In Japanese, there’s an expression: 急がば回れ. Usually translated in English, it stands for Walk, don’t run. However, the literal translation is If you are in a rush, go the longer way. This was the exact words Pastor Yano gave me during our meeting at the high school, as this is what we have to keep in mind when evangelizing in Japan.

It is rooted deep in Japanese culture that religion and politics is taboo and is not to be discussed with others. Although people may appear to be listening to you sincerely when you share your faith with them, usually they are just being nice and you will have no idea what they will be talking about you are criticizing your faith behind your back, probably starting off with you not being educated well or not following the rules. Also, some will jump to the conclusion that something happened to you and that is why you choose to do these weird things. I am perfectly fine with people thinking about me in that manner but sharing your faith gives a negative influence to the body of Christ as Japanese think that anything to do with religion is you trying to use them.

Now that we are done with why it is generally a bad idea to share your faith bluntly in public and personal evangelism, let’s take a look at how evangelism is done in Japan at the moment. Pastor Yano told me how the concept of even religion was introduced to Japan. When the first Buddhist monks arrived in Japan, they evangelized by doing people favours. A prominent example would be an area needing fresh water, so the Buddhist monks would dig a well. The villagers would be overjoyed and then the monks would ask to return the favour by building a temple. If we take this into the context of Christian evangelism, of course we are not asking the villagers to return a favour for us but we will need to have something to show in order to make people interested in us first. This is part of Matthew 5:13-16, being the salt and light of the world, Christians need to be salty and need to shine in order to be noticed. The most effective method of evangelism is to show the spiritual gifts God has gifted us with (we have tonnes!!!), and in return, pray that people around us will ask us what is the essence of our life. This is surprisingly a question that many Japanese would ask and if you ever hear this while you are in Japan, this is the green light to evangelize as it is them who asked first, and not you trying to impose something onto them.

The method Pastor Yano evangelizes is through being a pastor in a high school. Rather than sharing about personal experiences, Pastor Yano teaches Christian values and how it is different from the values of the world. There is mandatory worship service at the school every single morning through singing hymns and reading of Scripture. Though this sounds extremely symbolic and many may argue it is not healthy, many students from this school end up following Christ later in their lives. I personally know a friend of mine who recently came to her faith because when she studied in the States as an exchange student, her homestay family brought her to church where she further deepened her faith. Others will have some sort of traumatic incident that happened in their lives, causing them to turn to their values they learned before and phone Pastor Yano, asking for churches he recommends.

Most importantly, Pastor Yano stated that we have to utilize all resources during evangelism, and the most important thing for a person officially doing ministry is to act like a normal person. Pastor Yano showed me a Facebook page of a friend of his who is a famous pastor, and there were so many Likes of all sorts of sports teams, bands, movies, music, etc. He stated that these are ways to spark conversations and later possibly become an evangelical opportunity.

Next up, some testimonies on how God has worked in Japan and the differences in evangelizing in all parts of the world.

I apologize for the huge gap between this post and the previous post. Learning about the reality of evangelizing in Japan really made me lost, not knowing where to start, and what to pray for. It is a humbling, yet extremely painful experience but this is my cross to carry and really take God’s yoke upon me Matthew 11:29.

It’s been a while and I have decided to restart my blog. A lot of my newer ministries are under development so please stay tuned!

Ptl! Just when I was about to bike home from Bamburgh plaza, an elderly lady asked me in a weird Chinese dialect (later I realized it’s Taishanese) to call 911 because she lost her husband in the Supermarket who has Alzheimer’s. I called 911 and basically became the translator for the lady and I was on the line until the first police officer arrived. Repeatedly, I was praying for the lady and I kept on asking myself, if Jesus was to encounter this situation, what would she do? The entire time I was thanking God that lady found me since I understand both English and Cantonese perfectly well and I actually stopped to help.

