Flashback Friday!

Yeah, yeah. I know. I haven't done one of these in a LONG time. hahaha. But I thought this was a funny one, so here we go.

Okay, two things; Yes, that is my real hair, and no, those are not my glasses. hahaha. This picture also tells a couple stories. 1) To prove that I had some beautiful, long hair, and 2) Just how obnoxious I was to one of my roommates my first semester at Central Christian College of the Bible in Moberly, MO. His name was Timmy (We called him Timmy Phantom on account that he would appear and disappear at random. You were never aware of his being in the room.), and he came to the Bible college straight from serving with the military. We clashed like no other. I looked like a hippie with my long hair, and he was prestinely clean with a shaved head. I had nothing but t-shirts, and he had nothing but dress shirts. I listened to crazy music of all kinds, and he... well, lets just say he didn't enjoy what I liked. hahahaha.

Now, the story merges. These glasses were Timmy's. He wore them at the end of the day when he was relaxing in the dorm room (His previous glasses had broken.). Many days, I would put the glasses on and act a fool, even more fun when I added my Disney songs to the background and did dance numbers. One time, he was napping, and my other roommate dared me to sing "Kiss The Girl" from The Little Mermaid to him. I turned my volume all the way up, prepared my face with the appropriate attire, and sang a number so memorable, I don't think Timmy was able to fall asleep until he knew I was for the rest of the semester. hahahahaha.

Timmy decided to go back to the Marines, and in the back of my mind, I think I might have pushed him there. hahahaha. Okay, we actually enjoyed each other's company a lot, but this was my favorite prank against him all semester. Good times.

It's Thanksgiving!

It only takes a holiday for me to go, "WOW! I haven't blogged in over 20 days!" hahahaha. But I just wanted this to be a "What we're thankful of"-blog, so here we go!

- For my God, who for some reason loves me unconditionally, gave His Son's life for me, showed me mercy and grace in times where I clearly didn't deserve it, blesses me when I don't return the favor, and gently speaks to me through His perfect word.

- For family and friends. All of them. From close and extended family to best friends and people you only chat with once-a-month. All the same, the people are in our lives and that is something to be thankful for.

- For my dog, Honey. Isn't she CUTE?!

- For food, water, and various other drinks.

- For a roof over our heads, air conditioning during the Summer and heat during the Winter, blankets and pillows for comfort, and a working shower and toilet (You don't know how much you'll be thankful for those until you don't have a working one).

- For clothes. What a gift to be able to cover and warm ourselves all day long.

- For pens and paper, because some phenomenal people have been able to write wonderful words of encouragement, poetry, short stories, epic tales, and commentaries that we would be without today without writing utensils and paper.

- For music. All kinds. There is truly so much talent out there, and just being able to hear God's gift in other people's lives is awesome.

- For means of contact; Email, snail-mail, telephones/cell phones, blogging, Skype, Facebook, etc.

- For different nationalities and cultures, because seriously, if everyone were the same, this world would be rather boring. Also, for languages. There are so many beautiful means of communicating around the world, and English is only one language to do it.

- For children, because they are the future (And when you get old, you best know they'll be taking care of you!).

- For TV and movies (Of which I know I might watch too much here and there).

- For games (Of which I might do the same. hehe).

- For hot tubs, because they feel SO nice after a long day. hahaha.

- And lastly, but not the least (At least for me. hahaha), I'm thankful for sweet tea! Oh, what would a Southern state be like without the comatose-inducing sweetness that is Southern sweet tea?!

It truly is a day to think about all the things we are thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

He's President. The End.

So Barack Obama won in a landslide last night (Who seriously didn't see that coming?), which means America has truly overcome a major racial barrier by electing a black man as president of the United States. I'm honestly very proud to be an American on this day, because I've always assumed that racism and hatred for one's fellow man would always continue. Despite that still being true, with 70ish% of the voters yesterday being white, I can guarentee that a good number of those people overcome some hatred during this past year or two. And for me, that's something to be proud of as an American.

