"Follow Me" / 「私に従って来なさい」

I was reading the end of John this morning and was stuck by the mercy of Jesus. In John 21, Jesus appears to his disciples again, but this time is especially for Simon Peter's benefit. Three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him and three times Peter tells him that he definitely loves him. Jesus did this as a way to show Peter that he was forgiven for denying him three times before Jesus' death. But what Jesus says after that was something I'd never noticed before. Verse 19 says this: "And after saying this he said to him "Follow me." Peter had made many mistakes throughout the course of the Gospels, culminating in his denial of Christ. Yet Jesus reminded him that the original call Peter had received from Jesus way back at the beginning of his ministry had not changed, despite Peter's failings. Peter was called to follow Jesus at the start, and Peter was called to continue to do that, despite what he had done. Following Jesus does not depend on our ability to do it 100% and as such the call does not change no matter how much we fail. You were called to follow Him and today He again calls you to follow Him.

今朝、ヨハネの福音書の終わりを読んで、イエス様のあわれみにストの影響をこうむりました。ヨハネ２１書にイエス様はもう一度、弟子たちに、今回は特にシモン・ペテロのために、姿を現して。３回にイエス様はペテロに「わたしを愛しますか？」と聞いて、ペテロは絶対に愛すると答えました。３度イエス様を知らないと言ったのにイエス様はペテロが赦されたことを見せるためにそうしました。でも、その後のイエス様が言われたことをまだ気がつきませんでした。「こうお話しになってから、ペテロにいわれた。「わたしに従いなさい。」」が１９節には書かれました。ペテロは福音書の中にいろいろな失敗して、一番悪いのはイエス様を知らないと言ったことですけど、ペテロの失敗にもかかわらず、最初のイエス様から受けれた呼びかけは変えらなかった。最初にペテロはイエス様に従うことに呼びかけられて、したことにもかかわらずに、ペテロは続けて従うことに呼びかけられました。イエス様に従うことは私たちの能力によるとわけではないので、よく失敗しても、私たちの呼びかけは変えません。最初にイエス様に従うことに呼びかけられて、今日もイエス様に従うことに呼びかけられます。

Love / 愛

I want to share a story from las week with you. Last Tuesday, after he had finished his work on campus, Kaji bumped into Ryota and they caught the train together. God really lead their conversation and Kaji was able to share that even if he doesn't have the coolest clothes or lots of money, God still loves him. This really impacted Ryota. Then on Friday, at Friday Live, Ryota shared about this conversation with me, Kaji and some other non-Christians. He said that the thought of a God who loved him made him cry when he got back to his apartment. Please pray for Ryota. He is close to accepting Christ and finished CE yesterday.

先週の話しを分かち合いたいと思います。先週の火曜日に、外大でのアルバイトの後にかじくんが偶然にりょうたくんに会って、いっしょに電車で帰ってきました。神様が彼らの会話を本当に導いて、かじくんが「かっこいい服がなくても、お金が少なくても、神様はそれでもりょうたくんを愛している」のことを分かち合えました。そのことはりょうたくんに大きい影響を与えました。
その後、金曜日にフライデイ・ライブでりょうたくんは僕とかじくんと他のノンクリスチンにその会話について分かち合いました。彼は帰ってから、自分を愛している神様のことを考えて、涙を流したと言いました。りょうたのために祈ってください。もうすぐイエス様を受けそうです。昨日、最後のCEをしました。

Typhoon / 台風

At the start of this month we had a typhoon in Nagoya. I actually slept through it, but I'm told it was quite big, with strong winds. The week after the typhoon, however, had amazingly beautiful weather. The sky was so blue and the air was so clean, it was hard to imagine that we'd had a typhoon just days before. But apparently this is normal: after a typhoon, the weather becomes really nice. The typhoon 'cleans' out all the dirt and dust from the air. It can be the same with our relationship with God. We can be going through a stage of life that seems like we're in the middle of a typhoon, but God can use that to clean us out and purify us. Jesus talks about this in John 15, which I was reading recently. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." - John 15:1-2. Pruning involves cutting things off, its not a fun process and it will hurt. But the result is worth it: "so that it will be even more fruitful"

今月の初めに名古屋に台風が来ました。実は、僕が寝たけど本当に大きくて、風が強い台風だと聞きました。しかし、次の週にすごくきれいな天気でした。空はとても青くて、空気はすごくきれいでした。何日間前に台風があったことはあまり信じられないでした。これはふつうと聞きました。台風の後、天気はきれいになって、空気から黄塵などが捨てさせた。神さまとの関係は同じようなものだと思います。時々、私たちの人生は台風と似ているでしょう。でも、神さまはその場合を使うによって、私たちの心を清めます。最近読んだヨハネ１５書の中に、イエス様はそのことについて話します。「わたしはまことのぶどうの木であり、わたしの父は農夫です。わたしの枝で実を結ばないものはみな、父がそれを取り除き、実を結ぶものはみな、もっと多く実を結ぶために、刈り込みをなさいます。」－ヨハネ15:1-2. 刈り込みはものを切ることです。あまり楽しい方法ではなくて、痛いでしょう。しかし、結果はいいですね！「もっと多く実を結ぶために」

Sin / 罪

On Saturday I had McDonalds for lunch. It seemed like a good idea at the time. On Saturday night I felt very sick and regretted having McDonalds. But despite this, I will most probably get McDonalds again next week if I'm feeling hungry and wanting a quick meal, even though I know I'll feel sick because of it. I think sin is the same kind of thing. In my experience, sin seems like a good idea at the time and you don't really think about how it hurts God or the consequences of our actions, but later on it comes back to hurt you and you feel guilty and terrible because of it.

土曜日に昼ごはんにマクドナルドを食べました。あの時にいいアイディアだと思いました。土曜日の夜に病気に感じていました。マクドナルドを食べたことを悔いました。しかし、病気になるかもしれないのに来週お腹がすいていて、早く食べたなければ、多分またマクドナルドを食べます。

罪はこのようなものだとおもいます。僕の人生の中に、やっている時にいいアイディアだそうです。どうゆうふうに神様の機嫌を損ねることや僕らの行動の事業自得をあまり考えません。でも、後で気がとがめます。

Grace / 恵み

We had our first Immanuel Meeting for the semester last night which was exciting. Immanuel Meeting is our weekly student meeting for the Nagoya ministry - the one regular opportunity the students get to gather with people from different campuses, share fellowship and live out what it means to be a Christ-centred community. The talk was about the theme of the coming semester: 'Pass The Baton', based on 2 Timothy 2:2 which says "And the things you've heard me say in the presence of many witness, entrust to reliable men who in turn will be able to teach others." Masayoshi, the staff who was doing the talk, started talking about grace and he showed us the Chinese character/kanji for 'grace': 恵. He said that it has 2 parts to it: 'cross' (十) and 'to think' (思) and that it gives a good picture of how to understand grace. To understand grace we have to think of the cross. To receive grace we have to think of the cross. To live out grace we have to think of the cross. When someone hurts me, I have to think of the cross and what Jesus did, and if I fully comprehend the enormity of what Christ did, then I can't possibly continue to hold a grudge against that person - I treat them with grace!

