Graduation

The Fall Semester Graduation.

This semester we had 3 Japanese graduates.




Yoshua Higa




Taliya Hokumori

And




Natsuki Smith.

It's a huge blessing to see these three take another step of faith in the Lord.

Please pray for them as they continue in ministry.

Cho-Ichiro and Mami are getting married. They are two people at the Church and we have all been waiting for this day lol






(sorry no recent posts. Been busy and well I am lacking in posting material.)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A little update.

Long time since I have updated.

So a good friend of mine, Jon Piper, left island to go serve in Iwakuni. So we went to yakiniku.

The first portion of meat we got.








Yummy.

Please pray for him as he takes off. I need to find his blog.

Other than that news is the same lol.

Cool Cloud

Just wanted to share this lol.

Heigh Ho Its off to Work We Go

Dig dig dig.

Work is something we all have to do. We work for food, fun, family, and living expenses. We work out of necessity in almost every part of life.

But there are areas that we don't have to work in. We shouldn't have to work for love out of necessity, because then it becomes a service and not a gift.

We shouldn't have to work for free out of necessity but should be paid for our work.

But another area we shouldn't work in out of necessity is our spiritual walks.

As Christians we shouldn't have to work for our salvations first of all.

When we try to work for our salvation it is the same as trying to pay someone back for the gift they gave you.

Example - You buy me an 150$ watch for my birthday. I then thank you for it and then proceed
to work and I earn the 150$ and pay you back for the watch. I mean if I were you I would think, "No that watch was a gift you don't need to pay me back for it". It could almost be insulting as I would be saying I will not accept a free gift from you.

But so often we have the audacity to think that we can pay God back for eternal life. I mean a priceless gift cannot be payed for. God gave us salvation we cannot pay Him back with our works. They just do not have the same value.

In Japanese (I think), English, Hebrew, and Greek the word work can mean, labor, an occupation, or business. Don't try to do business with God you have no work that He will accept as a payment.

So that brings me to my second point. We work too hard in an effort to please God and others.

We often in an attempt to live right lives and to do things right make our works priority.

For example we know God wants us to be holy, so we go and we try to do everything we can to make ourselves holier. We try to love our brethren more, we try to do what those above us tell us, and all these things.

But didn't God say that He started that work in you? (Phillipians 1:6) He is also going to finish that work. Why are you trying to finish that work for Him?

Don't try to take God's job of making you holier. God has a design and a mold for you. You are to be a lump of clay in a potters hands. He is going to shape you. If you take your own works and try to shape yourself you will not become that image of Christ.

Let God do works through you. Don't try working yourself. Ask God to use you and follow God. He will then make these changes in you. You don't need to work for these things yourself.

We all need to take a Sabbath from works. I am not suggesting now that we do no works for God. I want to challenge everyone with this. God is our rest He is our Sabbath. I want to challenge you to rest your works on Him. I am challenging you to follow Him into the works He leads you to. Don't strive to make your own works, but let God do a work through you instead.

Walking in the rain.

I am now walking in the rain. Got my raincoat which I really like haha.





Normally I don't wear the hood and all but it had cinematic effect :P

10 Chocolates

Curious to why I have ten chocolates in a bag?




The world may never know...

Location:２丁目,Urasoe,Japan

IDP (A Short Post)

So I am gonna apply for my International Drivers License.

Thank you for reading blog.

Location:２丁目,Urasoe,Japan

Wandering

So I was wandering a lot of today.

I went and looked at apartments.










While doing that I found this










Edited versions.

Now I am at the cafe maybe about to take a nap. Really tired from all the walking.

Thank you to those who kept me company during the walk. It was very much appreciated ;)

My Day 2Day

So I was walking home and it started pouring so I am waiting for it to stop haha.

今雨宿り

家に帰ました大雨始まっただから、blogアップデイトします

My bento had a smile.
（；゜０゜）(^o^)

弁当が笑顔ありました



So at work my coworker fell asleep on a pile of trash.

今日、仕事で同僚を眠りにゴミ堆積です


I went to Kane Hide and bought a lot of soda.

かねひでに行きましたこれを買いました沢山ソダ






誰でも日本語を正す下さい

ありがとうございます

Location:Urasoe,Japan

Black Jesus

Michal pointed out that there is a black person that looks like Jesus on the kids ministry sign.

Location:１丁目,Ginowan,Japan

From the Top of a Box

I am on my break. And this is what I see.








Too lazy to take a better pic :P

Yes I count these.

Too Busy

I have been too busy lately o give a good update.

Work is hard right now and my brain is fried as I am doing everything in Japanese.

I trained our two new workers but they only speak Japanese. This does not mean I speak Japanese but I am able to get a point across haha. Still learning. Haha

Streamed

www.ustream.tv/channel/calvary-chapel-ginowan-sunday-morning-evening-services

Hey every one the Church service is live streamed. Feel free to join us.

Location:Ginowan,Japan

My Vimeo Pt 2

www.vimeo.com/user7881739/videos

I added two videos from Eder and Amanda's wedding reception and reached my limit for a week haha. So later I will post more.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Capo?

No not really. Makeshift capo Tommy showed me how to make. Who knew I would use it haha.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:２丁目,Urasoe,Japan

Super Typhoon スーパー台風

So this Thursday (木曜日が) we have a huge typhoon coming (大きい台風を沖縄に来る)




It is a category 5 right now (今台風がカテゴリー5). When it reaches Okinawa it is expected to be the same. (沖縄に至る同じカテゴリー)

I am attempting to translate my own short posts. It's probably no good but I will do my best haha.

自分のチャレンジして。私のポストが自分の訳する試す。

It will help me learn new words.

日本語勉強ましょ

Location:Ginowan,Japan

Poetry

Spur of the moment writing.

------------------

Woe is me, for I am undone.
I grabbed my bags and started to run.
To places I thought I could run and hide.
But all those things left me empty and dry.

