Artwork

Shelley gave me one of her art pieces as a Christmas gift. It is quite an interesting work. Now I just need to find a place to hang it.

Television and mood

We don’t normally watch any TV. Not that I have any particular objection to it. It’s just that there are so many other things to do.

We have guests here this week and the TV has been running infinitely more (really, because compared to zero, any value is infinitely greater) this week. Shelley complained that watching TV makes her grumpy. I don’t think that is too surprising. I think there is something about TV and movies that short-circuits something in the brain and perhaps even damages things in there.

I have read/heard of studies that have shown that any kind of video (TV, movies, computers, video games) should not be allowed for any child under six or seven because it stunts neural development and results in permanent damage. Particularly dangerous are the so-called “educational” videos and games. Even though they supposedly provide some kind of cognitive enhancement and/or interaction, any benefit is far outweighed by the long-term damage.

One of the main problems I see of video-based entertainment, infotainment, informative programs, and education is that it subconsciously trains people to accept everything that is seen. I think there is something about the visual pathway that we automatically grant a kind of integrity and authenticity to, even if it is completely false. Radio only employs the auditory pathway, and we are think about what we hear. Video, in my opinion, appears to bypass many of those gatekeepers. Books, although visual, aren’t pictures so the words get processed differently and we think about what we read.

Sermon: A Gospel of Great Joy

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Text: Luke 1-4; Luke 24:36-53; Exodus 33:18-19; Exodus 34:5-7

When the angels appeared to the shepherds, one of them first has to say to them, “Do not be afraid,” followed by the proclamation [related to evangelize], “A good news [gospel] of great joy.” The rest of the angels then sang, “Glory to God in the highest…”

From this account it appears that the gospel already exists, even as Jesus was only a few hours (or less) old. This sermon examines the connection between fear, glory, gospel, and joy. The connections help us see what the core of the gospel is, and what it is that evangelism entails. When the gospel is understood and accepted as God desires, fear of Him turn into joy.

Very Cold, Warm, Cold

The cold spell that held Petersburg in its grip for nearly two weeks lost its hold yesterday as the daytime temperature warmed up 44 overnight. The snow turned into rain, and quite a torrential one at that. During the night I heard the rain, given extra force by strong winds, beating down on the roof and windows. Nearly all of the snow and ice that covered roads and driveways have been washed away.

However, this morning the temperature once again began to drop and the rain turned to snow. We once again have a light dusting of snow on the roads.

Sermon: Outside the Box

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Text: Luke 2:8-20

The Nativity story, when viewed from the perspective that Jesus was born in a private residence, rather than a lonely stable set apart from the rest of society, enhances, rather than detracts, from the gospel message. This perspective further adds weight to the point that the gospel is for all people, even those “outside the box” that is frequently socially and religiously acceptable. This perspective is also more in line with Luke’s gospel theme in which it is the common people and outsiders that readily accept Jesus among their midst.

It is Frigid

The skies cleared and the cold has settled in. This is the first real blast of true, cold weather this winter. It seems to be a little later this year than in the past three.

When it is clear and cold like this, the scenery, particularly at sunrise and sunset, is quite beautiful. But when the temperature doesn’t rise above 25, it feels cold all day, even inside the house.

The cold weather is forecast to last all week.

Holiday Literary 2009

Yesterday afternoon the city library hosted the annual Holiday Literary. It was the traditional mix of music, readings, and poetry. This year our Amy was featured as this year’s Poet Laureate. She read a couple of winter-themed poems. (Click HERE for audio.)

Sermon: Inside the Box

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Text: Luke 2:1-7

The Christmas story has been in the Christian tradition since its inception. What we have accepted as the traditional Christmas story is shaped greatly by the box of our own traditions and culture. What really happened may likely have been quite different. This sermon unpacks part of the Christmas story outside of the traditional box to see how it likely looks when understood from a Middle Eastern context. This is a caution that everything we understand is shaped to some degree by the boxes of our own experiences; that before we presume the privilege of explaining our viewpoint and beliefs, we should first strive to understand the other viewpoint.

Pickup Truck Not Running Well

Shelley will be part of the cast for the high school play this coming February. It is Alice in Wonderland and she will be playing the part of the Duchess and a couple of other roles. Practice occurs four nights a week.

This evening while taking her to the school for practice our pickup truck engine started to hesitate and hiccup. A few blocks later the “Service Engine Soon” light came on. Unfortunately this is something that I’m sure will have to be examined. We do have a repair shop in town, but I’m sure it is going to end up in the hundreds of dollars.

*sigh*

A nice holiday gift for the local repair shop, I suppose…

Sermon: RSVP

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Text: Luke 14:15-24

This sermon discusses the parable of the Great Banquet. It is a parable about priorities, about relationships, about the kingdom that has already begun, and how one gets to dine with the Master at the Great Banquet. It is also a parable that includes the work that Christ’s servants are commissioned to do in relation to the “already here, but not yet” aspects of God’s kingdom.

Sermon: “What Is the Kingdom of God Like?”

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Texts: Luke 13:10-21; Luke 14:1-14

Last Sabbath’s sermon discussed the narrow door of Luke 13:22-30 and Jesus’ announcement about who would and who wouldn’t be found in the coming Kingdom of God.

Today’s sermon looks at the chiastic material preceding and following last Sabbath’s passage to paint in a bit more of the nature of the kingdom Jesus announced. This sermon looks at the various motifs found in the chiastic material: Sabbath, healing, deliverance, humility, and invitations to the eschatological banquet. The integration of these motifs is key in interpreting and understanding the nature of the Kingdom of God, and how radically different Jesus’ depiction of it is when compared to the accepted understandings of the kingdom at that time. The gospel commission is to continue proclamation and demonstration of the true nature of God’s kingdom.

What a difference a rice cooker makes!

Sometime this morning our new rice cooker showed up. I set out immediately to cook a pot of rice. About an hour later it was done. I opened it up, began to stir, and immediately noticed a huge difference in the result between it and our old rice cooker: in the new the rice was not nearly as “wet” and it was much more of an al dente texture.

I put some into a bowl and it seemed more fragrant than with the previous cooker. When I placed some into my mouth it seemed sweeter and definitely had a better texture to it.

The rice itself is the same – it’s from a 50 lb. bag sold at Costco. But how it’s cooked makes a noticeable difference in the end result. The new rice cooker makes a much better rice.

‘Tis the season to shovel snow

Current short-term weather forecast: “Areas of heavy snow near Petersburg will begin tapering off by noon with additional snow accumulation up to 2 inches.”

That was indeed the case. It snowed an inch or two overnight and I went out to shovel the driveway. As soon as I came back in the heavy snow started to fall and a couple of hours later I was back out shoveling the driveway.

The forecast for the next couple of days continue to include snow with the most snowfall around Petersburg. It looks like I will be getting my share of upper body exercise.

Sermon: Who Shrunk the Door?

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Text: Luke 13:22-30 ; Isaiah 25:6-9

This week takes a look at another passage (Luke) where Jesus speaks of entering through a narrow portal – this time, a door. The door is spoken of in connection with the eschatological banquet in the kingdom of God. When the entire passage is examined, however, there seems to be quite a few people who enter into the kingdom. So what did Jesus mean when he said the door was narrow? Who shrunk the door? The passage in Isaiah and the reinterpretations of it found in the intertestamental period provide clues that point toward a possible answer.

Winter Mountain

Petersburg Mountain this morning.

First significant snow

I awoke past midnight due to discomfort from whatever illness I am suffering. I looked out the window and discovered that snow had been falling and accumulating since I had gone to bed.

These are very grainy and were converted to monochrome as I shot them handheld at ISO 1600 and underexposed by some 4 or 5 stops.

Winter is here

Today the precipitation from the sky is a wintry mix of rain and a bit of snow. Temperature is hovering just a couple of degrees above freezing.

I continue to suffer from what appears to be a cold. Salt water gargle seems to be the only thing that alleviates the throat pain that I have.

Shelley also had something yesterday, but was well enough today to return to school.

