'In the beginning...'

We all know the account of Creation recorded in the book of Genesis. Yet it is somehow easy to overlook the fact that God did indeed speak the heavens, earth, water, sun, moon, sky, land, plants, and animals into existence. As easily as my mind runs through my daily routine, He thought it and spoke it, and it was. The beautiful thing about nature, as opposed to man, is that it has no choice but to point to its Creator. It cannot fail to be proof of an artistic, logical, intelligent, purposeful, amibitious, powerful Designer. Unlike man, nature worships and glorifies its Maker 100% of the time. Certainly this pleases God. He said himself that it was good. Imagine how much more it must please Him if by his own will man enjoys and admires (worships) the Creator in His created world.

Sometimes you just need to get out of the city. This is exactly what I did this past Wednesday, but I wasn't expecting how the Lord would meet me there. "This is my Father's World".


I took a train about 1hr45mn away, yet I was still unbelievably within the Tokyo metropolitan limits! This is near the top of Mt. Mitake, very beautiful time of year. I walked over to the village in this picture; had lunch there; kept on walking and hiked behind what you see here for about 4hr30mn. It was perfect!


For those who want to see some real Japanese food. And it's not sushi! I ate 'nikku soba' for lunch. Nikku just means meat, and soba is a type of noodle common to Japan. It was quite yummy :-)


The cute little souvenir shop/restaurant where I had my lunch break.


A thatched roof house in the completely tiny village in the mountains. I can't remember the last time I saw a thatched roof, but I imagine it was in France.


This is the 2,000 year old Shrine at the top of Mt. Mitake. Can you imagine? Two thousand years ago people were climbing this mountain...going through all that trouble...to pray to nothing. That's a long history of idolatry for Japan.


This is a small part of the very steep and narrow path I went down to reach the waterfalls and rock gardens near the foot of the moutain.


Too bad I don't have my brother or father's photography talent, but it was terrific scenery down there.


Living water? Not quite, but they assured me it was delicious and safe to drink so I did. It was pretty good.

"This is my Father's world, and to my listening ears all nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world: I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; his hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise, the morning light, the lily white, declare their maker's praise.
This is my Father's world: he shines in all that's fair; in the rustling grass I hear him pass; he speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world. O let me ne'er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father's world: why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad!" (words by Malthie D. Babcock)

Today's favorite thoughts...

"The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness, and sanctification center, where flawed people place their trust in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he has designed. The church is messy and inefficient, but it is God's wonderful mess--the place where he radically transforms hearts and lives." (by 'church' this author is referring to a body of believers, not a building of any kind) ~Paul David Tripp ("Instrument's in the Redeemer's Hands")

"When a certain set of desires rules our hearts, we reduce our prayers to the menu of human desire." ~Paul David Tripp ("Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands")

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." ~1 Corinthians 13:12

Thankful today that we are called to Christ himself, not to perfection, for He is indeed the perfecter of our faith.

Arts and Music

My friend Tomiko (from Starbucks) is enrolled in a painting class that holds an annual exhibit to display the student`s art for the community. We went to see it a couple of weeks ago and it really was beautiful. It`s good that they weren`t for sale or that would`ve been a temptation to fight.


Left to right: Tomiko, Junko, Mitsue, Rieko (Tomiko`s daughter),and me.

After the exhibit we went out for coffee and tea. On the way home I called Ken Bailey to check on the progress of Mirial Gainer`s back surgery. It turned out to be a good opportunity to give a fresh testimony of the Lord`s faithfulness in answering prayers and giving peace to those who ask.


This was last Saturday at the Gospel Workshop. We had a blast! I`ll be looking forward to the next one in a couple of weeks. We had somewhere around 15-17 people I think, including Tomiko and Rieko.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying from my Starbucks ladies (Tomiko and Junko), whose circle of friends I am always being introduced to, as well as for the Gospel Music Workshop and the impact it can have on the choir members.

Hangin' out

I was recently back up in Hokkaido for ten days to attend our annual Field Council meeting. All of our career missionaries (and short-termers alike) seemed very positive at the end of the week, for which I am very grateful. May we never say God doesn't answer prayer. We also had the joy of having Robert Morgan (Pastor of Donelson Fellowship Church, and an insightful writer) with us for most of the week. He shared with us in our morning devotion times and spoke a couple of other times as well. It's always refreshing to be on the receiving end of the spiritual feeding when you are so often on the giving end.

I was able to spend a lot of time with my friends up there, both missionaries and Japanese. I couldn't have asked for nicer memories to take with me when I left.


Top: Mika, Hollie, and Kenji Bottom: me, Atsushi. We went to eat one night at our favorite Indian restaurant. If you've never tasted Indian food you're really missin' out!


Top: Atsushi, me, Hollie, and David Snow Bottom: Megan Snow, Mika, Haruka, and Anna Snow.
Atsushi, Mika, and Haruka are Christians so as you remember to, please pray for a continued deepening of their faith and relationship with God. They are among a great minority of believers living in a spiritually blinded nation. David, Anna, and Elizabeth Snow (taking the picture) are siblings, and Megan Snow (along with Daniel, Andrew, Jake, and Noah) are their first cousins. They are of course missionary kids! (love the MK's!!) Please pray for them as well. Being an MK carries with it a load of stresses and interesting experiences that can either benefit you or harm you far into the future. Pray that they will have the ability to adjust and learn well from their backgrounds as they grow up.


Noah, Daniel, and thier mom, Linda Snow. Isn't Noah the cutest? Nathan and Linda Snow have five kids, if you can't think of anything else (and surely you can)...that is reason enough to pray for them :-) They are sweet parents, friends, and missionaries.


I was very excited to be able to attend our association's Hokkaido area women's retreat. I believe this was the best attendance to date with 26 women from seven churches.

Shout out

I know I'm a few days behind but no worries, within the next couple of days I'll have some new pictures and updates for your reading pleasure, or not :-) This entry is not about me though...

I want to send a shout out to my friends David Potete (pastor, Northwest FWB Church, Chicago, IL) and Chris Wright (treasurer, same church). CONGRATULATIONS!! After training for several months, both of these men not only completed the Chicago marathon..they did it in 4hr34mn!!!! Chris got in on last year's marathon two days before the race and finished in less than six hours. For David it was his first marathon. Pretty amazing, isn't it?

They ran for a reason too. So before long I hope to hear how much money was raised to help pay off Northwest Church's mortgage. They're getting close.

(A reliable little birdie told me that Chris Wright has now received an invitation to run in the Boston Marathon...we'll keep the updates coming!)

Strategy

Every year all of our missionaries who are currently in Japan get together for field council, a week of meetings and business, and some fun too. I've been hearing a lot of talk about 'strategy' and I started wondering what the actual definition of that word might be. It's quite interesting:

The New Webster's Desk Reference Dictionary describes strategy as "the science and art of conducting a military campaign in its large-scale and long-term aspects." Encyclopedia Britannica Online says "a coordinated application of all the forces of a nation to achieve a goal...strategy's components include a long-range view, the preparation of resources, and planning for the use of those resources before, during, and after an action."

I appreciated these definitions because we really do find ourselves in a spiritual battle throughout the world. We have an urgent need for wisdom and direction from, and faith in the Ultimate Strategist.