Woe is me for I am a mess.
Lord stop me now I need to confess.
I've littered Your name with filth of words.
And I've left my heart on another's street curb.

Forgive me Lord I have to repent.
Every last ounce of my soul has been spent.
On the cares of this world and material things.
And You've been replaced by all of my bling.

Cleanse me Lord for I cannot see.
How You can see a new creation in me.
Make me new for now I know.
There's nothing inside me to regrow.

Change me Lord to be like You.
As being myself will just not do.
By my power I will be devoured.
By sin and my own infection.
By Your strength I will rise.
And in Your name is my might.

My Vimeo

So I needed some way to post the videos on my phone somewhere online. But I couldn't do it with anything but this site. So feel free to watch these. I am planning on doing more individual blog posts on these explaining them a bit better. But this can be a sneak peek.

www.vimeo.com/user7881739/videos

This is Not a Banana

This is not a banana. But it is something I am eating...

So I cannot for the life of me figure out how to post those videos but I am working on it.

Location:２丁目,Urasoe,Japan

Attempts and Failures

So I have been trying to post a video of the Hakugaijin concert we went to but no luck. I will figure this out though haha.

Location:１丁目,Urasoe,Japan

Nakijin Youth Retreat

So I said I would write a post on this. Well I am finally getting around to it.

So the trip was awesome and was a huge blessing. I didn't get that many pictures though because I am not used to having a camera lol.

So to start off what was the whole trip?

This was a youth event organized by a group called JacobsGen with MTTM or Ministry To The Military. If I remember correctly this is a ministry that works with the youth on military bases or just kids of military. But I could be wrong.

They were led though to do one of these camps on Okinawa and it was a huge blessing.

So what did we do?




Jenny sharing the Word.


Nathan and the double rainbow
Keagen leading worship.


Romeo, Debbie, and Bryan performing a skit.


This was a seemingly pretty normal camp. We had teachings, worship, and some fun things. So why was this camp so different? I think the people made a difference. The group that came were such a blessing as their desire was to serve the Lord. They soaked things in prayer and were a blessing to serve alongside. It was refreshing to serve with a group who's passion was to bless the Lord.

I could share so much on what went on but I don't have the time to write it all down. But really it was a normal camp but I believe what made this different was the servants of the Lord who were there.

Thanks guys and I hope to see you next year.

Mihama Panorama

Check out a panorama of Mihama while we were out witnessing.

http://pnr.ma/echKLf

Tatsuhiko was sharing his testimony in Japanese.

Location:２丁目,Chatan,Japan

Okinawa Sunset

Hmm dunno how to turn it around. But here is a picture of the sunset here. So nice haha

I am going to be making a post about my recent camping trip / youth retreat. But I need time haha so more to come.

Location:３丁目,Ginowan,Japan

To Nago

We are all heading up to
Nago for 4 days for a camping trip. I am not sure what is going on but it should be fun. Pray that we have good weather.


Left to right
Keagen, Me, Michal, Rie, and Toki

Din Din

Well went to this restaurant with my family. Interesting pricing. We went for my grandmother's birthday. It was very cheap for what you got.






Good food and a good price. Gotta love it.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:うやきや

Ryohei

So I need to make up for the lack of posting.

Recently the Lord has really blessed me and that is with my cousin Ryohei deciding to become a follower of Christ.




I just got off of work so my hair is really crazy. But this is me and Ryohei. We were at some park in Urasoe.

But last week Ryohei decided to become a follower of Christ. He has been coming to the Church which has been a blessing to have him come. Please pray for him and the rest of my unsaved family.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Urasoe,Japan

Hmmmm

Hmmm well maybe I will actually start blogging again.

Recently I have gotten a job. It pays well but I am very very busy now. But good news is is that I am still able to do ministry in the Church. I have now started leading worship at the Church. It's been a blessing to be able to still serve the Lord.

So I am going to be using my phone to blog more often. So we shall see how this all works out. I am actually able to post pictures now but I don't think I will for this post.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Urasoe,Japan

A New Post!

So I have no idea what to post about right now...

School is over, and its the break... I wish I had a camera, blogging would be much easier haha.

Just went to Tonaki Jima and we were able to share with Izuru and have some fellowship with him. That was a blessing.

So also tomorrow we are supposed to have a nice typhoon coming. So will tune you in with more.

Let's see, what else... Things are rather uneventful right now. I am working on a newsletter to start actually sending out. It will be different from my blog as the focus of the newsletter will be different. I am going to do my best to make it monthly, but there are no promises.

So what God has speaking to me recently.

On Tonaki I was reading through Titus, and this was really on my heart.

an elder must be without fault; he must have only one wife, and his children must be believers and not have the reputation of being wild or disobedient. For since a church leader is in charge of God's work, he should be without fault. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered, or a drunkard or violent or greedy for money. He must be hospitable and love what is good. He must be self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the message which can be trusted and which agrees with the doctrine. In this way he will be able to encourage others with the true teaching and also to show the error of those who are opposed to it.
(Titus 1:6-9)

I was reading this and it reminded me... This is what God wants from me. I want to be serving God in the ministry. I want to oversee His work in the Church. Other translations don't say a Church Leader, but say a steward of God. But I want to be a steward of what God gives me, and I want to be a good steward. This is what God asks of me.

I need to be prepared to fulfill these qualifications. I don't believe I am a drunkard, arrogant, quick-tempered, violent, or greedy for money. But I don't think I can say I am faultless. I still have many things that someone could say are faults. God is wanting me to work on those areas and to be disciplined.

This will be my standard, this is my point of aim. With God's help I know I can be these things, otherwise He would not ask these things of me. So my prayer is that I can be qualified for the services God has for me. I want to be able to say, my life is modeled after this.

Been a bit...

Its been a bit since I last updated this. I became way too busy to make any worthwhile posts. I apologize for my lack of time and efforts, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

So since my last post things have been very interesting. Finals week came around and I had some good finals to do and study for.

