I went downstairs to watch/listen to the sermon by Francis and Lisa Chan from July 27th, and then my own pastor’s sermon from last week (but I found out it was Randy Baird and not PT…to my joy.  It is good to hear the voice of a friend even if they’re not talking to you directly.)  Now, don’t be frightened when I say that Francis AND Lisa were preaching, because it was more of a seminar kind of thing on Christ-Centered Relationships…the first of an un-numbered series.  I am so glad of it too, because I’ve been thinking a lot about singleness and everything.  I have come to the conclusion (at least right now) that I am doing best being single.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself.  First, let me introduce you to a friend. 

This is Frederick.  He decided to sit and listen to the sermons as well, and though I tried to remove him from the premises…he just would not cooperate.  Maybe he has been struggling with singleness as well.  Just joking!  I know lizards don’t have spirits!  I was able to finally coerce him into my “Pocky Men’s Chocolate” packaging and deliver him to the outside world where there are many wonders and insects for him to gobble.  I don’t know if it’s common to get lizards in the buildings this time of year, but I enjoy the little guys and I’m hoping to see him again sometime.  Introduction over, back to my blog.

Have you read these verses? 

1 Corinthians 7:29 – This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short.  From now on, let those who have wives live as though they have none,
vs 30 – and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no good,
vs 31 – and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it.  For the present form of this world is passing away.

Ok…I’m pretty sure I’ve read these before, because I conveniently have the last sentence of verse 31 highlighted with orange colored pencil.  But, I don’t remember an ounce of it. 

Shoot down to verse 35:  I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

I don’t think that Paul is saying that it’s not good to have a wife (or husband), or to mourn, or to rejoice (definitely not rejoice because in Philippians 4:4 he calls everyone to rejoice and then to rejoice again…which literally translates to 4x the joy), or to have goods, or to deal with the world.  BUT, he wants us to know that TIME IS SHORT!  It’s short!  The word “short” means that the time has only been contracted out…like work on a new building in town.  There is a bigger picture than our relationships, our griefs, our joys, our possessions, and our events.  It’s God…that’s all there is to it.  It’s God.  And we need to be careful that we do not give too much emphasis on those “other things” that it takes our focus away from what we are supposed to do – tell about GOD!

A couple weeks ago, Greg Laurie of Harvest Ministries, received terrible news that his 33 yr old son, Christopher, died in a car accident.  He was on his way to help set up and organize for a huge conference Harvest was having in Anaheim.  Chris was married with a kid and a baby on the way.  Two weeks later…just this past weekend, Greg preached at the conference on life, death, and passion.  Over 1,000 people received Christ out of the 11,000 in attendence.  That’s wonderful!  What a witness!  “and those who mourn as though they were not mourning.”  Of course Greg and his family are mourning their loss…but Greg knows enough about God to know that he has to keep going, that the work is bigger, and that Chris is not lost to them.  He is in heaven right now and God is so pleased that he took Chris while he was serving God.  What a way to go!

“Those who have wives live as though they had none.”  I’m not married, and frankly, right now I am glad of it.  I think that I am too independent and selfish for my own good.  Right now, I feel content with it being just me and God.  And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.  I think I am afraid that if I got married, I would try to depend on my husband more than God.  Francis and Lisa used an analogy of divers in a tank of water fighting over an air tank.  In any relationship, we should be getting our sole support from God, not depending on another person.  I agree that a happy relationship is not a list of 10 things in which “Having God first” is the #1 point.  I think the list should only be God.  Everything else will fall into place…if you are really loving God and seeking to give Him glory, it will all fall into place. 

I don’t know if marriage is in my future.  I don’t care!  Right now, I can see that I am most effective in glorifying God by being single.  If He chooses to change that, so be it.  But I’m not going to put any pressure on myself just because the world thinks it’s weird for me to be 20-something and not in a serious relationship.  I AM in a serious relationship.  I am passionately in love with my Savior…the God who decided to forget all the terrible things I have done to Him…all the times I have disobeyed His commands…and chose to love me.  Love me so much that He sent His Son to earth so that mankind could do our best to destroy Him.  Wow, I love that God!

I haven’t written a poem since, maaaaaybe January…so this is special…two in one day.  They are both fruit of a church member here in Japan passing away and my observing the Body as they grieve but hope.

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Your Grace is Sufficient
August 17th, 2008

Your grace is sufficient for Your children.
In our deepest grief,
Your grace is enough for us.

Your love overwhelms Your children.
In our greatest despair,
Your love is greater than us.

