What's been going on lately

Well I finally have a little bit of time to get on here and write a little bit about what's been going on here in Okinawa. Hopefully this will be the start of continued posts on this blog about all that's going on in my life.

Since the moment I got off the plane and out of the airport, my experience here in Okinawa has seemed like one non-stop stream of activities. I can't really complain about all of it, but it's just kept me from sitting down a whole lot and really reflecting on everything.

So I'm here in Okinawa. It's part of Japan but really has it's own unique "Island personality". The Okinawan people are pretty distinguishable from the lighter skinned mainlanders and their children, and the Okinawan people are a bit more laid back than what I hear about mainlander Japanese; no big surprise since they do live on a beautiful island.

Ministry over here has been a huge blessing and it's been really great having Tommy sort of send us all over the place to serve; keeping us from a lot of complacency or other wasteful activities. We go to school four days a week, serve and do all sorts of things on Saturday and Sunday, and try and reserve Monday as a relaxing Sabbath day. So far we've seen some amazing sights, from the doorway to the Spirit world (lol it's literally a wooden door against a hillside in a park...) to some breath taking tropical reef's. The beauty of God's creation, from the smallest sea creatures to some picturesque sunsets over the clear tropical waters just off shore, cry out in every way "glory to the King on high".

Amidst all of this, however, is a people who have been relatively untouched by the good news of Jesus Christ. There are towns and islands (as Okinawa is a chain of hundreds of islands) who have never even heard the name of Jesus, much less His desire for the salvation of their souls! That there is an all powerful God who loves human beings is almost a ridiculous thought in the minds of so many! Steeped in the worship of their ancestors and prayer to spirits, the people have lost hope for anything more than trying to live a comfortable life. Sadly enough, this is really the only hope any person who has not put their faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins has; that of temporary, finite satisfaction...

Follow this train of thought with me, for in this we find the real reason for us being here on this island. "Now faith is the conviction of things hoped for; the evidence of things unseen." Hebrews 11:1. Our faith in God is what creates our hope; for this life and the next. But our faith is not just something spawning from nothing. Love. Love is the key here and really the key to understanding all of the Bible. God's love for us is what produces our faith in Him. It is by God's awesome love for us that we not only exist, but have been given salvation at all! "By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us" (1 John 3:16a) and "God shows his own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Mankind stands condemned before God; having sinned against a holy, eternal God, we are deserving of an eternal punishment. But in His love and grace, He has provided Christ for the forgiveness of our sins; that if we should turn from our sin and put our trust in Him for our salvation, we can be saved! "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus." (Acts 3:17-18) **We are here in Okinawa to share the glorious good news of God! As believers in general, really, we are all here in this world to share the glorious good news of God! To bring glory to God in all that we do and in who we are! "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel" (Philippians 1:27a) Everything a believer does should be weighed on it's significance concerning the gospel; concerning the glory that it brings to God. These two, God's glorification and the gospel message go truly hand in hand, as God is most glorified in the message of His amazing grace; both shared and lived out by believers! I'm over here as a student in Bible College, and that probably takes up the majority of my time and thought, but in the grander scheme of things I'm here to bring glory to God. So going to school over here we have the opportunity to be involved in a lot of different ministries, as well as to reach out to the Japanese and Okinawan people with the love of God in many different ways. In future posts these different ways and things will probably come out more and so I hope that it is a blessing to everyone to see all that God is doing (key point to understand), and be able to rejoice in His faithfulness. This could all be expounded upon so many times over, but I'm really just trying to express to everyone all that's going on over here and really, why it's going on.

So we've been up to a lot, and God is good, and the latter is really all that matters. I'll try and keep this thing up as often as time allows, so hope everyone enjoys the rest of the blogs. : )

Verses that have really blessed me today.
"So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only...The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites." 1 Samuel 7:4, 14 **When the people turned to the Lord, he restored all those things that had been taken away from them as a result of their sin. Much in the same way, in God's awesome love He restores so many things in our lives that were stripped from us because of sin. The life of the believer is that of trust in a God of healing; his healing hand reaching far deeper than physical ailments and into the hearts of those yielded to Him to gently mend even the most gruesome of scars. Our God is a God of restoration!**