昨日の夜に後期の最初のインマヌエルミーティングを行いました。インマヌエルミーティングは毎週、名古屋のミ二ストリーの学生を集めるミーティングです。このミーティングは学生が違う大学からの友達に会ったり、交わりをしたり、クリスチャンコミュニティーに生きたりする機会が一つだけです。メッセージは「バトンを渡す」という後期のテーマに関する。そういうテーマは第2テモテ2：2に基づく:「多くの証人の前で、私から聞いたことを、他の人にも教える力のある忠実な人たちにゆだねなさい。」
説教したまさよしというスタッフは恵みについて話し始めて、恵みの漢字を見せた。「恵」は二つの部分があると言った: 「十」（十字架）プラス　「思」（思う）。この考え方はどうか恵みをわかるようなイメージだと思います。恵みを分かるために十字架を思うべきです。恵みを受けるために十字架をおもうべきです。恵みを上げるために十字架を思うべきです。誰か、私を傷付けたら、十字架とかイエス様の行いを思うべきで、キリストの深い愛をはっきり分ければ、その人を許すでしょう。恵みを上げる。

Japanese / 日本語

So, a couple of friends of mine have been writing their blogs/journals in Japanese for practice, so I thought it might good for me to try doing the same. Don't worry, I'll write it all in English as well so that you can understand it. I haven't had to write much in Japanese lately, I mostly just use it in conversation, so this could be a good challenge for me.

So next weekend I'm climbing a mountain with some friends from Church. This Mountain (Mt Ontake) is 3067m (10062ft) high, making it the 11th highest mountain in Japan. Now, Australia's highest mountain is just 2228m (7310ft) high, so this could be quite an experience. On top of that, Mt Ontake is actually a volcano. We have to get up at 5am to drive to Gifu-ken for the climb, so I have a feeling I'll be a little sleepy.

僕の友達の二人は最近、練習のために日本語で日記を書き始めました。ぼくはいいアイディアだと思うので、ぼくもそうとしに見たいとおもいます。心配しないで、分かるように、英語でも書きます。日本に来る後で、あまり日本語で書く機会がありません。たいてい会話的な日本語を使います。だから、これはいいチャレンジだと思います。

じゃ、来週末に教会の友達といっしょに山を登るつもりです。御岳山という山は３０６７メートル（１００６２フィート）し、日本の中に１１番高い山です。実は、オーストラリアの一番高い山は２２２８メートル（７３１０フィート）だけですから、御岳山を登ることはいい経験かもしれません。その上に、御岳山は火山です！岐阜県に運転するために５時におきるはずだからちょっとねむいだと思います。

If any of my Japanese friends want to correct my Japanese, that would be helpful!

もし、日本人友達の誰かが僕の日本語の間違いを正せば、役に立ちます！

The Bride

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I made a trip back to Sydney at the end of August to be best man in my best mate's wedding. I love weddings, I think they're amazing times of celebration and joy, and I've been privileged enough to be involved in the bridal party of the last 2 I've been to which adds an extra dimension to the fun of them.
This past wedding was a fantastic reminder of the amazing relationship I have with Jesus though, as all good Christian relationships should. The sermon at this wedding was about how a wedding and a Christian relationship are just symbols of something more: symbols of the relationship between Jesus and His people. So, just as the vows are given by a bride and a groom on their wedding day, so too Jesus promises to love and cherish His people. And we have to respond, we have to choose as well to love and obey Him, just as the bride does to her husband on wedding day. If we don't respond, the promises of Jesus are just as meaningless as if the groom made his vows, but the bride did not - they would not be married.

These vows, when lived out in a marriage, are also a reflection of the way Jesus lived us His love for us in such a self-sacrificial way, going all the way to the cross for His people, His bride. If we can see a loving, Christian marriage being played out in front of us, it should be a reflection of what it means to be loved unconditionally by Jesus, no matter who we are or what we've done.

Sermon: God Can Use You

Its been a while between posts, I've been busy, sorry. Been jetting off around the world, doing camps, and lots of other things. I've got some stuff I want to write about soon, but I'll get to that in another post. I want to share with you what I preached in my home Church a couple of weeks ago while I was in Sydney (more on that trip in another blog too). Its called God Can Use You. Enjoy!

A man was walking along a beach one morning and noticed that the sand was littered with thousands and thousands of starfish that had been washed up on shore. He knew that they would die if the morning sun shone on them for too long, so he proceeded to pick one up and flung it back into the sea. A lady noticed and asked the man what he was doing. “The beach goes on for miles,” she said. “How can you possibly make a difference?”
The man pointed to the sea and answered “I made a difference for that one.”

It’s a nice little story, and its point is something I want us to explore in greater depth today as we look at Scripture: that God can in fact use us and we can make a difference, no matter who we are. I often thought that I wasn’t going to be very useful by God, and while I may not have planted a Church or lead hundreds to Christ I can safely say that God has used me. There are so many ways God can use us and He actually wants to use us – its just a matter of whether you’re open to being used by Him or not. I want to look at someone in the Bible who God used in amazing ways, but sometimes his contribution to the unfolding of God’s will goes undetected. I want to look at Barnabas. I think it’s safe to say that the course of history was changed because of his influence on the early Church, even if he isn’t the most famous character in the New Testament.

We’re going to be looking at the Book of Acts, and for those who may not be familiar with it, this is a book written by a guy named Luke. Luke wrote a book detailing the life of Jesus, and this Book of Acts is the follow up to that book, describing the life of the Christian Church following Jesus’ death and resurrection. And it’s in this account of history that we get Barnabas making his contribution to the story.

The first mention we get of Barnabas is in Acts 4:36-37. The writer has just described what the community of Christians in the weeks after Jesus’ Resurrection was like, saying that they were “one in heart and mind” and that they shared everything they had, selling their possessions to care for the poor among them. Then he finishes off that section with this: “Joseph, a Levite fromCyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the Apostles’ feet.” This amazing generosity is contrasted with the next chapter of Acts in which Ananias and Sapphira also bring some money to lay at the Apostles’ feet, but they lie and tell them it is all the money they got for the sale, when in reality they kept some for themselves, and they suffer the consequences for their sin. Barnabas however has no deceit in him, but desires to be a servant in action by putting others needs before his own. This brief mention is definitely a sign of things to come though, which may well be why he gets singled out in this section.

