Bright Moon on Dark Nights

It's 9:15 and the sun started setting about 5 hours ago. Part of me wants to say it never really came up, but that would be a lie because though the village was the coldest village in Hokkaido at -7.1C (which means we were probably coldest in Japan) it was a beautiful morning. I walked to work in frigid sunshine with all of the grass and leaves and plants and trees frostbitten. Everything glistened. Beautiful.

And now, it's comfortably at 0 outside. I just got home from my weekly English conversation class. While I've dreaded Thursday night classes, I'm starting to look forward to them. I still don't enjoy having class on Thursday nights (I didn't like them as a student and I don't like them as a teacher). But the classes have become more interesting...even on my end as the teacher.

I used to get very stressed out about the class. Thinking it would suddenly fail or disappear with the lack of students if I failed to teach something amazing every week. But I have no textbook, no syllabus, no curriculum, and no guidelines. Basically, it's a group of adults who just want to speak English. So I tried for 15 months to put some amazing lesson together every week...and got burnt out in the process. I started dreading Thursday nights and the preparation that went into each class. But when I came back from my summer vacation, they suggested we have "free talk" which means I have no prep and we talk about...whatever.

Recently, the topic has been about religion, the unending cycle of religion that seems to get nowhere, the hypocrisy of humans, and the like. I didn't pick these topics...they did. This is what has happened. I show up and they talk...and we get into crazy topics like those. And in the past couple of months, they've asked me what I think, what I believe, and why.

Tonight we talked about the superficiality of Japanese and American cultures and why we felt the need to put up a front and cover up who we really are. I got home from my class and looked up at the sky because it seemed lighter than usual. The moon is unusually bright tonight. I could barely make out any stars because the moon was so bright. On the really cold dark nights, the moon shines the brightest.

That is the moon...and the white dot is a star (not a spot on your screen)--the brightest star because you can't see any of the other ones that are usually out there.

God reminded me in that moment that one day in this dark place, this dark country, His light will shine for all to see. Even though it's cold and it's dark, He will shine and He will come. I cannot simply share my opinion; I must share the Gospel. I am called to be a light on a hill, to shine for Jesus. He is coming back, and we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. I don't want to waste my time sharing my opinion. My opinion doesn't matter; the Truth does. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Do you know Him?