Now, if you're thinking I voted for Obama, I didn't. I'm just boldly stating that he is the president-elect, and that's just where we are as a nation. I respect the man for what he's done and how hard he's worked to get to where he is. And there's one thing I can be sure of, he's got a whole lot of mess on his plate when he steps into office.

I've been reading 1 Chronicles in the Bible, and God has been showing me some beautiful truth through the history of His people. I've read the names of people I know truly loved God, and I've read the names of people I know who turned away from Him and did some of the most defiling acts in the Old Testament. However, these men are still related. And not only that, God used both of them equally for His plan. The outcome of their lives may have been significantly different, but it's a sure sign of knowing that the LORD is in control. Coming to terms with that, Barack Obama winning the election doesn't bother me at all. Apparently, God has a plan for him as leader of this country, and what I am called to do is to respect my governing authority. And in this case, it is Barack Obama. Whether we like it or not.

Again, I do want to say that I'm proud to be an American, and seeing the racial barrier coming down more and more is not only encouraging, but a true blessing to see in my life time.

Flashback Friday!

Happy Halloween (Or not, if you can't stand the holiday)! hehe. I figured it would only be appropriate to share a sweet Halloween story for the Flashback Friday, since they do fall on the same day.

(Me at youth swordfighting with the Wiseman's daughter.)

A couple years ago, my friend, The Bert, and I came up with this brilliant idea to dress up as Nintendo characters. Naturally, I wanted to be Link (From Zelda), and my hair at the time only further supported the notion. Bert wanted to be Mario, and also, that worked out quite well. However, we didn't feel right with just the two of us doing it, so we ended up recruiting TONS of people to join our Nintendo cause. People claimed they would dress up as Donkey Kong, Yoshi, Luigi, Toad, Bowser, Mega Man, Princess Peach, Princess Zelda, Wario, Waluigi, etc. It was going to be a grand Nintendo-themed Halloween! However, this was all the people who ended up dressing up...


And not only that, April took SO much convincing, and I think ultimately, she was the least likely to dress up. However, she didn't just dress up as Princess Zelda, she hand-made her entire costume from scratch material. Not only did she end up dressing up as her claimed character, but she put so much more effort and looked 10x's better than the Bert and myself.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Lots of love!

My Heart in Election '08

Romans 16:17-19

I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice because of you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.

Reading this passage is very convicting for me as a believer. On the one hand, it's really encouraging to hear Paul express true concern for such obstacles in life, but on the other hand, what he asked to watch out for is what most Christians tend to do today. This got me thinking about the upcoming Election. Being from South Carolina, I've heard it all. "Bush is God's candidate.", "Clinton is of the devil!", "Die, Arabs, die!", "If Barack Obama wins, I hope he gets assassinated.", "John McCain is the man that God wants in the White House.", "If Obama wins, this country is going to crash!", etc. And to think, these all come from fellow believers, some of which I know really well. That isn't to say that I don't do the same thing, but for me, this whole Election season has been a hatred of both sides and convincing people that both candidates are hacks and shouldn't even be up there. One, that's my opinion, and it really should stay with me. And two, God's in control of this Election, and He'll put in whoever He thinks is best for us now (Romans 13:1 - Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.)

I've been a fool. It's okay to express your opinion about something or about how you feel, but it's a completely different thing when you try to force your opinion on someone else, especially if it has the potential of misleading a fellow believer. I've been pleasing my own appetite and reading up on knowledge that isn't going to change history. I've made it my mission to be selfish and question the authority God has laid out there for us these past 232 years in America.

The last line of the passage says, "I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil." I think some times we, as Christians, tend to relate more to the evil of the world instead of being innocent to it. People read His word less today and watch way more TV and movies. People listen to less sermons today and listen to filthy music. People do less fellowshiping today and spend too much time by themselves. There's barely any evangelism and a whole lot of turning away from Christ. These are the important issues that Christians have walked away from.

So ultimately, who cares if Barack Obama wins the election? So what is John McCain wins? In the end, it's going to be chosen by God and NOT something for us to question. Questioning it would be undermining God's authority and making your opinion more important than His plan.

In the end, God will always prevail.

Can't even make it to a month.