We also had a worship conference that was a huge blessing. It was a blessing to listen to the pastors teaching on the subject of worshiping in hard times. I was very blessed by what they had to say.

Then came the sad week... Everyone was leaving... My best friend left... Sadness... But she will be back :P

I really need more time to write on all this. But everyone was truly a blessing this semester... And it was fun to have everyone here...

I promise I will get around to writing something more thorough and in depth but I have one last final to get done... So until then...

A Cheerful Heart

(Proverbs 17:22 GNB)  Being cheerful keeps you healthy. It is slow death to be gloomy all the time.

Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no grain, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty, I will still be joyful and glad, because the LORD God is my savior.
(Habakkuk 3:17-18 GNB)

(Isaiah 51:11 GNB)
Those whom you have rescued will reach Jerusalem with gladness, singing and shouting for joy. They will be happy forever, forever free from sorrow and grief.

(Ecclesiastes 7:14 GNB)
When things are going well for you, be glad, and when trouble comes, just remember: God sends both happiness and trouble; you never know what is going to happen next.

Since God has allowed us to be happy, we will not worry too much about how short life is.
(Ecclesiastes 5:20 GNB)

Happy is the nation of whom this is true; happy are the people whose God is the LORD!
(Psalms 144:15 GNB)

"I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
(John 15:11 GNB)

School...

School...
It is time consuming
And I find it amusing
That I have nothing else to do...

Trusting in Trouble

So I was recently was praying to God... I was asking God, "God just let things work out this way, so that I can just avoid all the trouble of it." Then as I was reading the word something just clicked I guess you could say.

Trying to avoid troubles like that isn't trusting God.

In a trust fall you show that you trust your friend how? By putting yourself into trouble and letting them save you.

Now I am not saying go get in a bunch of trouble so that God can save you.

But if you are trying to avoid troubles avoid hardships then you need to check your trust in God.

God might be leading you to do something, but being afraid of the troubles that thing "might" bring is not trusting Him.

If you know that God wants you to do something, don't avoid it because of troubles it might bring.

If you don't fall back in a trust fall it is because you don't trust in your friend.

You need to trust God in taking care of these problems, and follow Him.

Tonaki Jima 渡名喜島

I believe that is the right kanjis...

Anyways recently we went to a small island for a youth retreat called Tonaki.

The time there was amazing, a huge blessing. God really spoke to many of the youth.

I would love to write tons about it but I don't have the time at this time, as I have some work to do.

But I might later have the time to write about it.

But a basic overview...

Our theme for the camp was called Search Me. Our portion Psalms 139.

A few of us all taught a different section. I taught a section from 5-12 about following God.

Many of the youth asked for prayer to have a stronger relationship with Christ.

It was a very blessed time. Praise the Lord for it.

Which Will Will It Be?

Concerning God's will, we all have a lot of problems. We have a hard time determining what God's will is, or we might doubt God's will for us, we may deny God's will for us, or we may know what God's will is for us. But we all know that we have struggled with this area, of knowing what God wants us to do. But I believe that God has given us some basic principles for knowing what He wants us to do. Remember I am not saying that these are steps for knowing God's will, also I am not God so I could be wrong in my ideas. But from the word of God I see these principles in determining the will of God for us.

I would like to start with the clear area of God's will for us. Many of us don't notice but God has told us general areas of His will for us in the Word. So I will just post these concerning the will of God...

1 Thessalonians 5:14-22 ESV  (14)  And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.  (15)  See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.  (16)  Rejoice always,  (17)  pray without ceasing,  (18)  give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.  (19)  Do not quench the Spirit.  (20)  Do not despise prophecies,  (21)  but test everything; hold fast what is good.  (22)  Abstain from every form of evil.

 I believe that verse 18 can refer to this whole section.

1 Thessalonians 4:1-6 ESV  (1)  Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.  (2)  For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.  (3)  For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;  (4)  that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,  (5)  not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;  (6)  that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

1 Peter 2:12-17 ESV  Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.  (13)  Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme,  (14)  or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.  (15)  For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.  (16)  Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.  (17)  Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

These are a few verses that tell us a general area of God's will. We can see the picture that God generally wants us to be holy. There are other verses that tell us about the will of God, and I challenge you to look them up and find them yourselves :P I don't need to do all the work.

So we know about these areas. God wants us to be holy, but how do we determine the more precise areas? Does God want me in this job? Or does He want me on the mission field? Does God want me to give money to missions? Or does He want me to save? Should I marry this person? Or does God have someone else? Does God want me in the ministry? Or does He want me to support the ministers? We all have questions like this. And we all have probably come to the point where we say, "Well if God wants me to do this, it will just happen." Now I believe this 100%, God's will will be done in our lives. But I don't believe that this is the way God wants us to do things. So I want to share a few principles that I see in the word of God, to knowing God's will.

I want to start with this,

Romans 12:2 GNB  Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God---what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.

Do not conform yourself. I like this version as it really paints a good picture. Do not conform to the world's standards. Do not conform your thinking to the natural standards of what is good, or what is bad. But instead let God inwardly change you. God makes us spiritually minded people. Galatians 5:25 GW  If we live by our spiritual nature, then our lives need to conform to our spiritual nature. Or in another version Galatians 5:25 ESV  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. We are spiritually minded people, we need to conform to this spiritual side. How does the world make decisions? They base decisions on a few things, money, circumstances, and feelings. These are natural things, they are not spiritual things. I would like to use Job as an example.


