the site’s American users. And on YouTube Japanese users are far more likely to submit videos of their pets than themselves. When Google released the mapping application Street View in Japan, which has close-up photographs of specific addresses and locales, many Japanese cried foul, citing an invasion of privacy in photos featuring actual people, residences and license plates. The issue eventually wound up in the courts, and Google made several concessions to protect Japanese citizens.

The clichéd Japanese saying, deru kugi-wa utareru (the nail that sticks out gets hammered down) remains as relevant to the virtual world as it does to the real one. But in a group-oriented culture where conformity and consensus maintain the prized sense of wa – social harmony – in the daily life of the actual world, the anonymity of the virtual space can open numerous Pandora’s boxes. Anonymous contributors to 2-channel, for example, often unleash virulent diatribes betraying archly nationalistic sentiments, bigotry and slander, issued from behind the shield of a fake moniker – an identity chosen for the needs of the moment.

Obviously, this is hardly exclusive to Japan. The banal swill of anonymous postings oozing down the commentary sections of politically or celebrity oriented blogs and news sites worldwide is often crude and obscene enough to make one give up on civilization entirely. The displacement of the self and all of its earthly responsibilities affords us numerous opportunities to engage in careless, lazy or just bad behavior in the virtual realm, even as it may feel liberating, at least at first. But what if, as Miyazaki suggests, the very real self issuing such pronouncements via its virtual counterparts, its simulated selves, is not so strongly developed to begin with.

Japanese-American blogger and journalist Lisa Katayama, author of Urawaza, a book about Japanese household solutions to everyday problems, published a recent article in the New York Times about so-called 2-D love – a subculture of Japanese men who seek romantic relationships with illustrations of their ideal partners, sometimes in the form of manga or anime characters, doll-like figurines or, in the case of the main subject in Katayama’s story, a life-sized portable pillow featuring a drawing of the object of his affection. “In an ideal moe relationship,” Katayama writes, citing the slang term for the fetishization of hyper-cute, two-dimensional female characters, “a man frees himself from the expectations of an ordinary human relationship and expresses his passion for a chosen character without fear of being judged or rejected” (emphasis added).

This last phrase brings us back to Fujiwara’s use of the word “commitment” when comparing real-world relationships to their virtual versions. Committing oneself to a task, to a relationship, to a goal of any type naturally involves risk. But the manifold seductions of virtual realities – anyone can join, anyone can post and you can be anyone, anywhere, at any time – reduce our sense of risk, promising to banish our insecurities, imperfections and uncertainties, if not finally being able to eradicate them entirely.

Fujiwara uses a baseball analogy to describe the collapse of Japan’s actual communities in the face of global competition and expanding technologies. Japan was competing in the minor leagues during its developing years post World War II, she argues, when its future continued to improve by dint of diligence, sacrifice and pragmatism. “Ganbaru, motto ganbaru” (“work hard, work very hard”) parents would tell their children and bosses would tell their employees. For a while, it worked: “Japan became a champion in minor league baseball.”

The nation’s social institutions, including families, worked well enough to propel Japan onto the world stage, or into the major leagues, as Fujiwara puts it. But once it got there, the communities failed to evolve.

“‘Work hard’ is just advice,” she says. “It’s not a real strategy for a complex future. We now have well-trained unemployed and under-employed young people, and the gap between their expectations and their realities is huge. And as a result of affluence, the largest type of household in Japan is a single-person household. These are older people living alone after their spouses have died, but also a rising tide of young individuals. And they feel isolated and alienated, and they think that maybe out there, in the virtual world, you would find someone more sympathetic than you find around you physically.”

Fujiwara notes a critical difference between the communal behaviors of her generation and that of Japan’s digitally-bound youth. “According to our research,” she says, “they just want to have as many friends as they can. It’s very important to have lots of friends in your cell phone address book or on Mixi, but to have a very casual and noncommittal relationship is even more important. The experience of having a best friend, your best friend in life to whom you can confide everything seems to be long gone. They think that sort of deep relationship is just too much … It’s too heavy, too much effort to maintain and too scary.”

This past summer the US had its own internet blogging murderer, who revealed his angst, loneliness and criminal intentions to the virtual world. George Sodini, a 48-year-old single male, opened fire in a gym during a female aerobics class, killing three and injuring nine before shooting himself to death. Expressing sentiments eerily similar to those posted by Japan’s Kato a year earlier, Sodini wrote: “The biggest problem of all is not having relationships or friends, but not being able to achieve and acquire what I desire in those or many other areas … Maybe all this will shed insight on why some people just cannot make things happen in their life.”

Granted, it’s often hard to make things happen in real life. Committing to a relationship or the achievement of an ambition is usually a lot more challenging than creating a sudden buzz on the internet, posting a blog entry, tweeting 140 characters or adding new friends to your Facebook, Mixi or digital address pages. But a retreat from reality poses its own set of risks: newly emerging anxieties and uncertainties that we are only now beginning to recognize and understand. Tetsuya Akikawa, a musician who unwittingly became a counselor to Japan’s suicidal youth when he hosted a radio call-in program, distills his listeners’ most common complaint: “A lot of teenagers said to me that they couldn’t feel the real feelings of living,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief. “They live a shadow of a life, rather than life itself.”

Divorced from the very human responsibility to contact and interact directly with other living beings, we may feel hollowed out, emptied of the sense of an evolving self that can make existence worth its painful bouts of adversity and growth. A life spent lurking too long in the shadows of the virtual world might turn out to be no life at all.

