End of my first week

I've just about finished my first week here...which was really only half a week since I didn't get to Nagoya until about 6! Well, to be more specifically I'm living in Nagakute-Cho which is a little east of central Nagoya.

I've come at a time of great business for the CBI team. CBI is about to move to a new building in central Nagoya to better accommodate it's perspective students in hopes of becoming more accessible and attractive. CBI is currently a few rooms on the 2nd floor of the Nisshin Christ Center (about a 15 minute bike from where I live) but it'll be a bit more a commute after they move.

So far, I've completed a class on wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, Song of Solomon) and have definitely learned a lot and believe that by God's mercy through the Holy Spirit I've gained in wisdom. I also realize how little I know the depth of God's character and how little of His wisdom and knowledge I know and have been completely humbled. Like Job I realize I've uttered what I did not understand and am awestruck that God would send His own son to death for a fool like me.

Through the class I was able to meet some of the students studying at the seminary and staff workers of CBI and will try to be getting to know them better while I'm here. Please pray for opportunities to develop relationships with them and for us to be an encouragement to one another. I also will be trying to visit their churches' Sunday mornings so I can gain a fuller picture of what God is doing here in Nagoya, what the character of the Japanese church is, and what the needs of the Japanese are so please pray that I will be able to see these things during my time here.

This morning my roommate Kenny and I helped out with the Kid's Gospel Week program, which concluded with a concert and matsuri or festival which consisted of fun kid's games and foods. Summer outreach programs like this are popular in Japan and many of the participants are not Christians. The program teaches kids gospel worship songs which then can become a great medium for telling the kids about the song's meanings while they have fun, are baby-sat, and even learn some english. This program even included bible teaching about Jesus (I got to meet the pastor at the men's bible study on Wednesday).

I helped with the nagashi somen booth which consists of floating somen noodles down a stream of running water for the hungry to gobble up with their chopsticks. Eventually holding a big bowl of noodles in my left arm became so tiring that my arm started to shake and I couldn't even hold a snow cone without it shaking. It was a fun experience though and I enjoyed being able to help out and talk to some of the Japanese putting on the program. I was amazed that Yabuhara-san, the man who I was helping serve noodles with, built the whole nagashi-somen contraption himself!

Tomorrow I will be visiting the Nisshin Christ Church Sunday morning and then be going to All Nations Fellowship in the afternoon, which is the church that CBI helps run. My Japanese is continuing to get better/come-back but at times I can't understand everything or say exactly what I want to say so please pray for language ability. Please also pray that as I continue to learn more about Japan that God might be revealing to me how He wants to use me in the future after this trip.

Helping with nagashi somen

Then Job answered the LORD and said:

“I know that you can do all things,

and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

‘Hear, and I will speak;

I will question you, and you make it known to me.’

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye sees you;

therefore I despise myself,

and repent in dust and ashes.”

(Job 42:1-6 ESV)

Day 1!

Today was my first day! I just arrived in Nagoya safely and soundly yesterday. Thank you all who prayed for safe travel and against jetlag. By His bountiful provision I've adjusted nearly seamlessly to Japan time. The first night I tried to make sure I stayed up until midnight (which was 4am Hawaii time) and then fall right asleep so I could quickly adjust to falling asleep at the right time. I woke up at a couple odd times during the night, but I ended up sleeping almost 8 hours so I think I've adjusted pretty well to the time zone.

The flight was also awesome...I was in a row of 3 but no one was in the seats next to me so I had the whole row to myself to stretch out and lie down. It was great!!!

I'm staying in a small apartment with another guy interning with CBI named Kenny. He's been here for about 9 months already and is looking to stay another year. We've already had a number of great conversations and I've enjoyed his fellowship and hospitality and generosity. He made me curry dinner the first night!

I'm mostly following him around these first couple days to sort of get acclimated to CBI. To my delight, today that included taking part in 2 classes today being taught at the seminary on the Old Testament and a men's bible study tonight. I enjoyed being able to learn a ton about the law, prophets, and covenants today and also really enjoyed getting to talk to and get to know some of the Japanese people working or studying at the seminary. Please pray that we might be able to encourage each other to Him through our interactions and that God might be granting us all wisdom and understanding. Please pray that growing to understand God's word more deeply through the work of the holy spirit might also work to edify me and prepare me for all that God plans to do in me and through me.

My room until I move to the futon in 3 weeks!

Me at the Nagoya airport waiting for the bus

The two empty seats next to mine!

And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

(Luke 24:25-27 ESV)

Prayer

Today I'm leaving for Japan. I'll be counting on the prayer support of brothers and sisters in Christ while I'm in Japan. Prayer is so crucial to the life of a believer and critical to partner with and support my ministry.

