Cormorant Fishing

Next year, I'll make a point to get some more action pictures. It happens really quickly, so I have to be better prepared...a strobe, other than the internal one, might help...

Gripped,
Kevin

The Master Fisherman


Done for the Night


Waiting to Go Home for the Night

Sure You're Focused, But on WHAT?

Focus. It will make a huge difference in the results we get. My son is in University in San Diego. Thankfully his focus has been on his studies and his church life, and not solely on San Diego's beautiful beaches. Great grades, a closer walk with His Lord, new Christian friends, and happy parents are just part of the result.

How true this in our Christian life, too. If our focus is on the minor "stuff", rather than the major, critical things, it can impact us and others in a very negative way. The Body could very well be discouraged rather than built up, and joy will not abound, as God would like to see.

Working for the Lord in Japan, and in a part of the Body where so many cultures and sub-cultures are represented, I'm still learning to focus on what is truly important, rather than "majoring on the minors", as someone has very appropriately phrased it.

Here are some words of wisdom from the closing verses of Romans 14, The Message. Read the whole chapter when you get a chance.

Cultivate your own relationship with God, but don't impose it on others. You're fortunate if your behavior and your belief are coherent. But if you're not sure, if you notice that you are acting in ways inconsistent with what you believe—some days trying to impose your opinions on others, other days just trying to please them—then you know that you're out of line. If the way you live isn't consistent with what you believe, then it's wrong.

In His Grip,
Kevin

Cormorant Fishing Boats

A typhoon and its resulting flood of the lower Nishiki River two years ago, all but destroyed Cormorant Fishing in the Kintai area. Both birds and boats were casualties. Thanks to donations of boats, cormorants, and cash, this popular local tradition is getting back on track.

Here are a couple of picts of fishing and dining preparation, shot from atop Kintai Bridge.

In His Grip,
Kevin

Buddhist Festival of the Dead and...

In Hiroshima Prefecture, during the week of Obon, the Buddhist Festival of the Dead, "bon toro/盆灯篭" are placed around gravesites by relatives and friends. These paper lanterns are purchased and placed to remember and honor those who have passed away. While I am a Christian, and a pastor, I have a strange affection for these colorful, paper lanterns. Maybe it's just the fact that just once a year, these colorful objects of light, seem to celebrate life, in a place where death is known to reign.

The white lanterns indicate someone who has died within the last year, and the multi-colored ones, are for those who passed away more than a year ago.

Last year I stumbled upon a huge cemetery, just a few kilometers from our home. This morning as I respectfully walked through the cemetery, camera in hand, I found the gravesite of a Christian. The gravestone was engraved with "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." That one makes quite a statement in the middle of thousands and thousands, of whom in all likelihood, had never known Jesus Christ as a certain a Christian named "Hironaka" did.

Gripped,
Kevin

Delivering the Lanterns?













To get an idea of how big this cemetery is, click on this pict!