Since yesterday was Veterans Day the DMV (among other offices) was closed. I went to the DMV and the insurance company this morning to register our second car and insure it.

Evening update: There was a period of a few minutes when it was just snow and the ground got a dusting of it.

We have a new, very old car

Last night one of our friends from church gave us their 20-year old Toyota station wagon. They have a whole bunch of electric vehicles on their property they are selling, and part of the reason for parting with their gasoline powered vehicle was to make a little more room available.

I have to go to the DMV to register the transfer, pay for a new registration, and then to the insurance company to add the vehicle to our insurance.

A bit of a cold

I seem to have caught a bit of a cold… I started feeling it a bit on Saturday morning, but it has only been a bit of sneezing and runny nose, primarily in the morning. I felt okay yesterday but last night started to feel a bit of irritation in my throat and some soreness around my shoulders. It bothered me enough that I couldn’t remain asleep this morning and got out of bed about 4 a.m.

I took a bit of nap just now and am feeling a little better. I’ve been sipping some fresh ginger infusion mixed with a bit of frozen orange juice concentrate.

While napping I got a message from Amazon.com letting me know that the rice cooker had shipped – about 4 days ahead of schedule. Estimated delivery is early next week.

I went to meet with some of the other pastors this morning and learned that another of the restaurants will be shutting down for good after Thanksgiving. If I had a spare $200,000 lying about I might just purchase it (it is for sale) and run it as a hobby… but I don’t have that kind of cash just sitting about. It would be foolish to take out a loan on it, but an outright purchase with no expectation of making money might be fun…

Ordered a new rice cooker

I ordered us a new rice cooker today. The model is Zojirushi NP-HBC10. I thought about the next model up with pressurized cooking, but couldn’t get myself to justify spending close to another $200 for just that feature.

“Aren’t all rice cookers the same?” some might ask. The answer is an emphatic, “No!” When I was in Japan the time previous to the most recent one, we got Dad a new rice cooker. I got to use it quite a bit this last time there and was utterly astounded by how well it cooked the rice and kept it warm – even rice cooked and kept for 48 hours was still very good.

Our old rice cooker is probably about a decade old. Rice left in there even overnight starts to get dry and hard. There is no timer feature so I have to remember to make sure I get the thing turned on to cook in time. Not only that but the inner bowl is well past its prime. It was more than time for a replacement.

Since it’s coming via Super Saver shipping, it will probably be near the end of the month before we see it.

Sermon: A Matter of Perspective

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Texts: Matthew 7:12-14; Matthew 11:28-30; Jeremiah 6:16

This sermon discusses the apparent paradox between the narrow gate/hard way of life that is written in Matthew 7:13-14 vs. the rest and easy yoke (way)of Jesus that is written in Matthew 11:28-30. Perhaps it is a matter of perspective; i.e., on which side of Christ one stands, that determines how a person views the way of Christ/life.

(Oh, the new audio recorder provides a much better audio quality! Before, whenever I used the headset mic, the echo made the recording nearly impossible to understand. Today, the speech is definitely comprehensible.)

Return trip

Comments later

(Tuesday, November 3.) From Dad’s home to the Narita Airport we took two trains. A Chuo Rapid from Ogikubo to Tokyo, and then the Narita Express (Limited Express) from Tokyo to Narita Airport Terminal. We had sent our three large pieces of luggage by courier the day before. At Tokyo we had about an hour to spend so we purchased different kinds of bread at a bakery and ate them at the station. We slowly proceeded down to the departing platform and at 12:03 p.m. we left for Narita.

The train trip was uneventful. We passed through city and farms at a rapid pace. About 50 minutes later we arrived at the airport platform. That’s when the less-than-desirable adventure began.

I thought two hours would be sufficient to unload from the train and get boarded on the plane. It was sufficient, but barely. It took some 10-15 minutes to get from the train platform, passing through a brief security inspection, to the fourth floor departure area. Then we had to go all the way across the North Wing to retrieve our luggage sent ahead. And then we had to go back across the North Wing to enter the long lines to check in and obtain boarding passes.

I had hoped to get some lunch at the airport prior to departure. After we checked in I had to return the rental mobile phone. I didn’t quite know where the return location was and that took a little more time. Finally we went to the central area where shops and restaurants are located. There wasn’t a restaurant that seemed right and the first one we entered, no one seemed to come up to seat us. So we went out and located another, sat down, and ordered; and then realized that we really didn’t have enough time for this.

Cancelling the order and apologizing we rushed out and walked briskly to the security clearance. Fortunately there was no wait there and got through quickly. We proceeded down to passport control and also made it through there without much waiting. We rushed over to our gate and saw that passengers were already boarding. We took a quick look around at the nearby gift shop but did not locate anything suitable to take on board as a snack.

We got in line, boarded and the long flight to Seattle finally commenced. There was a very brisk tailwind so the 8-1/2 hour flight turned out coming in at 7-1/2 hours.

We arrived in Seattle but could not immediately unload because the Border Patrol and Customs area were not staffed yet due to the early hour (6 a.m.) But it wasn’t too long (about 20 minutes) before they woke up and allowed us to deplane.

I’m not sure if it is the new policy for BCP or just in Seattle, but permanent residents have to join the same line as visitors. The way the lanes work in Seattle seemed very inefficient. The agents kept shuffling people around different lanes and as a result we waited a very long time. It’s a good thing we were early and we had plenty of transfer time.

We did finally make it out of the control area only to be greeted with another long line to re-enter the secured area… From there we took three short inter-terminal trains to get from the international arrival area to the North Satellite terminal. There we got some bagels and pastries to eat while we waited another hour or so prior to boarding our second to last leg from Seattle to Juneau.

The remaining flights were uneventful and we arrived safely in Petersburg.

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Ah… Jetlag

For a couple of days I thought maybe this time I won’t experience jetlag so badly… But… apparently the past two nights I was able to sleep simply because the fatigue from travel overwhelmed any sort of jetlag. Tonight, however, I am wide awake. I was sleepy around 8 p.m. so I went to bed, but by 11 p.m. I was awake. It is not 1 a.m. with no signs of sleepiness in the vicinity… At least I was able to use the time to put down notes towards a coherent sermon for tomorrow. I’d been working half a dozen sermon ideas for the last couple of days with nothing “gelling” together, but there is one now that is coming together.

The weather here is typical Petersburg: cloudy and rainy. But last evening it was also quite windy. There is a bit of snow now on the peaks of the hills around the area.

Tokyo Disneyland

Comments will be added as time permits.

Our day (Thursday, October 29) started fairly early as the trip to Disneyland takes about an hour and a half. We first walked to Ogikubo station, rode on the Chuo line rapid to Tokyo then transferred to the Keiyo line to Maihama station. Then it’s about a 10 minute walk to the ticket booths. When we entered the park, it was about 10 a.m.

We saw many guests dressed in various Disney character costumes. “Was this a normal, Tokyo Disneyland thing?” we wondered. It turns out that in the days around Halloween, the park allows guests to come in full Disney costume. Thus we saw lots of Alice costumes, quite a few Minnies, hosts of other Disney princesses, and various other characters.

We first headed over to the newest attraction, Monsters, Inc.’s Ride-and-Go-Seek adventure ride. The FastPass was already at 18:45 or thereabouts. We skipped that one and went to Star Tours next door which had a five minute wait. After that we went over to Space Mountain and got its FastPass, then returned to Monsters, Inc. and waited about 75 minutes. It is the newest attraction and therefore attracting all the crowds, but I’m not sure it was worth all that waiting under normal circumstances. It was a ride through a number of different scenes and each person gets to shine a flashlight on the scene to look for monsters and Boo that may be hiding. However, the ride was halted for maintenance not long after we went through, so I guess waiting for it was okay in that respect.

We raced all the way across the park to Splash Mountain and got its FastPass, then raced back to Space Mountain. After that we wandered half the park for lunch that wasn’t exorbitantly expensive and was acceptable to all of us – not at all an easy task. We ended up about where we started looking for lunch: at the pizza counter service restaurant next to Space Mountain. We all had a slice of chicken vegetable (always includes corn) pizza set, which included a small drink and about half a dozen mini cream puffs drizzled with a little chocolate (even fast food is somewhat artistically presented in Japan). For our drinks Shelley and I selected apple tea soda. It was quite good.