By the world's standards, Job was doing everything right. All his circumstances were good. He had a good, loving family, he had growing wealth, and he had good health. Everything was going good for Job. He had all the money he needed. He also was at constant peace, happiness, and comfort. Job according to the world had made all the right decisions. But what happened to Job? As we all know God allowed Satan to take all this away. Bad circumstances came, he lost his money, and any comfort he had was gone. But Job was spiritually minded. He realized that God could give and take away. But Job's circumstances only got worse and worse. His wife told him to curse God and his friends called him a wretched sinner. But Job knew that God was in control. Job had these things right. Job knew that all good things came from God, and that God gives and takes away. He knew that God would not allow circumstances, whether good or bad, that were apart from His will to happen. Then the second thing, is that Job stuck to the truth he knew. Job did not curse God and die because he knew that God was in control of his life. He knew that God did not do anything wrong. Job 8:3 " Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?"

So for us; when determining the will of God, we need to not focus on circumstances. When we have a good job, and we are praying about quitting to perhaps leave the ministry. We cannot take the first bad day of work as a sign from God to quit. We must also though not take a pay raise as a reason to stay. God wants us to be wise about what we are doing, but sometimes He calls us to do some peculiar things. But don't immediately think that if circumstances don't line up it is not the will of God, and vice versa. Don't assume because all the circumstances line up that it is the will of God. Circumstances are still a natural thing, and we are spiritual people. If God wants us to give us circumstances to watch for He will tell us. John 15:15 ESV "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." Do not take circumstances as an answer from God unless God Himself has told you through the word, or through His Spirit.


The second thing is money. Never take the lack of money, or the abundance of it as an object for the will of God. This may not concern money, but the principle behind it is the same. But Gideon had an army of 32,000 men. Gideon was confident in this army, and was ready for battle. But God told him no, and gave Gideon instructions that anyone who was fearful to go home, so 22,000 men left. So Gideon now only has 10,000 men. This was over half of army now gone. But God said this was still too many people. So he told Gideon to bring the people to the water, and whoever drank like dog was set aside, and whoever drank by kneeling were set aside. Now those who drank like a dog were numbered 300 men. This is a mere fraction compared to his original number. But this was the number that God told him to go out against the entire army of the nation of Midian. But God used 300 men to defeat well over 10,000 men. Now if Gideon had decided, "32,000 men is plenty." and went out to battle. He would have been out of the will of God. But God provided 32,000 men? In a nation that was hardly able to pull itself together? Wasn't this clearly the will of God? He gave Gideon these men, all the funds were provided. This wasn't the will of God for Gideon to have this many men. God wanted the glory in the situation and Israel would not glorify God in this situation. So God lowered the number. Sometimes we think that God provided all the money for us, and that we are in the will of God. We still need to pray about what to do, and seek God in the matter. Of course His provision can be seen as a sign, but don't assume that it is an immediate sign until you've prayed on the matter, and searched His word. Also do not assume that lack of funds are a sign against the will of God. Gideon had 300 men. This is not enough men to make one legion of men. Gideon did not have the proper amount of men to go into battle. And he is not making a small choice here, these are these men's lives. But he knew that God would provide victory. Do not assume that a lack of funds means that God does not want you to do something. Have faith in Him that He will provide. Unless of course He leads you against that through prayer, His Spirit's guiding, and His Word.

Then the last thing, feelings. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that our hearts are deceitfully wicked and that we cannot know it. We cannot trust our feelings. We are very fickle, and our feelings change all the time. We all know that this is true. A movie, good story teller, or a book can do this to us easily. Imagine this with me.

Glass breaks. An alarm goes off. The lights in a nearby jewelry store go on. One problem, this is your store. Two burglars are seen standing in the building dumbfounded by the sudden alarm. They begin to scoop up handfuls of any jewelry they can grab.  They frantically scramble dropping precious stones all over the floor. As you run to the store you see a third man jump into the building. He ignores all the scattered jewels, and punches one of the burglars. The first burglar is done for the count. He quickly spins around and puts a kick into the other burglars head and his lights were put out. The man just saved your shop from these two burglars. But you notice something suddenly, he grabs the bags that they had and runs off with them, and most of your jewelry.

 Now its really not a great example, as there are many other better story tellers than I. But at first I bet you would have been glad for this unknown hero. But in the end I am sure that your mind changed about him. But we can really see how our feelings change. In countless movies a hero turns and we suddenly hate them, or a villain will become the hero, and we are instantly changed with all our thoughts. We cannot trust our feelings. They change too much. But what we can trust is God who never changes.

So how then do we know the will of God. All I really told you was what to watch out for. Don't base your choices on circumstances, good or bad. Don't base them on money, the provision of it, or the lack of it. Don't base it on your feelings or you feel good or feel bad about something. Instead we know the will of God in this way.

One, by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2) When our minds are not based on natural things, but on spiritual things we can know the will of God. How do we renew our minds though? We can't... Sorry... But God can.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  (27)  And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

God will take care of these things for us. He will cause us to walk in His statutes, and He will make us careful to obey His rules. I want to make this clear. God's will is not determined by a formula. It is not found by praying for 10 hours on the subject, fasting for 3 days, and reading at least two books of the Bible. It is not found by talking to your pastor and asking your friends what they think. Finding the will of God is based on one thing and one thing alone.

John 15:15 ESV  No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Knowing the will of God is having a friendship with Jesus Christ. Literally it is being best friends with Jesus. Be best friends with Christ. Think to your best friend and how you treat them, how you spend time with them, how you enjoy hanging out with them, and all those things... This is what Jesus wants, and He will make His will clear to us while we are hanging out with Him.

But please, don't base your choices on natural things, circumstances, money, and feelings. But let your friendship with Christ be what gives you the answer. Through prayer (talking to God), through worship (hanging out), through His word (God talking to you), and through just time in devotion (more hangout time). If Christ is your best friend, then He will tell you His will.

My Brain

Is a pile of mush... With being sick and all this work... haha... I am officially turned my brain into a pile of dead easily amused pile of mush.

Kaze...

Sick... Wagh... haha

Pray for Japan

I am sure everyone has heard about what happened. Please pray for Japan as things are really bad up north. Check any news site they will have more info.

We are fine here.