Your mercy humbles Your children.
In our worst rebellion,
Your mercy, to our knees, it brings us.

Your hope comforts Your children.
In our foggiest future,
Your hope is peace to us.

– Cricket ><> –

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Light in The Father
August 17th, 2008

How beautiful it is when
A child of God goes to meet Him.
When the light has burned brightly,
Drawing many to the Source –
The Father.
When the child’s flame is immersed
In the burning brilliance of,
The Father.
Though other nearby flames
Mourn the loss of their kindred
The hope of future burning,
Of a flame that will never fan out,
It is our comfort and delight.

 – Cricket ><> –

 Two days ago, me, Nakayama-san, Taka and Aki, Noriko, and Johnna went to hear the Shimonoseki Wind Ensemble perform a concert.  It was amazing!  I’m not a huge fan of bands…there’s something delicious about a full orchestra…but this was a really great concert and as the orchestra only performs once a year here…and I missed it already…this was a welcome diversion.  I love going to the symphony and theater back home…I really miss it.  There were so many great concerts planned this current year for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, I was bummed to be out of the country.  But, God allowed me to meet members of the Shimo Wind Ensemble and through our new friendship, they gave me and my friends 8 FREE tickets to the concert.  We were only able to scrounge up 6 people to go, but it was a good group.  The concert started off with several marches, typical of a band.  The second stage was the “karumina bura-na” a classical piece that I have yet to figure out what it is.  The way katakana works sometimes distorts foreign words so much that I can’t tell what it is saying until someone just points it out to me.  I recognized the music though and it was beautiful.  The third stage had a complete change of uniform as all members went to casual clothes and they played through a medley from “Enchanted”, a medley of Eagles songs (Desperado, Hotel California, Take It Easy…etc.), a medley of big band swing dance songs, and for the encore – the theme from Ponyo, Ponyo…a recent Japanese anime movie for kids about some little fish kid in the ocean….the tune is really catchy.

  Yesterday, Johnna and I hopped on the train around 12p and took it to Takibe (1 hour or so north of Shimonoseki).  When it stopped at Ayaragi, Eri joined us and we enjoyed a long train ride through the scenic countryside.  We had to switch at Kogushi and then a couple more stops and much sea-side view before we stopped in Takibe.  We were hungry for lunch, but we didn’t know how to get to the next destination.  We found out a bus would be by in about half an hour, so we ran off to find some food to grab and run.  No restaurants were in sight except for a cozy udon restaurant, but we didn’t have time to stop there.  So we went to a supermarket and got some obento and headed back to the train station. 

  We boarded the bus, which had only one other passenger besides us (an older woman who got off at the next stop), and we ate our obento.  The scenery was really nice, and the almost hour long ride was pretty enjoyable…our own private bus ride.  Meanwhile, we heard that it was raining pretty hard in Shimonoseki, but ahead of us was a beautiful blue sky.  Finally, we got to our destination…the gorgeous Tsunoshima!  The beach and water were wonderful!

 It was much too tempting.  Johnna was wearing a swim-suit, but Eri and I are poor and haven’t bought one.  But, without much resistance, Eri and I plunged on in and it was so much fun!  Took our clothes a long time to dry (I still wasn’t fully dry when I got home a little after 8pm.  It was really fun though, we had a great time.  When we thought we should head up to catch the bus back to the station, we got some kakigori (snowcones…mine was mango…yum!) and then scrambled to find the bus stop.  There were a few more people on the bus going back than when we rode out, but it was pretty nice. 

  We decided to grab some dinner in Takibe before catching the train, so we stopped off the bus a little early of the station and walked to the udon restaurant.  Alas…it was closed!  But we had seen a yakitori shop (yakitori is basically grilled meat on a stick) so we went back to have some dinner…relishing in the glory of fried potato (potato wedges).  We hopped on the train and took off for home.  Eri disembarked at Ayaragi and Johnna and I continued on to Shimonoseki.  The train was kind of crowded – there was an older couple who boarded at Ayaragi and the woman sat next to us and her husband sat across from her on the other side of the train.  At one point, she tried to get his attention, but he was dozing.  She looked at us, started laughing because we noticed it, pointed to him and said, “Ojisan” (grandpa).  Heh.  Then she proceeded to tell us that her child had studied in Wisconsin and had been there when 9/11 happened.  She asked where we were from and so we told her our states…she figured out where Maine was, but we didn’t get to explaining where Ohio was.  When the train stopped, the husband asked if we were going somewhere else, and I told him we were stopping here.  They were so sweet and even though they didn’t know any English really, and I know such little Japanese, they were still willing to have a convo with us. 

