Do You Hear What I Hear?

A friend of mine is serving as a missionary in North Africa, among Muslim people. She sent me this beautiful reminder to pray for those nations, based on that familiar carol, "Do you hear what I hear?"

"Do you hear what I hear?
The minaret sounding the Muslim call to prayer five times a day, each time representing Satan's very real hold over the entire Arab homeland. Words from the Quran echoing everywhere disgracing our Savior and denying His deity and His payment for their lives.

Do you see what I see?
Women living in bondage, literally cloaked from head to toe, visibly only showing eyes consumed with fear and desperation .Men lined up in the mosque, bowing to appease ritualistic customs and giving praise to the father of lies. Women working 10 hour days for 10 dollars only to support their families who mistreat them as sanctioned by Quranic law. People helping their neighbors attempting to earn their way to heaven because to them it's all about good works. Children instinctively cringing when an adult draws near because the belt, the hand, the foot have all become commonly used weapons of intimidation and punishment .

Do you know what I know?
Each time someone falls on their knees in the west, this part of the world is changed.People here are imprisoned and heavily persecuted because of the growth of the underground church. Still people here are praising His name and sharing His truth. This is an act that results in numerous people carrying their cross at a cost with their lives .

As brothers and sisters around the world join to celebrate the Lamb's birth, I pray that you all may have unashamed love for Jesus Christ, rejoicing and sharing the profound meaning of December 25th, simply because you can. Listen to what He says."


This inspired me to write some thoughts about Japan. It's not as cool as hers, but it's just as heartfelt.

Do you hear what I hear?
Clicking boots as they rush to work, serving the god of materialism and always chasing for more.

Do you see what I see?
Children bowing before Buddha, offering coins and prayers to a god who neither knows them nor loves them.

Do you know what I know?"
JESUS LOVES ME, THIS I KNOW!" But will they hear that message? Will their ears be opened?

Pray, pray, pray for ears to hear and eyes to see the open arms of God,Our Loving Heavenly Father,His Son, Jesus, our Prince of Peace and Friend,His Spirit, our Comforter, Healer and Guide. Pray that they will know what we know.

Visiting a Buddhist Temple

Christmastime is here, and I have safely arrived home to Ontario. My trip went well and I especially enjoyed my 8 hour layover in Tokyo airport. I took the opportunity to visit the city of Narita, outside Tokyo, and do some sightseeing. The main attraction is the Buddhist temple and some shops around it featuring Japanese souvenirs. People flock to this temple on a certain date in winter, because on this date one prayer is worth a thousand in their quest for good works earning a better next life. It was cool to see a different part of Japan, but the most memorable portion of my visit occurred around 1:30 pm, when I was tired and feeling ready to return to the airport. Instead, I paused on my way to the bus stop to watch a worship ceremony in the temple. I didn't understand what was said but I watched people kneeling in honor of Buddha, offering their purses to a priest who held them briefly over a flaming fire, throwing money into an offering, and bowing their heads in prayer. Outwardly, the motions are (somewhat) similar to Christian worship. Inwardly, so little is the same. When I kneel to pray, I honor a God of love who knows me and accepts me as I am. I am not trying to earn His pleasure through good works. When I offer my purse (and no, I don't hold it over a flaming fire, but I do like the symbolism of offering God our wallet, which is sometimes so tough to do), I give because He has first given so much for me. When I bow my head to pray, I am earnest because I know God really hears my prayer and will act on my behalf, doing what, in love, He knows is best for me. And I can listen to Him, and speak with Him as a friend, because His Spirit lives in me. I walked around this temple singing an old kids' song, "God's not dead, NO! He is alive..." and prayed that God would reveal His love and truth to the Japanese people who are bound in worship to a god who, in statue form, is dead, and who, in spiritual reality, is the father of lies that hates them through and through.

I will be thinking of this at Christmas, as I remember how God showed His love for us, coming to earth Himself as a tiny baby, living among us, taking our sin, and dying a death we deserved. He rose and lives as King of Kings forever, and I am called His daughter. Wow!

I have the greatest respect for people who practice this religion. Those who do so with dedication are earnestly trying to do what is right. Their discipline in worship surpasses mine at times. And yet, I long to sit down and talk with them. I want to know if their hearts are satisfied by the teachings of Buddha. I want to know if they live in peace, confident that what they believe is true. I want to know if they trust and love their god, or if they serve him out of fear and duty.

