A Christmas of Miracles

Merry Christmas, Peeps~! 

Christmas is not a time of year often celebrated by Japan. Some families have gotten into the Santa gifts and fun gift-giving and dinners. Others spend it not to dissimilarly to Valentine's Day, setting out with one's beloved to view the magical lights and illuminations which brighten the long winter night. 

But, as a holiday, a time to relax, a break from life's struggles for a bit of peace and goodwill? Not a thing.

How years has it been since I've had either Christmas Eve or even Christmas Day off from work? Have had no extra personal/ vacation days to use in order to have the Christmas time off. 

In fact, this year's quite exciting! A Christmas miracle for sure because our year-end vacation days start...tomorrow! As in December 26th! A truly miraculous event! Usually, I would have another couple of days before the start of my winter vacation. Yet, because of how New Year's Eve and Day fell this year, our vacation days start the day AFTER Christmas! Isn't that wonderful?

This is truly a year of changes and good tidings for me!...

...But, that is not the Christmas miracle I want to discuss. 

Alongside the many different changes occurring right now, I have been digging ruthlessly into the Bible. Trying to finally make heads or tails out of history and prophecies buried deep and wondrously inside. I started with my friend with Genesis, reading the text along with Jewish commentary. This commentary reveals many, many things lost in the translation of language and culture, putting the events of that first book into a more historic context in accordance of its timeframe. 

Then, as questions began to spring up and overtake my heart and mind, I marathoned through Joshua, the first historical book following the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt. I needed to find out more about how God works through conflicts. But, that book actually revealed more about Genesis than I'd ever thought! Places and people groups I read about in Joshua were first mentioned as sons, descendants, of Cain, Seth, Noah, and many other important figures in Genesis. Even their relationships with the Israelites were laid out by their founding fathers' and sons' relationships and actions. 

Although I grew up kind of understanding that these connections existed, this was the first time I saw it for myself. So... What else was I missing? I wondered that deeply as I navigated the many changes coming my way in my own life.

That is why today, as it being Christmas Day, I looked at the story of Mary, mother of Jesus, receiving word of His coming conception and birth. The angel, Gabriel, had come to tell her of this good news. 

I would like to be more like Mary. Of course, at first, she was startled and scared by this appearance of an angel, then rather confused by his message considering the prophesized conditions by which Jesus would be formed in her. But, after all the explanation from Gabriel, not only did Mary accept her fate, but bravely and coolly called herself God's servant. Her willingness to follow a scary and confusing path with such grace is... magnificent beyond understanding. Just to say, "Ok, Lord. I am here for You," takes guts, because,...HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THIS!? No one would really believe this at first, if at all!

At the time of this reading, I was loosely following a Christmas Bible study and it begged a few interesting, but overall forgettable questions. But, these questions carried me from Gabriel's announcement to the genealogies of Christ. 

Since I was little, the genealogies of Christ, found in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, always were a point of interest to me. Two different genealogies tracing Christ's ancestries through King David and Abraham. What's not cool about that!?

One thing, though, that I have recently learned about Biblical genealogies is that some REALLY cool details lie buried just beneath the surface if you know to look for them. ...

...And that's exactly what I did.

First was the comparison of the genealogies. Without delving too far into the details, simply put is that the genealogies are interwoven with the main differences within King David's descendants. The Matthew genealogy follows the descendants of David's heir to the throne, King Solomon, while the Luke genealogy is traced back through a different son of David, Nathan, who was (most likely) named after David's trusted friend, advisor, and a prophet of God, Nathan the Prophet. Even between Christ and King David, the two genealogies share a couple of ancestors. 

Interestingly enough, Joseph, Jesus' earthly father is named as the final descendant of both genealogies despite his father not being the same between the two. There are a couple of theories regarding that, but the most likely explanation is that, due to the Jewish patriarchal traditions, the genealogy in Luke is probably Mary's genealogy, not Joseph.--- This is where understanding Jewish laws and traditions come into play. 

During this time, if a man and his wife had no living male heirs, they could adopt a lad into their family. This lad was often a daughter's husband. And, by law, the adopted son would also gain the father's genealogical ancestry, since inheritance and legal practices was deeply tied to this. 

With this knowledge in hand, it is likely that Mary's parents had no male heirs of their own and had adopted Joseph, her husband, into the family as their own, making Mary's genealogies legally his, too. This is important because HE has the 'heir assumed' from the line of David's royal son, King Solomon. His bloodline is the genealogy found at the beginning of Matthew. 

This makes Joseph just as important as Mary the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, since the prophesized Messiah and King was expected through Solomon's line. 