So I noticed I missed "Flashback Friday" this past week, due to the fact that Gabe came into town and I ended up spending the entirety of the afternoon and evening with him. That was an absolute blast! We ate at Mr Subs (AKA Senor Subs, Monsieur Subs, Subs-san) for lunch. All in attendance; Gabe, myself, Rachael, Curtis, Nancy (My mom), and Teddad (My dad). It was a really good time together, and I know I was personally blessed by the experience.

After that, my dad, Gabe, and I went to the mall to buy Tre' (My brother) a birthday present, and then Gabe and I went back to my apartment and discovered the brilliance of JellyCar (An iPhone/iTouch application). We laughed a lot between that and goofing off on Fable 2. From there, we went to my dad's house and watched Iron Man on BluRay, and it was actually better the second time. Still not as good as Spiderman 2 (In terms of comicbook films), but still a wonderful film for what it was.

Sunday was a great day as well, as Jeff preached a wonderful message about having the faith of a child. That, combined with two little girls reading something one of them wrote about us being like a Jack-0-Lantern. It ended up being a beautiful analogy, and it really does make you think twice about the almost-uselessness of complexity in Chrisian thinking. After church, we went out to eat with a load of people! I have never actually had a sit-down conversation with Travis (One of the singers in the choir), so that was a blessing to be able to eat with him, his wife, and his cousin. Also, Matt and Kinsey came, and so did Summer and her boyfriend Darrell. This was the first time I've seen Summer in about 4-ish years, so that was cool to see her again, and that she's doing pretty well.

Laster that day, we went to Mike and Sharon Jack's house to watch the Steelers game and talk about our trip to Japan. Despite the Steelers losing, we had a wonderful time, and just walking around their house was a blessing. The stream and the dock in the backyard was enough for me to just want to come over and hang out everyday! Mike even invited me to a men's Bible study on Thursday, which was of immediate interest, so I'll be seeing him on Thursday. Both of them were extremely encouraging with their words, their ideas, and their hospitality. It was just a great experience at their place.

With all that said, we had a wonderful weekend, and God blessed us tremendously. Just continue to pray for our trip to Japan, in all areas (The fundraising, the donors, the mental and spiritual preparation, the language learning, the softening of the students' hearts, the living arrangements, etc), and we'll be sure to keep you posted as to what to pray for next. Thank you so much for all of your love and support.

What's a schedule, anyway?

As some of you might have already heard, I (Jason) am totally off of the night shift at the gym! Last week was my first official week (Although short, because we didn't get back in until Tuesday night from Colorado Springs.), and I have to say, it felt nice. Sleeping on a proper schedule, waking up between 8am and 9am (As opposed to between 10am and 2pm), and getting all my errands done in the day time is such a wonderful blessing! I don't think I need to bask in this any longer, but I have to say thank you for all the prayers.

The LORD has truly been working in our hearts this past month, and I can't help but share how He's been working! As stated before, the Summer months were a little difficult for me and Rachael, but after lots of prayer and meditation, it has been understood that God used that time to test our faith. Not only did that time of struggle strengthen our relationship with Him, but it also confirmed that our going to Japan is from Him. We have never been more confident of this mission to go to Japan than now... and it's only getting stronger! The LORD is good. Always.

I'll end this with scripture and a CUTE picture of Honey. This passage has been on my heart, because God has been showing me a lot in confidence and what to be confident in.

2 Corinthians 5:6-10, "Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

Flashback Friday!

Okay, this is a random, short, and silly one, but still a flashback! hahaha



This is a picture of Rachael while we were visiting family in Boston. As some of you may know, Rachael and I will lock-up and semi-wrestle on occasion. At this point, I was always threatening her that I would give her a hickey on her eye. I don't think she ever believed me until she kept pestering me... so I gave her a hickey on her eye... as I promised. hahahaha. This was the aftermath of such an event. :P
(This flashback was actually approved by Rachael. hehe)

Go Tell It To The Mountain!