Following lunch we went on what I think was my favorite attraction: Buzz Lightyear’s AstroBlaster. The guests get into a small vehicle which then goes through different scenes. Each person gets an AstroBlaster with which they try to hit targets. It was a lot like a shooting gallery except that you are moving all the time. I got 55,000 points, which apparently is rather mediocre…

Because we still had a little time before Splash Mountain, we headed across the way to Micro Adventure. “What is that?” you ask? It’s the Japanese name given to the U.S. attraction, “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.”

We went across the park to Splash Mountain and breezed our way to the front with our FastPass. It was definitely “interesting” listening to the songs in Japanese. (Sample in one of the audio clips below.) Elise wanted to get the photo of us coming down the mountain (to have proof that I actually was with the family), so we did. Afterwards we headed to Big Thunder Mountain but decided to forego it when we saw that the FastPass time was 9 p.m.

We headed to Pirates of the Caribbean and queued up, preparing to wait the 60 or so minutes that was shown at the back of the line. But the line went quickly and we only waited about half the time. After exiting the ride we stopped at a nearby crepe restaurant and had some dessert crepes.

From there we went across the park again to the Haunted Mansion. This being the Halloween season, the Mansion was said to be decorated all for it. Even though the wait time was predicted to be about 80 minutes we decided to wait for it. Like Pirates, the actual wait turned out to be about half the time. The Mansion was decorated in The Nightmare Before Christmas theme.

Elise and the girls rode the teacups, and that was it for the attractions. Elise wanted to stay to watch the Electric Parade – a wait of about 2-1/2 hours. We wandered about the different shops and such.

I had started to get a headache around noon and by this time had gotten quite severe. After browsing a number of shops, it was becoming unbearable and I decided to sit and rest for the remainder of the evening.

The ladies went off to watch the parade. After a while the parade came through close enough to where I was resting so that I could see it go by in the distance.

And then it was time to head back into Tokyo and home. We boarded the train and at our transfer in Tokyo, we decided to stop and get some supper. Tokyo station is huge and it is like a mall. There are all sorts of shops. We ended up at an Italian restaurant where we had spaghetti and a lasagna. Then it was back onto the train for home.

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A few audio clips:

• Monsters, Inc. ride precaution announcement – in Japanese and English.
• A segment of Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, in Japanese.
• The hustle and bustle of the Tokyo Disneyland World Bazaar.

Four Migraines in Eight Days

Yeah, I think I’m ready to head back home; away from big crowds, lots of noise, and ceaseless activity. I handled it okay the first week, but with the second it seems like my stress reserves had worn down to nothing and every little thing seemed to lead to a headache.

In under 24 hours we will be heading off to Narita Airport.

More Optical Illusions

These images are from my dad.

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This is a video of a painting that appears to change perspective as the viewer moves around. The end of the video gives a hint as to how the painting is constructed to allow this illusion to occur.

A large pear

Walking into the nearby green grocer this afternoon, I spotted a very large western-style (European/North American) pear. It is grown in Yamagata Prefecture (山形県) and the variety is named Le Francais (ラ フランス). The price was 150 yen. As is the case with many large fruit here, it was individually placed in a protective wrap. I measured it and it was about 9.5 cm tall and 8.5 cm in diameter. I won’t know if it is good or not until we slice into it.

Halloween

Today happens to be Dad’s birthday. We had a birthday party last night instead of today. Last night we had beef curry, assorted sushi, salad, and cheesecake. We got Dad a digital audio recorder (so he could record his sermon today), and a small crab robot toy (which didn’t work as well as I saw on the demonstration video at a store).

We didn’t do anything terribly fancy this evening. I put together garlic bread and Elise cut up some vegetables for a salad. I put together some potatoes, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, vege-ham, onions, green onions, eggs, konbu-dashi, salt, sugar, soy sauce, and water for a sort of a bit-like-stew-but-not-really creation. I don’t know what to call it.

Afterwards we had some pumpkin “pie” that Dad brought home. I write “pie” because it was really a kind of a large dinner roll-like bread filled with sweet pumpkin filling and all made to resemble a pumpkin (for Halloween, of course).

Four-day Trip Up North

From Sunday through Wednesday (Oct. 25-28) we went on a trip that took us north out of Tokyo. We went to Nasu, Ura-bandai, and Aizu-wakamatsu.

It’s late, so I’ll just upload the photos and try to get back to adding some comments in the near future.

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Sunday

We drove away from Tokyo, onto the Tohoku Expressway. The skies were overcast with rains threatening. We weren’t sure where the good fall foliage might be seen. We knew that the trees at the higher elevations had already shed most of their leaves. Looking at the map we saw a toll road (many of the best scenic roads are toll roads, some rather expensive) called the Momiji (maple) Line. We decided to go towards that road.

Around lunch time we reached the town of Kinugawa. We stopped to eat at a small ramen restaurant. The decor was an interesting combination of western and Japanese styles. We sat in an tatami floor-seating area. The ramen was quite good.

We continued driving and onto the Momiji line. Although the weather was unfavorable, the fall colors were decent along this road.

We reached our destination in the Nasu area where we would stay for two days. We discovered that the rooms did not have individual showers. Anyone wanting to shower or bathe would have to go down to the public hot springs bath – not usually a problem for most hotel guests but for a couple members of our party, there was some strong reluctance. We thought there were showers in all the rooms, but that was not the case. Only a few rooms at this facility have individual showers.

After bathing we went down to the buffet dinner where we had plenty to fill ourselves. The food was good, but as is the case with most of Japan, vegetarians don’t always have much, if any, selection other than, say, fruit and dessert.

Monday

My trials began in the morning. A massive migraine hit early in the morning and would not leave until Wednesday. The stress of travel within travel, crowds, second-hand cigarette smoke, and the sense of responsibility for keeping the family together and happy took its toll.

Breakfast was also buffet, but I was feeling a little nauseated and could not eat nearly as much as I wanted to. I had quite a bit of tofu with freshly grated ginger.

A major typhoon came through (offshore, but it was a large one) and the winds and rain were heavy all day. We couldn’t do anything outdoors so we found an indoor activity.

We toured an optical illusion museum (トリックあーとぴあ) in three buildings. You can get an idea of what it contained by looking at the photos. This activity took up a good deal of the day.

Between buildings two and three we went a short distance to a teppanyaki railroad-themed restaurant. We ordered yaki-udon and yaki-soba dishes. The ingredients were delivered by a scale model steam locomotive and cars. We cooked the dishes at our table. We didn’t know what to expect coming in, but were pleased with the food.

By evening I had recovered enough to eat my fill at dinner.

Tuesday

The migraine persisted, but I felt well enough to have plenty for breakfast. Then we were off again on the road. The migraine got worse. I took more medications to try to find something that would lessen the pain.

On this day we drove further north to Fukushima City and then took a couple of toll roads to Ura-bandai. The typhoon had passed by, but winds were still quite strong. The skies began to clear and by midday there was a great deal of blue sky with lots of fast moving clouds. The roads we took brought us along areas that would have been great viewing of fall foliage, if we had been there two weeks earlier. Even so, the scenery was good.

We stopped for lunch but I did not feel well enough to eat. That was just as well because that meant I could eat more at dinner when I had mostly recovered.

The hotel at Ura-bandai had individual baths and showers in each room. The building looked to be a more recent construction and seemed to be of higher quality overall. The public bath, once more, was from hot springs.

There was plenty to be had at the dinner buffet. This particular hotel is known for its buffets and for good reason. The selection was great and it featured a number of local specialty dishes.

Wednesday

By morning I had nearly recovered. After buffet breakfast we went a short distance to one of the famous scenic areas: Goshiki-numa (五色沼), a number of ponds and small lakes along a 2-mile path. Each of the ponds features unique colors due to chemicals that were emitted during the volcanic eruption that formed the area. We walked about two-thirds of the way on the path and then retraced our steps back. The path was very crowded with many, many tourists.