I found this link to be particularly helpful in knowing how and what to pray. It's from another missions agency called OMF.

http://www.omf.org/omf/us/resources__1/prayer_resources/why_and_how_to_pray_for_missionaries

DA Carson with a short theology of prayer.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

(Ephesians 1:15-23 ESV)

Culture

The past two days I finished reading a book called Foreign to Familiar that I received from my missions agency. It addressed the differences between what the author called "hot climate" cultures and "cold climate" cultures. Hot climate cultures are relationship-oriented, indirect in communication, group-based, inclusive, and event oriented. According to the author cultures like these tend to include South America, the southern US, Africa, and Asia. Cold climate cultures are task-oriented, direct in communication, individualistic, private, and time oriented. Cultures like these include the Northern US states and most of Europe.

While of course these are not perfect groupings, I found the book really insightful and helpful in understanding other cultural mentalities. I think growing up 4th generation Japanese-American in Hawaii, I have stronger cold climate tendencies but have a lot of experience interacting with or in hot climate cultural situations. I realize many things that my family does such as bring back gifts from trips or always try to make sure there is more than enough food are culturally hot climate but many of the ways I act outside of my home such as booking my schedule full of appointments and asking others direct yes or no questions when I'm wondering if something is bothering them or they want to go somewhere tend to be cold climate behaviors.

I hope that this information will help prepare me to better enter into Japanese culture and minister cross-culturally to the Japanese. I know Japanese culture can tend to be very "hot climate," full of etiquette intended to build relationships and a strong group-based cultural mentality. While this isn't something I'm used to, I hope that I'll now be better equipped to navigate relationships in Japanese culture.

Further, I'm very much amazed at the power of the gospel to bridge cultural differences. While I can now see and understand better how different cultures will react to the gospel differently, I'm more and more amazed at the power the gospel has to transform across cultures and provide universal truth and salvation for those who believe by grace through faith. Culture can even be a strong motivator to promote sinful behavior such as ancestor worship and in no way justifies how people live, but because I understand Japanese culture better, I pray that I'll be better equipped to identify idols that hold people from Christ so that I can help expose them and destroy them so that people might come to know true love and grace in Jesus Christ.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

(Acts 10:34-35 ESV)

Golf

Today I went golfing with my dad and two of his doctor buddies. I only started about 4 years ago and haven't had the chance to get much better these past 4 years so I'm still a newbie to the game. But these are three things I learned (and am continuing to learn).

1. Patience. Golf is frustrating and has a steep learning curve. Often the shot I end up hitting is far from the shot I was envisioning in my head and consequently, my bad shot sets me up for another difficult shot. Golf totally is a game where one mistake snowballs into many. I think learning patience is an eternal lesson for me and my patience is always in short supply, especially at home. How can I be so impatient when God has been so much more patient with me? Please pray for me to grow in patience and grace.

2. Humility. Along with the steep learning curve comes a lack of performance and skill. This is probably the only game my dad beats me in. And if you haven't noticed, I'm actually a pretty competitive person and am not really a big fan of losing. But what does winning or losing a game matter when the victory is already won in Christ? I think today helped me swallow my pride and focus on learning and getting better and accepting the criticism and tips from my dad.

How can I be so prideful when I am only anything because of the sacrifice of Christ? Please pray for me to grow in humility and true greatness.

3. Perseverance. Sometimes golf can be a long day when your game is off. A whole round of 18 holes can take 4 hours or more. Further, in a game where one bad shot snowballs into many more, sometimes one might feel like giving up and just moving on to the next hole. I think today stretched my perseverance and while I struggled at times, I managed to finish every hole. How can I fail to persevere when I know the victory is already won and that God promises to carry me through? Please pray for my perseverance.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

Understanding

So I realized that I probably should write more about what I'm doing besides what I'm learning and thinking about. So to update you all, currently I'm home in Hawaii getting ready to go on my missions trip. In the meantime I've been trying to review my Japanese, read books I haven't had the chance to read during the years, and pray and meditate on the word. I'm hoping that these things will help prepare me to learn, grow, and serve as much as I can while in Japan.