My Thoughts... ATM (At the Moment)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow...
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen!


I have no time, but this is my thoughts in condensed soup version

Update!

Not Really!... I am too busy to write anything significant right now...

Why Jesus?

So I have never gotten this question before, and I don't know why... I kinda figure it is because no one wants to ask me this. But I know that this is a very important thing to talk about... So please take the time to read.

Why Jesus? Why on earth follow Christianity? How do you know its real? What if it is all fake? And similar questions are pretty simple to answer... I am going to break this blog post into a few sections... Not really sure as I am writing this on the go... So if you are curious on any of these subjects than I would recommend reading to know my opinion.

So I am going to start in a dark corner of my mind, my intellect. I don't use this very often, but it is one of the things that drew me to Christianity. Most people think that Christianity is a blind faith, destroyed by science, and cannot conform to reason. I can say to the contrary. Christianity is backed by more than enough science, history, and reason.

I will start with science. In this section I am going to compare and contrast, science of the ancient world, to science of the Bible. For clarity I will be stating the ancient scientific belief, and then I will compare what the Bible says.

How was the world held up?

Ancient civilizations believed that the earth was held up by giant animals, by the hand of their gods, or by some object larger than ourselves. Greek mythology said that it was the god Atlas that held the earth on his shoulders, Hindus believed it was carried by giant elephants.

What does the Bible say? Job 26:7 tells us that the earth is held on nothing. This was written during the time of Abraham, when every scientific mind said some greater being held the earth up. But 2 Peter 1:21 tells us that no prophecy, none come from the will of man, but from God. Job told us that the earth just floats in empty space, an idea that was not accepted in the realm of science at its time.


A Flat Earth or a Round One?

Which one was it? Well up until around Colombus' time I remember that you could still fall off the edge of the world. So until about the 1500's the earth was still considered by the scientific world to be flat. I think falling off the edge of the world would be an interesting sensation...

But what does the Bible tell us? Isaiah 40:22 tells us that the earth is a circle. Now you might say, but the earth is a sphere, not a circle. Proverbs 8:27 tells us that God drew a circle around the earth. Some translations call it the Horizon, but the Hebrew word is chuwg meaning a complete circle, a circuit, it holds the idea of a completely round sphere. The shape achieved from using a compass. If memory serves me well, which it never does, there is no Hebrew word for a sphere, they used circle to refer to round objects. So the Bible tells us that the earth is round, thousands of years before it was fact.


How Many Stars Are There?

So what did ancient people believe? I cannot find proof for this, but I have read this somewhere. I apologize that I cannot find this so you are completely entitled to throw this one out. But ancient astronomers believed that there were anywhere from 900-1100 stars in the night sky. How they came up with this number, I could not find I apologize. I am 100% sure though that they had a number for the stars.

But the Bible tells us something interesting though, that the stars are uncountable Hebrews 11:12. Today we have a guesstimate of the stars, but we cannot be sure how many they are. Another interesting fact in Hebrews 11:12 is that God tells us that the number of stars, and the amount of sand on the earth are innumerable. We are put in a light that these two numbers are equal. Currently the estimated number of stars are 10 to the 22nd power. That is 10 with 22 zeroes behind it. That's a lot of stars. Now what is guesstimate of grains of sand? 75 with 17 zeros following. I dunno, I think they are pretty close, considering they are both guesses. The Bible told us that both of these things are innumerable, so we will never know, but with our guessing they are pretty close, as the Bible makes us think.

So one last scientific fact (I have much more but only so much patience)


What is on the bottom of the ocean?

Up until about the 1900's did people believe that the ocean was smooth and flat on the bottom. The common belief was that the ocean had taken the wear and tear of time, and went about completely flat. But around the 1900's it was discovered that the ocean had mountains, and valleys. Surprise Surprise!

Psalms 18:15 tells us that the ocean has valleys, channels, ravines, whatever you want to call them... They were there. Jonah 2:6 tells us that Jonah fell to the roots of the mountains. Or Jonah came to the base of the mountains. But Jonah was in the middle of the ocean? There mountains in the middle of the ocean? The Bible clearly tells us that the ocean has mountains and valleys inside it.

There are plenty plenty plenty more facts... And if you would like to know more, you can ask on my formspring button on the side, cause it never gets used haha... But really, anything ask me there. Don't think the Flood could happen, I can show you science to show you it did.

But I need to move on the next section of the intellect, and that is reason.


Reason

The Bible is unreasonable you may say, God makes no sense... Yeah sometimes it can be. But that is because we are trying to think about something and someone who is much bigger than us.

So first, how do we know God exists?

Easy easy easy... Read those facts haha.... How can anyone declare these as truth with no evidence at all, when everyone was against them? How could David say that there are valleys on the bottom of the ocean when he has never been there? These are just one evidence of many though.

Lets use logic. Lets say I have an amazing yellow car in my driveway. You look at it with awe, cause it is that awesome.... And you ask me, "What company made this car?" And I reply, "Well... No one actually, it just kinda grew there... Like I was looking at my driveway one day and then a week later it was there." You would probably think I am crazy... It would probably happen more like this... "What company made this car?" and I would reply, "Chevrolet!" And you would know... There is a car there is maker. Same thing with a building... There's a building there... So duh! There was a builder haha... It didn't pop up like a shroom. Art has an artist... So creation had a creator. It is common sense.


But how do we know that He is still around? How do we know that He is the god of the Bible?

Common sense... If I guess the lottery numbers without fail for 30 years in a row... You would immediately know that either I know the boss, or I knew the numbers. You would by no means say, "Oh those were all lucky guesses." Its not possible. So how is it that the prophecies in the Bible have come true, 100% accurate? Never once has the Bible been wrong, and the prophecies are specific. We have prophecies that even tell how events will happen. Jesus told us that the temple would be destroyed and not one stone would be on top of each other. This happened, all the stones were knocked down, and even broken to pieces so that not a stone was standing. The book of Daniel tells us that Babylon would be captured by the Medes and Persians, they would be conquered by Greece, and they would be conquered by Rome. Years before this happened.

http://100prophecies.org/

Here is a site with just some of the prophecies that came true. But prophecy shows us that God is real. There is no way that man can correctly predict events years upon years like this.