Shelley discovered she didn’t have her wristwatch. She looked in her luggage but did not find it. We drove back to the hotel and the staff had found the watch, plus Amy’s shirt, and a 50-yen coin in the room.

After that we stopped at a small restaurant called Monterey where we had soup, sandwich, bread, hamburger steak (more like a high-quality western meatloaf than what I normally expect to see as hamburger steak), and lots of dessert.

Following lunch we drove down to Aizu-wakamatsu where we went to the city’s castle site and toured the castle grounds and the main keep.

The rental car had to be returned by 8 p.m. so our return trip was a race against the clock. We stopped briefly at a service area (kind of like a rest stop but with restaurants, snack shops, gift shops, food stands, dozens of vending machines, and lots of cars and people) to pick up a few things to eat and then raced on. We reached home about 7:40 p.m. unloaded and Dad drove to return the car with 20 5 minutes to spare.

It turned out that one small bag was left in the car. It was retrieved the following day.

And that concludes a recap of our trip within a trip.

Sermon: Creator and Sustainer

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This sermon was given at the Yotsuya Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tokyo, Japan. My dad spoke the Japanese translation. The scripture passages are found in Genesis 1:1-13; John 1:1-5 and John 1:9-13; and 1 John 1:5.

The sermon is about how the God of the Bible is different from deities of other religions in that the God of the Bible came to the world to be an intimate part of it as he sought to create and give life to a family based upon love. When the original plan went awry, God did not give up but launched a new plan to restore creation to its original purpose.

Shinjuku

Our destination for the day was Shinjuku. We arrived at Isetan (department store) early enough to experience the store opening. It is something to be experienced at least once. All high-end department stores have a tradition and custom where at the opening, the employees open the doors and greet the customers as they enter.

We spent several hours in the store. I wandered about the men’s building (they have a smaller, separate building just for men’s goods) for a while, but didn’t see anything that 1) I could afford, 2) willing to spend money on, 3) was even remotely close to my tastes in style. The womenfolk wandered about the other areas. I went to the main building and looked at some of the kitchen goods and Christmas decorations (yes, it’s already beginning to look a lot like Christmas in parts of the stores). After we got back together we rode the elevator up to the rooftop and perused the garden there. We went down one floor and browsed the restaurant selection and chose to have lunch at a tempura restaurant. The ladies had a vegetable tempura set (2,100 yen + tax) and I had a tempura and sashimi set (2,800 + tax). Total lunch bill was close to 10,000 yen – by far the most expensive single meal so far. It was pretty good tempura.

From there we made our way towards the Tokyo Metropolitan government building. The building has two observatories around the 45th floor, free of charge. On the way I stopped at an electronics store (Bic Camera) to purchase a new digital audio recorder to replace the 10+ years old one that I’ve been using. I got a new Sony 3 mic model that records directly to MP3 as well as uncompressed linear PCM audio. I suspect the audio quality will be better than what I’ve been getting with my old unit.

From there we tried to find our way from the East side of Shinjuku station to the West side. I looked at the maps and couldn’t figure out how to do it. We went down below street level and wandered the maze of corridors (lined with shops, of course) and eventually came up on the other side of the street from where we started. We decided to just follow the surface streets and after many minutes finally ended up at the Metro building. We rode the elevator up and spent a little time looking out over the Tokyo cityscape.

It was then a search for Krispy Kreme in Shinjuku – the location of the first Krispy Kreme in Japan. We walked back to the station, then south until we saw the familiar sign. We purchased a dozen assorted donuts.

Then we crossed over the rail tracks to Tokyu Hands and spent another hour or so there before heading back to the station for our return home.

Photos are views from the observatory and a frame showing Krispy Kreme.

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Internment of Mom’s Remains

We went to the Tokorozawa Seichi Rei-en for the noukotsu-shiki (service to inter remains). It was about a half-hour drive out from Tokyo.

We sang hymns, there were prayers, the pastor spoke a few words, and then the urn was placed into the tomb. This tomb is owned by the Amanuma Seventh-day Adventist Church and church members can purchase a space within. Mom’s urn was placed between her father and mother’s.

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Edo-Tokyo Museum and Asakusa

My original plan was to go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum, Asakusa, and then Nihonbashi. The last location didn’t happen today. We were tired and it was getting dark by the time we left Asakusa.

We spent quite a few hours at the museum. The museum covers the history of Japan from the beginning of the Edo period to the Tokyo Olympics – a span of about three to four centuries. The models of the estates and town sections are very impressive. Many of the exhibits have English explanations.

We had lunch at the Western (Italian-ish) restaurant attached to the museum. Then we went back to look at, and purchase, souvenirs.

We took the subway to Asakusa where we went through Kaminari-mon (Thunder Gate) to Nakamise-dori. This is a street lined with small shops that leads from the gate to a temple complex at its terminal. The shops themselves sell mostly gimmicky, flashy souvenir items that cater to foreign stereotypes of Japan. It was very crowded and many languages could be heard spoken – Japanese, English (both American-English and English-English), Chinese, Korean, etc.

We took the subway from Asakusa, transferred at Akasaka-Mitsuke, and returned to our home station of Ogikubo. Night had fallen by the time we came out of the subway.

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Jar of Pasta Sauce

On the return from our outing yesterday, I stopped to pick up items for supper. Because I was rather tired and still feeling the effects of jetlag, I looked to see what I could find for a pre-made, jar of pasta sauce. I did find some, but they were something like 300 yen for a jar about half the size of, say, a Ragu or Prego.

It was back to my original plan: putting together a marinara sauce mostly from scratch. I looked for cans of crushed tomatoes – no luck. There were cans of whole, peeled tomatoes and diced tomatoes. Just no crushed tomatoes. There were pouches of lightly seasoned tomato sauce. The photo on the package pictured a fairly lumpy kind of sauce, so I decided to take a chance with them. I picked up three of them at 158 yen each. (I ended up using two of them – still rather expensive compared to canned ones in the States.)

I wanted some fresh basil leaves, but was unable to locate any at the grocery I happened to be in, and being so tired I did not want to go to another one.

The sauce turned out just fine with the substitutions. The tomato sauce pouches contained tomatoes that were close enough to crushed tomatoes.

Temples and Shrines

We went to Kamakura and visited a number of temples and shrines. Our first stop was Engaku-ji temple. Our second stop was Kencho-ji. We had lunch at a nearby udon and soba restaurant. From there we headed towards Tsuru-ga-oka Hachiman-gu. In between there and the train station we walked down a busy street filled with little shops. We stopped at a number of them to look around and shop for some souvenirs. Our final stop was the Great Buddha at Hase.

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Autumn images

I’m not the only one who thinks this October has had an unusual number of sunny and dry days. Here are a few images from around the area today. The morning was cold at 28F. By afternoon it got into the mid-40’s but there was still frost on the ground in areas of shade.

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(I’m trying a different photo feature of Windows Live Writer – a direct album link to Windows Live Photo Gallery.)

Mornings are getting cold

We’ve had quite a few dry and clear days (and nights) this autumn. That means it can get quite chilly at night and in the mornings. We may be dipping into freezing temps this week.

I took the opportunity of dry roads to go bicycling for a little bit. I went out and back for just over an hour and a total of 17 miles. The scenery in this area is always great, and fall is no exception. The day started out very foggy, and it was lifting while I was out. The lower angle of the sun this time of year combined with the lifting mist, clouds, clear waters, blue sky, and the snow-capped mountains made it very enjoyable to view.

In just a few days we will be flying to Japan for a couple of weeks. There is much to be done in the next few days.

Sermon: 1 John 5:13-21

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Today’s sermon concludes the survey of the First Epistle of John. I discussed the final verses of the letter, 1 John 5:13-21, in which John repeatedly states what Christians “know” and things of which we are certain. The message I found in these final verses was about the importance of Christian community and fellowship where we look out for, encourage, and pray for one another. In this way, even when Christians stumble from time to time, they are able to get back up and resume their walk with Christ.

