Drunkenness….

Intoxicated, wasted and plastered… steamin (UK talk), blitzed and spoiled in drunkenness…

Now love is like fine wine. Taking time to grow and develop; and in the like it takes much experience and a wide base of sampling, even trial and error, for one to become a true connoisseur.

As one grows in their experience they begin to develop a palette, and a genuine love and interest forms… and so it is with Love. For love too takes time to develop and grow, and afterwards a true appreciation develops and deepens, even through much trial and error… but as our palette becomes refined, we become 'drinkers' of the Divine.

Now people themselves are not the wine, but His love is. And to pour that wine of His perfect love (even Jesus) into others' lives is the most loving thing we could do. To love people from a genuine and sincere heart… and not to see them as a duty, a project or an aesthetic of sophistication which we can boast to our friends, 'yes I drank this delightful 96 Bordeaux Chateau Pichon Baron last summer in France' … 'yah I evangelised 12 people this week' ....flaunting 'achievement', rather than delighting and sharing in the exquisite taste of pure love.

And so let us keep on sampling, experimenting with, and growing in our enjoyment of the Divine wine (His Love)… loving Love and truly loving people, opening wide our hearts, sincerely interested in lives, and appreciating each other's God given uniqueness and difference. And so let us drink, even to the point of drunkenness with His love…

- Now some speak from envy and strife (which is from selfish ambition)… and then there are others who speak from good will and love… but either way I will rejoice that His name is being made known… but the second is the better. - Phil. 1:15-18

Currently I am planning on going to Tokyo and Sapporo to talk to half a dozen groups (Crusade, OMF, Calvary…) and see what possibilities I could fit into best... but whatever setting He has me in, as long as there are people there, I do not see it as being a problem… for where there are people, there is chance for Love to be shared and to flourish (for love is relational and not isolated). I will be in Japan April and May, and then return to the States (for 3 months or so) to take care of visas and the such… and then hope to return long term later this Aug/Sept.

Thank you all for all your prayers and love… I am so thankful to be part of the divine glory with you all. Much sincere and genuine thankfulness and love. g-

変 な 菌 が 私 の 人差し指 に あります.
(hen na kin ga watashi no hitosashiyubi ni arimasu).

--- Translation: There is a weird fungus on my index finger.

Giving up...

If we were to gather the world's best musicians past, present and future, and assemble them into the best symphony orchestra that this world has ever seen... and putting our all into it we decided to make the most majestic song for and unto God... ...what would that really be? ...maybe at best like a sloppy finger painting from a 2-year old; colours mismatched, out of the lines, off the page, with no real skill nor technical talent. For in actuality what is the world's best to God, but a sloppy finger painting from a 2-year old...

But yet, it is that same 2-year old when he has put his whole heart into it, and despite having no technical skill nor talent, he goes to his father and says, 'hey daddy, look... I made this for you.' And it is that same father who takes this disastrous and hopeless thing of a mess, frames it and hangs it on the wall in his office, and says, 'my son made this for me,' and he looks on it with pure joy... for the father is looking at his son's heart and not his skill. And so I thank God with all my heart that He does not grade us on our skill or performance... …for if He did, none would pass.

As for me, I am in California at the moment... preparing to go to Japan (am looking to go over for a couple months) and talk to various people and groups to see where I might fit best. And although at this point I do not know what it will all look like (maybe even like a sloppy finger painting)... but nevertheless, whatever it is I end up doing, I hope and pray I could give it my all for HimimHimH... and even when that fails, I thank Him for His grace.

Let us continue to rest in the unwavering assurance that He has taken care of it all... where we need not win His approval, but simply accept His love, mercy and grace (Jesus).

"...for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." - 1 Samuel 16:7