The story continues to unfold in the following chapters, most notable with on of the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem, Stephen, being captured by the Jewish leaders and stoned to death, and from this Luke tells us in Acts 8:1 “On that day a great persecution broke out against the Church at Jerusalem, and all except the Apostles were scatted throughout Judea and Samaria.” It’s at this point that we’re introduced to a man that would play a crucial role in the development of the rest of the book of Acts: a Jewish religious fanatic named Saul, who Luke tells us, “began to destroy the Church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” It seems he was heading up this new effort of persecution and in the next chapter, Luke tells us that Saul got permission from the Jewish leaders to go to another city, Damascus, to continue his persecution of the Christians there. Something unexpected happened though – while Saul was on the road to Damascus he saw Jesus Himself appear to him and he is converted. The Christian-killer becomes a Christian himself – you couldn’t write a better script if you tried. Saul then starts preaching in the Jewish synagogues that Jesus is the Christ, no doubt confusing everyone who heard him preaching as he’d become quite well known among the Jewish community for his exploits.

However, when Saul tried to return to Jerusalem and join the community of Christians there, he faced a problem: the leaders of the Church didn’t believe that he had truly become a Christian. They doubted. They may well have suspected that he was using this as a ploy to persecute them too. There was one, however, among the leaders who trusted Saul - Barnabas. Barnabas stepped in and vouched for Saul – he put his own reputation and standing on the line for what he knew was right, despite not being a witness to the things Saul spoke of. The change in Saul’s status was amazing, as we see in chapter 9 verse 28, just two verses after the leaders of the Church were so fearful of him: “So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.” He went from outright rejection to being given a free pass to minister as he saw fit – and all because of the step of faith Barnabas took.

We skip ahead 2 chapters and we see Barnabas at the centre of the action again. Luke tells us that some Christians took the message of Jesus to the Greeks in Antioch – the first time the message had really been preached to non-Jews – and a Church was formed there, probably with a mix of Jews and non-Jews in the congregation. The leaders in Jerusalem decided they needed to send a representative to this new fledgling Church. We don’t know why they wanted to do that, whether it was to encourage and build them up, or to check out their legitimacy, but we do know they picked Barnabas for the job. When Barnabas arrived, Luke tells us, he “saw the evidence of the grace of God” and “he was glad”. Now, to understand the significance of this you have to understand the thought of the Jewish people of the day. The Jews were God’s chosen people, as revealed in their Scriptures – the Old Testament – and so this position made them special, better than non-Jews. And this train of thought stayed with some of the new Christians, all of whom were Jews. Just prior to this section, Peter has a vision from God where God has to convince him that the non-Jews deserve the Gospel as well – so we can see that it was an issue that faced the early Church. And yet, here we have Barnabas, who was glad at seeing a congregation with a mix of Jews and non-Jews, worshipping together.

Barnabas didn’t view his job as being over then though, but saw a few opportunities here. He leftAntioch and went to Cyprus to find Saul and brought him back to Antioch and together they stayed there over a year encouraging and teaching the Church. Crucial to this is that they didn’t just encourage them with words and leave. They encouraged with words, yes, but they coupled that with standing by them and working with them – it was with action. James expresses this concept in chapter 2 verses 15 and 16: “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” Barnabas and Saul applied this principal well, standing with the Antioch Church, not just encouraging from a distance.

The impact of Barnabas ministry is one that isn’t as obvious compared to Saul. Saul went on to be called Paul and wrote the vast majority of the New Testament, as well as planting countless Churches. The book of Acts, from chapter 12 onwards basically tells Paul’s story. Paul is the hero of the New Testament. But we can’t forget how God used Barnabas, because without him things would have looked very different. Paul would not have become the amazing man who spread the good news of Jesus all through Asia Minor and Europe without Barnabas. If Barnabas had not vouched for Paul in Jerusalem, Paul would not have developed the same reputation among the Jews and would not have received their blessing for all of his missionary journeys, nor would they have condoned his being appointed a leader in the Antioch church, which was no doubt a significant time of growth for Paul in his ministry skills and propelled him into his missionary journeys.

The Church at Antioch became very significant too, with it serving as the home base so to speak for Barnabas’ and Paul’s missionary journeys, as well as providing lots of financial support to the struggling Jerusalem Church during a particular tough time of famine in the region.

The story of Barnabas doesn’t end there however - he has one last significant mention that I want to look at today, and it’s found at the end chapter 15 of Acts. This is from verse 36:

“Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.”

Once again we see Barnabas standing up for someone in the face of opposition, despite their chequered past, much like he did with Paul – but unlike with Paul, it doesn’t seem to end positively. Barnabas goes on with Mark, and Paul goes on his own way with Silas, but it is Paul who gets the blessing of the Church in Jerusalem. So it seems that after all these positive things we see of Barnabas previously, his story actually ends on a sad note. However, while Acts doesn’t tell us anymore about Barnabas and there is nothing in any other part of the Bible that tells us explicitly that Paul and Barnabas made up after their disagreement, there is reason to believe things ended well. We move on to Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Scholars regard this letter as the final letter of Paul’s, and so I think its fair to say what it has to say can be dated after this story of Paul and Barnabas’ disagreement. In chapter 4 verse 11, Paul is in the middle of giving some personal remarks to Timothy and he says this: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” Just read that again: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” What a turn around: from Paul saying that he would not take Mark with him, no matter what, to the point that he split from his close friend and ministry partner of many years, Barnabas – to saying that he and Mark are not only reconciled, but that Mark is actually “helpful” to his ministry. What amazing discernment Barnabas must have had to see this potential in Mark and then the strength of character to stand by him, despite no-one else wanting to trust him. This Mark is also said to be the author of the Gospel of Mark, so we see yet another significant impact Barnabas had through his influence on someone else.

It’s in this love of Mark, that we see Barnabas living out the Gospel he preached. He was putting his faith into action, just as he did in the Church at Antioch. Barnabas looked beyond the mistakes Mark had made, and saw him as God sees him: forgiven. That’s the good news of the message of Jesus – the message that Barnabas preached and lived out. It’s a message that permeates throughout the Bible: one of a loving God reconciling His people to Himself, so that they can know Him personally. There’s a short little presentation that I’ve used in ministry both in Australia and Japan that condenses this message of the Bible to four basic points and I want to share that with you now. For those already know Christ, be encouraged as you are reminded of the amazing grace that God has shown you. For those who don’t yet know Christ, please, take this on board, not because I’m asking you to, but because God is asking you to.

