Waiting and Walking

It has long been my practice to not give into a certain type of chronological snobbery, but to read old as well as new books. One of the Old books that I have been reading recently is called Communion With God. This man had twelve children only one who survived to adulthood and she a beutiful daughter named Esther died at age 22. No man can say they know tragedy like John Owen did. Yet his books have no cynicism about them. How does a man live through that and not only live but overcome.

So given this knowledge about Owen it surprises me to read things like this. "It often happens that when all our searchings have not brought us to him we are left to wait silently for him and to walk humbly until he appears." The word, "Often" is surprising. To think of a man who wrote so prolifically and was so close to God, say that often he sought and did not find immediately. He had to wait. What make me more angry than waiting! I am not sure. But who are we to command God to be on our schedule. Life in the Kingdom can be described with many motifs; i.e. Joy in God, Life in Christ, and Hope in the resurrection. But I was impressed with the need to add one to that; "waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God(2 peter2:12)"

I know there is something deep and profound about this discipline of waiting. I think it says something very clearly about the creature creator distinction. We honor the Lord as exactly that the Lord. The one who does his own bidding on His own time.

I do not have much more to say about this at the present time only that I think some harmful trends of religious pragmatism may be avoided if we learn to wait on Him instead of seeing him as waiting on us. I also think there is an insight into the nature and mysterious work of the Spirit and more broadly the trinity as it relates to the believer.

The Breakfast Club

Though it was a cheeze 80's movie it has now evolved into a saturday morning event! What is more manly than three men eating breakfast on thier day off. In fact saturday morning is a great family time. It has long been a morning for family fellowship even back into my childhood. Not to mention that it is also my Dad's identical twin brothers family morning as well. Which in the past has caused some confusion at our favorite restaurant, Kathies. One morning when we entered the waitress refused to wait on us! She claimed the same man had been in there not half an hour earlier with a different wife and whole different family!
But inspite of the funny occurances I see it as Gods provision at this time. The apostle Paul mentions in Romans how he hopes to visit them and enjoy thier company for a time. This has certianly been a spiritually growing time for our family and I am glad to see it growing even after being away for so long. I believe that truely enjoying one another's company is a gospel grace and a joy to experience.

A wish from a busy life.

I wish that I did not feel the need to be so busy. For sure working 30 hours a week and then trying to raise support on top of that requires a busy life. But so often I catch myself using the busy excuse. When something comes up ahh I am too busy... when I think about sitting down to enjoy a good theological read... ahh too busy! Amongst all this busyness am I really stopping to reflect on what I am busy for?
The busy mindset is our pragmatic and materialistic cultures answer to satisfaction. Often I buy it hook line and sinker. I wish that I would buy it less often. That is my wish! Thanks to God I can come to the meaning of life. I can sit at the feet of the center of reality and be satisfied in God's goodness. Like the Psalmist in 86:11 "Unite my heart to fear your name!" I long for that to be a reality!

A Day in the Life of Isaac

This post was inspired by someone who emailed me requesting a little picture of what a day in the life of Isaac Knopp was like. I think it is harder for me to write about just the everyday for several reasons. In part it seems like it is an unnecessary input. Who wants to hear what flavor coffee I had with breakfast this morning. Some things contrary to my modernist stream of consciousness friends should never be chronicled. But the main reason why it is difficult to write about the practicals that make up my life right now is that it is so fluid. Undoubtedly if I were to take one day and highlight it there would be more disanalogy between it and the subsequent day than analogy.

That being said, Last night I had my birthday party. Contrary to popular opinion birthdays are a time for grand and happy remembrance not simply a time of depression. Time is no mans master marching into the future carrying with it ever increasing riches, and boasting of its exploits. This past year has been a time of sowing and reaping a lot of riches. I have gained a tremendous amount of relational wealth and am rich indeed.

You know it is everyone's duty to enjoy what God has given to Him. And to me in large part has been given the wonderful ministry of being a herald: a trumpet for God's Kingdom in Japan. I have been reading Ezekiel and the price of being such a one is apparent in that he is responsible for others before the Lord and expressly comes bearing a message that some will like and others will not. Most of the practical side of this involves traveling here and there, in town out of town, encouraging people. Last week a man wrote me an in-depth personal letter after having just met. It's things like this that prove to me the effectiveness of partnership ministry. My prayer is simply that I may be more like Christ in it.