Need more reason?

We have the testimony of the Bible. With having correct scientific facts, tons of prophecy that have come true and are coming true, and not contradicting itself once, we can see that it has special light to it. But we see the change of men like Moses. Moses was unwilling to do the work of God, but something obviously changed him to do the work. Paul went from killing Christians to becoming one, something happened to this man where he changed. Peter went from denying Christ to dying for Christ. All the disciples went through so much misery for the Gospel. A weak belief does not drive men to these limits. Some huge event had to change these guys. They did not change for no reason. All these men experienced God, and it changed them. Their testimony and experience shows us, that something happened, they met someone. We have many conversations that they had with God, and their change gives us clear evidence that God did speak.

In conclusion,

We have clear science and reason to back up the Bible, but this is not the biggest evidence. I believe that the biggest evidence is the testimony of others. I can see all the scientific evidence, the historical evidence, the fulfilled prophecies, the prophecies around me. But the experience of people today really show me a lot.

When someone like Brian "Head" Welch, a member of Korn changes, it has to say something. Do you think that a guy like that jumped out blindly into a religion? A man like Lee Strobel author of A Case for Christ, was a genius of a man who collected all the evidence and came to the conclusion that God is the only way. He was originally a journalist and a determined atheist. A man like that does not just change for nothing.

Here is why I believe the Bible, Christ, and God.

I can see that there are supernatural aspects of the Bible, in prophecy, science, history, and reason. So if the supernatural exists and we exist there must be a creator. If the Bible is the only religious book with supernatural aspects it must be the only one.  And the Bible tells me this. Something my conscience has fouhgt with me for a long time.

But the Bible tells me, it tells us that we are all sinners.

When we try to stand up to the Law of God we fail.

The law of God is the Ten Commandments,

We have all lied,
We have all hated someone (Murder in your heart),
We all have lusted after someone (adultery in your heart)
We all have disrespected our parents

And these are just four of the commandments.

We in God's eyes are lying, murderous, adulterers, who are rebellious.

This is a problem, but we are told that there is a way to have this debt payed.

That is to believe in Jesus. To trust in Him, and repent.

The Bible tells us all this, and if you honestly look at the things above it is clear that this book the Bible is not any other book. This is something to take serious. Please consider all of this.

Feel free to contact me also if you need prayer, or have questions.

Classes

They are going...

God is Great, God is Good, Let us Thank Him For the Food...

I feel that our prayers have often resorted to something similar to this. We have broken prayer down into these strange points... Now I think there is nothing wrong with this, but I don't think that prayer was ever meant to be something you do in a four step process. I honestly believe that we have formalized prayer a bit too much in our attempt to understand it. Now I want to make this clear, I am not saying there is anything wrong with having a guide, formality, or system in prayer. But I am saying, through these things we have lost the true heart of prayer.

The word pray means something rather interesting. Our transliteration (The English spelling of the Greek word) makes it this, proseuchomai. Now to me, this word makes no sense haha... I am no Greek scholar, nor do I claim to be... But anyone can use a dictionary and figure out what a word means in their own language. And this word proseuchomai is actually two words. Pros (not pros as professional, there is a little dot over the o that I don't know how to type) and Euchomai. Now these two words put together is what we translate pray. Haha, but I think that the meaning in Greek gives a different idea than that of English.

According to Merriam Webster the word pray means this...

transitive verb

1 : entreat, implore —often used as a function word in introducing a question, request, or plea <pray be careful>

2 : to get or bring by praying

intransitive verb

1 : to make a request in a humble manner

2 : to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving

Now the last definition sounds nice, and is an aspect of prayer... But none of these meanings fit what I get from the Greek. So you may be wondering... What is the Greek then!? He he he... Wouldn't you like to know... But my post would be pointless without this so I guess I will tell you...

The word Pros, is a preposition. It means towards, and it implies an exchange. Its kinda confusing but it means to move towards a goal with implied interaction. He was slowly creeping toward the ball. When you read that typically you would think he was going to do something with the ball. The Greek word has the same idea. Or the idea of, He was handing the apple towards her. It has the idea of exchanging or interacting with something.

The word Euchomai means to wish. It is literally like Oh I Euchomai that I could get that car! It is wishing for something, hoping for something.

So this Greek word, being two words put together would have the idea of Exchanging Wishes. Or in my definition, trading desires, swapping dreams, or other things like that. It is the idea of telling one person what you want, and they telling you what they want. Or two people talking about what they want, hope for, and other things.

So where is my point... Well about to get to that, after a word from... No...

The word for prayer in Greek is so much more than what we do... We so often when we pray go through a mental list of prayer requests and after we have finished them we open our eyes agree with ourselves (the word Amen means So Be It, or I agree) and head out... Where is the Exchange???? Prayer is an exchange with God. A interaction towards Him. It is so much more than us telling Him what we want. But it involves an exchange.

So what am I suggesting?

Quite simple, evaluate your prayer life... Is it an exchange between you and Him? Are you listening for the things that He wishes for? Or is your prayer time a conversation with Santa Claus, where you tell him all you want for Christmas, take a picture, and leave?

Don't let your prayer life become impersonal. God wants to have an exchange with you. He wants real communication. He wants to answer you back but we so often finish "prayer" and don't think about Him the rest of the day. Instead I challenge you, to talk to God like you would your best friend... Talk to Him as if He were (well He is) right next to you... Say something to Him, ask Him questions, listen / look for answers... Make your prayers personal with Him thats what He really wants, a relationship with you. A chance to talk to you. So please, have a conversation with God, an Exchange... Conversations go two ways, otherwise they are a speech. So yeah... Personal... He is your best friend, talk to Him like that... hehe...