(I posted the pictures before writing for a change... not a good choice. hahaha. So comments will follow each picture.)
This lake is about 8,000 ft up towards Pike's Peak. As you can clearly see, the colors are gorgeous, and a whole lot more colorful than our Myrtle Beach trees. :)

This is Rachael on top of Pike's Peak, but it's really cool that you can see the weather line from the height we were at (14,110 ft).

Thought this was just a silly sign on the way up to the Peak.

We were taking pictures at the Navigators Headquarters. Standard pictures are boring... jump pictures, however, are AMAZING!

This is our fellow GO! participants. I'll give you who and a where they're going.
Top Row from the Left: H (Location Secured), D and L (Location Secured), Joe Hughes (Wife Julie in front with kids Paul and Anna; Sendai, Japan), Jaclyn Shelton (La Plata, Argentina). Bottom row (Besides Julie) from Left: JL (Location Secured), Kelly Leaver (La Plata, Argentina)

Beautiful mountain scenery from summit of Pike's Peak.

Again, Pike's Peak scenery.

Rachael and I on top of Pike's Peak. Good times.

Flashback Friday!

Okay. I'm going to begin a series of "Flashback Friday" posts each Friday where I recall a random event of the past and share it with the public. It may be significant, it may not. That's moreso for you to decide than me. Either way, it's a part of our past (or one of our pasts).

This picture is... me. hahahaha. While in Japan in 2005 with the Navigators, we played a "scavenger hunt"-style game where us foreigners dressed up like random people, and because of my long hair and beard, I was asked to be the homeless person. So, yes. That's me sleeping in a box in the middle of a shopping area.

Now for the funny part. A police officer was watching over the area and noticed me in the distance. At this point, I actually started dozing off because the students were taking so long to find me. The officer came up to me and was yelling something that I definitely wasn't able to understand. In Japanese, I was trying to calm the situation down by saying, "It's a game! It's a game!" So Mark Rood comes running down the shopping center to get the officer's attention to detail the situation and get me off the hook. The officer tried to clarify that I could "pretend" to be homeless, but I couldn't actually sleep in a box. So we moved post a little bit, and I just sat on the box instead. Once the students saw that Mark was talking to me and the officer, they realized that it was me. The reason why they didn't find me was because they were truly scared that I was an actual homeless person, and they didn't want to intrude on my rest. Out of this respect, they left me alone. The police officer even said I was scaring some of the parents of the kids.

What started as such a simple game ended up being a complicated situation and a scaring moment for half of the people in the shopping area. Good times. hahaha.

Bad Language, Listening to God, and Deer Hunting... Oh, My.

Yesterday was quite the filled day. Rachael and I actually woke up at a good time (Considering my sleep schedule) and almost got to church before the worship team started. hahaha. ALMOST.

The music was oh' so encouraging, uplifting, and praise-worthy, but having Jeff back was a treat in itself. Yesterday's sermon powerful! Especially convicting for me (Jason), because I've actually been trying to clean things up in my life as well; language slips, certain styles of music, less movies and TV, etc. The sermon hit all of those points for me, but the truly convicting part was "... it's permissible, but not beneficial." That's the kind of line one needs to hear to understand that what I'm doing right now is not drawing me closer to my LORD and Savior. Or with my wife. Or with my family. Or with my friends. Wow. There are a whole lot more important things in life besides entertainment. Even when he talked about politics, I got a sick feeling in my stomach. I guess this has just been an overly frustrating year when it comes to the political scene, but when it all boils down, is that truly helping feed my walk with God? Not that I can't be informed with the world around me, but to immerse myself in it, that might be a bit too much. Great sermon though.

As for Listening to God, the Navs gave us a very thick study of biblical individuals that were directly spoken to by God or one of His Angels. When you read them in succession, it really opens a door that you either ignored all these years or closed off. I don't even know how to describe it. It was like one second I prayed and read about Moses speaking to God, and then by the time I got to Samuel, It seemed as if God was directly speaking to me the whole time. Not with the exact words that were given to Moses, Hagar, Samuel and others, but the comfort and confirmation that one needs to know their mission in life and to never back down. It truly was a powerful experience in itself.

