Hi Everyone!
Sorry for being slow at posting. Japan hasn't been too crazy lately, so I don't know if I have too much to update on...the other week I went to Tokyo for Golden Week, which is basically a spring break during the middle of our spring quarter. I ate Fugu (blowfish) for the first time, which is said to be very poisonous! In fact I had a whole 5-meal course of it for dinner.
I also finally joined a church in Kyoto and was asked to help out with their worship service. Being a young growing church, it was a very different experience to come in seeing so many areas they were still looking for help. Compared to many of the churches I've been to in America, it was exciting and encouraging to see God at work despite the limited resources available. Helping with worship has been an exciting way that I feel I've been able to help serve despite the short time frame I have here in Japan.
Here is what the church looks like from the outside!
Also, Japan has this really large fascination with ninja. Back when I was a kid, I went to a ninja village to train in the art of ninja. Heres me and my brother back in the day at the ninja village.
It seems I wasn't quite cut out for being a ninja though. Otherwise I could have ended up as a vending machine mascot.
Or perhaps I could have worked at this restaurant (actually, this place was really fun. They have a ninja labyrinth inside as well as a $16 buffet) 
Also did you know there's a station named after me in Tokyo?? It's called Otsuka Station!
This is just measuring tape with all the station names on the Yamanote Line, but if they had like a poster or towel or something I would totally get it and put it on my wall. Or dry myself with it at the beach.
Anyhow, I also wanted to share another great word I heard at Tokyo Baptist Church's youth group, and would like to express my gratitude to Pastor Christ McCottry for helping with much of the content of this post. Lately I've been thinking about what it means to make the most of my life for God. I recently have been convicted of living a life of purpose for God, not letting my life go to waste.
There is a singular meaning to life, and that meaning is Christ. "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21)
In my last post I started talking about faith. A precious faith by which we are justified and made righteous through the grace of God. God's grace which is so deep there is nothing we can do to deserve it. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)
God's gift of grace is amazing! (maybe you even heard a song about how amazing it is before =p) Grace is a gift of God, not a result of anything we did to deserve it. Ephesians is clear to explain that the grace of God cannot be earned, its own freely given as a gift, that no amount of works can ever make someone righteous. Romans 3 makes this clear, stating “None is righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10) and "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight" (Romans 3:20) and "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). No matter what we do, if we have faith in God, we will be saved! Even a serial killer who finds faith after being convicted of all his sins is justified and made righteous through his faith. Because grace is a gift from God, it is not conditional on anything we do or don't do.
Now perhaps from this we might be thinking, "so then once I have grace, there is nothing I can do to lose it? No sin is too grave to have my salvation revoked and grace taken away??" The answer is yes! Of course! This is how big grace is. This is what Paul means when he says "so that no one may boast." Because of the fact our works are not connected to His grace, God's grace is so much more bigger since he gives it to us undeservingly.
But then is this an excuse to sin? Of course not. Romans answers this clearly, "Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:1) But why is this?
It's also because of grace. This is what Paul means in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." This is the purpose for which we are called by God's grace: to do His work! It's not for grace that we work but because of grace that we work.
Jesus says you will know a tree by its fruit (Matthew 7:15-20). A good tree produces good fruit. James says "For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." (James 2:26). James also asks "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?" (James 2:14). James is justified in making these brash claims because grace changes us. Because of grace no longer are we slaves to sin but rather slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:17-18). James is calling our lives to reflect that. Jesus confirms it; our fruit is evidence of the fact we have been changed by grace to do the "good works which God prepared."
This makes sense right? If we truly have faith in God, truly believe Jesus is our personal savior and King, then why wouldn't we be living our lives for God?
This is why I can rejoice in suffering. Suffering builds that precious faith that brings grace, the grace that motivates my life. Because of the grace God granted me, a broken man dead in my sin and trespasses completely deserving of wrath and condemnation, I so undeservingly now am promised salvation. Such a matchless gift that I can never earn or pay back, what else can I do but use my life to worship Him? What else can I do but use my life for Him?
This is why to "live is Christ." Being alive means living for Christ. I hope helping with worship team at church can be just the start. I pray my eyes can be opened and my heart convicted of more ways I can and should be serving God. To live my life for him as fully as possible. To honor him as the greatest treasure in life. To worship him by devoting my life as a living sacrifice to him.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1
