Pathways on the Journey of Life

story, "The Odd Angel"

available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Qkcyuyi8A

PATHWAYS ON THE JOURNEY OF LIFE

As I say in my introduction, life is a journey.  We walk along a pathway, whether we decide to or not.  We are headed "home."  For those of us who are Christians, "home" is ultimately heaven, where God, our Father, awaits us with open, loving arms. 

Life's pathways are sometimes long, sometimes short, often rocky and steep and at other times, downhill or smooth.  Sometimes we coast along effortlessly and at other times, it is a struggle which seems beyond our capacity.  Can we go on? 

And often we think we know where we're going but life surprises us and suddenly we are heading in new directions.

Most of all, we meet people along life's journey.  Inevitably.  People we like, even love.  People we don't like.  Rich and poor people.  (the story above, "The Odd Angel" is about a homeless man I met).  Smart and not so smart.  Strangers and family.  Some who need help.  Others who help us.

The most important question is how we respond to those we meet along the pathways of life. 

And that is what the life of Jesus was all about.  Instead of avoiding or rejecting them, he had a special love for the poor, the hurting, the rejects, the outcasts.  He went out of his way to touch them and heal them  --  sharing his life, food, and time with them.  He died for them, even for his enemies and those who persecuted and even murdered him.

Jesus showed us true love along the pathways on his journey of life. 

Recent pictures along my life's journey follow.



DOES JESUS STILL HEAL TODAY?

Peter wrote that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power and... he (Jesus) went around doing good and heaing all who were under the power of the devil because God was with him" (Acts 10:38).  

Not only that, but Jesus then instructed his followers to do the same.  "(Jesus) gave them (his followers)... power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick" (Lk 9:1-3).

Not everyone we pray for is healed miraculously.  Yet some are.  Some are instantaneously healed.  Some progressively.  Some pass away yet as believers in Jesus, we know that he said he went before us to "prepare a room" for us in heaven! (John 14:2).  There, there will be no more tears or pain or suffering (Rev 21:1-7). 

One recent example.  Jolin.  When I first met her this year, at 16, she was weak and wheelchair bound since childhood.  She was brought up to me to pray for.  I did.  

She did not leap out of her wheelchair.  She asked in a nearly inaudible voice, "Please pray for Jesus to heal me so I can walk like other girls my age!"  But she couldn't.  But I and so many others kept praying for her.  Jolin herself never stopped praying and hoping.  Today, she has stood up unaided and taken some steps with her walker!  

John, a lawyer, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.  We prayed for him in Jesus' name.  He was "miraculously" healed and this was attested to by medical doctors. (NOTE:  Later, John was given additional chemotherapy and passed on from heart complications.)  

  

For Christmas, 2014

A gift:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DqXD_T50h0&feature=youtu.be

The hippo stories have finally made it to YouTube (in English).  Please see the below.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUiPZl4cew-F9Y52XNTShlW-0XUXpqhlm

To boldly go....

the kingdoms of this world are so "finite"

THE MAN FROM OUTER SPACE?  About 30 years ago, when I was a relatively new Christian, I went to a "psychic faire" where a psychic exclaimed, "Hey everyone, look what I've found!  A man from outer space, a man from another planet!"  And here I am today, surely a man who has lived in a "different kingdom" from the "kingdom of this world"!

a man from outer space, but with a heart!

Sometimes suspended in another world?

mission control is in our limited mindl

suited up to boldly go...

to a  "reality" (a journey) which is beyond the moon!

The kingdom I have discovered is even beyond the moon, even beyond all planets, all galaxies...  a kingdom of eternity, of a supernatural and loving God in a heaven we cannot see nor even conceive of in our wildest dreams..... of things invisible which are more real than we can imagine... where earthly riches, property, power, or prestige, are irrelevant.... Recently, at the Griffith Park Observatory and Houston's NASA, my wife and I were exposed to man's attempts to somehow comprehend the incomprehensible, to traverse the infinite, to visualize the invisible, to touch the Creator Himself, and yet, ultimate reality will always be beyond our imagination, our technology, even our dreams.

