Aileen's extended family keeps quite an active email list going, with family members all around the globe chiming in regularly. At the end of last year, one of her cousins sent out a request to help compile a list of memory verses for the new year.

I do a fair amount of programming for both PBA and BJapan. There's a new web scripting language that I've been wanting to test, so when he sent out the list of verses to everyone, I made my first project with the scripting language a web-base Scripture Memory Calendar. Take a look at it here; any feedback appreciated!

Oh, and even if you're not part of the Seely/Crum/Ogden/Wilson clan, feel free to use the calendar to memorize verses this year :-)

Okay, this one is a little late, from last fall, but I just found the photos in Aileen's camera.

Aileen teaches English at a famous private school founded by a Christian educator nearly 100 years ago. The school is still nominally Christian, and many - though by no means all - the students and faculty come from a Christian background. She pours on the TLC for all these kids going through the angst of Jr. High. She's also a fun teacher and very popular with the kids and administrators. (And she was at school past 8 p.m. tonight, getting all the final tests marked and grades for the semester turned in. Yep, the school year ends in March in Japan.)

You can see her kids having a blast in pictures I've linked to here. As part of her English lessons, she teaches facets of US culture that she thinks the kids would find interesting. Not surprisingly, the idea of Halloween makes a big impact on the kids. "You mean you can just walk up to people's homes and they'll give you candy?!?!? Whoa!!!" Last October, Aileen took a bunch of dollar store props for the kids to use for their costumes. As you can see, it was a smashing success....


(You can also click this photo to get to the album...)

I get myself in trouble sometimes. Maybe you do this too... You think about something you're supposed to do. Get the stuff together that you need to do it, think through your angle of approach... and then tick it off your mental list of Things To Do. Without actually ever having done it. And then you get the phone call, email, or your kid bugging you, whatever. After a bit of confused mental protest ("I know I did that!") you realize that you're all plans and no action. I'd blame it on age, but I think I've been doing it all my life :-)

So here it is March 1, and at church we've been using our new hymnbooks for a full two months now! Want to say a special "Thank you" to those of you who helped purchase these for the church.

The hymnals are nice -- full of the old traditional standbys along with a good dose of more recent melodies and worship songs. Anybody up for a chorus of "Amazing Grace?!"

Or, "Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu" as they say in Japan. You can wipe it off your chin now if you tried to say that out loud!

Aileen and I have a four year old New Year's "tradition" -- going to see Mt. Fuji on New Year's Day. Japan's most famous mountain is about two hours away by car. Four years ago we went on a spur of the moment lark and barely made it, arriving at the foot of Fuji well after sunset, just in time to watch the mountain dissolve into the inky winter sky.

We had such fun that we did it again the next year. And the next. And the next.

This year we found a nice viewing spot at Lake Motosu, on the side of Mt. Fuji that faces away from Tokyo. Fuji nicely caught the pink of the setting sun. Also, Mt. Fuji is depicted on the back of Japan's 1,000 yen bill -- and we were at the spot where that original picture was made. made me feel rich, somehow!

In the car on the way home, in addition to talking about the day, we also got to talking about the coming year ministry-wise. TEAM starts its "Everyone One Hundred" campaign, BJapan and Family Forum Japan are in dire financial straits, PBA is short-handed as usual. Lots to pray for, but also lots to look forward to the Lord doing in 2010. Pray with us for a real advance in the work of all these ministries in the year ahead!

Happy New Year!

Sorry, couldn't resist (^^)

We just got word today that an old friend from church died in a traffic accident this past Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Ozaki were part of Kotake Bible Church since it's beginning days. They retired to a small town a few years ago. Mrs. Ozaki was out walking on Sunday and was hit by a 35 year old man riding a motorcycle. She was taken to a local hospital, but had already died. Not a lot of details, but if you read Japanese there is a brief news article here. (Jan 14, 2010 Update: This link no longer works; apparently the news site keeps stories up for only a month.)

Mr. Ozaki called our church today, to tell Pastor Hojo the news. Understandably it's been a hectic week for him. The church they attend now has already held her funeral. Pastor Hojo says he sounded depressed and tired. I'm sure he would appreciate your prayers; may the Lord be his comfort in these difficult days.




Mr. and Mrs. Ozaki, from a group photo at church.

Our church, Kotake Cho Bible Church, is a typical small Japanese church. About 20 people most Sundays. We all eat lunch together afterward, and this week I was chatting with the fellow next to me, a guy in his mid-70's I'd guess.