Another large slice of the pie is working. I have recently been working 20-30 hours a week doing construction. There is something peculiarly good about doing physical labor. At the end of the day I can feel it.

The rest the interests that I pursue on a regular basis are sort of like a baker's last loaf. The scraps individually are not large enough but all together they make up a fairly sizable and satisfying loaf. Just a few of these are, language study, the current theological read, church fellowship, encouraging college students, and spending time with my family.

I hope you have enjoyed these coffee shop statistics on my life. Until next time- Isaac

Another Excellent Read

I had heard stories all of the men in this book. Except for maybe Charles Simeon, whose story is possibly the most powerful in the book. As all of Pipers books are this book is deeply truthful and passionately Humane. There are two main reasons why I think this book is compelling. First all three individuals did have incredibly power to endure. The most remarkable thing was not that they merely endured, but that they endured with a distinctively engaged and upbeat demeanor. Newton liked to tell a parable about a man who was given a carriage to travel a thousand miles at the end of which he was to receive an unimaginably large estate and inheritance. A mile from his destination the wheel broke on His carriage. Newton liked to pose the question at this point, "this being the case how silly would it have been if this man wept that whole last mile saying, 'my carriage is broken, my carriage is broken!'?" Now how Characteristic is this of our hearts at times. God is lavish in all of his promises and slack in none. Yet we still want to cry, "my carriage is broken," about the small sufferings we endure. There are many other and far deeper insights into how these three men found deep roots of endurance in their lives that are detailed which I will not go into. I reserve that Magellan like voyage for those who wish to read the book. But I will say that it was a very satisfying read for me. Which brings me to the second reason why this book was compelling. It was easy to mull over current modes of how I deal with suffering in light of their lives. This is part of the benefit of biographies which other genes cannot touch. It is clear to see how they trusted the Lord, feared man, repented, and obeyed. Their lives act as a foil for what they believed. In this there is great opportunity for improvement upon the principals they lived by and an even deeper encouragement because they made it!

Time is in the Lord's hands

Psalms 37:3 -5
"Trust in the Lord, and do good;dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and He will act."

From the moment we believe til the moment we die we live in Him. But often I do not recognize His immediate presence. Does the Lord hear? Does He know my situation? Is He really for Me? All of these are questions that have come to my mind because of the recent situation. As many of you know I was planning to leave for Japan in late August early September. The Lord has not given me that request. Why? Is it not His will for Japan, one of the nations, to hear of His Glorious Gospel? Currently I still need about 40% more to be free to minister. There are several conclusions that I could make. The Lord is disciplining me to be more diligent servant and trust Him more; He wants to grow the partnership ministry He has committed to me; He has some secret design that He is at work to accomplish through this. I would suggest that it is not one of the above but all three.
First, as the verse suggests the Lord has been at work to teach me how to be more diligent and trusting in my service. It is easy to fear man and circumstances. But God is in control. The verse suggests a very peaceful tone with the words, "dwell in the land". We abide in Christ's love and in that place he teaches us to befriend(cultivate) faithfulness. This is certainly a challenge for me and a blessing.
Second, He wants to grow the partnership ministry He has committed to me. This has to do with stewardship but more fundamentally with partnership ministry. Certainly the financial partnership is one aspect. If that was completely satisfied I would be buying my plane ticket right now. But the prayer aspect of partnership is not quite as quantifiable. I am convinced it is because the Lord wants to grow the prayer ministry that He has not brought in all the finances.
Lastly, He has some secret design that He is at work to accomplish through this. I say that the design is a secret because sometimes the best answer requires no more knowledge. The sweetest answers don't come simply from more information but from an experiential knowledge. Do I trust that God has brought this difficulty into my life for a good AND redemptive reason. A reason that is both for His Glory and My good. Should I believe that when believer's suffer it is always because they are sinners and are simply getting less than they deserve? This is not the answer that God gives to Job. If you notice God doesn't answer Job's why question. He extols His own power, wisdom, and creatorhood over all creation. In this knowledge Job understand that the Lord is worthy of His Trust. Even if the normal proverbial benefits of a Godly life, health and prosperity, are not there. Even so I don't need to always have an answer because I have it in who God is for me. He is wise for me! There is deep satisfaction in knowing this.
I am now praying and putting before the Lord a date in early January. This will actually work very well with the college ministry. I will be able to do three months of language school and be ready for the beginnings of their semester in April.