Roland Nozomu Kelts is the author of Japanamerica: How Japanese Pop Culture Has Invaded the US. He is a lecturer at the University of Tokyo, a contributing editor for A Public Space magazine and a columnist for the Daily Yomiuri. His forthcoming novel is called Access.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Neelys Came by what a blessing

Ladies and Gentlemen, All the way from Okinawa Japan, we were officially blessed by the Neely family who came by yesterday and just hung out and blessed us. Of course, I talked their ear off like you wouldn't believe. But it was great to have them. Kayo Chan translated my message at the Worship conference in Okinawa at CC Ginowan a year ago. Andrew is a great godly man from the blessed state of Iowa. He came to Japan seeking the Lord 3 years ago and now God has blessed him with the wife of his dreams and the ministry of eternal blessings right here in Japan. They are so cute. They were married just a couple months ago and are traveling around Tokyo. It was so wonderful to see them they brought us joy to remember our own selves 19 years ago the 27th of this month. We were just like them except not as intelligent. They have the same really huge issues like we did with the fan on and window open versus no fan and no window and dying of heat exhaustion. Ha We enjoyed that time and can laugh so much about it now. Pray for them as they are so happy and the fan issue is just a funny thing. But pray for them in this stage of life to continue to build on that foundation of Jesus Christ and His Word, praying together and enjoying the time serving Jesus. Pray for God's blessings to be on them. We love you guys come back anytime and next time I'll let you talk...a little

Goofing off

Who are those masked marauders? Are they friend or foe? They are the masked Dancing duo dynamite gals. Jane and Rachel made these masks and were running around. It was cute. Rachel actually wore hers outside and walked around the complex. I hope she didn't scare anyone. Nathan...I am not sure if he is trying to kick me or break dance. Silly kids love em too much.



Sunday, July 11, 2010

Luke 22 after thoughts

Today I taught in Luke 22 and we learned about the new covenant that Jesus makes and about the passover meal and we studied the significance of Jesus at this meal being the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. Yet as I reflect on the teaching and all the dynamics of what I could have said or should have said, I am cycling around about Judas. This guy weirds me out. I have wrote some thoughts your invited to dialogue with me and even contend differently as I am open to grow. I don't know everything but I am working out some theological ambiguities regarding evil and God using it for his benefit. We learned that everyone in the room is not always on the same page. Jesus is instituting the Greatest of all the covenants for God to give to mankind in the passover meal. He says with fervent desire I have wanted to have this meal with you. The passion of Jesus in that statement this the whole reason for him to come to Earth as a man to be our kinsman redeemer is to institute a New Covenant. Yet the audience is not on the same page as we see how they were arguing over who would be the greatest in the kingdom. They were bickering like little kids while God is initiating this awesome most marvelous work about to happen for all humanity and the guys are shooting dirty looks and gesturing and all. One of the disciples is sitting there as Satan incarnate. Now talk about a strange meal to have here. Luke 22:3 says Satan entered Judas. Now here is God the Son sitting having a last supper meal instituting the new covenant and Satan is in the room. In another gospel Jesus is hand feeding him bread. (Talk about keep your friends close and you enemies closer) It didn't seem to bother Jesus. He even told the evil one, "Um hello, this is your que now go out and do some betraying stuff." The evil one was like, "ahh oh yea." But he took the passover he ate the passover lamb and the disciples had no clue at all it was Judas. They lived for three years together, Men living for three years together kind of get to know each other. Yet Judas had their trust. The Gospel of John tells us he was pilfering the cash box. The thing that really gets me is Jesus knew the whole time. He allowed evil to exist for a purpose. HE ALLOWED EVIL TO EXIST FOR A PURPOSE. He really allowed evil to exist for a purpose. Now God did not create evil nor does he condone evil behavior in humans. But we do have the story in 1 King 22:22, "And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade [him], and prevail also: go forth, and do so." God allows evil to be used as a tool to forward his agenda to carry out his sovereign plan. That blows me away. Yet remember he is God and we are not. We are to be spirit led and not power hungry. Judas is not a victim here as many want to make him out to be. Judas is an evil man that was not normal. He seeing God doing miracles and healing people and speaking truth. Judas exchanged the truth for a lie and sought the riches of Earth over heaven. Some try to say he had an agenda to force Jesus' hand to make him revolt. There is no scriptural evidence to support that. Judas felt sorry but he was not repentant for his sin. There is a huge difference to feel sorry for your self and to change and make amends and do what is right. He was so self absorbed and shamed he committed suicide. Jesus' own commentary on Judas was, "it would have been better had he never been born." Can you imagine to have God say that about your life. Yikes. True repentance comes when we are sorry for our sin and turn away from it and do it no more. We have a desire to make things right like Zacheaus did after meeting with the Lord. Now getting back to the evil for hire purpose. I can see evidence that what is prophecies in scripture has to include God allowing evil to be used for his purposes to be carried out. That may explain how God got the sovereign title, because He is. I was just pondering that and then thinking about ministering in a pagan land. Jesus tells us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Does that mean God is telling us to go and do likewise? That is something to think about. The great commission is what we are about but are we using all means necessary to achieve that goal? I seems to me God did.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

I love this song

Tanya blessed us with finding this song on youtube. It is very nice. Hope you like it.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Don't give Rachel the Camera

Rachel and Jane were at it again but I thought I'd share some of their award winning photography. We got a few good ones finally of Mihoko's parents. We still can't get her dad to pose with a normal smiling face. He is such the prankster. I just can't imagine someone like that I never...Oh wait change the thought. So we have some fun shots of the family hope you enjoy.