Nothing remotely passive

I love the life of a disciple. All the love, all the friends, all the thrill of defeating the Enemy, all of Jesus--and every single Noda gathering. May they go on forever. And I really truly do think they just keep getting better and better.
As much of a tsubusareta cliche this is, I really came away from it with a lot of love and a renewed determination to fight.
If anyone could direct me to a lion I would really appreciate it.

"It's plain as day in My Word: “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” That doesn't sound like a fair fight to Me, and it isn't! I am greater, and you are greater if you have Me in you and the power of Heaven and the keys at your side. So there's no reason or way that the Enemy can win unless you surrender!"

Bonus photo: Oli rousing the teens, and Gene getting roused. (Mak caught in the crossfire)

I saw this today and thought it was a very happy thing.

Hahahahaha

Steve, do you remember when you used to think "deck the halls" was "dig the holes"?
Hahahahaha!
I'm so happy.

Read it and weep

I am not a quitter. I will fight until I drop. As long as I am able to draw breath in this universe, I will pound you into the ground and frustrate you to no end. I'm not going to wait for you to go too far anymore--you're going to get it, because you asked for it the minute I was born.
Take that, you damned Devil. I'm so sick of you.

don't be ashamed, kiddies!

A big hello to you, my sneakiest readers. A week ago I could've sworn that you all don't read my blog. Now I know better than to believe you! How silly!
The things that make you embarassed. Psh. Silly you. You had to go and make it a creepy thing.
Well. Hello anyway.

Mecha Kucha!

Today was a very BIKKURI day for me.
1. Holy guacamole, I have no time to waste. The offensive is upon us. What HAVE I been doing?
2. There were two strange people standing at my door this morning. (Not so much strange as unexpected, but since I've already hyperlinked the "strange" and don't want to go back and do it again, I will leave it, even though I know it will only fan Jewel's yucky "I'm so strange, hurrah" flame.) They were nice to see, and made me smiiiiile.
3. I have a sexy voice?? Wha...t? (It's a 1) first 2) honor)
4. There is no such thing as burn-out when you're faithfully soaking up God's oil. Give me that oil, and give it now.
5. Andrew is quite a sexy angel--with short hair, long hair, whatever clothes he wears and whatever he's doing. Dayum.
6. There are so many things I can't do. I NEED...so much. I need YOU. Did you know that?
7. I love reading MLKs. Having Word time with the kids inspires me more than anything else nowadays. Why is that?
8. I'm so wonderfully and meaningfully in love. Be envious, kids, because it makes me ALIVE.
9. I have no idea what my style of music is. What do I like? HELP, I feel directionless. (Not really. Just a little curious.)

www.thestrawberryjam.blogspot.com

Free Huggers

Yesterday Cherish and I went out to Shibuya to hang out for a little while. No, actually, we're not that cool. (We made a few too many exclamations about how cool it was that we were hanging out in Shibuya together, though.) We were really there to do a silly little recording job together, and then we went out to eat. Anyone who has wandered around Shibuya eki looking for someplace to eat has got to know what I mean when I say that there really was no where to eat. Unless you wanted to eat at a Royal Host (egh) or Yoshinoya (ugh) or a seedy soba restaurant. So we finally found a Lotteria (igh) to sit in. It's so hilarious that, no matter what Lotterias look like in every other part of Japan, the Lotteria in Tokyo is going to be different. It's going to be about five square feet and twelve stories high, with absolutely none of those tables where people face each other, just a bunch of stools for lonely people grabbing cheese-less cheeseburgers to eat on the way home from work. Sigh.
And then, on our way back to the eki, Cherish gets all excited pointing at a group of people standing around Hachiko. Turns out, Hachiko was raided by free huggers. OMG!!! Me, being the less "naturally and endlessly inebriated-ish" one of us two, held back for about 2 seconds longer than Cherish, who dove into the crowd with fervor. I could try to say that I lingered for a moment considering the possibilities of catching a disease, but I really just lingered because, in typical systemite fashion, I did not want to be seen joyously hugging strangers in the middle of Shibuya. BUT! I rebuked the Enemy and I gave big wholehearted hugs to all the free huggers, and clapped for them as they sang happy birthday for Cherish (I don't know why, they just wanted to). And then we laughed and talked like rude gaijins as we rode the train home.

Details

I realized what burdens me when it comes to this blog. It's the fact that, because I never post, I always feel like I have to have something real newsworthy and intense when I break the silence. THAT, my friends, is why this blog's silence is rarely broken.
But tonight! I am feeling in an extraordinary mood, because!
1) We had a prayer meeting
2) We have a traveler from Mexico stopping over, and I have been supplied with TAMARINDO (aka the joy of the Lord)
3) I heard all the Strawberry Jam tracks for the first time. And I must say, they are...very trippy.
4) I got so much done today, and it's not even 11 PM.
5) I got a lot of love today. More than I deserve.
6) I am laboriously managing to update this blog.
7) I am eating some disgustingly sweet crumbly stuff that comes in a big yellow box with a red rose on it that says "De La Rosa" and apparently is "Dulce De Cacahuate, Estilo Mazapan". Wow. Nice.

All your life you were only waiting for this moment to be free

It's that time of year when Mom gets photos from all the brothers and sisters and puts them together in one big slide show for all the rellies. I don't know if she's finished the slide show yet, and it's quite long and full of kids, so I'll just post these. I hadn't seen them before, and I thought they were kinda cute/interesting, so here you are.
I've become very mediocre lately. Haven't I. It must be 2008. [BIG SMILE]
I love you.





The two photos above were taken at a show we did in a department store in Goi. It was good fun, especially toward the end when Masa, Gabe, Cherish, Marie and Keiko came out of their warm house to join the throngs of fans in supporting us. My big rush came from having my shoe break in the last couple of minutes before the second show and running through the department store looking for a good deal on a new pair of shoes. Didn't end up finding a good deal, but PTL, I guess he knew I needed some good expensive heels.
I was so proud of myself for actually having thought ahead of hand about my hair, and I thought the boys would love me and be so thankful. Of course, I got "Whoa, what's wrong with your hair?" and "Is it too late to make it normal again?" Sweet boys.



This was at the school, as is fairly obvious. The reason why I like this photo is cause Jan has a huge print out of it that she's trying to get us all to sign. (Extra story: The dear handymen at the HCS setting up the stage decided to give me my own little soap box slash "stage" to wiggle on extending from the real stage, but I was too chicken to use it too much. Actually, every time I looked down I would notice it and feel bad that I wasn't using it, and I would step out on it and groove for a while before I felt a little silly and would step back to join the rest of the band who, as you can see, are squished together like fish.)



Freezing cold show at Loc City in Tateyama. As much as I would've loved to look stylish and risque, I had to opt for the huge jacket and boots and scarf so as not to die of cold. And yes, usually the paparazzi (Uncle James) gets us to pose after every show.



This one was a lot of good fun, because, as you can see, I am singing with dancers behind me instead of a shrieking banging Kando Bando. I realized how much I am used to not being able to hear myself on stage, because I was quite overwhelmed by how loudly I could hear myself when I was singing to puny dance songs. I kept trying to work the mike further away from my face, which obviously is not the way to go--I was just quite disoriented. All that to say, it was a lot of fun, and super cold, GB the girls that had the guts to wear their flimsy costumes. I ran off and boarded a completely stuffed shinkansen, but I made it to Yaizu in time for a funeral, so all in all, it was a very fulfilling day. All that, plus the free coffee machine in the changing room--that was rad.



Steve (and Florence) love Kana!!!