Sermon: 1 John 5:4b-13

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This past Sabbath’s sermon explored the passage 1 John 5:4-13, where John brings together the motifs of faith, truth, and life under the umbrella of the testimony (or witness) of the water, blood, and Spirit. The concept I came away with in this passage is how Jesus’ Spirit-led life and ministry testified to the true character of God. It is only through this correct understanding and experience of the true character of God that a person can come to trust (believe, or have faith in) him, and thereby conquer the false concepts and ideas that the world (including religions, even Christian ones) puts out to “save” a person and ensure some kind of “eternal life.” John’s message in his epistle is that genuine Christians can have full assurance of eternal life (vs. all others who, because they are not sure, strive in various ways to hopefully attain it in the end) because they have come to fully trust God because they know the true character of God.

Fall to Winter

The days are getting shorter and the temperature is dropping. Yesterday morning, because the skies were clear overnight, the low was 30F – a foretaste of winter. The rains returned today and it wasn’t quite as cold.

A couple of days ago I went out riding on my bike for a bit over an hour. I suffered the last twenty minutes or so. It was over two months since I last bicycled for that length of time, and I felt the effects. I ride around a few times a week to run errands, but the position and biomechanics between my mountain bike and road bike are quite different.

I think all of us have mostly gotten over the colds that we had.

Sermon: 1 John 4:19-5:4

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Yes, it’s almost a week overdue, but it is posted now. Last Sabbath’s sermon was on 1 John 4:19-5:4. It is about the kind of love that frees people captive to all sorts of things. But are we ready to really accept it?

As an aside, some major changes are taking place and there is a fairly good chance this may be the very last sermon for an undetermined period of time.

Squash and Pumpkin Season

Fall is definitely here. Not just because of the torrential rains we’ve been having, but because this afternoon I found large boxes of pumpkins and winter squash on sale. Baking sugar pumpkins were on sale for 55¢/lb. and winter squash for 89¢/lb. I loaded up the shopping cart and came home with close to 35 lb.

Why so much all at once? First, because stored in a cool environment they last quite a while. Second, because it’s important here to get them while there’s still a good selection of fresh, undamaged, unspoiled ones.

We’ll be having baked squash, squash soup, squash gratin, squash stew, squash, squash, squash…

Plugging a couple more posts

Both are from the reinventing the adventist wheel blog.

The first: Egocentric mission or inclusivist gospel?

“… [If] bringing people into a saving faith in Jesus Christ is equivalent to bringing them into membership within Adventism. If this is the case, then there are a number of consequences… An inordinate burden in saving the whole world… Leads to an exclusivist mentality… Prevents authentic learning from others…”

The second: Exporting Adventism

“Can we as Seventh-day Adventists celebrate people’s rescue from sin (its current destruction & future consequences), even if they do not come to be a part of the Adventist denomination/movement?”

Recipe: Cream Stew with Peas and Potatoes

I peered into our refrigerator this afternoon and saw there weren’t any vegetables left in there. I had already been out to run errands, so I didn’t really want to go out again. I looked into the freezer and saw several bags of frozen peas. So… theme for tonight: peas.

In Japan there is a boxed roux for what is called shi-chu – which I’m sure came from stew. The one I had most recently, which would now be several months ago, was a creamy, white type. Anyway, that idea popped into my mind, and thus I was on a mission to recreate something similar.

I did a quick search for recipes already on the web for something similar but didn’t really find anything where I looked. I was primarily interested in seeing what kind of spices and seasonings were used in other variations. There was one that seemed like a distant cousin and it used oregano and cumin. An interesting combination, I thought, but figured it was worth a try.

After pulling out all the ingredients, here’s what I had…

• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup cream
• 3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 medium russet potatoes, cooked, peeled, and cut into 1-inch chunks (see note at end)
• 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, diced medium
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups sliced chunks of vegetarian steak (see note at end)
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1-1/2 to 2 cups frozen peas

1. In a medium bowl whisk milk, cream, and flour. Set aside.
2. In a large sauté pan (I used a 14-inch pan with 2-inch high sides) heat oil over medium heat. When hot, add onions, salt, pepper, oregano, and red pepper and fry until onions start to become translucent. Add garlic and fry another minute. Add cumin and stir to mix. Add vegetarian steak and continue to fry for another minute or two.
3. Whisk mixture from Step 1 once more and carefully pour into pan. Add potatoes and bouillon cubes. Stir to combine, breaking apart the bouillon. Add more salt if needed (I found the 1 tsp. salt and the salt in the bouillon sufficient). Bring heat to low and gently simmer for 20-30 minutes to combine flavors, stirring occasionally.
4. Add frozen peas, increase heat to medium and cook another 7 to 10 minutes until peas are warmed through, stirring frequently to prevent burning on the bottom.

Note 1: While I prepped everything else, I cooked the potatoes in the microwave oven, using its baked potato settings. By the time I was ready to peel and cut the potatoes, they were cool enough to the touch.

Note 2: I had a can of Worthington vegetarian steaks. I used about six chunks and sliced them into about 1” x 1/8” sizes. I plan to use chicken breasts and mushrooms in a couple of days. For that I plan to brown the sliced chicken breasts first (and then remove and set aside, added back in with the potatoes) before frying the onions. The mushrooms will go in when the vegetarian steaks went in.

I’m not sure how close I came to the pre-made roux that I mentioned earlier, but the result was definitely satisfying and good enough to do again.

Recipe: Red – Potato, Radish, Tomato

I had some red potatoes sitting around, also some radishes, and a bit of fresh sage from a few days ago. What could I do with them…?

I didn’t know how it would turn out, but I crafted a dish that combined all of them. It turned out surprisingly well. It’s similar to several other dishes I’ve made, but today’s combination is brand new.

• 1 lb. red potatoes (about 3 large), washed, optionally peeled, and sliced thin (about 1/8”)
• 1 bunch (about 12) radishes, washed and sliced thin
• 1 large section of a shallot, sliced thin
• 2 tsp. minced fresh sage leaves
• 4 tbsp. + 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt + a little more
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. ketchup
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 1 tomato, seeded and sliced
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup finely grated or shredded cheese (e.g., mozarella and parmesan mix)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• Juice from 1/2 fresh lemon

1. Prepare potatoes, radish, shallot, and sage as directed above. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Over medium-high heat, heat 4 tbps. oil in a 12” frying pan. When hot, drop in half each of the shallots and minced sage. Fry until shallots become tender, about 2 minutes. Add radishes, sprinkle with salt (about 1/4 tsp.) and pepper, and continue to fry until they become tender. Remove from heat and using slotted spoon remove radishes, shallots, and sage and set aside in a bowl.
3. Return pan to heat, add 2 tbsp. oil. Add remaining shallots and sage and fry until shallots are tender, about 2 minutes. Add potatoes, sprinkle 1 tsp. of salt and pepper, then stir to combine. Fry, stirring occasionally until surface of potatoes are browned, about 8-10 minutes. While potatoes are frying, combine ketchup, soy sauce, and about 3 tbsp. of water in a small bowl. When potatoes are nearly done frying, pour mixture into pan, stir to mix and combine. Fry another 30 seconds or so. Remove from heat.
4. Place radishes from step 2 on top of the potatoes. Arrange tomato slices on top of the radishes. Sprinkle cheese on top. Cover (if you don’t have a lid, cover with seal with foil) and bake for about 15 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake another 5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile toast pine nuts in a frying pan over medium heat until lightly tanned. Place into a bowl and set aside. When potatoes are done baking, remove pan from oven and sprinkle pine nuts on top. Drizzle lemon juice over the potatoes and serve. (Additional sage sprig or parsley can be used for garnish.)

Wow, scientific name index

I was just browsing the back of the book The Nature of Southeast Alaska and came across a common name to scientific name index of common species of fauna and flora found in this area. The reason I’m excited is that the index seems more comprehensive than the listings found in most field guides that I own.