I can only trust what I have heard others say, and what I have learned in own study comparing religions. There is no god like Yahweh, who loves and forgives and accepts, while maintaining His own holiness and perfection. For me, there is no one but Jesus Christ to whom I will kneel, for whom I would hold what is dear to me over the "flames" (symbolic, for me, of giving control of everything to Jesus), and with whom I will converse through prayer. I will offer Him my life, because He has offered me His.

Merry Christmas!

The Nativity

Christmas time is here...snowflakes everywhere...

Or so the song playing at the local grocery store claims. However, this is definitely the greenest Christmas season ever for me! I'm adjusting to the lack of white stuff...not just that it's not on the ground, but that I haven't SEEN it yet. The leaves are still vibrant red, orange and yellow on the trees. Pansies bloom in flower boxes. But Christmas isn't about any of that.

I went to see the movie "Maria" or "The Nativity Story" (or whatever it's called in English) yesterday. I love movies that make me look at something I've taken for granted in a whole new way. Yes, yes, I know it's not completely Biblical. I know the Wise Men didn't come to the stable. And there were several other "poetic licences" taken. Still, what struck me was how these great "giants" of faith like Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Zechariah, still had opportunity to doubt. I've always thought Zechariah was just stupid for not believing the angel when he talked to him. It had never occurred to me that, even in the Bible when it says "the word of the Lord came," that He came in a still small voice. He spoke through an angel to Mary, to Zechariah, and to Joseph in a dream. How often I have said, "If there was an angel talking to me, I'd believe it was God! Until then, I'm not so sure..." But now I think it's more about having eyes to see and ears to hear -- eyes that see with faith. Mary responded in faith to the angel, saying, "Let it be done to me according to your word." Zechariah responded with doubt to the SAME angel. Zechariah's "sign" that it was really God was that he couldn't speak for months! I'm not so sure I'd want a sign like that.

I am challenged to trust God and His Word. I am challenged by the fact that even though Mary and Joseph were completely in the will of God and she even had GOD in her stomach...things still went so wrong for her. Why did God have the baby come as they were arriving in Bethlehem? Couldn't he have waited until a more convenient time? (And if the baby was born in the stable that night, she logically would have been in labor for the last leg of the journey!) This challenges my idea that when I'm walking with God "things will work out." They will "work out" for His glory, but they will not always "work out" for my ease and comfort. Will I trust Him even in those times? This is the message of Christmas for me this year -- that on the night of Christ's birth everything had seemed to go so wrong, and yet God was working to make it all come out right, for His glory! When my life doesn't seem to make sense (and everyone's lacks sense from time to time), this truth makes sense of it all.

If only I have eyes of faith to see His glory be revealed.

Hong Kong

Isn't it great to be able to celebrate American Thanksgiving? I think so because it meant a 4 day weekend where I got to travel to the amazing city of Hong Kong! I loved the atmosphere of the city right away - very much Asian but a lot more relaxed than Japan. The area where I was staying also had a TON of international people, so it was refreshing to hear so much English again. Hong Kong was not at all what I expected for one of the largest cities in the world. Instead of building upon buildings with no green in sight, the city skyline had a beautiful hill/mountain backdrop. And then, of course, there was the ocean. I loved being so near the water, listening to the waves, watching the city lights sparkle off it, and walking along the beaches along some of the outlying islands.

There were so many highlights, like viewing the city from "The Peak" (a mountain/hill), bargaining at the night market, eating delicios dim sum for lunch, seeing old friends and making new ones. On the first we went to a fishing village called Tai O, where families live in houses built on stilts just above the ocean. This was a huge contrast to the upscale, modern downtown Hong Kong, and I was once again struck by the inequality in the distribution of wealth in our world's cities. I SO want to see God's Kingdom come, when the poor and the rich stand equal before King Jesus, who supplies all our needs. Of course, there is also the difference between those who are poor and those who are poor in spirit, but my prayer is that God will teach me how to show the right sort of compassion for each one.

You can see pictures of my trip at this website:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21104&l=8c0d7&id=501141145. I'd upload them here but facebook is so much more efficient. Let me know if the link doesn't work, but you should be able to see them. Enjoy!