Time is in the Lords Hands

This weekend I was able visit my brother up in Ohio. For those of you who have been praying for me I can see answers to your prayers for me. My ambition is to develop the relationships that I have here so that they will be at a place to continue to grow even though I am out of country. My brother and I were able to connect on a level which displayed a growing trust in one another and the Lord. Some of the most enjoyable times for me over the weekend though was the time I spend with Michael's whole family. This is a picture of my brother and His son Eli. Isn't he Cute!

The trip was about six and a half hours. Such a trip could dampen someones spirits. However, if you notice myself and my older brother Paul, do our spirits look dampend by the prospect of the trip. No!

Checkout the Look on My Face

Top right is me

Yes that is me in the raft along with my family. Immediately after this photo I was catapulted into the center of the raft when we hit that rock. But in many ways this onetime rafting event to spend time with my family could be a good metaphor for my life right now.
As many of you know i am now back in Staunton living at the family home. My parents are wonderful people. They have been so generous towards me over the past few weeks. I have never really had any reservations about picking up and going to Japan. I think that this has just been a blessing that the Lord has bless me with. However, especially since I have been back from New York I have noticed the good things in my life. I wonder if this is because I am so focused on this external goal of getting to japan and preparing. I will paraphrase Ecclesiastes, " there is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his labor before the lord... for this is his lot." It is like the Lord connects our ability even to enjoy the things that we so called possess, friends, family, etc., with whether or not we see it coming from His hand. The current of my life at this time in seeking to be obedient is under girded by the deeper waters of God's river. If I focus only on the water i am splashing with my paddle will be so unlikely to see the scenery flashing by around me. I also won't notice that it is the force of the river that is carrying me not the force of my paddle. I hope this example is helpful to someone. If Not know that I am sorely going to miss all those that i leave behind. But I believe that I love you and enjoy your friendship best by going.

God bless you- Isaac

I loved New York but my heart is in Japan

(above: Jeff Marlowe pre-field training staff and Myself )

I arrived safe back in Staunton on Wednesday. It is going to be wonderful to be staying with my parents now for a short time before I leave for Japan. I think it will be a great way to say goodbye Gracefully since I will be gone for over two years. It is very exciting to be a part of what the Lord is doing. I have returned from NYC with my mind filled up with all that the Lord is doing there. I am eager to share with everyone about my experiences and about how I see the Lord is preparing me for Japan.
I can think of three main ways that the Lord used my experience in New York to prepare me for future ministry in love, mission, and worship. Being in NY has increased my awareness of God's Kingdom. One of the speakers giving a presentation on evangelism and the church posed the question where do you find the best soil for planting. Most would say in the country in a field etc. Yes that is right but don't you find grass growing in the city as well. This really struck me because there is nothing but concrete in the city and yet it is common to find grass growing up in the cracks of the sidewalk. God is growing His church no matter how hard the soil.
I was prepared in mission by a talk on contextualizing the Gospel. I learned that our own cultures temper our understanding of the gospel. We need to be willing to give up our contextualized gospel so that the core of the gospel can prosper in their context. And how much help do I need from the Holy Spirit in this area?
And lastly I learned a lot about loving. Especially in our English class. It is one thing to do a good job as a teacher, it is quite another to actually love one another from the heart as scripture says. This command brought me to my knees to depend on the Lord more than any other and I think was the best preparation for the field.
All in all I was supremely blessed and encouraged by all the Lord did through my time in NYC. I know He will be faithful to continue to prepare me to go to the field as well as to raise up the provision for team Japan in prayer and financial supporters over these last weeks before arriving in Japan.

Living In Faith

(Pastor Ro with Lisa and Garry above; Living Faith Community Church below)

My favorite part about this trip has been the time we have spent with the people at living faith. I really think they are a wonderful group of people. I cannot speak more highly of them. I know that people have such good things to say about Redeemer, I went and I was impressed. But I was not nearly as impressed as I am with Living Faith. They were so warm and welcoming. I was so encouraged by their presence. Their Christ like qualities of loving community and hating self exaltation became more and more obvious. Needless to say I will miss all of them. Thanks to modern day inventions like facebook I hopefully will be able to keep up with some of them.