The book itself is unique among nature guides of this region. It is not primarily a field guide. Rather, it is a book that discusses the environment and the ecology and how that shapes the species that are found in Southeast Alaska. Most field guides don’t really tell you where you can find a particular species, or if they do it is only in very general terms. This book provides the reasons behind why species are found where they are, when they are.

Sermon: 1 John 4:31-21

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This past Sabbath’s sermon covered 1 John 4:13-21. You might notice that the previous sermon was back in chapter 3. What happened to the passage in between? While I was away, I had the church continue to work through the epistle.

The audio is not very good. The echoes from the AV system make the audio very difficult to understand. I apologize for that.

The sermon consists of reading the passage followed by reading my translation of Dad’s speech at the end of Mom’s memorial, and also a reading of Mom’s final letter of gratitude to all who stopped by to see her. I use these to provide a contemporary, real-life illustration of the passage in 1 John 4.

Busy Tuesday

Today was busy for me from the get go. It started first with racing my bike to the hospital to pick up our pickup so that I could drive Shelley to school, then going back to the hospital to swap back to the bike to ride home. That was followed almost immediately by riding the bike back into town for the weekly coffee appointment. When that was done I quickly returned home to make final edits and print out tonight’s supper recipes, make a shopping list, and go shopping (again by bike).

Almost as soon as I returned, it was time to go back out (on bike again) to the monthly Ministerial Association meeting, held today at the Catholic church. As usual, there was a large spread of food for lunch. This being the first meeting after the summer break, discussions went a little longer than usual.

While I was out, Elise took Amy to an art class. When she returned home, I had her take me, with supper supplies, to the church. There I spent the next couple of hours preparing white beans, part of the white beans into soup, and a potato gratin.

A bit of sun today

After a very stormy Thursday, today arrived fairly dry and by mid-morning the skies broke up enough to let some sunshine through.

It’s well into Fall now and I figured there probably wouldn’t be much fish in the Narrows, but I went out with pole in hand anyway, just to enjoy some time outside and watch the scenery.

There were quite a number of dead and dying silver salmon in the waters. I even caught one that still gave a little bit of a fight. It wasn’t worth keeping so I took the hook out and let it go to feed whatever critters might eventually come upon it.

This is all about the ecological system in this area. Last night I attended a lecture, part of this year’s Tongass Rainforest Festival, by a  biologist from the University of Alaska. He described how salmon are critical to the ecology. They feed in the ocean, become nutrient rich, and then bring all this back upstream where they die and release their nutrients back into the system. Terrestrial Southeast Alaska is generally nutrient poor, so these salmon provide a necessary infusion of nutrients back into the soil as they are consumed by mammals, fish, and insects.

It was interesting to experience firsthand a bit of the lecture from the night before.

Ketchup as a flavor enhancer

While in Japan I saw a television show on the merits of using ketchup as a replacement for ‘dashi.’ Why this fascinated me in particular is that I had been on the search for a replacement. Dashi typically uses seaweed and fish, which is problematic for strict vegetarians and vegans. Even seaweed may be too “fishy” for some people.

From past food articles and podcasts I had already known tomatoes are high in umami. Because of the way ketchup is produced, it concentrates the umami into a very small volume. What the television show provided was actual data that showed how much umami and kokumi is present in ketchup. There is so much in there and it is present in a manner that diluting ketchup by ten or even fifty times does not reduce the amount of umami and kokumi that is experienced by the tongue.

Over the past few days, now that I’m back in the kitchen again, I’ve been using diluted ketchup to enhance the flavors of various dishes. The results so far have been positive. The miso soup made using ketchup instead of traditional dashi seemed to be okay. This evening’s stir-fry vegetables and tofu also included a bit of ketchup in the sauce. Shelley noted how good this particular stir-fry was. When asked, I couldn’t recall anything I did differently from past versions, but later this evening I realized that I did add one key ingredient that was different – ketchup.

The key is to use ketchup sparingly. One teaspoon (or even half) into a single family dish should be more than sufficient. You don’t want to taste the ketchup… unless of course that’s what you want. Dilute, dilute, dilute…

With this knowledge I might even be able to put together Asian dishes for church dinners without scratching my head as to where to obtain the necessary umami and kokumi.

I’m not the only one…

The following linked post, Saving Jesus from Adventism, echoes many of my sentiments.

Every movement wrestles with the human inclination to makes saints out of it's originating leader-sinners. We all too soon forget that those we celebrate were considered, in the eyes of their contemporaries, miserably unruly heretics.

There is a predictable entropic shift from dynamic to static when a 'faith that works' becomes a success-bandwagon filled to overcapacity with those who don't 'get it'. What soon remains is that which doesn't work because it is not of faith. The proverbial 'tail inevitably wags the dog' in silly, yet spiritually fatal efforts to make Kodak moments of the previous, rather than persistently and continually grasping heavenward for the Precious. Wonder in heavenly wideness, lapses hopelessly into narrow and meaningless wander in humdrum wilderness.

Click for rest of article at Re-inventing the Adventist Wheel.

Slept this morning

I’m still experiencing the full effects of jet lag. I was very drowsy last night, nodding off while trying to read a bit. But by 1 a.m. or so I was wide awake and spent the next three hours sitting in front of the computer, listening to an audio book, and mostly just waiting for the time to go by.

I crawled back into bed about 4:30 a.m. and then I must have eventually dozed off because the next thing I know, it is about 11 a.m. I’m not sure which way my body clock is moving but I did finally get a substantial stretch of sleep.

The weather today is wet and windy. It almost looks like a tropical storm.

Last night we went to the High School open house where we met the teachers and staff and got a brief glimpse at what Shelley is/will be learning this year. The new HS principal is from Aloha High School in Oregon, not too far from where we used to live.

Back home

I returned home on Monday around noon, after almost two full days of travel. I’m experiencing the effects of jetlag, as you might see from the time on this post – 1 a.m.

The trip was mostly uneventful. I say mostly because as soon as the bus from Kichijoji to Narita began to move I began to feel nauseated and ill. I listened to a reading of The Age of American Unreason and shut my eyes to keep from getting really sick.

At Narita I wandered around the shopping floor of Terminal 2 for the next four hours, purchased overpriced OTC medications to treat the nausea, and ate some udon before heading down to passport control and into the departure area.

My Alaskan body never adjusted to the temps in Japan. The bus was too warm, the terminal was too warm, and the plane was too warm.

I never did find a comfortable position on the flight. I didn’t sleep much either. The medication I took got me drowsy and I must have dozed from takeoff until the meal service started. After that I was awake for the rest of the flight.

Arrival into San Francisco was uneventful. It was a warm day there as well. I rechecked my bag in at the recheck area right outside Customs. Then I went to the Alaska Air counter to get my boarding pass. It turns out I should have taken my checked bag all the way out and rechecked it there. What happened was that at the Narita counter, the agent wasn’t sure the baggage would make it all the way to Petersburg because of the date change and flight changes. I didn’t feel like taking the time to try to explain that any bag destined for Petersburg really had only one route and one airline, and if it got there it would find me. So it was checked through to Seattle. That meant I had to pick up the bag at Seattle and recheck it there.

I had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant and had beef noodle soup. From there I went to my uncle’s townhouse in the middle of the city where I showered and napped for a little while. His wife made me some onigiri (rice balls) for the plane. Back to the airport, through security, and off to Seattle.

It was just after 10 p.m. when I arrived in Seattle. I picked up my bag and went to the counter to see when I could check it back in – 3:30 a.m. when the counters reopened for the next day. I found an AC outlet and paid for a WiFi connection ($7.99/24 hours) to keep me entertained for the next five hours. Between Wall Street Journal Online and Facebook, the time went by fairly rapidly. Quite a few other people were also sitting/sleeping about the area waiting for the counters to open.

