What an amazing day

First off, the Lord is so good. I must share a verse with you all that immensely blessed me today and was exactly what I needed. It's Psalm 73:26; "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." After a week of struggling over this and that and really being in a place of just blahness, my King comforted me with this awesome reminder, that He is to be my strength, to be the one I rest in. Man, there is so much to say of how this verse is the exact puzzle piece slid right in to complete the picture and put everything in harmony. God is so good.

So today we went to the Franklin Graham training class where me and a few other students finished up the course to be a ministry worker for the upcoming crusade here in Okinawa. Franklin will be coming out November 3-5 (I think) and be sharing the gospel message with thousands who have almost surely never heard it before. Small churches spread out throughout the island are all participating and excited about what the Lord is going to do. We're all praying for the Lord to work mightily, so I would ask any believers out there who might be reading this to just say a prayer for the upcoming crusade; that many might coming into a saving faith in Jesus, as well as that there would be thousands of seeds planted that the churches can follow up on. There's a heavy emphasis upon follow up at this crusade because chances are that most of the people there, though they may be very interested in the Gospel message, will not make commitments to Christ simply because it sounds so foreign and they've never heard anything like it. So what is going to take place is that people at the crusade, hopefully everyone attending, will be encouraged to fill out information about who they are and where they live and many "home churches" in a sense, will be following up with these people, as well as any who recieved the Lord. I don't know all the details but it's really exciting and something we're definetely keeping in prayer.

After the class a few of us went to go visit a former marine who is in the hospital for heart failure problems or something like that. It was totally the Lord because randomly my mom sent me a prayer request she had received back in the states through "Armor of Light ministries" based out of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. The prayer request was for a man in the hospital here in Okinawa, so my mom sent it to me to see if there was anything we could do. I told Tommy about it and he was excited to help out, so I e-mailed the Pastor in charge of the ministry and he let me in on a bit more information, enough information to get us to the Japanese hospital to the Gyjin staying there. When we got there we had no idea who this guy was or anything, but the Lord totally just hooked it up. We got in there, met the guy and the family that had come over to visit him, prayed for him and encouraged him. It was an immense blessing for me getting to go in there with Tommy and just walk by faith man. The Lord blessed it. Also, funny the way God works, he lives down the street from the school/Church and the Cafe. Haha, the Lord wants to get ahold of this guy who is kinda backslidden. : D

And finally, tonight. We went out to play music and share with the Japanese down in Mihama at "American Village". It's a place that is modeled after something you would see in Orange County with stores and a promenade kind of look to it. Anyways, theres a lot of people there so we got to hand out a whole lot of tracts and share Jesus with quite a few people. It's really strange sharing the gospel and talking to someone through a translator, at first, but soon you learn to just flow and it can be a blessing getting to stop and collect your thoughts and pray. God is so good guys, haha, awesome stuff.

So I think I'm turning a little Japanese. As you begin to spend more time with the peopel here and actually try and conversate a little in Japanese but mostly in English, you begin to speak quieter, be more polite and articulate much more clearly. Praise the Lord for that, maybe I'll learn some manners over here. : D

So God just blessed the week. All praise honor and glory to our King; who chooses the foolish of the world to confound the wise and the washed up in this world's eyes to bring glory to His name. I pray that He might put each one of us in a place of sole dependence upon Him and that we might begin to live the life of faith He is desperately longing for us to live. "For without faith it is impossible to please Him." Hebrews 11:6 Step out in faith and love your brothers and sisters, forgive the unforgivable. Surrender your life, your mind, your soul to the will of the Father that He might be so exalted in your life. It is a life of faith and reliance upon the King of the Universe and one that bears no regrets or second guessing. Let us surrender our lives in to the hands of our God and allow Him to use us so mightily in this world. Jesus, take our lives. Our hands are open unto you...