"Well, tomorrow's the big anniversary," he suddenly says. Huh? What anniversary? "Pearl Harbor." Oh, yeah! We'd been talking about Christmas and the kids' party we're going to do -- hadn't even entered my head. "That was quite a day. It completely shocked everyone in the country." Were you old enough to realize what was going on? "Sure, it was huge news. All us kids were running around being crazy, talking about how we were going to beat up all the Americans. But the grownups all seemed subdued. Well, not everyone - my teacher was all excited, getting us all pumped up, saying how we would win this war. But my dad just shook his head over and over. He'd say, "This is wrong. It's dumb. What in the world did we attack the Americans for? Now they're our enemies and we're having a hard enough time with the war in China. What are they thinking about?"

"And over night, you couldn't listen to jazz any more. It was outlawed. But jazz was really, really popular at that time. Some college kids would sneak into basement clubs on the fringes of Ginza. The plainclothes police went in and busted them, hauled them off to jail. That's ridiculous."

Then he wanted to know if the US soldiers, then and now, get a salary. Sure, it's not a lot, but they get paid. "The Japanese soldiers didn't get any salary. They got a little pocket money - only enough to go get a couple drinks on their day off. No money to send home. It was really tough on families. Your draft number would come up, the military police would come to your door -- "Congratulations! Your father/husband has been selected to serve the nation and the Emperor. They had to bow and scrape, acting like they'd just gotten some great honor, but on the inside they were cursing the military. They took dad away, and suddenly the family has no income. Families were starving. The mothers really had to get tough. After the fathers were all taken, then they started coming back for the sons. And all these guys came home in little boxes, ash urns. The urns would come by train to the station and the families had to go pick them up. They'd walk home caring the boxes, crying, and there'd be a whole slew of us kids trailing behind. What a zoo."

One lady in the neighborhood had all three of her sons taken away on the same day. "She went kinda of crazy for awhile. You couldn't blame her." The guy sitting across the lunch table wanted to know if they came back in boxes too. "No, actually that was the darnedest thing -- all three of her boys made it back alive. That never happened. It was like a miracle..." We were all quiet for a few seconds.

"War is hell," he said. Somebody came around with a pot of coffee, filling cups and talk drifted back to Christmas decorations and party treats...

Not the sport, the restaurant!

I know I just posted about today's LifeLine; but I realized our guest was a musician. Again. Lest you think all we do are programs about musicians, let me introduce last week's program!

Polo is a natural food restaurant that was just opening a few months about by (Mr.) Genki and (Mrs.) Akiko Kudou. Akiko got interested in natural foods when she worked at a restaurant that caters to people with allergies and other food concerns. And both she and Genki were hoping to find work that would give them Sunday off so they could attend church... "We really couldn't find anything that would let us take Sunday off, and the timing seemed right, so..." Away they went.

Not doing any advertising, but word of mouth keeps them plenty busy. We followed them to church and took the service and the fellowship time afterwards so viewers could see just what this "church thing" that is so important to the Kudous is all about!

No, we're not having a crisis of faith! LifeLine this week features J-pop singer/songwriter Jinnouchi Taizou. Jinnouchi-san is a recording artist who had several hits in his early career, as well as having penned a number of well-known jingles for TV commercials. He has just released his 11th album to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his debut. (Hmmm... 20 year anniversaries are all the rage this year.)

This link will take you to a YouTube clip of the song that he's probably most well-known for.

But he is also a pastor! He was a young man going to seminary when his music got noticed. He dropped out to pursue a career with a major label. As a middle-aged man, he went back to finish seminary and has been pastoring a church since 2007.

"Where is God" is the top track of the new CD. Here is a link to a page selling the CD, which will also let you listen to bits of it.

I did a quick translation of the lyrics

Where is God? Where is God?

I pray He is near to you in that pain
Beside you in that dark loneliness

What is Love? What is Love?

If you would just notice it and hope for it
It is the Hand that wants to block the blow
It is the Hand that wants to reach out
It is the Hand that wants to embrace

I sing my song, looking up to the blue sky
I sing my song, riding the rustling winds
Maybe God is here
If only you would listen
If only you would listen

He still performs in smaller venues, and we were able to tape one of his concerts. He's a very engaging speaker as well, and his interview and testimony were a lot of fun. The viewers seemed to think so, too. Here's a bit from one email that came in through our web site after the broadcast this morning:

I saw this program for the first time today. Jinnouchi-san's talk was really interesting. From listening to Jinnouchi-san's music before I've thought I ought to try going to church sometime, but now having watched this program, I'm really interested in going!

Our followup people will get him pointed in the right direction! (^ ^)

"Dollar hits 14-year low against yen"
http://tinyurl.com/y9pn4cz


This is really hurting BJapan.