Kyoto

I took a short trip to Kyoto starting on Monday and returning home late last night.  It was a lot of fun and very nostalgic as the places we went to I had had been to years before.  On Monday we went to Amanohashidate which is a land bridge that when seen upside down, looks like a bridge to heaven.  It is a really beautiful sight and thanks to recent snow was given a nice snowy effect.  Actually right now it is snowing in Tokyo as I type.

On Tuesday we spent the day in Kyoto seeing the many temples around town.  Kyoto is very cool in my opinion because Japanese culture is very prevalent there.  Many people still wear kimonos and there is much of an old-style feel to most of the city.  Plus there are an absurd amount of temples and shrines, to the point that it would be impossible to see it all in a day let alone a week.  It was very fun and serene walking through the beautiful gardens and seeing the sights.

It is nice to be back home now, I'm going to spend this next week resting up as I have been kept very busy these last couple weeks.

Weekly Meditations: Ecclesiastes 9 - 12:8; Life is Meaningless

If you've been reading this each week, you've probably noticed a similar pattern in Solomon's writing.  His tone of lament and somewhat depressed manner of writing about the world continues this week in what is the conclusion of what I would call Solomon's complaint about life (to be followed by the actually conclusion to the book next week, a much happier and hopeful tone).

The first 12 verses in chapter 9 begin with the message that life is meaningless.  However, Solomon hints at his final conclusion in this section by noting the importance of living life for God.  Verse 7 reads: Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart... 9: Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love.  So is Solomon telling us to just party life away?  No!  The second half of verse 7 reads: for it is now that God favors what you do and 9's second half: all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun.  Solomon in fact is telling us to enjoy life as God's gift.  This means that it is fine to have fun eating, drinking and spending time with those you are close to, but do this as worship to God!  1st Corinthians 10:31 reads: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.  Our lives are to be a worship to God; that is how we find meaning in our lives!  Whether we have little or have much, we should use what we have for God and thank God for the gifts he has given us.  


I think that Solomon emphasizes this God-focused life from 9:13 to 11:6 where Solomon continues writing proverbs, contrasting wisdom and foolishness.  As I said in weeks past, wisdom here represents following God while foolishness represents not following God.  Therefore, Solomon continues to emphasize the importance of following God by giving us proverb after proverb.


In the last section of verses, 11:7 to 12:8, Solomon gives a benediction of sorts.  First, in 11:7-8 Solomon says to those who have lived a long life to keep serving, worshiping and following God.  He reminds us that eternity is far longer than a long life on earth.  So even if you have lived many years, remember to never stop following and trusting in the blood of Jesus Christ.


In verses 11:9,10 and 12:1-8 Solomon gives very encouraging words to young people, but he also gives them a challenge.  11:9 let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth.  Thats really encouraging to me; let your heart (which should be set on Jesus) give you joy, or "let Jesus give you joy"!


Next the challenge, I like the NLT translation best here:
Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” ² Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky. ³ Remember him before your legs—the guards of your house—start to tremble; and before your shoulders—the strong men—stoop. Remember him before your teeth—your few remaining servants—stop grinding; and before your eyes—the women looking through the windows—see dimly.
 ⁴ Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.
 ⁵ Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.
 ⁶ Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. ⁷ For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
Basically, Solomon says to remember God in your youth, and use your youth for his glory.  Someday, your body won't work like it used to.  I'm only 20 but I get very sore after playing basketball whereas even 2 years ago I didn't.  You young people who are following Jesus, take Solomon's words to heart and don't waste your youth.  Rather, use this time to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, use the relationships you have now with your many friends.  It is said that as you age, the amount of good friends you have decreases, so while you have a school for of people, share the gospel!  Be bold in your youth!  Keep your heart set on Christ, and find your joy in the Savior.

2/19

Today I was very blessed to have the opportunity to watch Andy and Lyndsey (now) Matsuoka get married!  Special thanks to Steve and Judy Busch for helping out so much!  It was great seeing a lot of people via Skype this morning.

Over the last week I didn't do much other than spend some time with friends and rest to fight off the remainder of my cold.  I'm all better now!  I got a haircut the other day too.

Sick....

So over the last week, while I had fun snowboarding, I was also sick.  I went on the trip with a little bit of a sore throat and ended up being a little feverish and then had a slight cold.  After lots of rest and a little medicine I'm pretty much all better now.

Snowboarding was a lot of fun sort of.  The first day the weather was beautiful for most of the day and the snow was alright.  The second day I only rode for about an hour but it was rainy most of the day so had I been well I wouldn't have really wanted to go anyways.