So, the first point is that

1. God loves you and created you to have a personal relationship with him.

God isn’t a distant God, separate from our lives here, uncaring or uninterested in our lives. He created each one of you personally, knows everything about you, the deepest desires of your heart and loves you, despite your failings. The point of life is to know God, because that’s why he created us.

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” – John 17:3

But this isn’t what we see in reality – God seems far from us, we don’t know Him. What keeps us from knowing God?

Well that’s the second point:

2. All of us are sinful and guilty before God, and this sin has separated us from God.

This sin has broken the relationship God created us for, and therefore we can’t know God personally, as He intended us to. The Bible says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23) We are basically in rebellion against God, whether actively or passively, and this rebellion stands between us and God. We have put ourselves above God, at the centre of our lives. No matter what we may try to do to rectify this, we can’t – our efforts fall short. It doesn’t matter how much you try, how good you think you can be, you can’t measure up.
It would be like me asking each of you to line up on the beach in Sydney with a small rock and see who can throw that rock to Japan. One might throw it a few metres out, another might throw it over the breakers. You could all line up and have a try, but ultimately none of you will get close to throwing your rock to Japan though. So likewise, our best efforts to please God will fall embarrassingly short.

So what’s the solution? How do we bridge the gap?

3. Jesus Christ is God’s own solution.

It’s through him that we can know God personally; it’s through him that we can have our relationship restored. Jesus wasn’t just a great teacher or a model to follow to live a good life – He was so much more. Jesus died a horrible death on a cross, a torturous Roman method of execution, but this death was significant because it was in our place. Rather than allow us to suffer the consequences of our rebellion against God, Jesus suffered them for us – he stood in our place.

"For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God" – 1 Peter 3:18

But Jesus didn’t stay dead – God raised him from the dead, guaranteeing that we too can have eternal life and that Jesus is who he says he was and more than capable to forgive us.

Christ bridges the gap between us and God and He is the only way, as He Himself said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – (John 14:3)

But simply knowing these things isn’t enough – the Devil himself knows these things about God. And that’s where the 4^th point comes in:

4. We must each respond

We all need to personally respond to Jesus and what he has done. How would you respond?

There's two circles below. The first represents a life that is run by you, the S stands for Self and you are on the throne, making the decisions, running your life. The cross represents Jesus, and He’s not in the circle, not in your life at all.

Then there’s the second circle, where Jesus is on the throne, directing your life and you are not.

Which one is you now? Which one do you think you should be in? If you’re thinking to yourself that you’re in the first, but need to be in the second then you can respond to Jesus by placing your trust in Him as Saviour and Lord.

There’s two aspects to this:

Firstly: agreeing with God that we have sinned and rebelled against Him and then turning away from that rebellion
This is called repentance.

Secondly: trusting Jesus Christ to forgive us completely because He died for our sins

This is called faith.

You can express this by praying to God, basically just talking to him. You don’t need fancy words, the words themselves are not magical, it just needs to reflect your heart. You could pray something like this:

“Lord Jesus, I realise that I have been running my own life and have sinned against you. Thank you for dying for my sins. I want to be the kind of person you want me to be. I receive you as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for giving me this personal relationship with you.

If you can pray that, and mean it, then you can enter into a relationship with Jesus – all by His grace, the free gift of God. If you’ve already made that step, then be reminded of this amazing free gift of God.

We’ve seen, today, how this amazing grace affected Barnabas and made him into a man God was willing to use. Accepting Jesus isn’t just a one off event that ends the day you do it, but it’s a journey that continues on for the rest of your life, and so you too can be continually affected by the grace of God each and every day.

Now, what was it that made Barnabas so special that God was able to use him in such an amazing way, despite falling into the background of the story a little? It’s all well and good to look at what God did through him, but unless we can take something from this and apply it to our lives, it’s just a nice story. What’s the key to God using Barnabas that we can strive towards? It lies back in chapter 11, verse 24: “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” It wasn’t that he’d been to Bible College and studied theology for many years. It wasn’t that he had experience in Church leadership. It wasn’t that he had been trained in evangelism. It was the simple fact that he had been filled with the Holy Spirit and had faith in God, and we see this come through in everything he does. He trusted that God was working genuinely in the life of Paul and he wouldn’t back down on that. He trusted that God was working genuinely in the life of the Church at Antioch and did everything he could to encourage them. He trusted that God was working in the life of Mark. And then he trusted God that he would use him when God sent him out on mission trips throughout Europe.
How can we, like Barnabas, be used by God in our lives? We don’t have to be like Paul, planting Churches and converting hundreds of people wherever we go. We don’t have to move overseas to be a missionary. We don’t have to become a pastor of a Church. These are all good things, and I would encourage anyone considering those to pursue it, but they are not the only ways God can use us. We, like Barnabas, can quietly get alongside someone and encourage them in their lives, where they’re at, walking with them each step of the way. You may never know the impact it might have on their life and what God might then in turn use them to accomplish down the track. Without Barnabas’ influence on a few select people, we may not have the Gospel of Mark, or the letters of Paul. The Gospel may never have spread to large parts of Europe in quite the same way as it did. Barnabas is by no means the centre of the story, he never wrote anything that was included in the Bible – but God was using him in the little things. And God can use you too in those little things, to make a great impact for His Kingdom.

Goodbyes

So I've been in Japan nearly 5 months and am still not really half way yet, but tomorrow I have to say goodbye to some people I've grown to love a lot in the last few months. Two of them I may never see again, and one I might see a couple of times when he comes back to Nagoya from Tokyo on the occasional public holiday, yet these guys have been some of the people I look forward to seeing each week at Church. I don't know if I'm prepared for more goodbyes, I wasn't expecting them again until the end of my term here, but I guess thats a false expectation. The life of a missionary is one of transciency - we are constantly leaving, constantly seeing people come and go. Things are rarely the same. I know in my 5 years in Student Life at Sydney University the missionary team was never the same from one year to the next.
So, Evan, Inori and Ryota - I'm gonna miss you guys and hopefully I'll see you again sometime.

In other news, I didn't get to see Manon on Saturday after all. He wasn't as well as he had been, his white blood cell count was a bit low, so we decided to hold off until I get back from Sydney. So not a lot else to update on sadly, but if I find out anything else, I'll let you know.

Manon Update

Thank you all so much for your encouragement and prayers for Manon since my last post. It's been amazing to see the response of God's people all over the world (thank God for the internet hey haha). Manon started chemotherapy this week and so far it seems to have gone well. I'm looking to go and see him this coming weekend, so hopefully I'll have a bit of a better idea of whats going on then. Although, my knowledge of Japanese medical terminology is quite limited haha so we'll see how we go.

