Busy Sunday, Reflections

Sundays are so crazy sometimes! This morning Rocky preached at Harugaoka Church. We have had a long standing relationship with this church. Right after we were married, this church had no pastor and they had Rocky preaching one Sunday a month every month for a while. Then they had a pastor for a while, and for a time enjoyed some incredible growth. However, at some point some things went bad, and the pastor left a while back. We do not know what happened but the church was left with only a handful of members. The core group that is left is strong, and devoted. They now again have a rotation of others filling the pulpit on Sunday morning while they recover and move on. We really enjoy going to this church, there is a Spirit of determination and faithfulness among the small group of members. They also really receive Rocky's messages with eager hearts and open minds. so they call on Rocky about once a month to fill to pulpit and today we were there.

This morning was so much fun and we always wish we had more time and resources to give to this group. This morning Rocky's message was about eternal life. It starts here and now and it isn't just the rewards of heaven but is the blessing of walking with and getting to know Jesus even from now. John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Rocky made a great point in his message, the verb "know" has two very different meanings. You can know about something but not really KNOW it.

What hit me this morning is that we get the priviledge of KNOWING Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior. Not only did he die for us, save us, give us eternal life, he shows us grace and mercy, blesses us far beyond what we deserve, and on top of all that, we get to KNOW him. How excited would you be if someone told you that you are going to get to meet and get to know Julia Roberts or George Bush, The Pope or any other famous person you admire. Many of us would be so excited we could hardly stand it. We would probably have trouble sleeping at night, would do our best to look and act our best, we would tell everyone we know.

Do you feel the same way about the fact that you get to meet and get to know your Savior, Jesus Christ. And the verse in John says, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." You want to find heaven on Earth? He lives right inside your heart, walks beside you every day and reveals every part of himself you'd ever want or need to know about in his word. And he's dying to get to know you!

WOW, that turned into a little devo, huh!?

So anyways, we couldn't hang around much after Harugaoka, we had to run get lunch and head to church for Afureru! in the afternoon. That is our bilingual monthly worship meeting. We had an awesome meeting today. You can see some pictures on the website, www.afureru.org then click on the link to the blog. There are about 8 pictures there I think. It was such a great meeting tonight, the whole meeting was testimony sharing time. We love to get the opportunity to hear how God is working in everyone around us.

So after that, we had dinner with some friends, and we got home at 9pm. We left a little after 9am this morning, whew, what a day! Hana was such a trooper, she did great.

Needless to say, I was worn out and did not want to work out. So I didn't. I also did sort of OK with eating today. I do great in the morning and afternoon and then eat what I feel like is a little too much for dinner. It wasn't terrible, just not the best.

breakfast: CyberWize shake
lunch: salad, garlic bread, ginger ale
snack: 2 little cookies, tea
dinner: we went to a restaurant called hamakatsu with our friends. It is breaded friend meats with rice soup, and pickled veggies. I shared a plate with my friend, so I had a small portion of each; fried pork/potato koroke/chicken, some pickled veggies, cabbage salad, a little bit of rice with tororo on top, tea

I shouldn't have had all that for dinner. Especially on a day that I couldn't work out. So just like yesterday, I decide again today, tomorrow I WILL do better. I did follow my promise from yesterday, today I cut down on sugar and carbs. Tomorrow, I will do better in the evening!