Probably the second most impactful thing about my trip was the pastor at Living Faith church. He is a very down to earth person. We had a meal with Him to celebrate the completion of our work with Living Faith which was a great time of fellowship. When we asked him what he thought the number one problem with Living Faith is he responded, "The Pastor". This kind of down to earth Gospel reckoning was such a refreshment to me. It let me know that I am more sinful than I can imagine but God is more merciful than I can ever know. Thanks Stephen!

Also thank you Garry and Lisa for being so welcoming you made us feel right at home. And I may take you up on your offer to stay with you when I come back from Japan in a couple of Years.

NYC Busy Happy Healthy

Hello, everyone! NYC is quite amazing and all thanks to you who have supported me. I could not be here if it were not for your generosity. As you can see from the picture we have been in the thick of it! And Yes NYC is as bustling as most think. But contrary to popular opinion, I have not ran into too many stereo typical New Yorkers here. People are so nice. And though there does seem to be an ethic of mind your own business, it is more of a survival tactic than anything. The angry disinterested looks you often get on the subway are easily disrupted. We often disrupt it to ask people a questionnaire. All MTW missionaries have to turn in a questionnaire and cultural research that we have been accumulating each week. Needless to say, in NYC where 40% of the population are immigrants, Yes that is right, there is not a lack of diversity. I teach ESL classes for my ministry right now in Queens and when rise up out of the depths of the subway there are hundreds of signs that demand attention in color and design... but not in English. If i were to ask anyone a question about 1 in 4 people would probably speak English and they would be under 15 in age.

But all in all I am busy, happy and healthy. I have made a lot of life long friends here and am so gratful for all that the Lord is teaching me. I hope to see you all soon but continue to pray for me. I remember all of you and think of you in my prayer times. Please pray for one of my student who happens to be the only one right now. Her name is Kwai Fong Ho, God has brought her to us for His glory and her good!

Tim Keller, who is one of the Church planters here says, "Expect to reach the suburbs from the city, but you will never reach the city from the suburbs." After being here for a little while i believe it. There are so many people here that need the gospel but until you enter their world as Chirst did ours they will not hear you.

Grace to you all- Stay tuned for more about NYC

Journal Entry

Thanks so much to everyone who has been supporting me and encouraging me over the past several months. You have been the the very comfort of the Lord in a time of need! I am now right at around 45% of my monthly support and a little bit less 35% of my one time. I am praying and planning about how I will approach the next couple of months before I hope to be on the field in August. Ultimately, I know the Lord is in control of all these circumstances I simply want to be faithful to my Soveriegn Joy Jesus.
Today is Memorial Day, and i just wanted to tip my hat to all those who have fought for the peace that I enjoy. God bless you. Until next time.

A Double Post!

I was getting ready to post another section and i could not get away from a brief appreciation for this man's work. So i guess i'll just have to make this a double post. There are very few books which i would rank up there as significant, when it come to extrabiblical data. But I just cannot help but be amazed Hirsch's boldness of thoughts to cut through a slough secular philosophical despondency when it come to interpretation. His arguments are vividly orthodox and it is passionately humain. That may sound weird when talking about a book that is very scholastic and hardly has a sympotheic note in it, but in truth it is. Because it give clarity to the clear implication that what we come to understand as a certain implication of scripture can indeed be trusted as such. I have most recently visited this book again when dealing with some of Barth's preoccupations which center around the unknowablity of what has been given. He leans on a sort of mysitical certainty which in truth is none at all. So again my hat is off to you Sir for an unwasted life in critical schollarship!

__________________________________________________ Mothers Day!

Now my real post is about mothers. Some would say that we can talk about mothers abstractly and the institution of motherhood, but i would argue that my abstaction would be distinctively rose colored because of my personal bias. I am not saying that i could not imagine a mother better than my own or at least am not saying that she is without fault. But love born from grace and forgiveness seems to wipe all away and indeed she is dear to me. I hope that all of you got the opportunity to let your mother's know how much you appreciate them and their service in raising you.

We had a great occasion of frisbee golf with the fam. on mother's day. It was a lot of fun! Of course the boys were competative and of course the youngest brother was winning most of the time! Andrew your day is coming. It is great to be apart of a family that is a part of the bigger family God's family.

