One of my English students invited me to have dinner with her family tonight and what was supposed to be a two-hour visit ended up being five hours. Every week, I teach the mother and her two small children, a girl (9) and a boy (6). Naturally we ended up talking a lot about education (home schooling, public/private schools). We also discussed communism, the history of democracy, and even a bit about church government. She’s interested in coming to church, though she says she’s been to church once before and felt very much out of place because she didn’t understand what was going on.

Since I’ve started working last year, I’ve had many, many opportunities to share portions of the Bible and a few times to relate the Gospel very clearly at length. I pray for more opportunities to do so.

The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest.

Two nights ago, I stayed up printing out article after article from Jordan’s Biblical Chronology Newsletters. Last night, I stayed up and punched over 3,000 holes in hundreds of sheets of paper, filed them all beautifully in a brand-new color-coded binder, and made a color-coded table of contents to match the binder tabs.

I’ve only read 6 articles so far (they’re fascinating!!), picking up dates as I go along, and Papa’s suggesting I make a high-tech Biblical chronology web site using both AC/BC dates (or AM/AD, if you prefer Latin). No matter what I do, I seem to end up HTML-ing.

Blog filler, stolen from Russ. No wonder people think I’m Jewish. A couple months ago, when I introduced myself to a Jewish American as “Emeth Hesed Smith,” he froze and stared at me for a couple seconds before he could say anything. When he finally recovered, he said, “That’s a hard name to live up to.” Indeed.

1. Emeth is a Reform Synagogue in Gilroy, serving the greater south county of the Santa Clara Valley.
2. Congregation Emeth is honored to be chosen from among over 900 congregations throughout North America as one of 10 ….
3. Congregation Beth Emeth is a dynamic, growing Conservative congregation, founded in 1979, affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
4. Beth Emeth is committed to fulfilling the educational needs of all its members. … Beth Emeth is offering a Mashgiach Certification course in December.
5. Congregation Ohav Emeth is located in the geographic center of the Highland Park / Edison observant community in New Jersey.
6. … Ohav Emeth is also the home for local special interest groups such as parents of learning-challenged children, and a Shomer Shabbat cub-scout pack is based …
7. Temple Emeth is the first conservative congregation native to Chestnut Hill.
8. Temple Emeth is located on the intersection of West Roxbury Parkway and Grove Street in the Chestnut Hill section of the southern part of Brookline.
9. Our Extended Family More than just a house of prayer and study, Temple Kol Emeth is a place for friendship and community service.
10. Kol Emeth is interested in knowing who visits our web site and in knowing the personal impressions of our Temple and/or its Web Site, some of which will be …
11. Kodesch Shel Emeth is a Traditional Jewish synagogue in Wilmington Delaware. We pride ourselves on being a warm and friendly congregation.
12. Anshe Emeth is a member of the UAHC, …
13. New Building Construction at Beth Emeth is finally complete! Click on the images to view the pictures enlarged.
14. Beth Emeth is a member of the UAHC.
15. Beth Emeth is a vibrant and exciting Jewish community where people come together to be …
16. … you are wondering “how things work” or whether Temple Bet Emeth is right for you, we genuinely want to speak with you and address any questions you may …
17. Temple Emeth is a Reform Jewish congregation in which a congregant (male or female) wearing a kippah and tallit can worship next to another congregant wearing …
18. Temple Emeth is a member of UAHC -the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
19. All ages welcome. Join us! Shaare Emeth is Publishing a Cookbook. Order yours today and support this temple fundraiser.
20. Shaare Emeth is proud to be considered one of the leading Reform congregations in North America.
21. Congregation Anshe Emeth is a traditional Synagogue in the heart of Middlesex County, New Jersey.
22. The Jewish Center of Torath Emeth is a proud Member of the Orthodox Union.
23. Congregation Kol Emeth is located at 4175 Manuela Avenue, Palo Alto, CA (get map).
24. Kol Emeth is located in a residential neighborhood. Out of courtesy to our neighbors, overflow parking has been arranged at the church parking lot.
25. B’nai Emeth is an open congregation that welcomes everyone who wishes to join us in prayer regardless of their ability to pay dues or make financial …
26. Copies of his CD may be purchased in the Temple office. Temple Shaari Emeth is known as the “singing” congregation.
27. Temple Shaari Emeth is run by our very capable staff in conjunction with our volunteers.
28. Congregation Emeth is a Reform Synagogue in Gilroy, serving the greater south county of the Santa Clara Valley in California.
29. Congregation Kol Emeth is a friendly and welcoming Conservative synagogue, egalitarian, serving the whole Chicago metropolitan area.
30. The Hebrew meaning of the word truth (emeth) is very different. The “Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament” (Botterweck-Ringgren, Michigan 2977, vol. …

Mama and Papa are at the office and will be working till late tonight. Ben’s gone to chorus practice and won’t be back till very late tonight. Berek left very early this morning for a five-day Christian college students camp and won’t be back till late Saturday night. This is the first time I’ve been home alone in months and I almost feel like crying. I have the best parents and brothers in the world.

Ben’s been studying harder this summer than I’ve ever seen him study before. He’s trying to finish up the correspondence college courses he has left and planning on going to the States next year for theological studies. Ever since he was a toddler, he’s steadfastly prayed and sought for one thing, and one thing only: to become a missionary/pastor in Tokyo. I respect him for never having swerved from that one goal, and I pray God will bless him and guide him for that steadfastness. Ben has been my spiritual and emotional anchor when I go ballistic (which is all the time). We’ve been each other’s confidantes for as long as I can remember.

