Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel has come to ransom Israel...

Today was one of the many Christmas events we have this year--Nisshin Christ Church has grown in both number and maturity, and it was so encouraging to see many of our dear Japanese ladies working so hard for the Ladies Brunch.  It was a great gathering of women from a variety of circles--English students, Mom and Kids Club, Gospel Choir, random friends--about 1/3 of the 50 women were Christians, the rest were seekers.  Some of the church ladies spent the better part of the day before with preparations, and a few of them worked all day even though they weren't able to participate in the event!

I did nothing to help with the prep.  I just came today and had the privilege of speaking to the women.  (I told them I would be willing ANYTIME to be the speaker at an event with such delicious food, beautiful decorations, and nice program that I had NO responsibilities for!!)  I shared the Gospel in the context of being lost and Jesus not just coming to show us the way, but to actually be the way for us.  One illustration I used was such a great story, it deserves to be repeated.  Our new teammates Jake and Anna Claire came for a site visit in September of this year.  After a great visit with us, and then touring in Tokyo some,  they were heading back to the airport outside of Tokyo.  I don't know if they got lost, confused or were just running late, but they missed the train to the airport, and there wasn't another one in time for them to make their flight.  As they were standing there at the station, looking and feeling distraught, a Japanese couple came up and asked if they could help.  Jake and AC explained their situation, and this couple said that sure enough, there wouldn't be another train in time for them to make it.  After a whispered conversation between husband and wife, they came back to Jack and AC and offered to drive them to the airport.  I don't know exactly, but I think it was about a 3 hour round-trip for them.  But they gave of their time and effort for these foreign strangers...how amazing!

Isn't that a great picture of us and Jesus?  We are lost, confused and distraught, and we have missed the mark.  There is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  At at that point, Jesus came and had great compassion on us, foreign strangers--at unimaginable personal cost, he gave himself to get us where we needed to go--into the arms of His Father.

After the brunch, I talked to several women who said they needed to hear that message, and wanted to hear more about Christ.  I pray that this Christmas, we have many lost and distraught Japanese hear or see something that points them to Jesus as the way--the way to the Father who loves them.