Mary's genealogy traces her bloodline back to Adam, which is important in proving Christ was not only the prophesized king of Israel, but the Savior of all mankind, having a bloodline straight through Abraham, Noah, and the blessed son of Adam, Seth. (Seth is oft the forgotten son of Adam and Eve since he was born after big brother Cain murdered his other brother, Abel.)

...But, something caught my eye. 

In the expanse of Genesis, the final story is of Joseph and his technicolored coat. Now Joseph came from a LARGE family, very broken and LARGE family. He had 10 big brothers who hated him and plotted to kill him over their jealousy of him. He was the beloved son of their father for...reasons stemming from his father's broken past. 

Continuing on... 

As Joseph, having been thrown into a deep pit, waited, his brothers discussed how to kill him. Then, ...one brother, by the name of Judah, came up with an idea. 

"Why don't we just sell him and make some money from it?" Oh...the saving greed.

This Judah was listed in Jesus' genealogies- both- of- them. Now, Judah's brother, Joseph, is the most famous of all the brothers! Why wasn't Jesus born through him!?

This is where things got magical for me.

Delving deeper into Joseph's brothers, I quickly found that...that last part of Genesis I never quite read contained prophecies and blessings (or curses for some) for the brothers. This was decades later, after Joseph was sold to Egyptians and rose to be the righthand man of the Pharaoh himself! After the famine that drove his brothers to search for food in Egypt. After Joseph learned that he had a little brother, Benjamin! These blessings that Joseph's brothers received explain their connection to Christ's genealogies. 

Judah was not the firstborn son, not even the second- or thirdborn son. He was the fourth son in the family. Fourth sons weren't particularly blessed, but his big brothers had made some poor, poor choices. The oldest son, Reuben...had made such a bad choice that his blessings and inheritance (double inheritance it would have been in that era!) were never given. The next two sons, in anger, sought out violence against another people group, changing any blessings they would have received into curses. Judah was the first son to rise up, seek repentance, have a change of heart, and lead his brothers like the head of the household. And so, his blessings were that of strength and royalty, which he did receive through his descendants.

...Something to note about the name "Judah". When translated into Greek, it becomes "Judas". Much like the patriarch of Jesus, Christ's companion and disciple, Judas Iscariot sold someone important to him- Christ himself. 

Many parts of Joseph's story is paralleled in Christ, including being betrayed and sold off by someone close to them, both traitors sharing the same name. But, Judah saw past his sins and repented, an example of what we, humans, are to do in Christ' name. Befitting example from one of Christ' ancestors. 

But, Judas Iscariot was consumed by his own horror and darkness, which led directly to his swift death. A perfect example of what sin unchecked will do to us. 

Two Genealogies.

Two Judahs.

Two connections to Christ. 

Two sides of the same coin.

And,... two paths we are given: repent or be consumed by sin. 

I had never seen Christ' story in this light before. Whether you regard the Bible as truth or fiction, that right there is incredible story writing. And to think that is just one of the hundreds of parallels, prophecies, regarding Christ's life. 

Recently, I have been wondering why the Bible is not taught in story-writing courses. Even when you consider it literature, it has every complex plot mechanic writers yearn to write themselves! Layers upon layers of foreshadowing, followed by the big reveal of the Prophesized One, then the afterwords commentary (that most people would skip in a novel). This is one- big- series of adventures, love, danger, vengeance, and repentance. 

"So, what? It's just fantasy! A myth! Fiction!"

Perhaps. But, think about it this way-

- People spent time to write a generational story of hope and forgiveness to give others a life worth living. 

Why should we despise such a story?

Merry Christmas, everyone!

And, later, peeps~! 

Ministry of Hope from Japan

 Hey, peeps!

I am an English teacher here in Japan, but that's not where my story will end. I am an illustrator, an aspiring manga artist, too. I will be a manga artist with a family in the future. There's no doubt about it because I trust that this is what God has continued to prepare for me. 

Many of my friends have told me to be a Christian manga artist, to write Christian stories. How many people read Christian comics? How many non-Christians seek them out? I, as a lover of comics, never really wanted to read them because their stories were inorganic. So, I've never wanted to write Christian manga. 

What I want to write are stories of hope and struggle because we all struggle. We struggle with our image. We struggle with our purpose for living. We struggle with hate, beatings, and pain. We struggle to see light at the end of our darkest tunnels. We struggle to live. Christians, non-Christians, everyone struggles to find peace, hope, and joy in our lives. That's why so many passages in the Bible discuss the struggles of life. 