When the police officer came, I gave her all the details and she went in to find the security guard and the store manager so that they can look at the surveillance videos. She said time is precious so I assured her I will stay until more people came. That was my golden opportunity to talk to her about our God. She kept on thanking me but I told her all this is God’s will and after she finds her husband, they should go to 105 Gibson Centre to participate in the senior activity because they seem to have no friends at all. I told her my Godmother is the volunteer director of the community centre. It was such a blessing to share with her during Easter Saturday.

Later, an entire squad of police officers arrived. They told me they have enough people to take care of her now and the officer took down my details and told me rarely do people stay behind. Again, I thanked God for the Holy Spirit and showing His love through me.

On my bike ride home just when I made a turn to exit the Lower Don River Trail, I received a phonecall from the police telling me they managed to locate her husband. Witnessing God’s power is just… sooo… AMAZING!

When crisis happens, have you ever asked yourself, “What would Jesus do if he was in your situation?”
#ptl #first911call #easter #torontopolice

A hymn I thought of:

Living for Jesus, a life that is true,
Striving to please Him in all that I do;
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free,
This is the pathway of blessing for me.

Refrain:
O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee,
For Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me;
I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne;
My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.

Living for Jesus Who died in my place,
Bearing on Calv’ry my sin and disgrace;
Such love constrains me to answer His call,
Follow His leading and give Him my all.

Living for Jesus, wherever I am,
Doing each duty in His holy Name;
Willing to suffer affliction and loss,
Deeming each trial a part of my cross.

Living for Jesus through earth’s little while,
My dearest treasure, the light of His smile;
Seeking the lost ones He died to redeem,
Bringing the weary to find rest in Him.

Have a Blessed Easter Everyone! Let us rejoice in His resurrection!

It is Thanksgiving in Canada! To many of us, this time of season every year is solely a long weekend where we can take a break from school or work. To some of us, it is a day of turkey and pumpkin pie. However. amidst the definition of “Thanksgiving” being a public holiday, there is a much deeper meaning that would consequently let us realize and spend this day in and joyful and thankful manner.

Let us dive directly into the word “Thanksgiving”. One can notice that it basically means “giving thanks”. What are we to give thanks for once a year at this time? Back in the old days, this day was celebrated by farmers who harvest their crops and give thanks to having the harvest. First of all, we have to give thanks for being able to live on this world. We should give thanks to the oxygen we breathe each day and the and water and food that we eat which keeps us healthy. Of course we cannot take food and water for granted because there are many out there that are struggling to receive these bare necessities.

In Canada, we also give thanks to the free society we live in where we are free to do many things such as voice our own opinion, elect our own government, have our own home and go to church freely everyday. There are also many that do not have these privileges that we have taken for granted every single day we are living in the civilized world.

Hold on! Wait a minute! Does this mean that the people who live in areas where every single thing mentioned above is lacking should not give thanks?

There are many people who are living malnutritioned not having the bare necessities that we take for granted everyday under a corrupt society that even persecutes them for their beliefs. Does this mean they should not be giving any thanks? If you think that way, you are absolutely wrong because many of these individuals are giving thanks every single day. But for what?

They are all giving thanks because they are living in the presence of the Lord. They may be struggling every single day to make ends meet and worshiping secretly to avoid persecution and are at the risk of being tossed around by a corrupt government but it is in those situations when they realize that having the Lord in presence is more than enough. The Lord provides to the needy at a completely different level. These people may not have enough to physically eat but they are well fed every single day spiritually by our Lord. They may have an infinite amount of earthly items to worry about but it doesn’t matter because they know that the word of God tells them that the Lord loves them more than the birds in the sky who do not reap or store away in barns yet our Heavenly Father feeds them (Matthew 6:25-34).

Now look back at yourself. We are in such luxury that we take everything for granted and may dwell on the smallest matter and feel a grudge against God while we are called to rejoice in all trials and temptations (James 1:2-7). Jesus has died on the cross for us and knowing we are loved by God who has such sacrificial love should be enough for us to be constantly thankful in whatever situation we face in our lives.

Have you ever wondered what the focus of our lives are for? What should be the core essence of all our actions and our words as a Christian? Where should we stand in society and what should we do in times of crisis?

