Your Life, Your Time: What do you think?

For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die. (Philippians 1:20)

So what are these sentences that Paul wrote in the Bible mean? Living whole hearted for Christ will produce a life that has nothing shameful to hide. I will continue and be bold in Christ as I have in the past.

May this life I live bring a smile to the Lord regardless of if I die an early death or live to see many days.

Paul was speaking from a prison cell. We all have times in life when we contemplate our life’s trajectory.

What value is the life we are presently living? Is what we are doing really worth the effort we are putting forth?

After Paul’s reflection, his answer was a resounding yes. What I am doing has value. In fact, I have no regrets.

When you reflect on your life what do you think?

Though my life is not perfect, I am continually learning and making better decisions that I hope and pray will be a blessing to my family and the people around me.

In my opinion, caring for people is the essences of living. It is the essence of Christianity, and the essence of Christ. Love in action!

Showing Mercy is a Test

We often ask for the Lord to have mercy on us, but do we show mercy? Our prayer’s are probably not as beautiful as David’s below, but I’m sure there are some similarities.

In psalms 6:1-2 King David asks the Lord not to get upset with him and not to discipline him in anger. He specifically asks for the Lord's compassion because he is weak.

I seriously believe that life is a series of tests. We are tested almost every minute of the day. Think about it. Have you seen a commercial lately?

Well, this morning the fire alarm in my townhouse went off. It is the loudest and most irritating noise that you could possibly imagine.

The night before I stayed up late working on a project from school which I still haven’t finished yet , when in the middle of my sleep, my little three year old daughter decided to use our bed as a trampoline.

She knows that the rule in our house is no jumping on the bed and no jumping on the couch. Well, I guess she thought that I was a sleep and started jumping to the moon on the bed while I was still in it. With a scowl on my face I angrily told her to “stop jumping on the bed”.

As a parent you know what enough is and what overkill is. I showed little or no mercy to my young daughter.

Well, later I called home from school and apologized to her. I didn’t need to scowl or raise my voice to get my point across. If I had shown mercy, she would have stopped.

We constantly ask for God’s mercy in our life, but do we show God’s mercy to others in our life. We cannot expect to receive God’s mercy unless we are showing it. With the Lord’s help we can be loving people even though we don’t feel like it sometimes. This is one of many tests of real faith.

The Importance of Being Ernest

My first name is Ernest and as you can tell by this website everyone calls me by my nickname Ej. The natural nickname for Ernest is Ernie. As a kid other kids would tease me by saying hey Ernie where's Burt.



For those of you who do not quit understand this reference. There is a kids television program in the US which has stuffed characters with the name Ernie and Burt. I hated to be called Ernie and sincerely wished my parent had given me a different name.



Now that I'm a little older and have a child of my own, I have a great appreciation for the name that my parents gave me. I know that my wife and I thought deeply about the name we had chosen for our daughter.



The name Ernest comes from the Greek word serious. My name fits who I am perfectly.

Henry O

Hey everyone,

You have to visit Henry's website. It's a great place to go if you want to see how he's doing and to learn more about Hawaii. I really really like his blog.

http://www.luckywelivehawaii.blogspot.com/

Niiza

When I first came to Rikkyo, I could immediately see and enjoy the beauty of the Ikebukuro Campus. However, now I spend most of my time on the Niiza Campus. It took a little time, but now I'm able to enjoy the beauty of the Niiza Campus much more than ever. My general feeling about Niiza is that it is a great campus with a wonderful atmosphere.

Construction

First I would like to apologize for people who are waiting for the new website. It is taking a little longer than I had planned. Also, it is much more difficult than originally planned. One possitive is that I have a great deal of support from my wonderful daughter, who makes sure that I'm up early every morning.

Photo Credit

Friends From Hawaii

Recently some very close friends from Hawaii came to Japan. It was a joy to see them and their beautiful children. Pastor Ricki Aoki of Leeward Community Church and his family, visited Japan for a few weeks. Also, I was able to meet my good friend Dale Lemke who took care of Pastor Ricki's arrangements while he was here.

The photo on the left has Dale, Ricki, and me. The photo on the right has Dale's wife Heidi and their child Mia on the left. In the middle is Ricki's wife Liza holding Peter. Next to her is her is Leah with Ruthy standing behind Leah.

My wife Izumi is on the right of the photo with our daughter Emma. This morning I read a passage of the Bible that says: "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."

According to the passage I quoted above, loving people is something that we have to do first before we say that we love God.

1 John 4: 20

Friendship

"Since God loves us, we ought to love others". I like these words. When I think about this, I realize that God loves me, although I am not perfect. I am not always kind.

If God can love someone who is not perfect like me, than I should be able to love other people.

1 John 4:11-12

What is most important?

I think that helping people is important. In the Bible it says "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." I believe that doing the will of God is helping people.



Many people don't know, but I have a dream. My dream is to build an orphanage for children in Japan. I love Japan and I would like to help the people of Japan.
1 John 2:17

In the morning!

I love to wake up before my daughter and read the Bible, if possible. This morning I read a passage that describes God's character. In short it says that God is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love, faithful, forgiving, and just. After reading that, I felt thankful. Also, I would like to be more compassionate, gracious, kind, loving, faithful, forgiving, and fair.

Exodus 34: 4-7

More new blogs to check out!

A new blog can be like a new baby. So, lets enjoy these new babys together!

intensive

IWE Golden Week

Hello IWE students,

I just want you to know that you must write at least 100 words in your journal about your presentation topic. This will be due Friday the 11th.



Other than that, I sincerely hope that you had a great Golden Week! The photo is of Golden Week in China.

Photo Credit

New Blogs!

Please tell us something about your blog. What do you want to write about on your blog?

On my blog I like to write about many different things. Especially friends and family. The picture on the left is a picture of me and my friend Val. If you see us in the hallway please say Hi!

What is best about your family?

I simply love my family. We are extremely close. The relationship that I have with my sister is really special. Although we live very far from each other, we do our best to support each other.

On the left is my sister, wife and her parents.










On the right is a picture of my sister and her family.

What is best about your family?

What is special about your best friend?

I have some really great friends. In the picture below is Charlie, Kentaro, and Joel. These are some of the best guys in the world.

All of them are hard working good husbands and fathers. I respect them and thank them for their friendship. If I ever have a problem I know that I could talk to any of them.

What is special about your best friend?

What is your favorite sport and why?

I love sports. The sport that I probably enjoy the most is soccer. My favorite soccer team is Real Madrid. I enjoy soccer because there is always a lot of action and you never know when a goal will be scored.

So, what is your favorite sport and why?

What is the largest sacrifice you ever made?

I gave up my motorcycle for my wife. My wife is a little afraid of motorcycles and she was worried. Yes, motorcyles are dangerous so I had to sacrifice my motorcycle for my wife.

Now, I would probably sacrifice almost anything for our little baby Emma.

So, what is the largest sacrifice you ever made?

If you could make a movie, what would it be about?

I love watching movies. There are so many types of moves that I like. If I were to make a movie it would probably be something like a James Bond movie because I love adventure.

http://www.jamesbond.com/

What would you make a movie about and why?

What is your favorite movie, and why?

Recently I watched a movie called "The Italian Job". It's not new, but it was fun to watch. The movie came out in 2003. So if your interested you should be able to rent it.

http://www.italianjobmovie.com/flash/index.html

So, what is your favorite movie, and why?