A Far Green Country

It has been in rustlings of the pages that God usually speaks to me,
Gently, a whisper, a breeze - like the language of the trees.
Once or twice a thunder clap, a lightning bolt so clear
Because I forget His name is Jealous, & that wisdom equals fear.
But I always find Him waiting, in the Book that is His sword
Patiently guiding, teaching, revealing the ways of the sovereign Lord.

From USA Today, according to a new report on church giving, "Americans spent nearly twice as much on first-day sales of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV as would be needed by the SBC to share the gospel with all the world's unreached people groups by 2010," and also, "The total portion of per capita income given to churches in 2006 was lower (in 2006) than in the worst year of the Great Depression." How are you leveraging your resources to take the gospel to the nations?



- The Henry Institute: Rapid Fire | Daniel L. Patterson

Earlier this year the Japanese government released the results of a survey which suggested that one in five men and women in the country had seriously thought of taking their own life.

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the industrialised world. On average around ninety people kill themselves in Japan every day.

In past years the suicide rate peaked each time the country's economy fell into recession.

Now that Japan's government has reported one quarter of negative growth, and signalled it is likely there are more to follow, there are fears of further increases in the number of people taking their own lives.

- watch a 3 minute video on this

- BBC NEWS | Read full article here

Please pray that the Japanese would find hope in Christ.

a) Of the 672 cities, there are still 9 without a church, unchanged in 10 years. A further 77 have but one.

b) Of the 2,568 towns of 15,000-30,000 people, 1,733 are without churches.

c) Numerous rural areas are scarcely touched with the gospel. The Japanese Church has little vision for reaching out to the many towns with minimal or no Christian presence.

d) The ruling elite have been little influenced. Pray for the Emperor cocooned in tradition and committed, by his position, to Shintoism. Pray for politicians, bankers and industrialists who have such global impact through their leadership – or lack of it.

e) Koreans, descendants of those forcibly brought to Japan between 1903 and 1945, are usually denied full citizenship rights, and are still classed as resident aliens even into their third and fourth generations. They are despised and poorly paid. The Korean community is sharply divided in their allegiance to either North or South Korea. Korean missionaries have planted over 300 churches in this community, but the percentage of Christians among them is lower than that of South Korea.

- Operation World |stats are from the year 2000

One of the greatest weights I have ever felt is the responsibility I'm charged with by God as a husband & father. I am constantly aware & convicted of my weakness & inability & sin in this area of my life. After having our first child in April, & graduating from a demanding & very family-unfriendly internship/seminary program, having only a few months left before going overseas, I vowed to give my family, whom I felt I had neglected over the church, priority over the church.

The other day I finally got around to a message I had bookmarked by CJ & Carolyn Mahaney on teaching children to love the local church. I was hoping to come away with some helpful ways to learn to communicate about the local church to Luke when he's older & hopefully some of his future siblings. But I was immediately confronted by my own sin within the first moments of the short message when C.J. said something like, "As important as family is, your church family is more important because it will endure eternally."

That was convicting & a very clear picture painted for me as to why the church is so important. 1 John has taught me to love the church, but I don't think I've ever considered the permanence of that love & family status. My marriage will dissolve in Heaven (Mt. 22:30), but those who are children of God will forever be my brothers & my sisters, my family eternal.