So, I finally think I'm beginning to get over the jet lag from our flight in a couple of nights ago and I have a little time this morning to write about what has gone on so far. First off, IT IS SO COLD outside! This is amazing to me because if I look at the temperature, it says it's around 38F. That's still above freezing, and where I come from it's not too bad for winter weather. However, there is almost no humidity where I live either so when you factor in humidity the cold air kind of sticks to you. Add a little wind to the equation and you might understand why I practically needed people to carry my stiff body over their shoulders :-). It has been a blast though so far! Everyone from the hotel staff at the place where I'm staying to the store owner down the street is incredibly accomodating; we are in Osaka which inherantly equals best Japanese food ever; and the missionaries who are helping us are some of the most genuine, helpful, and Christ-minded people I've met.
     We have sung carols in the freezing wind outside (sounds crazy I know, but it's something I'm glad we did), eaten great food, and had a small Christmas party with one of the missionary's yoga class. The Christmas party has been the biggest highlight so far. Cindy's (the name of one of the missionaries who attends this particular yoga class) class was made up of some of the kindest people we've met so far. It was good for them as well as it seemed that they have never been together outside of class before. Hopefully God will use this event to spur on many others down the road so as to provide Cindy with more oportunities to develope better relationships with her fellow classmates.
     I have also been reading through a compilation of essays by A.W. Tozer entitled The Root of the Righteous. It is interesting because much of what the book has to say so far as been about the Christian's relationship to the church, but the content has much to say, as the name implies, about righteousness-- personal righteousness. This has become the theme of my trip here. What does it mean to be righteous before God? If the sum of all my works-- both good and not-so-good-- is but filthy rags, how can I be righteous? How can I be holy as He is holy? Habakkuk tell us that the righteous live by faith (Hab. 2:4). Faith in what? Faith in Christ. Now I won't go into what the Bible considers faith to be because that's not my purpose, but I will say that this aspect of "how can I be righteous without being self-righteous" has certainly come to a front since we have arrived in Osaka.
     Our short work here in Osaka over the next few days is one of the many peices we believe God is constructing together for the purpose of revealing himself to the people of Japan. It is humbling to know that our role here is not to bowl people over with the gospel in hopes that a few will show interest (apparently this aproach doesn't take too well in Japan). Instead, we are here to be lights in a very dark place, a reflection of hope in an exceedingly hopeless place, and a glimpse of purpose-driven life in a land sometimes epitomized by the phrase "shoganai" (there's nothing that can be done). In short, we are here to show the unwavering and incontrovertable righteousness of Christ.