| | (First paragraph is thoughs on the election, if you wish to skip the politics please start at paragraph 2)
Today I hurried home after school to see how the election was going. First time I checked McCain was up 8-3 after Kentucky and Delaware were projected. by my mid-morning recess at school it was something like 106-32 in favor of Obama. When I got home and checked CNN I was surprised to see that it was already over. Now, I think I have a grasp of where most of you stand on this, and I think most of you have a grasp of where I stand, but it is not my intention to discuss that here today. Regardless of how you feel about this election's outcome it would be good to put it into perspective. To all you Obama fans out there, congratulations. It was a hard-fought victory, and I hope along with you that Obama continues to fight hard for the good of America as a nation, it's place in the world, and before Jesus, in whom Barack Obama believes (I liked Rick Warren's take on this one, both Obama and McCain are Christians, though neither is by definition an evangelical, fair enough for me). To all you McCain fans out there, well-fought, please continue to do your best in the democratic republic we call our temporary home, until heaven is ready. To all the evangelicals out there, I think it is important to realize that while America is not now, never was, and never will be a Theocracy in the vein of Old Testament Israel, please remember your brothers and sisters in Christ who come from other countries. Think of the Christians who live in Islamic republics, or communist countries which subscribe to a no-God creed. If we are dissapointed because the candidate who represents more hope for the unborn and traditional family values has lost the election, well, at least we had the opportunity to hope that such a candidate might win. Such candidates have won in the past, and quite recently, in America. Not in most countries in the world, and not in Japan. Japanese Christians do not have the luxury of hoping that their prime minister will fight for the lives of the unborn, or fight for other social issues because they are written in the Bible. Why would they? They don't quite make up 1% of the population here. I'm thankful to God that he placed me on this Earth as an American, but infinitely more grateful that He chose me to have faith in His Son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins.
In actual Jon Robison news, I started attending a devotional time Bible study on Wednesday mornings in Kichijoji. Now that SEND has 3 missionaries in language school I meet with the other two, a fellow from Kansas and a very nice man from Hong Kong. We share a little of how the week is going and then have a small devotional time followed by prayer. I really enjoyed our first meeting this morning. It wasn't at all hard core theology, but it was still wonderful to delve into the word with other people...in English. It has been a very long time since I've been able to do that. For those of you praying for me out there, thank you.
Odds and Ends...hmm. Oh, SEND's camp ministry ran into a Crisis recently, as the current Camp director (filling in for the current camp director who is on home service) has retired for health reasons. A new leader is needed for the next 7 months or so. The camp is also trying to raise significant support to rebuild most of the facilities to keep them functional to meet the needs of the next Generation.
Language study continues to progress. Maki and I bought some flash cards the other day, and in order to prepare for my test in December I'm trying to learn 20 new cards a day in order to get through the 739 cards in time. Please pray for that  Thank you all for your continued prayers, support and encouragement.
Tachikawa Church camp was this past weekend. Among good food, fellowship, and an evangelism seminar that stirred quite a bit of discussion between church people a highlight for me was attempting to share my thoughts on the camp in Japanese. Maki said she was surprised, although I did use some translation help, and at one point forgot what I was trying to say, since I was thinking about the Japanese words to use instead of the actual message. All the same, it was an encouraging step for me. Well, sorry, this is pretty long, isn't it. If you made it all the way to the bottom let me know in the comment box and I'll buy you a riceball next time you visit me. Shalom ya'll.
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| | Posted 11/4/2008 9:44 PM - 47 Views - 6 eProps - 3 comments
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