A bit after 3:30 a.m. the counters opened and I was able to check my bag in (and didn’t have to pay the bag check fee because it was originally from an overseas flight). I proceeded to go through security and straight to Dilettante, a chocolate and coffee shop/stand, where I got myself a Xtra Dark 72% mocha. This is a Seattle-only shop with a few locations in the city. Normally I don’t care much for mochas because they are way too sweet. But this is the one place where I look forward to it because I can choose the kind of chocolate that gets added to the coffee. The last time through Seattle I had just the hot chocolate using the Xtra Dark 72%, and I could have that again as well. It was sad to see, a couple hours later when more travelers came in, that a very long line formed at Starbucks while only a few people milled about Dilettante. Is the power of marketing that influential…?

I finally boarded my final flight to Petersburg. The scenery into Ketchikan was amazing. For once it wasn’t overcast or raining. Wrangell was overcast and starting to rain. From there it was just a short hop to Petersburg. I think the pilot tried to keep under the cloud cover and flew right above the Narrows. I don’t think I’ve been on a jet flight where the tops of the trees were so plainly visible. I started to feel a bit ill again. Then we landed and I was home.

I slept, slept some more, and slept at odd times. And now I’m wide awake at 1:30 a.m.

Two weeks in Japan

My two weeks in Japan is about to come to a close. By this time tomorrow I should be enroute on the first leg of my trip back to Petersburg.

Although the circumstances that initiated this trip was tragic and sad, it turned out to be a good trip. I got to meet numerous relatives, some that I hadn’t seen for some 10 to 16 years.

The memorial/funeral was certainly an eye-opening and interesting experience. This was the first such service/ritual in Japan that I was involved.

I arrived too late to be a part of the service that placed the body in the casket. I went later to view the body and the casket was filled with items meaningful to Mom.

The memorial was held at the church right next to the Adventist hospital, just a few minutes’ walk from the house. The service was attended by somewhere around 300-400 people, and during the ceremony at the end placing flowers in the casket, an additional 100-200 employees from the hospital came through. It felt like a memorial for a minor celebrity – which apparently my mom was. Everyone spoke of her ever cheerful outlook, her smile, and her laughter. That made more positive impression on people than any words could ever do.

The next part of the ceremony and ritual was completely unexpected, at least from a Western perspective. Family and close friends boarded two buses led by a Hearse (actually a stretched Toyota). We went to the crematorium where the ritual of cremating the body took place. We paid our final respects to Mom and then the casket was slid into the furnace. We went up to a waiting area and about 40 minutes later we were ushered back down. The remains were slid out for our examination and then taken to the side of the room where everyone took part in collecting the bones (with chopsticks) and placing each piece into the urn. From there we boarded buses and arrived at a Chinese restaurant where we partook of a memorial dinner.

Following dinner we returned home (carrying Mom’s portrait – it was carried and was at the head of each procession all the way from the memorial to the dinner – and the urn) where the funeral service caretakers came in and set up a little altar where the portrait and urn was placed alongside flowers and numerous memorabilia.

Other than that, the past two weeks have been pretty fun and enjoyable. There’s a little bit of loneliness and sadness that I sense every now and then, but no big sense of loss or grief. I’m a little surprised but perhaps not too unexpected. I think it was harder waiting for my mom to pass away than to deal with the death itself. Now that she’s gone there’s no more uncertainty and no more waiting for something to happen. I know I’ll see my mom again when Christ returns.

So the family has been having a good time every day. We’ve been eating well, both cooking at the house and eating out. I’ve had plenty of good Japanese food. Among them: Real ramen, ramen with tomato based soup, sushi, more sushi, real chicken donburi, 1/2 lb. steak for $50, and Izakaya (Japanese pub) food. Oh, and I can’t forget all the wagashi (Japanese confections). I might have gained a few pounds…

I got to experience being in the midst of historical national elections. The Democratic Party of Japan won a huge victory over the Liberal Democratic Party (which is actually the conservative party, in spite of its name) which had been in power nearly continuously for 50 years.

A tropical storm (called a typhoon, even though it didn’t hit hurricane levels) came through and we experienced Ketchikan-like downpours (i.e., like sitting under a waterfall).

We went to Dad’s church where the regular pianist was away both weeks. Conveniently(?) I was available and was drafted to play.

After tonight, I will be on the road, in the air, and in airports for something like 40 hours before arriving home.

That was one long trip

The trip began Friday evening about 5 p.m. and I reached my destination 32 hours later. The time since I last laid down in a bed has now reached 49 hours. In the meantime I’ve napped on a very hard and short wooden bench at Seattle, had a very dark (72%) hot chocolate drink, made my first stop ever in Canada, and nearly finished listening to a biography of Samuel de Champlain which revolves around the history of the founding of Quebec.

This was also the first time I flew on JAL. The overall service level seemed noticeably better than ones I’ve experienced from other carriers. The food looked and tasted better. The first meal was a broccoli beef dish. Typically the broccoli is usually found to be quite dead, mushy, and brown, but the one I had this time was still obviously green and still firm. The presentation was considerably better than any I’ve seen. The light meal at the end was a turkey and tomato sandwich with a basil mayonnaise. It was one of the better sandwiches I’ve  had. I think this is the first time I’ve gotten a recipe idea from an airplane meal.

I’m beyond tired and exhausted. I think I’ll be able to sleep though – at least I hope I can.

D-Link DIR-655 “N” Wireless Router

I got this router from Amazon a few weeks ago. It is a vast improvement over the old one in terms of manageability and reliability. Setting it up and replacing the old with this one was a breeze.

I most appreciate its improved reliability. For some reason the old one would choke and I would have to go down to the garage once, twice, and sometimes half a dozen times a day to perform a cold reset (i.e., unplug from wall, wait a few seconds, plug it back in). With this new one, whenever something results in network connectivity loss it appears to automatically reset. I have not had to go down to the garage to do a reset with this new router.

The second thing I appreciate is the better logs that it provides. It rates network events as Informational, Warning, or Critical. It logs more types of events than the old one did.

The third thing is the integration with SecureSpot 2.0 (fee applies). SecureSpot provides additional single-point network management for devices that connect through the router. It provides website URL filtering and network device control that all devices go through. Additionally there is client-based malware and intrusion protection that can be installed on up to three clients (extra fee for additional clients). I was having problems running Microsoft’s Windows Live Family Safety on some of the PCs in our household, so a non-client method of filtering sites is quite welcome.

The final feature I find useful is the ability to enable a Guest Zone. What this does is it enables a second SSID for guests to connect to the Internet without having visibility into the rest of your personal network (though the option is available to route network traffic between the two zones). What this means is that I can enable an unprotected wireless connection during the times we have guests over (SecureSpot and router logs still identify connections from new devices) without having to compromise the rest of the network or having to setup the connection for each guest.

My conclusion: This router exceeded my expectations. Your mileage may vary. At $94.95 (currently at Amazon) it was a worthwhile upgrade.

Mom is gone

My mother passed away early this morning (Alaska time). I’ll be flying over to Tokyo this evening and plan to stay there for about two weeks. I was surprised that I was able to get tickets for under $2,000. The original search turned up prices that were at or above $2,000. I fiddled with the departure dates to try to find something reasonable, and around 2 weeks seemed to be the sweet spot. When I clicked to purchase the tickets though, the site informed it that lower prices had been found. I think it was about $300 lower. I arrive in Seattle around 11 p.m., then leave for Vancouver at 6 a.m. before transferring onto the actual flight to Tokyo for arrival there Sunday afternoon.

In the big picture, I think it was better that Mom passed away so quickly. She didn’t have to experience the worst parts of ALS. I think it is better for those of us left behind to have an early closure rather than one that drags on for years. As my mom said in the last conversation we had over Skype, we are confident that we will meet again when Jesus returns. The next time we meet we will no longer be in bodies decaying from disease, but brand new ones that will never lose health or strength.

Where do I turn for a listening ear?

These last few days have been particularly difficult ones. I’ve written about one of the sources in the last couple posts. The other is that my mom’s life is quickly fading away. She may only have a few hours left. I’m in Petersburg; she’s in Tokyo. There is no way to get from here to there in less than two days. All I can do is sit here and wait.