In other news, we had a 6.4 earthquake the other day! It was about 5am and it woke me up, my whole room was shaking and some of my books fell off their shelf I discovered later that day. I'd never felt an earthquake before (at least not that I could remember - there was one in Newcastle in 1989 but I was too young to remember) so it was quite an experience. My poor housemate, George, much to his disappointment, slept through the whole thing though.

And to all those contemplating ever coming to Japan, or Nagoya more specifically, during the month of August, I have this to say to you: DON'T DO IT! The weather here is pretty crazy. Its hot (over 30C everyday easily), but thats not the worst part. Its the humidity the kicks you in the guts and make you sweat before you've even gotten out of bed in the morning. Most days the lowest the humidity gets is about 65%, but more often than not its in the 70-80s mark and then jumps into the 90's over night which makes sleeping that bit harder. So, in summary, if you want to visit Japan, do it in a month that is not August haha.

Kick in the guts

It is with sadness, shock and a deep sense of injustice that I write this. This past week, Manon Moriyama, the 5 year old son of Takeshi, one of the Crusade staff here in Nagoya, was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia.
Manon was taken in for a routine vaccination when the doctor thought the colour in his face wasn't right and he noticed some bruises on his legs. Tests were done and the doctor had them go to the bigger hospital for more tests. They went to Red Cross Hospital where it was confirmed that Manon has leukemia.
What makes this even harder is that our Nagoya team leader, Seiji, had his son pass away from leukemia 5 years ago in the same hospital. So this is a huge challenge for him too, with lots of those emotions coming back to him during this time.
So I'm asking you to pray - we need a miracle from God. Pray for Takeshi and his family as they go through such a tough battle. Pray for Seiji as he leads the team through this tough time. Pray for the rest of the staff team as they come to terms with the battle we're all facing as a result. And please pray for healing for Manon, that he would be completely healed of this disease.

Lessons Learned

Apologies for the delay in writing on here, its been a hectic few weeks and I'm only just finding time to rest and get my thoughts together. The semester is now over and this past week has been day after day of evaluation and reflection on the year so far. I've learnt a lot about myself, how I process things, my character, faults and failures, which has obviously got me thinking about how I fit in the ministry here and where my future lies. I won't go into details on my thought processes so far, because they're not completely solidified, but I would definitely appreciate prayer as this is a big time of thinking. Its very hard to think logically and clearly when you're in the middle of a rush-rush-rush semester of activity, so this will be a key time in figuring out what my future holds.

I was listening to a sermon the other day from a talk series at the annual student conference for Student Life in Australia - it was from 2006, the year I missed due to my big deam American holiday, so I hadn't heard these talks before. They were focused on Romans 1:16 and the verses around it, and one why Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel. One of the talks really hit home for me. John (the speaker) was talking about how we are so well trained in how to reap the harvest (ie. share the Gospel and bring them to Christ), but we are so incredibly lacking in knowing how to sow (plant seeds of the Gospel that will eventually come to fruition in someone accepting Christ). He then went on to explain that, as Christians, we need to develop a ministry-mindset to life. Basically, what that means is that we recognise that God is in control of the circumstances of our lives, and so we need to look at every circumstance and ask ourselves how God can use it to glorify Himself and bring others closer to Him. I kind of knew that this is how I should approach life, but had never had it so clearly explained before. It challenged my thinking no end! A verse that came to mind was Colossians 3:17: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." EVERYTHING I do should be done in the name of Jesus, and for His glory. EVERYTHING! That is challenging stuff!

The Empire Strikes Back

Just got a mail from another staff saying that he heard Gaidai was closed tomorrow due to some sort of flu infection, but not swine flu - some new kind of flu apparently. There goes another day of ministry - this is getting a little annoying!

In other news, we're having a spiritual birthday party tomorrow night to celebrate those who've come to know Christ this semester. It should be a really good night of fellowship and celebration. Be praying for all of us involved in making it happen, that everything would go smoothly.

'The Vine' and more

Yesterday was a great day! It started with a great service at Church, which included a particularly challenging sermon. We were looking at the first half of Romans 6, where Paul talks about the fact that our sin nature has died and in Christ we have a new nature that can say no to sin. Matt, the preacher, used a particularly good illustration to explain why this doesn't always seem to ring true in our lives. He compared the sin nature to a vine (not to be confused with the vine of John 15) that he had growing on his Church building back in the US. One of the jobs of keeping the yard clean was to rip down these vines that grew up the side of the building. They were quite strong though and it was hard to rip them off the wall, so what you had to do was cut it off at the roots and leave it for a while to die and then after waiting many weeks, the vine would be weak enough to rip off.
Likewise, our sin can be like that. We have died to sin, the old body was crucified with Christ - it has been cut off at the root. But its still there, but slowly losing its grip on our life. We need to continue to trust in the power of Christ, that is given us when we choose to follow Him, rather than our own strength, to rip that vine off the wall. And one day, the vine will drop off altogether, when we meet Christ face to face.

The day then continued in its awesome ways, as a group of us went to the beach. It took us an hour to get there (unlike the 5 minutes or so it used to take in Sydney), but it was well worth it. I hadn't seen the ocean since I arrived in Japan, so it was refreshing to swim, to feel the sand between my toes, enjoy the sea breeze. We had a lot of fun just hanging out.
When we left, we went to Nagoya station and got some Cold Stone (or Cold Rock for my Australian readers) and the girls working there sung for us as they made the ice cream. Then we all got a photo with them. They all went out back to get their cameras to get a photo for themselves too haha. All in all a fun day!

And I thought it couldn't get better

After seeing 4 girls come to Christ in a matter of days, I was incredibly excited and amazed at what God was doing. But He wasn't done yet, and frankly, that shouldn't have surprised me. Yesterday we had 2 more girls choose to follow Jesus.
During lunch time Cecilia and Pam met up with a first year girl, Kumiko, who is friends with the Mai who came to Christ earlier in the week, because Kumiko wanted to find out more about Jesus. And she decided during lunch that she wanted to follow Him.
Then last night at our International Night, Cecilia got to share, along with Mika (a student at Nagoya Gakuin University - NGU), with Mika's friend Kyoko after we had heard a message about how Jesus had changed Jody's life. Kyoko invited Jesus into her life too.

Praise God for new members of God's family!

I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God

... over one sinner who repents" - Luke 15:10

Wow, what a week! Talk about God's Spirit moving!
Here's the short version:
since Friday 4 girls at Gaidai have come to know Jesus as their Saviour!