Lastly, Rachael went deer hunting with my uncle Chuck last night. She called me at about 7:30pm, which I didn't even need to hear her to know this, to let me know she just shot her first buck. Deer hunting is not my thing, so if I don't sound excited, that's why. hahaha. But Rachael was extremely proud of herself and couldn't stop evaluating the experience. Here's her and Chuck with the prize.

Sorry if that made you squeemish. hahaha. But it was truly exciting for both of them, and that means deer meat for everyone! :P

And here you go, the picture of Honey I promised:

Isn't she cute! Licking her chops and all. hahaha.

You be the judge...

Okay. We ate at La Pizza today after church, and every single one of us got calzones and strombollis. However, all of us but ONE got personal sized ones. Danny got a medium. The difference in size, you ask? HUGE.



Now, you be the judge. hahaha.

Getting A Bit Behind.

All right. Where do I start?

Rachael and I have been doing really well. Life has slowed down since the Summer, which is a huge blessing as well as a relief. We are finally able to see people we haven't seen all Summer long, meet with potential donors, spend more time in God's word, and just finally get life situated again.

Our Summer caused us to become a bit discouraged and even agitated due to the lack of response we got from family and friends, but I think we just got too over-our-heads and gave the whole situation to God instead of trying to control the matter at hand ourselves. We know He will provide... in His time.

Rachael's been busy getting in contact with friends and family back home, and we've been hearing wonderful responses from people we kind of weren't expecting. The combination of that and random people from work have been a huge encouragement! It made us wonder if our Summer was just a testing period for us to realize that the LORD is in control. Whether that's the case or not, Rachael and I are feeling so much better mentally and spiritually.

We are prepping up to go back to Colorado Springs for our last training session this coming Saturday (October 4, 2008), and the material we have received for preparation has been powerful, to say the least. One study is simply on Romans 14, with a title boldly called, "The Romans 14 Issue." hehe. Anyways, the "issue" brought to attention that is simply in the biblical text is that there are truly gray areas in our beliefs that we can't force down one-another's throats. Paul speaks of food in the text; eating everything or eating some things. Paul encourages the Roman church to respect the decision of everyone, whether you eat anything or only eat vegatables. To not pass judgment because someone's ideals are different than yours.

Verse 16 says, "Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil." After investigating my own life, I reflected on the times where I know I allowed my good to be spoken of as evil, due to my reactions and the words I used. I've truly lost friends, hurt family members, developed hatred and judgment due to my insensitivity. After this study, I've realize how wrong I really am some time. Not wrong in what I believe, but wrong in how I express that belief. As a fellow believer, I strongly encourage anyone willing to meditate on that Romans 14 passage and just allow God to speak to you.

I wanted to end this note with a smile, so I was going to post a picture of Honey, our dog. But unfortunately, Rachael took the camera with her, so I'll leave you with this...


This is a picture taken by my friend Norio during the Sakura-blossoming season in his hometown of Nagano. When he sent this to me, I thought he was lying when he said he took it, but when he expressed the beauty of the area while there, you could not even begin to deny what he saw... and what you are looking at.

Testing and Healing

This past month has been a very challenging time for both me and Rachael. God has truly been testing our faith with this fund-raising for Japan, but He has also been healing our hearts from things that have been hindering us from growing closer to Him.

Last Sunday, Rachael and I had the opportunity to share with our congregation about our passion to go and minister to the people of Japan. We were expecting a pretty big reception, but we ended up only hearing from a few people. It was a bit discouraging, but at the same time, we thank God for the new people He has brought into our lives! There were a couple people/families that I have never met before that were willing to jump on the boat and support our cause. That was such a wonderful blessing, but now we need to come up with some more ideas to find supporters.

I wanted to personally thank anyone who has lent us their support, whether it be financial support, prayer support, or both. You are the only way we can accomplish God's calling in our lives, so we thank you now for your early support. We love you all, and we can only hope that your giving will bless you as much as it blesses us.

Go see WALL*E

First and foremost, I cannot deny the fact that I'm a large Pixar fan, especially when I found out that John Lasseter, the chief creative officer, was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away, etc).