I struggle to see God's fulfillment of this promise: to become a manga artist in Japan with a family. Why'd He give me this promise? I believe so He can shine His Story of Hope onto those who cannot see this light right now. But, first, He must show His Hope throughout my entire life. Every aspect of this life that I live must be filled with His Hope and this hope must only be completed by His Hands. Only He can make this promise complete. So, He has dragged out my dreams to its breaking point and force me to realize that I can do nothing to fulfill this life's dream. 

How do I know this is a promise of the Lord? Because, I feel complete in His Love when I am working on my manga. I struggled a lot in art school. I didn't have the skills to pursue this career nor to be picked out of the crowd. I prayed for God to shut the door on this dream if it was not pleasing to Him. He not only chose to keep this door open, He also encouraged me to keep my eyes on Him as I pursued this dream. He brought me over and over again to Japan and this wonderfully broken country quickly became my home. I anguished when I wasn't in Japan because I was not in the home God had called me to pursue. He challenged me every single time I came by bringing me in a capacity I most feared at that time; first as a missionary, then as a study-abroad student, then as a teacher. 

Each time I went, life grew more difficult despite knowing that I was following God. My faith has been tested immensely since I accepted God's calling in Japan. As a teacher, I have experienced the darkest hours of my life and the longest pain, both physically and spiritually. Only today have I understood in full why that has been...

...To understand hope, you must live a life that challenges that hope. You must see darkness to appreciate the light. 

So, here I am declaring God's Ministry of Hope in my life. It'll still be an upward battle, because Satan wants to break me away from God. He wants to destroy my hope in Christ. But that's just the beginning. A battle of hope for those living without it, that is what I want to fight. God still has work to do in me to prepare me for this battle. There's training to do and studying to complete. When God has decided that I am ready for the spiritual war, He will send me down my next path in life.

Until then, later peeps!

A Rabbit's Musings- Our lack of Forgiveness

Hey, peeps.

I started this blog a...long time ago to separate my musings from my main blog...then proceeded to complain directly on my blog. Whoops.

In the years since I first created Rabbit Trails, I have been watching the world fall to pieces. Especially in my home country, the U.S. 

It is unreal to me to see the violence, thievery, and general mayhem that is now commonplace...it breaks my heart. 

People I know, people I watch online, they are suffering while trying to remain optimistic and honest about the world. And, they are being destroyed for fighting for our nation's healing.

Many older generations have given up on the nation, believing it'll crumble from our selfish pride. The younger generation wants, but doesn't fight, doesn't extend a helping hand nor a forgiving hand. 

So....

...what do we do?

Forgiveness heals the heart and humbles both our pain and pride. But, our world calls for prejudicial justice and scorns the murmuring of forgiveness. It has equated forgiveness to ignorance, forgiveness to inmediate trust. Trust is earned, forgiveness is...forwardly given. "Pay it forward", right?

We can "pay it forward" at Starbuck's, but not in forgiveness? That is what breaks society into ravenous factions. That is what burns bridges.

Forgiveness moves us past our injuries so our heart doesn't fill with festering, venomous rage. Like a doctor's scapel, forgiveness slices open our soul's infected wounds and, like medicine, washes it and disinfects it simultaneous.

Without forgiveness, we are nothing. 

Without forgiveness, we are burn black.

Until you heal, fight to forgive, fight for our society.

Later, peeps.

Here's to life!-New Beginnings and struggles

Hey Peeps!

It's the little rabbit from the Lost Usagi blog! Some of my latter posts on that blog ended up being life muses, which was not the purpose of that blog, so I decided to create this blog, Rabbit Trails Diaries. I named it that because, A) it follows the theme of Lost Usagi (Lost Rabbit) and B) it has no other purpose other that general life muses. This way, Lost Usagi, my first blog, can remain a blog about living in Japan as a foreigner and, with Rabbit Trails Diary, I can still write heart-felt posts about life.

For those of you who are not familiar with my other blog, Lost Usagi is a cultural blog that I started as a study-abroad student in Japan. 'Usagi' means 'rabbit' in Japanese, an animal which was used to characterize Americans in a manga because the first three letters are U-S-A. There is a more in-depth explanation on the side of my blog which is located here.

I tend to muse about life, since I studied a little bit of psychology in school and I want to write comics for a living eventually. Musing about life helps me to see who I am as a child of God and an individual. So, I really want to share a little bit about my thoughts and discoveries in life to help you in yours. Thus, after many, many months of considering a spin-off blog, I am now starting one. YAY!...

