Advent is Here
Great song to get us thinking about the wonder of God coming as a baby. I encourage you to show this to your kids also.

Mitsuo Fuchida & Pearl Harbor
This year on Dec. 7, plan to celebrate one of the most amazing stories of inspiration that WW2 affords- and pass it on to others.

When Japan looked around for a pilot to plan and lead a sneak attack against Pearl Harbor they decided quickly on Mitsuo Fuchida. An experienced pilot and passionate for action, Fuchida was just the man for the plan. Little did the military leaders know that God also had a plan for Fuchida's life: first to become the most famous person in Japan and then to become a radically new man by the gospel of Jesus Christ. His testimony and story would be used of God to lead thousands to Christ.

Read more about the story here and then watch the videos below. Jake is the man who led Fuchida to Christ. (If you don't have much time, watch the last one first.)

Tim Tebow
Check out this good interview. I especially liked how he addressed Jake Plummers' statements from about the 10 minute mark.

Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln made this proclamation on Oct.3, 1863:

I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

Read the whole thing.

Jesus: He Lived Among Us DVD
UPDATE: Video fixed.
Here is gift idea for your kids as well as a way to support the persecuted church around the world.
Learn more here. (from the Voice of the Martyrs)

What's Kyoto Like?
Here's a bit of my world, for those who wonder.

Redemption of a Sex Trafficker
This is a powerful video. I know this is a big problem in Japan as well. There is only one solution.

Jacob's Story from Unearthed on Vimeo.

Pray for the Persecuted Church Today
Jesus said that will be hated in all nations to which we go. Let us pray for our precious brothers and sisters in all nations, but especially those where it is extremely dangerous to share Jesus. Pray for our boldness to share the gospel no matter the nation or the result. He is worth it!

Let the Nations Be Glad!
One of the big reasons I am in Japan is a man named John Piper. Listen to his story and how he got so on fire for missions here. Especially for those who do not read a lot (or will not read this book), you need to watch this video.



(HT: Justin Taylor)

Tsunami Broke Icebergs
Guest post by Neil Verwey:

The massive 3/11/2011 Japan earthquake and its ensuing tsunami were so powerful that they broke off huge icebergs thousands of miles away in Antarctica, according to a new study.

The ‘calving of icebergs’ is when a huge chunk of ice breaks off from a glacier or ice shelf. The tsunami, which originated after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of the Japan, was so powerful that it broke off massive pieces of ice from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf in Antarctica, thousands of miles away.

The earthquake off the coast of Japan caused massive waves to explode out from its epicenter. Swells of water swarmed toward an ice shelf in Antarctica, 8,000 miles (13,600km) away, and about 18 hours after the earthquake, those waves broke off several chunks of ice that altogether equaled about two times the surface area of Manhattan, New York. According to historical records, this particular piece of ice hadn't budged in at least 46 years before the tsunami came along.

Icebergs have been reported to ‘calve’ following earthquakes before, including a magnitude 6.3 earthquake, which struck Christchurch, New Zealand, on Feb 22, 2011. However, the new finding marks the first direct observation of such a connection between tsunamis and iceberg ‘calving’.

“We knew right away this was one of the biggest events in recent history.” Brunt, one of the observers said. “I think it's pretty cool.”

Source: LiveScience

You do not think for a moment, these marvels of nature just happen, do you?

From whose womb comes the ice?
Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
when the waters become hard as stone,
when the surface of the deep is frozen?
(Job 38:29-30, NIV).

The forces of nature, controlled by the Creator of the universe, far exceed the ability of man to control.