And so many have asked:  "what has happened to my wife?"  Somehow, like Star Trek, we have decided (often reluctantly and hesitantly) again and again to "boldly go"  where we have not gone before, to places we have never been to... to the jungles of Borneo, the radiation zone of Japan, the HDB heartland of Singapore... and...!

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."James 1:22

In so many places in the Bible, Jesus tells us to "come" or to "go."  He was constantly on the move, talking to strangers, healing the sick, casting out evil spirits, providing fish and bread for the hungry, listening to the outcasts and lonely, loving those whom the world had rejected....  and he told us to "go and do likewise"! 

But leaving our "comfort zone" is not easy.  John Wimber used to say that "faith" is spelled "R I S K!"

And Robert Frost wrote:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I  --

I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

ROOFTOP, URBAN FARMING IN HONG KONG: along with a wonderful time recalling the precious life of our late sister, Dr. Agatha Chan, and teaching Hong Kong folks how to counsel and listen to one another, we found a surprise. From the farm in Japan to the farm in Hong Kong! People were doing rooftop organic farming all year around. Composting. Multiplying farms in the city. Eating healthy, organic foods! A new view of one of my favorite cities in the world!

A most incredible city, Hong Kong!

Sharing a meal and ideas with Jonathan and Jennifer Ngo, two brilliant and wonderful young people.

domestic helpers on a day off

North Point, Hong Kong, outdoor market

North Point fresh vegetable stand

rooftop view

rooftop farming, a growing hobby for many Hong Kong residents

Winnie Ngo chatting about rooftop farming!

the "farmers" of Hong Kong!

composting, even in the middle of an urban area!

cucumbers, yummmm

ministering in Hong Kong

the beautiful city!

2013: THE HIPPOPOSTMAN ("KABA NO UBINHAITATSUNIN") continues to meet people in Japan. Though over a decade ago, the "hippopotamus postman" television series (Harvest Time, Kenichi Nakagawa-sensei) was seen by over 7 million viewers, people still remember the hippo. One woman in Tochigi came up to me to ask me if I was, indeed, "Dr. Hippo"? She recalled the series. Another man in Yamada (photo below) came to me to tell me how the hippo stories helped him to truly understand God's love. Others discovered the stories of love for the first time and wanted to be couriers of love, as there are so many who need to know of love, real love, love from the heart, true love in action.

Yamada, Iwate, where a small coffee house is built in the "inundation" zone:  "ippo ippo" (one step at a time)

A young Christian girl miraculous rescued from the tsunami who is now a "postwoman" (or "letter carrier" in the USA);  she decided to become a real "hippopostwoman"!

Hope Center in Kesennuma, in the post-disaster recovery area, reaching out to the community.

A young man who first began to find the meaning of God's love through the "hippopotamus" television series by Harvest Time television.

  

A woman who found that there is a loving God and read the stories of love, bringing her to a kingdom where love prevailed!

The "hippo" manga drawn by Tokyo artist Ayah Kakinuma.

Hippo books and DVDs went out to over 7 million viewers in Japan and are still being seen on the internet, through YouTube!

The finest of "udon" shops in Yokohama with none other than the "hippopostman" himself with his "hippofriend"!

Asian Rural Institute 2013 -- a very special time with people from 17 nations + Japanese and foreign staff members; training participants in "servant leadership," "sustainable farming" and "organic farming" while dealing with radiation from Fukushima and learning to love one another as a community.

Asian Rural Institute 2013 workgroup

ARI ladies relaxing

ARI Patricia speaking

ARI participants on "yukata" day

dismantling for transfer to the new chapel

Yukiko-san protecting against ???

eating... yummmmm

Japanese friends in the kitchen

harvesting

soybeans

Japanese friends on a coffee break

the fields