With that out of the way, I went in to WALL*E expecting a lot. And by a lot, I mean I was expecting this film to blow me away and be better than the past Pixar films. When I walked out of WALL*E, I didn't know whether to cry or smile. I was standing on a line of utter amazement, and I really couldn't find the words to say.

WALL*E met my expectations and then some. For a film that had barely any dialog, WALL*E packed a bigger emotional punch and made a bigger statement than any film I remember seeing in the past [at least] 5 years. WALL*E (the character) is probably the most lovable animated character to ever be imagined. He captured my heart from the moment he was listening to "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" as he was compacting trash around a very vacant earth. Simply the way he was intrigued by all the little things that were lying around him; a rubix cube, lighters, a trash lid, and most captivating, a plant that had just recently broken through the soil.

This sets the pace for the entire film and ultimately his introduction to EVE. As the movie progresses (As I'll spare spoiling anything), WALL*E and EVE develop this relationship where simply saying each other's names says so much more than what we hear. Even using robots can get across the simple message of love, but this one was different. It focused on a simple means of expressing one's love, and it was WALL*E's ultimate goal throughout the film.

The human race somehow managed to survive 700+ years on a spaceship light years away from the Earth, and as we can even tell today, 700 years + technological advancement = a bigger, fatter, and more useless society. Director Andrew Stanton did a fantastic job at lightly making the point that people need to set their eyes on more important things in life; love, people, vegitation, and the world (and universe) around us. What makes it even more beautiful is that the simple introduction of a robot named WALL*E made these obese people realize the world they're missing out on.

If you are ready for the most beautifully illustrated story of this year, DO NOT hesitate to see WALL*E. It just might make you realize the things we really need in life.

Finally, some pictures from Colorado Springs

So, in a wonderful accident during our final hike in Colorado Springs, I slipped in the punch bowls and our camera plunged in... completely submerged. This prevented any immediate (If any) pictures to be posted from our own taking. FORTUNATELY, the SD card was spared and not a single picture was corrupted.

This is a picture of a couple of the rock formations at the Garden of the Gods with Pike's Peek in the background. A gorgeous setting that was just half a mile away from Navigators headquarters, so we definitely got a taste of what people call "God's Country."

This was from our first hike. We accidentally took a deer path that led us WAY in the wrong direction, but who cares? It was REALLY fun! This was in a little cave-like siding on the mountain. We thought it made a rather great picture spot.

Possibly some more pictures later, if we feel the urge. hahaha. Since we're going to be busy, I'm sure we won't have a whole lot of exciting pictures except for our Colorado pictures. That's about it for now.

Starting a blog.

So, how about this? I guess Rachael and I will just take turns writing about our lives on this thing. Good times, huh? I thought so.

So we just got back from Colorado Springs yesterday. We went through some pretty intense stuff with the Navigators. The first week we were there, we attended a Listening and Healing Prayer seminar, and it was absolutely fantastic! It really brought some things to the light for me, and I can definitely tell that Rachael went through a whole lot of emotional healing. God really did some great things that week.

The second week was a bit on the different side, but I strongly feel that it was just as impacting. We studied the spiritual side of fundraising and how that applies to us as we begin to raise funds for our trip to Japan. I think the most powerful thing I heard/read through the week was that when we see our donors as people giving us money (Having a horizontal-giving relationship), we tend to view them as merely banks for our missionary bank account. But when we see them as giving to God (Giving vertically), we will in turn receive the gift from God (Receiving vertically). It gave a whole new light to asking people for help - or literally, asking them to prayerfully consider being a part of our financial team. Now that sounds more Godly.

Lastly, since we WERE in the mountains, we did a whole lot of hiking. We actually got to hike once during our very busy second week with a group that we were training with. Well, we walk to this waterfall (Dorothy Falls) in the canyon and continued back to get to the "Punch Bowls", which were literally these small pools of water that looked like bowls. Well, after some daring and having already slipped in once, I attempted a belly flop into one of the punch bowls.

The good news is that I scored an 11 out of 10. The bad news is that it was cold... and it hurt... really bad. hahaha. And it actually left a ring under my sternum that was blue. REALLY blue. That's about it for our first post.