Let us look into the word of God for answers. 1 Corinthians 10:31 states:

For whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (NIV 1984)

I understand that I have overly mentioned this verse in Scripture but I also understand that repetition is a good method of learning. How much are you really taking in this verse? I have to admit that I cannot guarantee all the actions I take after becoming a born again Christian are rooted from this verse but that is what needs to happen. How can we be salt and light in a dark world if we do not do everything for His glory alone and in His name? I think we need to really meditate on this verse.

Now moving on to events, I have seen so many friends do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. I would question them the reason why they are doing it? If it is just for fun, it is foolish. If it is for the benefit of society, I have to be frank but it is also a way of making yourself feel better about yourself. But if you are really doing it for God’s glory and trying to share God’s love with others and giving credit to the prince of peace and the root of all this love, you are following 1 Corinthians 10:31.

Now in a world of crisis, our ways of living and our society are greatly impacted by politics and government. Back in the days during the rule of the Romans, the Jews were being persecuted by wicked and inhumane ways. When Jesus revealed Himself as the Messiah, His believers and followers thought that this is the end to the misery of being constantly stepped underneath the Romans and they will be led to a land of freedom. However, in John 15, Jesus foreshadows that His disciples and followers will be hated by the world. They will be persecuted. Jesus even reveals that there will be ones who kill His disciples and think that they are doing a favour to God (John 16). Luke 14:27 states that whoever does not carry the cross is not worthy to be His disciple. What does this mean?

This means being persecuted for your faith is something that is revealed to us through the Holy Scriptures. God has promised us that being Christians, we will face challenges and persecution, which can be also seen as trials and temptations. What are we called to do in these situations? James 1 instructs us to consider it pure joy and rejoice. Now one may ask why should we rejoice during these times? Especially from my brothers and sisters from Hong Kong during this time of crisis, why should they rejoice?

We should all rejoice because we are in the presence of the Lord. Christ is enough for us! No matter what sins others commit on us, God’s will is being done because God is omnipotent and this is His perfect will. What do we do in these times? We need to focus more on Christ rather than being distracted by these earthly things. Our focus is on gospel preaching, making disciples, proclaiming His name and doing everything for His glory. Our life on this world is temporary and extremely short compared to the time we spend having eternal life, so have some foresight and focus on everlasting fruits rather than the fruits bore on earth that will disintegrate when we depart.

For the past few months, many things have happened to me. Although I went through a lot of struggles and also trials and temptations, God was good all the way and taught me to rejoice in any situation and anything that can happen to us whatsoever. God is always good and as Christians, we know that God has prepared a table before us in the presence of our enemies and He will guide us and be our shepherd all the way.

That being said, this means another revival of this blog. There will not be daily updates as that will be sacrificing quality for quantity but there will be weekly updates on things I have been thinking about. Let’s start off with something Canadian (and also Japanese), saying “sorry”.

We Canadians are known to say sorry too much. We say sorry to a point where it becomes a natural instinct, something that just comes out from our mouths. Is this good at all? Those who are unfamiliar with this custom would think that we are being overly polite and actually commend us for doing this. How is this in the eyes of God?

Let’s break down the logic. You do something, you say “sorry” but you do not mean it. What does this mean?

Let’s look at the 9th commandment:

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. Exodus 20:16 (NIV 1984)

You are sinning! And if you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, this adds on to the wrath God has against you. That is why you need Jesus if you have not accepted Him!

But let’s look at this from another point of view. There are many altar calls where hundreds, or even thousands of people openly declare that they have confirmed their faith in Jesus Christ, but I always pray for the people declaring their faith to declare it full-heartedly rather than going on just because of other reasons such as peer pressure.

Moving on from altar calls, when we pray for repentance, do we mean it full-heartedly? Sure in the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to forgive our trespasses or debts, but do we really mean it or are we really just reciting an obsolete chant.

I pray that this is enough to ponder for a week. God Bless you all!!!