Classes

So I have all my classes now and if I do good (which I plan on doing) I will for sure be graduating... I have a lighter load this semester too... So its all in God's hands now haha...

I have been asked by a lot of people, "What do you want to do after your graduate?" To be honest I don't want to do anything haha... I want to do what God wants me to do haha... Blanket Bible college answer for, I have no idea!!... But yeah anyways...

I really have a desire to stay here in Okinawa... I want to help the Church here continue to evangelize out here, disciple others, and help in other ways. But I also have a strong desire to go to Korea. This is all in God's hands as I don't have the means to go to Korea, so that one is all His. I also want to minister on a small island called Tonaki Jima http://sashimioishi.blogspot.com/2010/12/blog-post.html

So I do have some desires, some things that I want to do. But I don't know what God wants me to do yet. So I continue praying and waiting for what He has for me... I don't want to try and take more steps than I should, I'll fall down the stairs...

So please continue to pray for me, that I could see where God is leading me... Classes are good so far, so we shall see where He puts me when I am done.

TIlIng

Haha... My title looks funny... It says tiling... But I spelt it weird :P

Anyways... I have been tiling the last week maybe... And I haven't had time to post, or anything not even check my facebook.. So I will try making a real post sometime soon haha...

A quick update...

Almost all the students are here... So I will be looking forward to meeting them all, and getting to know them and all that...

Semester will be starting in a bit... So got to get ready for that... But yeah... Until then I hope to get some rest before the semester starts... And all that... Will try to keep my blog updated a lot haha...

This Is Redemption, This Is Our Lives Washed Clean

Woah, I don't know, how you can forgive me [x4]

This is redemption
This is our lives washed clean

Cover up
All that we've become
Don't let the world
Take the best of you

And I can see a clearing
This will all come to an end
And we'll meet face to face
It will all work out in the end

This Is Redemption, This Is Our Lives Washed Clean

__________________________________________

I like how this song wraps up redemption.

When Christ died on the Cross we received first, forgiveness of sins, we were redeemed. Our sins were cleansed, and we were cover by the righteousness of Christ. But don't let the world take the best of you. We are continually being cleaned. One day we will meet Christ and everything will be done. It will all work out in the end.

So lets break this down into nice bite size pieces. Because this song says some pretty deep stuff.

First line!

Woah, I don't know, how you can forgive me [x4]

Ever ask yourself that? "How can you forgive me God?" I don't understand it. All I have been is evil to God, and yet He still forgives me. Not because I am anything special either. I am a traitor to God. I have nothing to offer Him, nothing worthy of Him. The Love of God makes no sense to us. Think about it sometime, how on earth can God forgive us? Because His love is so great. Yeah it really doesn't make sense at all. I cannot think of any way to make sense of God's love. I just know that it is so great that He can forgive me, and love me.

What does this word forgive mean in this sense? 

Luke 24:45-47 (ESV) Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem..."

This word for forgiveness is aphesis which means to be released from imprisonment or bondage. It can also be a sense of being released from something. We are forgiven of guilt and sin. We are released from the power of sin and death. Its amazing that we got ourselves into prison and God decided to free us for no reason at all. Such an amazing thing.

This is redemption

This is our lives washed clean

This is redemption. What is? The first line, the forgiveness of God is redemption. When God forgives us we are redeemed. Redemption is the word lytrōsis which means to redeem, or to ransom. This is basically a way of saying that you get something back, usually through payment. We redeem 5 cents when we return bottles and cans. The company redeems the bottle, and pays us a nickel to get it back. God redeemed us. We belonged to Him, but we ran away from Him. He payed to get us back.

Through Jesus' death on the Cross we were redeemed, and we were washed clean. We are like those bottles. We are bought back, and then we are taken, cleaned, and made new. When a bottle goes through the redemption process it is bought back, it is taken to a company that washes it completely through, then it is melted down to remove impurities, this is all melted down, and is made into something else. Our lives are the same way. God bought us back, cleansed us, and He is making us into something new.

Next line!

Cover up

All that we've become

I am glad that Christ did this for us. We are cleansed by Him, but He also covers us in His righteousness. We are nothing but sinners, it is our nature. As long as we are on this earth we will be that, sinners. But Christ covers us up and God sees His righteousness. I am so thankful that my sinful nature is not what is visible in God's eyes, but the righteousness of Christ. We can see this in Romans 4... Anyone know where?

Don't let the world

Take the best of you

Exactly! Don't let the world overtake you, it has no power over you. 1 Corinthians 10:13. There is always a way of escape. So don't give in to the world.

And I can see a clearing

This will all come to an end

And we'll meet face to face

It will all work out in the end

There is a clearing, a light up ahead. This is the promise of God, we know that one day we will go to Heaven. This is our hope. Nothing is better to someone who is lost in a forest than a clearing where they can see outside of the woods. A firefighter in a burning building probably loves  to see the clear sky rather than the thick smoke.

Our clearing is the hope of Heaven, the promise of God. Life will come to an end, pain will come to an end, when we see Christ face to face and things will all be better. 1 Corinthians 13:12. Things will work out in the end, remember this. When we feel down this hope is sure to cheer you up. Don't let the world get to you, and don't forget that you have this hope.

If your not a Christian, or your not sure about it. I would recommended it. Haha... Think of me as your doctor for a second. I am going to tell you this...

You have symptoms of sin,

have you ever lied? lusted after someone? stolen something (even small things)? hated someone?

Well if you have you are a liar, an adulterer, a thief, and a murder in God's eyes. These are like deadly symptoms of a killer disease called sin.

There is a cure though, there is only one way to cure it, and that is Christ. He died and did all the above for you.

But how do you take this medicine?

The Bible tells us to Repent first... Repentance is turning away from sin. We are following after sin, but now we turn away from it, and go towards God.