Below is a link to more of our pictures from Tsunoshima.  Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141556&l=0772f&id=500635206

Yesterday, I had tea time with Taka and Nakayama-san.  It’s been interesting here in Japan during August because the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were earlier this month.  Also the Olympics are going on and that has excited the natural rivalry between nations.  I went to Quixote and they were watching the high bar Olympics.  Tanabe-san (Too-Tired-Teacher-Who-Used-To-Be-In-Yakuza (but now we found out he really wasn’t in it)…) said almost immediately as I sat down that America was getting bronze, Japan was taking silver, and China was taking the gold.  Right there, in that little triangle of awards was a whole century of conflict…it was insane. 

I sat with Taka and Nakayama-san in surreality (is this a word? who cares!) discussing the reaction of Japan to losing WWII.  The country was in a panic, and Taka was talking about how this group of kamikaze soldiers received word that American ships were coming to invade Tokyo.  So they gathered these boats that were intended to just be steered into the ships…there were a hundred or so of them…and young men were manning the boats.  They were lined up, and filled with explosives to take out the ships.  But one caught on fire and as they rushed to put the fire out, four of the men realized it wasn’t completely extinguished and told the captain.  The captain disregarded it and called all the kamikaze soldiers together, but the four soldiers ran away, thinking there would be a terrible explosion if that boat continued to burn.  Sure enough, the fire built up again and in a chain reaction exploded all the other boats, killing all the men present…except those four.  Later, they did some research in Washington DC to see if there had really been ships on their way to Tokyo…but there weren’t.  The whole mission was a fool’s errand.

After that we talked about how Kokura (a shopping district maybe 20 minutes by train from here) was one of the initial targets for the bombs, but it was too cloudy, so they redirected it to either Hiroshima or Nagasaki (I think it was Nagasaki).  Crazy!  But there were heavy air raids done both here in Shimonoseki and in Tokyo.  There were so many in Tokyo that I read there were more deaths there than in both atomic bombs dropping.  Nakayama-san was 7 years old, and she was living in Tokyo at the time.  She was on the western side of the city, and most of the bombings happened on the eastern side.  She remembers the sky being a deep red from all the fire and explosions.  She thought it was beautiful, but her mother chastised her, saying, “Those are homes and people burning.”  Another woman at our church was in Shimonoseki at the time of the air raids.  She was close to one of the bombs dropping and she was thrown into the water…some people pulled her out, but she could have died.  Now, she and her husband and their daughters are believers…but had she died, none of that would be true.

It’s amazing.  And did you know that America had imprisonment camps for Japanese-Americans living in the States at this time?  Yeah…nothing like the German concentration camps, but still…people’s lives uprooted and isolated.  Taka said that his wife, (who is 3/4th Japanese) Aki’s grandparents were actually held at one of those camps.  Her mother was born on December 7th, 1941…Attack on Pearl Harbor Day.

Conversely, you have the terrible occurance of “comfort women”…women who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military to service the soldiers.  They took these women from any place they occupied: Korea, China, Philippines, Malaysia, Burma, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Macau, New Guinea.  My friend Mark even mentioned that some Australian women were enslaved, and some Dutch women from prison camps were then forced to work at “comfort stations.” 

In a nutshell…nobody wins in war.  Nobody.

(Makes you really think about Russia and Georgia, and all the other “wars” going on right now.)

I will say, though, that despite the terrible condition of the world and the awfulness of war and the instability of our world…it all points to one thing:  Jesus is coming soon.  And that gives me hope beyond all measure, because only He can establish true and lasting peace.  Take hope in that.

I have been remembering a time when I was younger and totally depressed that I would never find a boyfriend.  Come on.  You know you’ve been there too…unless you’re a guy reading this…sorry this is for my girls.

For some reason, I have been indulging myself with some great chick flicks, which is fine, but always makes me reminiscent.  Not to mention my eating Sour Cream & Onion Pringles, cross-stitching throughout most of the day and listening to music online.  Yes, my summer vacation is turning out real eventful.  But it’s alright, I don’t really mind it.