So life, let me catch everyone up on where I am in life right now. Last May, I graduated from university as a double-degree, double-minor student. My degrees are a Bachelors of Fine Arts, Illustration and a Bachelors of Arts, Japanese Language and Culture, while my minors are in psychology and kinesiology (study of human movement). Just a mere 11 days after graduation, I packed up and moved to Japan to become an English teacher in elementary school and kindergarten through a Japanese sister city of a nearby American city. So, here I am, living in Japan making a living as an English teacher. It is my first job, so there has been a lot of personal growth. But, I should also clarify that there has been a lot I have gone through over the last 4 years, from preparing to study abroad in 2012 to losing a people close to me in my last couple of years in school to moving and establishing my life as an English teacher. So, let my first entry be able life.

In November of this past year, I was visited by a Buddhist lady who was inviting people to learn about Buddhism, with the hope of their potential faith in it. Now, I am a Christian, so I decided to talk to her about what she believes in. This conversation was not very deep since, because this conversation was happening in Japan, there was a bit of a language barrier. Yet, the one thing this lady kept tossing at me for an incentive accepting Buddhism was that my life's problems would disappear. She showed me articles from her Buddhist newspaper where people who were sick or down on their luck came to faith in Buddha and suddenly were healed or rewarded with life-changing luck. While a reset button sounds nifty and great, let's think about this for a bit. How do people really come to appreciate the little things in life? Isn't it when they are struggling and begin to reconsider all that they have in life?

For me, this remains true. I have faith that where ever I am, whatever the circumstances are, God intends to bless me, not destroy me, because I am a child of His. As Romans 8:28 NASB says:

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His Purpose."

Note that it says 'all things' not just the good things in life. Why is that? Well, first off, through suffering, we grow a lot. As Romans 5:3-5 ESV says:

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."So, through struggles we gain hope in God's love for us. How? Because we come to understand what Paul means in Phillippians 4:12-13 NASB.

 "I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in and and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

We learn to rely on God in all circumstances when we have struggled. We also learn the depth of God's love because, as Hebrews 12 explains, a father who disciplines loves his children.

Hebrews 12:7-11ESV

"It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."


Hebrews 12: 6 also quotes Proverbs 3:11-12 ESV, which says:

"My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline
    or be weary of his reproof, 
 for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
    as a father the son in whom he delights."

Okay, so when we goof up and cause trouble for ourselves, Lord shows His love by disciplining us. But, not all suffering is from our own mistakes or poor choices. Some of our suffering is because there is a spiritual war going on in our world. While this war is referred to many times throughout the Bible, Ephesians 6 explains that we must equip ourselves and stand strong during this on-going war.

Ephesians 6:11-13 NASB 
"Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."

As Christians, we are enduring the evil schemes of Satan and resisting the evil that became part of our human and worldly nature through the fall of man. So, as a result, we struggle throughout our lives.

Yet, what do we gain through our daily struggles? Well, as Christians, we gain the fruit of the spirit, which is listed in Galatians 5:22-24.

"But, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

I love that bolded part, 'against such things there is no law'. Why do we need to keep expanding our laws? Because we are not inherently good and are likely to do evil against our neighbors and society through our base desires. But, through God's loving discipline, we will develop the characteristics of God and learn how to resist our selfish, human ways. As a result, we don't need as many laws to restrict our behaviors. Galatians 5 goes on to say, in verses 25-26:

"If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another."

So, wrapping all of these verses back together, the one thing I consistently notice about those who seek hope in God during their times of need is that when they make it out of that dark tunnel of life, they are more appreciative of the things provided to them, are more compassionate and patient towards others, and are more responsible with the things they have been given. Why is that? Because they have had to experience life without the things we consider 'daily needs', relying on God to make it through each day, and grown in their abilities to see their own weaknesses and strengths.

In short, we need the darkness to be able to appreciate the light. We need to struggle to appreciate God's gifts to us.

Now back to the Buddhist lady. While she was being led to tempt me with the false notion of earthly perfection, I explained that it is through my struggles that I become happier with my life because I know God is teaching me new things everyday. The lady continued to insist that I didn't need to know life's struggles, but trust me, I do need to know that. For my sake and others, I need to understand real struggles, not merely the inconvenient annoyances, like my internet going down or a store not having the exact soda I want. How are we gonna appreciate the bed we have until we have to spend a few nights on a hard wooden floor with only a pillow, blanket and inch thick floor mat? How are we gonna appreciate our working water heater until our heater quits on us in the middle of a near-freezing winter? Our struggles are momentary, like a blink of our eye, but what we gain from them can impact the world for generations. So, don't give up when life throws you a curve ball and don't give into the magic 'reset button'. Learn to rely on God and seek the blessings He has already put into place.

Until then, later peeps!