I've also been meeting up with old friends here and there. I'm hoping that I can witness to them by demonstrating and sharing with them the transformative work God has started doing in me since He saved me in college. Paul instructs us to put on our new selves that we are given once we have been adopted into God's family through the death of His son on the cross, and while I still have a long way left to go, I'm personally already amazed at how much He has transformed me. I hope that the transformation He's done in me might testify to His glory and the greatness of the gospel and that I can share this with old friends who knew my old self.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

(Colossians 3:5-10 ESV)

I'm also trying to meet up with someone who I've ministered to at Stanford and hope that He might also see and be transformed by how much love and grace God has poured out for Him in sacrificing His own son for us. Not being at Stanford next year, I imagine this might be one of the last times I have the opportunity to reach out to him. I pray that he might realize that he is therefore no longer His own but rather has been purchased by God through the blood of His son and that while there is nothing God therefore cannot ask of him, this is a good and awesome relationship to have with such an amazing father.

But for the most part, I'm cooped up at home studying and learning and watching the food network and woman's world cup. I'm reading through Spiritual Depression by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones which I'm finding particularly helpful in understanding how to minister to those who lack Christian joy in their walk with Him. While I don't mean to over-emphasize learning and intellectual ascent in my spiritual growth, I do not wish to under-emphasize it either. Stephen Um of City Life Presbyterian Church in Boston says it like this, the Christian faith is much more than intellectual ascent, but it's at least intellectual ascent.

For example, in Hebrews 11:3 (ESV) we see that "By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible." The act of understanding is integral to having faith.

The greatest commandment says that we must “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment." (Matthew 22:37b-38 ESV). Here we see that the mind is integral to our relationship with God.

Of course the heart and soul are equally important as the mind, but we must never reduce our faith to something as simple as "loving others" or "loving God" without fully applying mind, heart and will to the act of loving.

I believe Paul puts it well in Romans 6:17 where he mentions all 3 together, where we see the necessity of obedience (or the will), teaching (or the mind), and the heart in our walks with Him and our on going sanctification.

Anyhow, I hope this is clarifying in explaining why the focus of this blog may have been oriented a lot around my thoughts and feelings and I hope to seek a better balance of including more of what I'm doing as well =)

But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

(Romans 6:17-18 ESV)

Sin

‎"The point at which a man like Joseph showed his spiritual insight and understanding supremely was this. Tempted by Potiphar's wife he said: 'How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?' What troubled Joseph was not the possibility of sinning against the woman but against God Himself. Now that is true spiritual thinking. We must not think so much about the sin itself. That is what we tend to do. What constituted sin for Joseph was the fact that it involved his relationship to God - 'if I do that I will be sinning against God'. David saw the same thing. Murderer and adulterer that he was, this is what troubled him: 'Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight.' He was not minimizing the wrong he had done to others; he knew all about that; but that was not the worst thing. it was God - his relationship to God. The moment you think of it like that you forget particular sins, and you forget that one is worse than another. 'My unbelief,' says Paul, 'that was the trouble' - not particular actions. it in indeed our relationship to God and His Law that matters."

- from "Spiritual Depression" from Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones

I've been reading through this book called Spiritual Depression by this dead London preacher named Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. In the latest chapter, I stumbled upon this. Dr. Lloyd-Jones is so spot on when he says we so often think about the sin itself and even relativize our sins against other sins and fail to grasp how offensive we are to God. Our greatest offense is in our unbelieving, ungrateful, adulterous hearts.

Jesus said: And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

(Matthew 15:16-20 ESV)

And with my very thoughts and desires, I constantly offend God and don't realize how deeply sinful I am.

And further, James said: For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

(James 2:10 ESV)

Even with my one wayward thought, I've already become guilty of all the law.

And yet despite all that, I think the really crazy thing is that God still loves me and has forgiven me through the death of His son and has adopted me into His family to be a co-heir with Christ.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

(2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV)

The prodigal love and grace God lavishes on us is amazing and I pray that it will impress itself on me more deeply and that I might continue to understand it's breadth, length, height, and depth so that I will be more and more moved to live for Him rather than for me.

And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
(Luke 15:21-24 ESV)

Languages

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

(Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV)

Yesterday, I shared the gospel in Japanese with my grandmother! One thing I've been concerned about is my language abilities and recently I've been trying to review my Japanese in preparation. Besides my rustiness, one obstacle to explaining the gospel in Japanese is learning all the relevant vocabulary. However, being forced to explain the gospel has forced me to strip away all the "Christianese" that while holds deep meaning, isn't always necessary in explaining the gospel to others. As such, I was excited that God still was able to use me despite my lack of abilities as a messenger of his good news.

Specifically, I talked about this verse from Ephesians and the relationship between faith and works. I'm still amazed to know that grace is solely by faith alone, knowing that there is nothing I have to do in order to be saved. Paul makes it clear writing that faith is a gift from God, not a result of works or anything I do. There's nothing I have to do such as be a good person or give up my possessions or care for the needy in order to be saved; rather God gives his grace freely as a gift when we believe.