When church members need to just talk and have someone listen, they go to their pastor. So where is a pastor to go? In my case I turn to the other pastors in town. In particular the two that I feel closest to are the Presbyterian pastor and the Catholic priest. I spent about an hour with the former this morning, and spoke with both over the phone later this evening.

I think this illustrates what I wrote in the previous post about Christian priorities. Genuine Christianity is revealed not by statements of belief, by creeds, by having a bigger and better organization, or a detailed church manual. It’s about positive interactions and relationships between individuals. It’s about getting to know and trust individuals. It’s about holding in common Jesus Christ and letting everything else fall to the periphery. It’s about living what John wrote about in his First Epistle (1 John).

Churches can maybe learn from software development

Way back in the year 2001, a group of software developers saw that the way development was being done was not working well. They came together and agreed upon a set of priorities called the Agile Manifesto that should govern successful software development.

Church leaders observe that most churches are stagnant at best and often in decline. Religion doesn’t seem to appeal to most people. Perhaps churches have prioritized the wrong things…

Perhaps what we need is an Agile Manifesto for churches something like this (with apologies to the Agile Alliance…):

We are uncovering better ways of revealing the true God to the world and helping others to do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Individuals and interactions over policies and organizations.

Loving (respecting and accepting) one another over doctrine and creeds.

Trusting members’ judgments over detailed job descriptions and artificial boundaries.

Responding to change over following a plan.

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

It’s only about the organization

Got a call from the Conference office regarding Shelley’s baptism. As expected, the response was they could not grant me permission when a pastor nearby could come over.

I would have been okay with that, but they harangued me for baptizing two at camp. I let them know I was more than willing for them to “fire” me from the volunteer leader position, and I even volunteered to take my name off of the rolls, but they wouldn’t have that either. Their repeated response: the church organization has policies in place… yada, yada.

What were we supposed to do when the two campers asked to be baptized? Say no? That you have to be thoroughly instructed in beliefs and doctrines before you can be baptized?

In tonight’s conversation, I got the very strong impression that this Conference and administrators do not care about doing what is right for individual people. My reservations about remaining in this organization have become even stronger.

Sermon: 1 John 3:18-24

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

This previous Sabbath’s (August 15) sermon works through 1 John 3:18-24. I found this passage quite difficult. The key seems to be the idea of “confidence” before God and its relationship to keeping Jesus’ commandments and doing what pleases Him. The difficulty of this passage is maintaining salvation solely through grace by faith, yet simultaneously coming to grips with why behavior is important (the age-old faith and works dilemma…).

Camp Retrospective

It’s been two days since returning from camp. I think my mind and body are still in recovery mode. Rather than a lengthy narrative of everything that happened, I’ll briefly jot down a few thoughts in retrospect.

We got two of the best and brightest directors from Camp Mivoden in Idaho (Upper Columbia Conference). They had no idea what they were getting into nor what kind of help they could expect. They came prepared to basically run the whole thing between the two of them and were pleasantly surprised to discover the breadth of skills and talent in the volunteer staff.

I was glad I had only three boys to look after, and just two after Thursday. They were ages 7 (almost 8) and 8. Overall, the girls outnumbered the boys 2 to 1. That made for a lot of work for the girls’ counselors, but it sure made life easier for most of the boys’ counselors for whom this was a first-time experience.

We were fortunate to have five dry and sunny days out of seven. It would have been miserable having to deal with all the kids and wet weather. The worst of the weather held off until Saturday night and Sunday, after all of the activities were finished.

There were some complaints, but overall the vegetarian meals went over pretty well with the kids. There were always quite a few kids waiting for the announcement to get seconds (and thirds, and fourths…). The kitchen was headed by the assistant from previous years, helped out by another lady from Prince of Wales island who has pervious experience as a professional chef. We also had a sixteen year old help out who has an interest in the culinary profession and had attended culinary camps.

There were no major injuries or sickness that required transport of campers to Wrangell. There were the usual bumps and cuts but nothing more.

There is nothing like camp for the sinful nature to be on full display – the desire for control, the desire to be first, the desire to get even were on full exhibition. (Kids haven’t yet learned the more socially acceptable ways of self-centeredness…) It seemed like the first few days were spent by the kids (particularly the boys) trying to establish the new pecking order, and then the rest of the week fighting to maintain those positions. It took supernatural strength of will and wisdom on the part of the staff to deal with all the incidents in a patient and loving manner. By Sunday most of us were just hanging on praying nothing more would come up to test us.

I taught two sessions of photography each day. I had five in one and four in the other (all girls). About half of each class was interested in really learning about making photographs. The others just wanted to take pictures. For them it was a contest to see how many could be taken in one class period. I’m glad they were all girls since I had about $3,000 of my personal equipment running around in their hands for about 2 hours each day. There were some pretty good photos from each of them. Some I am quite sure were accidents. Others were intentionally done and done quite well.

The spiritual atmosphere, particularly in the evenings, I thought was much better this than last’s. The theme for the week was “Real God, Real Life.” The daily topics were: dealing with distractions, getting unstuck from sin, giving up control, God works in little things, God uses the willing, and trusting in God. I preached a sermon on each of these plus a Sabbath morning one reviewing the whole list.

I didn’t have a choice but to employ the Spirit-led preaching method I’ve been using since the early part of this year. All I had was the topic for the day and a brief outline of the skit in the evening. I spent what free time I had thinking about it and then coming up with several Bible passages and personal experiences that might be relevant to the topic. Often I didn’t know how I would start or what I would say in the sermon until the skit finished and I was walking up to speak. We were surprised (although I supposed we shouldn’t have been) how well many of the skits and the sermon came together.

At the end of the week we had two girls who wanted to begin a new walk with Christ and were baptized into Christian fellowship (vs. into the Adventist denomination). The camp directors couldn’t perform the baptism because as ministers of the Adventist church, they could only baptize into the church and not only that, policies do not allow them to baptize out of their district. Thus I had the privilege of performing their baptisms. The glacial waters were very, very cold! And never having done this, I had a difficult time with the mechanics of it. Shelley, too, wanted to be baptized but no one there could do it because she wanted to join the Adventist church. My personal opinion is that something is dearly wrong when baptism has to be postponed because of policies of human inventions. Rather than waiting until all the ducks come into line sometime in the future, I plan to do something this Sabbath to affirm her desire and decision.

There were a number of others that afterwards expressed desire to make a commitment for Christ. Since camp does not exist to make Adventists, I pointed them to all the fine pastors in the local communities that can help them do what needs to be done to follow through on their decisions.

The “God Talk” through the week even got through to the two campers I had at the end. The youngest one in camp said that he wasn’t sure if God existed before but now he thought God probably did because how could the world exist if there was no God? The other one said to me that all this talk about God had him forgetting his parents’ names. They were first-timers to camp and although the youngest wanted to go home for quite a bit of the week, by the end of the week in spite of all the fighting, the discipline, and the “God talk” they were looking forward to returning next summer.

As for me, serving as counselor is probably never going to be one of my spiritual gifts. It was a good experience but not one I would likely want to repeat. The class teaching and camp pastoring tasks I think I can handle adequately.

Back from camp

Just dropping a short note that I am back from camp and back on the grid. I’ll likely have more to write once I recover a bit from spending a whole week with something like fifty kids, keeping track of three of them, giving seven sermons, and teaching ten hours of photography.

Off the grid for a few days

We are heading to camp today. I’ll be back briefly on Sunday then most likely out until the following Sunday. Sporadic cell phone access there, but otherwise incommunicado.

Camp saga update 3

Actually, I haven’t heard anything more since yesterday. As far as I know the camp is going to happen. I’ve spoken with most of the parents/guardians of the registered children in Petersburg and none so far have backed out. The amount of trust placed in us is incredible. That only seems to add to the pressure…

I didn’t sleep very well last night for understandable reasons, you can imagine. It is going to take multiple miracles to get through this next week. I think that every person involved, and I definitely speak for myself, is going to need to be gifted with skills and abilities that we don’t naturally possess.

Philippians is the passage for me for this upcoming week. I look particularly to Philippians 4, and within that Philippians 4:4-7, 10-13, 19 are particularly relevant.