Here's the longer version:
On Friday at lunch, Pam and Kahori (one of the student leaders) were talking to a girl Kahori went to high school with, Miki and during the conversation they were able to share the Gospel with her and she received Christ. Then straight after that, Pam went to do a Christianity Explained course (a short 6 lesson overview of the life of Jesus) with a first year Gaidai girl named Mayuka who we'd met only the week before, when she said she had an interest in the Bible. After doing CE, Mayuka decided she wanted to follow Jesus.
Then on Monday, Cecilia was meeting up with some girls for lunch with Pam and Kahori, and after lunch one of them (Mai) stayed back to hang out and they shared really openly about their struggles, which led to Cecilia being able to share how she came to know Jesus. Mai started to cry as it really impacted her and Cecilia and Pam were able to share with her the joy of knowing Jesus and she decided to become a Christian too.
Then just an hour ago, Kahori and Saki (another Gaidai Christian girl) did CE with a student named Ayaka, and she prayed to receive Christ as well.

God is working and its exciting to be a part of it!

God listens

Wanted to share a brief little story of ministry from this past week:
It was Thursday morning and I met up with Masayoshi, one of the Japanese staff, before we started ministry on Aichi Gakuin University (AGU). We were both a little discouraged by a few things that had happened recently. We'd been searching for a new place for our weekly student meeting on Thursday Nights (Immanuel Meeting) and we had one promising location we'd found, but we got word that morning that they were unable to help us out anymore. And something else Masayoshi and myself had been planning was starting to fall apart (more on that later). On top of that, someone I had become really good friends with over the last few weeks had just flown home to the US that morning. So we had both come to campus feeling a bit down.

We read a bit of the Word, and were encouraged by God's promise in Micah 4:3 - "He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore". Life is tough, its filled with war - whether real war between countries, or spiritual war, or war within ourselves. However, we know that God has promised this will not last forever - there will come a day when there will be no more war. So we prayed that God would continue to encourage us today even if we weren't feeling like doing ministry or anything like that.

So we headed out to meet some students, sat down next to some guys to eat lunch, only for them to get up after a few minutes and leave. Not the most encouraging start. Then two guys sat down next to us and Masayoshi said hello. After a few seconds we came to realise that these guys weren't actually Japanese, but rather Chinese exchange students. When Masayoshi was at Uni he majored in Chinese and Chinese history, so he burst into Chinese chatting to these guys. We found out their major was Global English, so they spoke English reasonably well too. It wasn't a huge thing, they didn't receive Christ or anything like that, but I could see in Masayoshi's eyes that this was encouraging to him. He doesn't get the chance to speak Chinese much and this was just what he needed at that time. God heard and He responded - just as was needed at that moment in time.

Lessons learned

It seems that being here on STINT is one big long lesson, or at least lots of little lessons building on top of each other.
I've learned a lot about myself - what I value, what I prioritise, my weaknesses and failings.
I've learned a lot about others - how their values and priorities differ, their weaknesses and failings.
I've learned a lot about God - His values, His priorities and His complete lack of weaknesses and failings.
I've learned that God is in the business of changing hearts. I've always known that and mentally adhered to it, but over the last 2 months, I've experienced it in amazing ways. God has been molding me to reflect His priorities and values. I've been faced with situations that just a year ago would have caused me to stumble, and God has blessed with the ability to fight through them. I'm nowhere near perfection and would never claim to be, but its been amazing to see and feel the change God has made so far and I can't wait to see what else He will do in the coming months.

I've learned that God is in control. There have been so many Divine appointments so far. God has brought people along at the right times and used it for His Glory. The future isn't always plain to see, but we don't need to know the future to follow faithfully after our Father. As a poster in a Church I visited once said: "I don't know what tomorrow brings, but I do know Who brings tomorrow". I will continue to strive to trust God's plan, no matter how strange or bizarre it may seem or how little sense it may make to me.

I've learned to be open, to be honest. I've learned to confess my sins, admit my failures and be honest about where I've failed. My life as a Christian started with admitting that I had failed, and my life as a Christian should continue with that attitude. I want to be the first to put my hand up and say that I've messed up, not so I can seem more holy or anything like that, but that I wouldn't deny the Holy Spirit one minute to work in my heart.

Most of all, I've learned that I am dearly loved, through nothing I've done or achieved, but solely through what He has done and achieved on my behalf. Saved. Chosen. Sanctified. Blessed.

"Where You Lead Me"

I've been listening to some music by MercyMe of late, particularly the album, Undone. I listened to it a lot on my first mission trip back in 2004 so it has sentimental value for me, but the lyrics are very mission focused anyway so its good to listen to. God has used it, and many other things, to challenge me over the last week. Having been here basically 2 months now has got me thinking a little more about the long term future beyond this year. I was mulling over whether I thought I could leave Sydney permanently and live in Japan long term, leaving behind everything I know, and all my friends I love dearly. I'm still not sure whether I could do it or not, but God challenged me to realise that its about following Him and His plan, not my own. In the words of MercyMe, "where You lead me, I will follow". Now, this doesn't mean I've decided I'm leaving Sydney forever, because I honestly don't know where God is leading me yet. But I have to be prepared to be wherever God wants me, whether that be Nagoya, Sydney, Madagascar or Florida.

Another song that has been getting some airplay by MercyMe is Caught Up In The Middle, one of my favourite songs. The chorus says "I believe your Spirit is alive and on the move, I want to be caught up in the middle of You. I want to be a part of what I know You're gonna do, I want to be caught up in the middle of You." God is working in Nagoya, He is impacting people's hearts and drawing them closer to Himself and we can see it. This past week has been really good in developing relationships with people we've met. I've got a friend coming to Church next weekend, I've got appointments with a few different people this coming week and people are interested in what we're doing. Its exciting to be a part of it!

A Most Bizarre Day

Today was shaping up to be a fairly standard day at AGU, but it wasn't to be. We had our normal devotion time before campus ministry started, then I went with Masa to meet up with my new friend, Taisuke, for lunch. After lunch, Taisuke invited me to come along to his next class - Australian Studies. I figured it couldn't hurt so I went along, and suddenly I was the resident expert in the class. There were two students giving presentations, and I was called upon to make the final comment on the topic after each presentation, which was interesting. Then they had a time just to ask me some general questions about Australia, finishing in asking my opinion of whaling in Japan - a controversial topic at the best of times, let alone in a Japanese classroom. The students asked me to come back to give my thoughts, experience and knowledge each week after the presentations. Still unsure of how often I'll go, but it could certainly be an interesting experience.

Roller coasters - Part 2

Well, I didn't expect to be writing this post so soon after the previous post sharing my struggles, but then again, looking back, it shouldn't surprise me that God is working and encouraging me in the midst of frustration. In a mere 3 days, since that post, God has encouraged my heart no end!