Then the second thing is to believe in this promise. To trust this promise and you will be saved. Trust in God, and you will be saved...

http://www.needgod.com/

Check it out if you don't know God. Its a very important thing.

Recognition Comes 30 Seconds Later

We often seem to be very slow in the head. At least I know I can be. I often don't recognize things in my life until moments later.

Examples?

You may not realize how much you care for someone, or how much you enjoy being with them until their gone. It seems that once they are leaving, or not around anymore you realize that they really do mean a lot to you. Sometimes we don't catch a joke, until its been well finished. We sometimes don't notice that God has blessed us with something until much later. We often miss where we are going and then we realize once we are at the next exit on the road.

But why do we miss these things? Just about everything has a reason (I say just about because everything does not have a reason). There is a reason why we miss these things, and it is because we are distracted. With our friends we get distracted by our friendship and forget that things aren't always forever. With jokes its often we don't understand them or we weren't really listening to them. With directions or places haha, I always look at my surroundings and realize that I wasn't watching for where to go being too distracted by the things around me.

But the one thing we often miss is the one thing we should be watching for; the blessings of God.

We are so often distracted by things we think are bigger and better that we miss the blessings of God. Or just the opposite we are so distracted by the things we may need or not need that we don't see the blessings of God. Sometimes we miss these blessings and never knew we had them. But God gives us new blessings each and every day.

So I want to challenge everyone... Look for the blessings that God gives you. Don't let the worries of life cloud your vision.

I love to play paint ball. In paint ball if you use a O2 tank (Liquid Oxygen) it will constantly leak little amounts of air. This is completely normal and nothing to worry about. Although you are losing air slowly, and do make a hissing noise as you walk along O2 is still better than Co2. But if you constantly focus on your slowly leaking air tank, you will not be able to focus on the game around you.You will miss good bunker positions, chances to move up field, and you will cloud your goggles up. If you constantly focus on the leaking air tank you will not win the game and you will be taken out fast. A leaky air tank is normal when using O2.

The same in life. We will have hard times, trials, and temptations. But these things are not a problem, when we compare the reward at the end. A leaky air tank in paint ball will be a nuisance, people can hear you, its cold on your side sometimes, and you need to fill it more often. But O2 is much better than Co2 as it lasts longer; a person with O2 can play much longer, and will have an advantage over someone with Co2. Trials, temptations, and difficulties will strengthen us. But we cannot focus on these things, but we need to focus on God our true goal. When we focus on Him, and not our leaky life we can see all the blessings, opportunities, and mercies He gives to us.

So I want to challenge everyone. Don't focus on the leaky air tank of your life. This is normal, Jesus said that these things were normal and would happen. Instead focus on the Lord and what He has for you, and you will begin to see all the things He has for you.

Chords of Life

Life and music seem to have a lot in common.

Depending on the chords you play you can make your song (life) depressing, happy, encouraging, emotional, party-ish, sad, fun, mellow, and so on and so forth. We can all play in different keys, some in the key of G, some the key of A, and so on and so forth. But some of us just seem to harmonize with each other. Just as B can harmonize with G. These two notes just sound good with each other. But G and A just don't sound that great played next to each other.

But even if these notes / chords don't work well with each other this can be fixed. If I wanted to play a G chord and then play an A I can change keys. The key of G is three major chords, and one minor chord. G, C, D, and Em; the key of A is A, D, E and F#m.

So how do you make the key of G work with the key of A. They don't harmonize with each other. They don't sound good with each other. It is actually rather simple, and it works with every musical key.

You find the chords that are common in the two keys. This would be the D chord in both of them. I can play G, C, D, and hold D out a little longer, and then play A, or E, and switch to the key of A. This way I can transition easily from the key of G to the key of A without any conflicts. They won't sound bad, and you have just brought the key of G, and A into harmony with each other.

So how does this have anything to do with life?

People are the same way. Sometimes we don't harmonize with each other. Sometimes we don't have much in common. But when we have the common ground of Christ we can be in the same song without conflicting. When we don't focus on all the differences we have, and we simply focus on our common ground in Christ, we can all live in the same song without making a big conflict. But if we keep looking at those chords in others that we don't like. If we see that we aren't in the same key, and we don't focus on that common ground in Christ. We will not blend with each other, and we will risk tearing apart the body of Christ.

If I play a song, and try to play a G chord and then try playing a chord not in its key its not going sound right, and I won't have a song, but just some noise. But if I take the common chord, and change keys then the song can continue without sounding out of place.

In life we cannot look at all the things about others that bother us, but should remember that our common ground in Christ. We all will have differences and we will have chords in our key that will bother others, and others will have chords that bother us. But we will all have a common Chord and that is Christ.

It is interesting, but the first musical key is the Tonic key. It is the key most commonly called C. This key is a special key as it is the only key with no sharp notes, or flat notes. This means that all the notes in the key are major notes. A sharp is half way from being a perfectly tuned note (being too high), a flat is the same (Being too low). The key of C is the most commonly used in music.

Let Christ be the same in your life. Let Him be your common grounds that affects the music of your life.

?'s ?'s ?'s

So  its been a bit since I last posted.

So here is a quick update...

The next semester is coming up, the end of this month...

I have been working on my Chuck Tracks. Otherwise I have been helping around the Church.

We are cleaning the entire Church today... So lots of cleaning haha...

But yeah... Semester starts soon, so please pray for me... This will be an interesting one for me... haha... being my fourth...

So yeah, please pray that I can also figure out what to write on this thing... I have had a writing slump haha...

A New Year

So I didn't make a new year post... I forgot haha.

The New Year is really no big event in my mind. But what can we see during this time.

I like to reflect on all the things that God has blessed me with.

I know that God always bless us, and will bless us more and more. So I can look forward to all the blessings He has for me this year.

I hope everyones New Years will be another year closer to the Lord.