My host sister Kae gave birth to a baby girl the other day so she will return soon from the hospital.  That is definitely exciting news for the family!  I don't have any big plans coming up.  I'm still just taking it easy but looking forward to the end of February when some friends will visit and afterwards I will take a trip to Kyoto and Amanohashidate.

Due to my sickness I wasn't able to prepare a devotional this week so I'm taking a one-week break.

Weekly Meditations: Ecclesiastes 8:2 - 8:17; Justice is Meaningless

We've all heard stories that break our hearts.  Stories about an injustice being brought upon a person, or a crime that was left unsolved.  These types of stories are heartbreaking in many ways, but one way that sticks out to me is the fact that many times, justice is no where to be found.  Recently a viral video was attempting to bring justice to an asian foreign exchange student who was beaten up by about seven other kids.  It was very heartbreaking and quite frankly, the kids might never be brought to justice for it.  As I watched the video, that angered me; I wanted them to be brought to justice, for everything to be made right.  These stories aren't uncommon and I'm sure we have all heard or even been in similar situations.  Solomon in this passage of Ecclesiastes gets at this fact, that sometimes the wicked go unpunished and are even blessed.  This passage in my opinion says two things.  First, we need a King who will bring justice, and second, life is not fair.

First, we need a King who will bring justice.  In verses 2 through 8, Solomon gives a short commentary on being faithful to kings.  While we know we are to respect earthly authorities (Romans 13:1-7), they too are human and they, like us, err.  Verses 7,8 attest to this when they say No man knows the future... no man has power over the wind...no one has power over the day of his death.  However, there is one who knows the future, one who has power over the wind and one who has conquered death!  It is God.  God is the creator of everything, he knows the future because he illustrated it and in the second part of the trinity, Jesus Christ, God conquered death when Jesus Christ died on the cross and then was raised from the dead after three days in the grave.  It is this God that we need to put our hope in for if we put our hope in God, in Jesus' resurrection, then we gain right relationship with him.

We need a King who will bring justice and we have one in God.  However, this is not good news for us humans because we are all sinners (Rom. 3:23).  God is perfect and we are not, which means that God must judge us and punish us for our sin, our rebellion against him.  Why does he have this right?  Because he created us, but we each have chosen to turn from him at one point or another.

This is a hopeless scenario isn't it?  Actually, there is hope.  I said the theme of the second part of this passage was "life isn't fair".  This is something I think I have already talked about but I'm going to come back to it.  It also sounds a little whiny but don't worry, I'm going somewhere with it.  Verse 9-17 are essentially a lament about how sometimes wickedness prevails and sometimes the good are unfortunately punished.  Why is it that the wicked man commit a hundred crimes and still lives a long time (12) and righteous men who get what the wicked deserve (14).  It is literally because life is not fair, and God made it that way.

Jesus Christ came to earth as a baby, grew up into an adult, and lived a perfect life throughout.  As a perfect, sinless, spotless sacrifice, he died on the cross for us, for humans, for sinners, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).  That is why wicked people can have life!  It is not because of anything they have done, but because they have repented of their wickedness and turned to Jesus.  This is why the "righteous" perish.  Those who live, only trying to be "good" whatever that means, still stand under God's judgement.  We also know that while justice sometimes does not come on earth, God will eventually bring justice to this world.

So if you have not yet turned to Jesus to gain a right relationship with God, please do!  As for those of you who have done this, thank God for what he did through Jesus, thank him that you are able to live eternally with him even though you are a sinner and trust in God that he will bring justice to the world.  When you see stories of sadness, perhaps persecutions against the church, know that God will bring justice, and he will do this at the time he sees best.  As verse 17 says: then I saw all that God has done.  Now one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. 

Whats been up...

Lets see, I finished school for the term last Monday.  As I write I'm getting ready for a second snowboarding trip.. I leave tonight.  This last week has been pretty much filled with me being a little sick and me hanging out with friends.  I spent a couple hours at the park with Teruki and his parents the other day, that was fun and I'll have pictures up on Facebook as soon as I can.  Yesterday I spent the day with some Oregon friends as we prepared for one of the guys, Carey, to go home.  We went to Asakusa (a bunch of temples, shrines and shops) and Odaiba a sort of new shopping area that in my opinion is somewhat sketchy.  Like I feel like its supposed to be this really nice area but it kind of seems like they just plopped some new buildings down in front of industrial buildings and ports.  Just one man's opinion I guess.

Anyways, looking forward to snowboarding!