Thursday I went to AGU, unsure of what to expect, but as I met with Masa (the Japanese staff I'd be with that day) I felt challenged to pray a prayer of boldness. I prayed that we would look back on that day and be able to say "That was a day God worked" - and sure enough, He did. I didn't see 5 people choose to follow Jesus, or anything amazing like that, but I did see Him work and I did see Him encourage me as well. Masa and I decided to buy some lunch from the convenience store and find some people to sit with outside. The wind had picked up a bit, and I think people had opted to sit inside for the most part. We kept wandering, and eventually found ourselves as the soccer field. Masa spotted a guy he recognised in a group of guys who looked like they'd just finished a game of soccer, so we decided to go over and talk to them first before eating. They were all studying international culture, and a few of them studied English. I got talking to one in particularly and learnt that his seminar elective was on Australian Education and he really wanted to visit Australia. He then said he was planning to be an English teacher, but had no-one to practice English on, so we exchanged numbers and we're going to meet up again. He also lives quite close to me which is helpful too. This is the first time that I've felt confident that a relationship has been established with someone at AGU. There's been good conversations, but this one I know for sure will continue.

Then Friday came around and while ministry on campus was nothing special, it was still a good day. Saw a few old friends which was good and had some good hanging out time. Then Friday night was our monthly Friday Night Live event, where invite students to perform, whether singing, magic, demonstration, whatever. Japanese often feel that their culture doesn't allow them this kind of outlet, so its helpful when they get a chance to do things like that. And its a fantastic relationship building event as well as we talk, hang out, and discuss some of the performances with Christian content. Last night I got talking to a group of 5 friends of one our students at Gaidai, and we bonded really well. They are all studying English so enjoyed the English practice, and we're going to meet up again this week. One of them in particular, Miki, was quite. He had been to Australia and New Zealand before and went to Church a number of times while he was there. And then to cap off an already brilliant night and week, I noticed that my housemate, George, was in a deep conversation with Jody (my supervisor), Mai (on of our Christian students) and one of Mai's friends, Aya. That conversation lead to Mai and Jody sharing the Good News of Jesus with Aya, and Aya decided that she wanted to follow Jesus. Praise God for a new sister in the family of Jesus!

Roller coasters

It's been an interesting week or so since my last update. I've had a few ups and downs, but that's all part of the roller coaster ride of life with God. Life isn't always rosy and run, but I know that when I've got God by my side it will be worth it. I got a little frustrated at my inability to communicate the other day at Aichi Gakuin University (AGU), where the English level is very low and I was with Takeshi, the staff guy who doesn't speak English. I've always had an inner frustration that I still can't hold conversations, and I still can't understand what people are saying, but it hadn't affected me this much before. I think I'd started to realise that this wasn't a short term thing that would end soon, but I had another 9 months or struggling with language. But I've been reminded time and time again that its not all about language, but its all about love - just as Christ loved us, so too we are called to love. So I can build relationships and serve students I meet without completely understanding or being able to communicate with them 100%.
And then there's the ups where we have amazing conversations with people we meet. We met a first year guy the other week at Gaidai and when George, my teammate, gave this first year guy his phone number and email, the guy commented with a big smile that this was the first gaijin (foreign) friend who's info he had. Then there was the guy at AGU who upon introducing us to his friends who'd just arrived, told them that we were his friends that he'd met today. Its times like these that make the struggles worthwhile - when we can see God slowly drawing people to Himself.

A Golden Week

I sit on the verge of three days of nothing, due to the wonders that are Japanese public holidays - three of them in a row! I've got a to-do list, but I suspect that I will still have plenty of time doing nothing. My roommate, George, has gone to Tokyo to visit his brother who has just had his first child this past Thursday. So I don't even have him to hang out with. Fortunately, God is always with me and so I plan to spend a bit of time with Him. Today the sermon in Church encouraged and challenged me to ensure God is Lord over ever aspect of my life. My life should not be a matter of priorities with God as the top, followed by family or friends or work of whatever, but rather God should be Lord intimately involved in my family, in my friendships, in my work, in whatever I do, rather than a separate thing. So my aim for the next couple of days will be to involve God in all I do: in my resting, in my watching a movie, in my cleaning, in my housework. I want to do it all with God by my side, not waiting in another room for me to come back to Him when I'm free.

Officially Gaijin

Today myself, George and Cecilia headed on down to the Nagakute City Office to collect our Gaijin cards. We are now officially registered as residents on Nagakute City in Nagoya and have the card to prove it. Now we don't have to remember how to write our address in Japanese characters anymore, because its on our cards. Nor do we have to carry our passports everywhere as identification. And we can now register for places that give discounts for living in Nagakute, like the Nagakute Onsen and the Irigaike Gym (just around the corner from our house).

On another note, the weather has totally changed again. Its back down to 16-17 degrees (about 60-62F for those that way inclined) and the wind is absolutely biting! It hurt my hands when I was riding home this afternoon. So glad its getting back into the 20s the rest of the week (68F+). Hopefully it stays that way.

Yesterday at Church the sermon was on something so simple, yet so central to the Christian message and it really hit home: God loves you. Sounds simple, sounds cliche even, but its the truth of the Gospel. Everything points back to this simple fact: God loves you. Why did God create you - because He wanted to show His love to you. Why did God give us instructions on how to live? Because He loves us and knows what's best for us. Why did God send Jesus to die on the cross? Because of His love for us. But here's the best bit: God didn't love us because we were worthy of it, or because we'd done alright thus far, or because we loved Him first. No - Paul tells us in Romans 5 that God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us. We were God's enemies, walking away from Him and not wanting anything to do with Him, yet when we were furthest from Him, He made the most costly sacrifice to fix the gap between us. I can tell people God loves them easily - but do I truly feel God's love in my life? Do I truly appreciate the enormity of what God did for me? Sometimes I don't, but I need to

Week 1

So our first week of actual ministry is over and it was a good first week all in all. Wednesday we still weren't allowed to go to Gaidai, so I met up with Takeshi (staff) and Tetsu (student) for Bible Study at a local cafe, then hung out with Tetsu after that. Last time I was in Nagoya, Tetsu wasn't a Christian, so it was very cool to see the amazing change God has made in his life since then. He was so open and honest about his faith, his struggles and challenges. It was great to see how God has been working in his life and the leaps and bounds he's made. It was certainly a very refreshing afternoon.

Thursday we were back at AGU, for another few hours of pure Japanese. It was good though, as we met two guys who were more than happy to chat with us and we ended up spending an hour and a half with them, talking about all sorts of things, from baseball and soccer, to rap music, and overseas trips. And we ended up playing a little baseball with them which was a lot of fun.

Friday we finally made it to Gaidai! Caught up with some old friends, met some new ones, all in all a very good day. And we had no issues with the admin which was a double bonus.