I was thinking about my current “single” status and how I’m pretty content with it.  I mean, if God decided to change that today, I’d be game for that as well…but as is, I am fine. 🙂  Not something I could have said a few years ago.  Especially when I was younger and in that sometimes awful institution called High School, I remember complaining to my mom about how there were no Christian guys who were really worth their salt.  She would remind me that they were out there, and that God was in control.  She also said that when I got out of high school, I would have to beat them off with a baseball bat, which always kind of frightened me…but I never really believed her.  There was always this doubt in my mind that, regardless of what mom knew about life, I probably knew more than her and I definitely knew more about boys than her.  I was assured that I was correct in the scarcity of worth-while guys.  I even had older friends who were in college and I listened to their stories of love and loss and despite the growing evidence that Christian young men are out there, I stood resolute in my assumption that none would cross my path and I would turn into a woman like Mother Teresa or Amy Carmichael.

Even my first few years of college produced few solid Christian guys and just fed into my misconception that there aren’t really any out there.  But, then my girl friends started dating really awesome Christian guys and then some of them got married.  And after a while, I couldn’t deny that some mysterious void was producing great guys.  Could it be that Mom was right afterall?

As of now, I’m not even 25, but I can single-handedly attest to knowing several stellar Christian guys of all sorts: languages, cultures, nationalities, etc.  I am not hopeless, though I am content right now.  As I’ve traveled half-way around the world I have met some great guys too and I am so pleased to call them “Dear Brothers.” 

So, to my younger Sisters and to my 20-something single Sisters…do not give up hope.  Do not give in to the thoughts of isolation and do not – I repeat – DO NOT compromise your standards and settle for some guy who is less worthy than the best.  There are young men of principle and morals (although they are tempted just like we are…so have mercy on them and encourage your Brothers in holiness) and they are waiting for you as much as you are waiting for them.

And to my Brothers who have decided to read to the end…I won’t leave you out cold either…just because this is a message of hope to my Sisters, I hope that you won’t throw it away as no worth to you.  There are so many young ladies who are waiting for young men who will stand up for what they believe in.  Young men who will be leaders and guardians, and most of all, lovers of God.  Please don’t make us feel like our waiting has been in vain.  Step up, have courage, and be bold in your love of God and for His Family. It won’t be wasted.

I got this off of another blog:

You enter a cafe. The cafe is deserted but on the table, you see: a glass of water, a bowl of soup, a dish of dessert, and a piece of meat. What you didn’t know is in one of this food is a drug that’ll make you do as you’re ordered: for example: someone orders you to dance like a monkey, and you’ll dance like one. So what do you think is the drugged food?


Well, there’s no right and wrong answer. Depending on the answer you choose, it’ll show what type of person you’ll be, how you’ll change when you fall in love.

Dessert: If you chose dessert, then when you fall in love, you’ll change according to the person you fell in love with. For example: if he/she likes Linkin Park, you’ll start to like Linkin Park. If he/she likes tennis, you’ll start to be interested in tennis. And so on. Your likes will change to be in accordance with him/her.

Soup: If you chose soup, then you are the type of person who doesn’t show your love, but you love deeply. You’ll act like you’re cold-hearted, but your heart is fuzzing with all the warmness. (Like Shin Goon from Goong. :P) You’ll think that you’re able to control your feelings, but other people can see through you. 😛

Water: If you chose water, then when you’re in love, you become quite serious about it. After you are in love, you are not able to show the dark side of you anymore. You spend your time seriously thinking about how to express your feelings, and the other person will not know how you’re feeling, and they will feel irritated.

Meat: If you chose meat, then you’re the kind of person who’ll feel like you’ve gone to heaven when you fall in love. And you won’t be able to contain your thrill and excitement, so others will start to get annoyed of you and think, “Hey… what’s the big deal lah”. You’ll want to show off your love to the whole world.

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I don’t know what I am.  I was torn between dessert and the piece of meat.  So maybe I’m an amalgum of the two…but after reading the descriptions, I think I’m more of a bowl of soup.  I hold a lot of my emotions inside, but I do have a ton of them swooshing around in my mind and whatnot.  I think I generally date desserts and glasses of water.  The guys I date immediately decide that they are in love with me and seem to change their whole selves just to match with me so that I’ll want to be with them…but then when I don’t show my emotions as quickly, they get bored and move on.  🙂  Which I’m ok with.  I don’t want someone who always agrees with me…or is in love with an idea of me.  And I don’t want to be with someone who doesn’t know who they are themselves and just wants to be in a relationship.  I want our relationship to be a challenge (in a good way) and to be loved for who I reeeally am.  I always thought that the “1/2 + 1/2 = 1” description of marriage was flawed…and then I heard someone say that “1 + 1 = 1” and I really think that’s more accurate for a relationship.  I in no way feel incomplete as I am right now…and I don’t want to date or marry someone who does feel that way.

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credit to dawn_1o9 for translating from Burmese to English