Now while salvation is by faith alone, I don't mean to say good works aren't important. Salvation may be by faith alone, but that faith is never alone. As James explains, "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." (James 2:26 ESV) A true faith produces good works, but grace is not the product of good works. Rather, out of the joy that we have in being God's adopted children and workmanship, we strive to do the good works he prepares for us (Ephesians 2:10).

While I think that sometimes this is hard to explain in english, I've before been intimidated in knowing I have to share how truly amazing the gospel is in a foreign language. However, I know the Lord will prepare and provide the way for me to do whatever He wills in Japan. He even promises Moses to be his mouth in Exodus.

Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

(Exodus 4:11-12 ESV)

Thank you Lord for both working in me and working at my heart to give me the desire to live for you.

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

(Philippians 2:13 ESV)

Help

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;

the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

The LORD will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

(Psalm 121 ESV)

I wanted to share the good news that at this point, I've reached my fundraising goal of $4000! Any amount I still receive above $4000 I will apply to my airfare to Japan (about $1600). The remaining airfare I have pledged to commit out of the abundance of my job that God has graciously given me for this coming fall. If for some reason I receive more funds than that, they will be donated to MTW.

I'm thankful to God and the generosity of all my supporters for their gracious donations and willingness to partner with me on my short-term missions trip. While this was my first time fundraising, I was amazed at how God has more than delivered the finances I need to go on this trip.

Recently, I read through Psalm 121 as I was going through my devotions and was amazed by the depth of meaning of what it means for the Lord to be our provider of help and what a striking message I believe this psalm carries.

First of all, I want to highlight how Psalm 121 comments on God's awesomeness. Verse 2 writes that God is the one "who made heaven and earth," meaning that God is a creator God, powerful and mighty.

God also keeps and watches over His people perfectly and incessantly. Verses 3-8 repeat the word keep which I looked up in Hebrew (shamar) to mean keep, guard, or watch over. God here is depicted as keeping his people all the time, never resting (verse 4), never failing (verse 3, verse 6), and always close at hand (verse 5). I particularly am amazed at the hyperbole here...the thought of God being at my right hand is one that I seldom think about but am amazed at the proximity He grants me to Him.

And of course, what makes this even more amazing to me is how undeserving we are of this. There is nothing in Psalm 121 that talks about any caveat or thing we must do so that the Lord fulfills these things. He just does! Amazing! What incredible help we have in such an amazing God. And I'm amazed that He is the one I can count on for help, despite the fact that He is so much bigger and more awesome than I.

Which I think points me to my final reflection on this Psalm for the day; and all of this is made possible through Jesus, the reconciler of unrighteous, unworthy me to a perfect and mighty God. I believe this is pointed towards in verse 8, where God is depicted as our keeper but eternally "from this time and forevermore." Is not Christ our ultimate source of aid in saving us into salvation? And further, are these promises not ours because the one who suffered the forsaking of these promises and of protection in our stead? (Luke 23) As such, I'm amazed God has provided for me in my finances and know He will be keeping me even more, wherever the Lord might lead me. And I have comfort in this and am ever more amazed at the power of the gospel to adopt me into this kind of relationship with God.

Kevin

Typhoon!

It's typhooning outside! It's sorta just strong winds and lots of rain. But it's sorta reminding me of how big and awesome God is compared to us.

So often I'm focused on myself and my own life and forget how much bigger God is than me. Like really, life is not about me, it's about Him. Maybe the whole history is "His story" thing is a little cliche, but really, it sort of gets the point across. To God, we're like specks of dust (speaking just on a size scale here, so don't misunderstand). How can I be so often caught up with my own wants and desires and thinking life is all about me. Even when reading scripture, so often do I focus on myself and personal application and continually fail to grasp how awesome and glorious God is.

But I think what really strikes me is how despite my smallness, God loves me and cares for me deeply and knows me from even when I was in my mother's womb. He adopts me as His son when I'm totally undeserving small speck of dust. And in fact, a dirty sinful speck of dust. But God still celebrates my being found, sacrifices His own son to find me and clean me, and puts His robes and ring on me.

I think this John Piper sermon in particular really hits at many of the unfathomable ways God makes so much of the Church. And how by loving us, He makes Himself an even more amazing God and father to us.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/how-much-does-god-love-this-church

And so I pray that in this busy season when not just weather but business and spiritual forces seem to be typhooning around me, I might be firmly rooted and grounded in the love of Christ as my strength and the object of my faith. That because of the love of Christ, I might yearn to pursue God and worship Him and be protected by Him, that I might live for His glory and for my joy.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

(Ephesians 3:14-21 ESV)