Baseball fun

Last night some of the staff and myself and George went along to a professional baseball game between the Chunichi Dragons (Nagoya's team) and the Hanshin Tigers (Osaka and Kobe). We had a lot of fun! Fortunately the Dragons won which made it that much better. Masayoshi is a Tigers fan, so that made things more interesting too haha. The fans are amazing! There were two sections for both teams die-hard fans, and they made noise the entire game. There were trumpet players, everyone was wearing the team colours, 4 or 5 flags for each group of supporters, drums - the works. They cheered in unison, chanted in unison, clapped in unison - it was amazing! We even learnt a few of the chants and traditions, although the Dragons team song is still a little beyond me.

Day One

Well, Day 1 is over. It wasn't a particularly busy day, but it had its challenges. George and I went and had lunch at AGU, chilled out in cafeteria and observed the students. George immediately decided he didn't like them - they seemed way too cool for his liking. And I could certainly see his point - every guy looked like he'd spent an hour doing his hair and putting his earrings in before he got to class. And every girl looked like they'd put an entire bottle of hairspray into their hair and picked the highest heels they could find to wear. And those few who weren't dressed up like that, were usually in sports uniforms, as AGU has a big sport focus and has quite a few strong teams in different sports. But we were challenged by the story of Jonah, not to pre-judge the people at AGU. Jonah had decided the people of Ninevah were evil and not worthy of God's grace, but God had other plans. Likewise, the students at AGU might seem too cool for the Gospel, but God may well have other plans.

We paired up with two of the staff (Takeshi and Masayoshi) and went out to meet some students, chat with them, see what they were like and find out what we could about the campus, as we knew nothing really. I was with Takeshi who speaks basically no English, so that was challenging, then add to that trying to talk with Japanese students who also spoke little to no English and I was in for a mentally tiring afternoon. It was tough, and I didn't understand everything that was said and I had to concentrate quite hard, but if I keep it up I'm hoping my Japanese will improve a lot more.

It Begins...

Well, here we sit, on the eve before we head onto campus for our first day of campus ministry - and I'm pretty excited. After all the mess created with trying to get onto Gaidai its nice to be able to get into the nuts and bolts of what we're here to do. Admittedly, tomorrow we've off to Aichi Gakuin University (AGU) which isn't the one causing us problems, but it will be still be nice to kick things off.

Things are looking good for Gaidai this week now too, although its still a logistal/administrative nightmare. I get the feeling they just don't want us on campus. Oh well, we shall continue praying and asking God to guide us and show us how to respond, whilst loving the campus admin staff. I have my first day on Gaidai on Wednesday, then there again on Friday, with a day at AGU in between.

The other day myself and my housemate, George, and two of the staff here, Takeshi and Masayoshi gathered for some lunch (with all you can eat parfait!) then an afternoon of prayer and reflection before starting ministry on AGU on Monday. AGU currently has no Christian ministry, so we really wanted to commit it to prayer before we started a ministry there. So we climbed up a hill overlooking the whole area where AGU and Gaidai are to get a bird's eye view - it was pretty cool. Definitely prepared us well. We looked at some Scripture, and I was challenged by the story of Jesus in Mark 3, where He chooses the 12 disciples by going up a hill and calling them, giving them authority. So too, we are called and have been given authority to preach and teach - by the Creator. So we have no need to fear if we're following His calling.

New Life

So we thought we'd be starting on campus this week, but sadly we've have some set-backs that have put us back a week. At one of the campuses (Nagoya University of Foreign Studies - Gaidai for short) the admin are making us go through a whole lot of administrative mumbo jumbo before we're allowed on campus. We have to sign in with a student and a professor/staff every day we want to come on campus, as well as give them a week's notice before we do so. So we're still trying to figure out the logistics of that, and want to ensure we've got that figured out soon, before we head on campus.

Had a meeting this morning with my supervisor and one of the key student leaders at Gaidai though. The student's name is Kaji and he is such an encouragement! His passion is contagious and I love how willing he is to serve. And he always seems so happy and relaxed. I'm sure he has his share of problems and stresses, but he seems to deal with them pretty well which is encouraging. I really enjoy our times together.

On Monday, we each took the day off to do things on our own - to reflect on our time so far, to pray, read and just spend time with God. It was a very refreshing day for me. I went down to a local park and just took in the beauty of God's creation.


God really spoke to me on a few things while I was there, mostly about the Resurrection due to it being the day after Easter. The central message of the Gospel is that God came to us in human form, in Jesus, was crucified for our sins and was raised back to life again on the third day. It sounds so simple in my mind and is something I've heard time and time again, but the more I thought about it the more absurd it seemed. That God Himself could become a man is offensive to many faiths, because God is too holy to possibly interact with such a fallen earth in their mindset. Then to think that God could be killed - that is ridiculous. How could God die? That goes against everything that our mind conceives of in the concept of God. Then to top it all off, this Jesus who was killed, came back to life days after he was killed? People don't just come back to life. The claims of the Gospel are insane at best - "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles" (1 Cor. 1:23). Yet in this we see the beauty of the Gospel - that it is not something that will make perfect sense in our human minds, and so we know that when we receive Christ as our Lord and Saviour it is truly the work of God, not something that is done by human persuasion. So in terms of application for ministry here in Japan, it means I have to be praying that God would work, because without that, we won't make the slightest impact - it will be like drilling through concrete.

Welcome!

This is a welcome on a few levels. Firstly, its my first post on this blog, so welcome! Its also a welcome on my journey, because you'll be coming along for the ride through what I write.
On top of that, its also about my welcome to Japan. I've been here 2 weeks now, so its not exactly a new anymore, but its still quite exciting.

There's plenty to write about but I'm not about to give you an essay to read, so I'll keep it brief. We arrived in Nagoya to a very cold reception weather-wise, but a very warm reception from our fellow staff here. They all came to meet us at the airport which was awesome. The weather was a little chilly though - it barely got above 10C (50F) for our first few days there, which was a bit of a shock coming from Sydney summerlike weather of 27C (80F). But we survived and its now back up the mid 20s (70-80F). We've set up our apartment with pretty much everything we need for now which is positive, and its starting to really feel like home. We've figured out where to buy things for grocery shopping, where the post office is and a few good places to eat around the place.

We've had a week or so of meetings and training in preparation for us going on campus this coming week. Its been a lot to take in, but really valuable stuff and a bit of fun at times too. We also met up with some of the student leaders of the Christian ministry I'm working with one Saturday for a prayer walk, which was a very encouraging day. The students have such a passion that is contagious and uplifting.

On top of all that, we've had a chance to spend a bit of time out and about while the cherry blossoms have been in bloom. They're quite amazing! Its a shame they don't last longer, as they'll be gone pretty soon. The photos just don't do it justice though, however enjoy this one I took anyway. There are more photos on my facebook for those who are that way inclined.