Berek’s also studying really hard now. He’s in the same correspondence curriculum as Ben, but he’s got a year more of work to finish up. When I woke up this morning and realized I wouldn’t see him till Saturday, I felt like a big, gaping hole had been blown open in our family. OK, so it’s only five days. But I’m missing him so much already. Last night, I set my my alarm clock to go off at 6:00 am but it seems like the stupid thing decided to get broken today, of all days, so I didn’t get to say good-bye.

I miss Berek. I miss not understanding what he’s saying when he bursts into the living room talking about something so excitedly. I miss his incoherent grunts when I ask him a question. I miss yelling at him to answer me more clearly. I miss his great cooking. I miss him knocking shyly on my door to ask me to fix something on his computer. I miss his lips-pulled-over-mouthfull-of-braces-with-many-colored-rubberbands smile. I miss asking him to explain to me some philosophical or theological thing that I don’t understand. I miss him so much.

There are only a few more months the five of us will be together as family. Then one by one, us kids will leave for grad school and/or seminary and the family will be all split up. I still am looking forward to leaving home and spreading my wings. It’s a good and blessed thing we’re all growing up. But it hurts. This has been the happiest year of my life and I want to cherish it as much as I can. Not to say that it has been the easiest or most fun year of my life, but I’ve never been happier. I can’t believe it’s already the end of August.

From the time I was about five years old, what I wanted more than anything was to leave home and be independent. Then two years ago there came a time when I almost had to leave home forever. I realized how much I had been blessed, how much I would be losing, and suddenly became very thankful to God for all He had given me.

Why is it that when you start to become thankful for something you’ve taken for granted that it has to be taken away from you? Everything around us is so frail, so fleeting. Everything changes, everything dies. Only God can be a refuge, only He does not change.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Ben and Papa both had birthdays this week, so we went out as a family to celebrate. Italian pizza, Japanese steak. We had about 3 hours of family-Bible-birthday time.

I used to look forward to birthdays, and cake, and ice-cream, and presents. But now, birthdays are not “fun” anymore. They are joyous, but in a grave sort of way. I see my parents getting older. Death is on its way. And as my brothers and I get older, we are going independent and getting more and more responsibilities. Who knows how well we will fulfill them.

It’s not that I fear the future. I look forward to it. I look forward to seeing God’s plans unfold for us all. But over the past few years, I’ve been learning about the “dark” side of life. How sin causes sadness and happiness to be intertwined. Yes, there is salvation, and we must not take our eyes off it. But as long as we are on this earth, there is no joy without pain.

Birthdays are days when we as a family rejoice and give thanks to God for each other. They are days when I thank God for life … and think of death.

The girly arts. Not something I’ve mastered yet, but am starting to enjoy … sort of. LOL.

On Wednesday, I spent the whole day with Megumi, Gen’s fiance-to-be. We did the girly thing, had French manicures, shopped for her new dorm room (I didn’t buy anything), and did a lot of window shopping. It was pure, girl fun. As I look back on it, this is the first time I’ve gone out and spent a day with a Christian girl. I can’t explain what it was exactly, but there was something very different from being with Ben, Berek, or Gen. I understand brother-brother and brother-sister relationships. Sister-sister is something new.

After the shopping, Megumi and I went to a Starbucks and had a very long, serious talk together about our futures. We’ve agreed to plan and pray about certain things together, though I can’t exactly post them here. She’s back in SoCal now trying to finish up a year’s worth of study by December so she can come back to Tokyo sooner and so she can save her parents a year’s worth of tuition. Even though we’ve only met a few times, we’re thankful that God has given us each other as life-long friends and we’re very much looking forward to becoming sisters.

Yes, it’s better than using tables. It loads much faster. I love what I can do with it. But take a look at this. I’m going to go bang my head on the wall for a while.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-08/16/content_527559.htm

Note to IE users: You don’t need to download the Chinese font pack to view the page.

You love to sing along with: Brothers Four, Mitch Miller, Tim McGraw
Sums up your teenage years: Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, Mozart’s Piano Sonatas, violin concertos composed by Mozart, Bruch, Mendelssohn, Lalo, Saint-Saens, Kreisler, Beethoven, Sarasate, Wieniawski, Brahms, Paganini, Schumann, Faure, Debussy (in that order), and anything annd everything by Simon & Garfunkel.
Perks you up: Beethoven’s Ninth, Matrix Soundtrack, Matchbox 20, Once Upon A Time In China Soundtrack
Makes you laugh: Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain, Harry Belafonte
Makes you cry: Bach’s Matthew’s Passion. And I don’t actually cry, but I get very quiet when I listen to Non Nobis (from Henry V), anything by Bortnianski, Enesco’s Roumanian Rhapsody, Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies, almost anything played by Joshua Bell or Anne-Sophie Mutter
Wrote lyrics you wish you wrote: King David
You never want to hear again: 100% of Japanese pop songs, Mariah Carey, Ozawa Seiji (makes me sick), and Peter, Paul & Mary
Reminds you of your current love: No love.
You used to hate but now like: Whitney Houston, The Judds.
You like to wake up to: My iPod doesn’t have an alarm function … and I hate to get up.
You like out of your parents record collection: Harry Belafonte (the only one they have that’s not classical), Dvorak’s String Quartets
You love that you wouldn’t know about if it wasn’t for a friend: Savage Garden
Has a video you love more than the tune: I don’t watch MTV.
You are embarrassed to admit you like: JLo

The Dane relates his commute experience. Here’s mine. These are pics I picked up from Google. No words necessary.

Not Crowded —- 1 — 2 — 3 — 4

Crowded —- 5 — 6 — 7

Anybody wanna come over?