I wonder a how amazing and how faithful the Lord has been to our family. An uncle of mine traced the family leniage back to the late 1600's and it appears that the Gospel had prevailed over my ancestor then, Here we are 400 years later and you think wow! Can God really be faithful to call each new generation like the promise says, "For the promise is for you and for your Children...(Acts2)"! Now if I stop right there and think who should get the glory for this? Shouldn't we honor our parents for this. Yes! Certainly they were faithful. But thinking back over at least the ten generations of parents that we know of(there may be more before the late 1600's) I am overwhelmed that we should think more of God's work in each successive generation. For the second half of Act 2 finishes ...(the promise is) for all whom the Lord will call." Priase be to God who leaves a legacy of writing straight with crooked pens!

Tears for Fears

The Smith's are wonderful people. They had us over to their house in order to share with a few families what the Lord is doing in Japan. As the evening began I was surprised to see a few Asian faces among the group. "I had not one christian freind growing up," Explained a Japanese lady. "There were simply none around!"
I couldn't help but be affected by her fears. The shear degree of her isolation as a Christian in Japanese culture is astounding. The collectivist culture makes it difficult for anyone to change beliefs, she explained. It is an offense upon the honor of the family to accept other traditions as being valid besides the families. This cultural norm created a rift in her life between her and her father. Finally after much agony the Lord spoke to her heart through a period of 10 years and a verse which we might think abscure, Luke 9:60 " Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.", to show her that The Lord is Lord! Through this she was able to be confident that her societal disobedient to her Father was obedience to Christ.
This really encouraged me toward several things. First not to judge or be too harsh with those who struggle with obedience...10 years... what kind of time scale and how quickly I get impatient with my own sanctification. Let us perserveare! And second how good it is to let the stories of others sink down into our hearts. To weight and ponder what it must be like to have lived in such isolation. Let us shed tears for her fears. But all of this would be for nothing if the Lord's word were not powerful. The Lord said I will build my kingdom and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I usually think of this in the global sense that the Gospel is prevailing among the nations, but there is also a personal individual implication. Look at how God's Word prevailed in her life over her the path that her fears sought to make her captive to!

Wednesdays are Back

Does God double our burdens?

6:00 the Clock reads. Time to warm to the comming production of the day. Time in the Word prayer meditation on the days events. What a wonderful way to start a day. I would even say that it is a blessed way to start the day. But bless in what way. Will I have less troubles throughout the day because I spend time reading the Bible? I at least hear that as a common explaination of why morning diciplines are beneficial. But at 8:00 as i approached the second task of the day I hit a speed bump. My car failed inspection. I only need to drive it for a few more months and they wanted me to dump close to 800 dollars into it. I don't know about you but when I quit my job the same week i find a bunch of fiscal surprises waiting for me there must be a reason. I normally in my heart turn first to my pride either i can do this or poor me i can not do this. It is at this moment that God's promises become available to me I read ps. 96 and Isaiah 48 like i never have before. And the conclusion is God often doubles burdens so that He can bear them and get the glory. It is paiful but He is so faithful! Praise Him for His many mercies.

Shadow of the Almightly

If you are thinking about reading this book you should, and if you aren't you should think about it! - I have been very encouraged by it recently-

"It is only when we obey God's laws that we can be quite sure that we really know Him. The man who claims to know God but does not obey His laws is not only a liar, he lives in self-delusion. In practice, the more a man learns to obey God's laws. the more truly and fullly does he express his love for HIm. Obedience is the test of whether we really live "in God" or not. THe life of a man who professes to e living in God must bear the stamp of Christ." -From the preface of Shadow of the Almighty.

Thoughts on thoughts

I met with a friend this week to talk about DKG which to those of you who aren't so familiar with the acronym means doctrine of the knowlege of God. It has effectively attained acronym status proabbly for only a few. But for those few, it is mentioned so very often that you wonder if it ought not be mentioned elseware to a greater degree. I am convinced that so many of our cultural personal ineptitudes as a result of cultural indoctrination would not, if not entirely at least mostly, be swept away. Frame points out that we know things to a greater or lesser degree depending upon how much our thoughts know God's thoughts. This concept blew my mind. God's thoughts are always the Creator's thoughts and therefore are always qualitatively different than ours. Not just quantity. For God's thought of the thing is actually the sustaining of it. When we know a thing that is only possible through knowing what God's thought is. So even in our thinking we have to say that God's active presence is there. This opens a whole new depth to my thoughts on the psalms, "if i were to hide in the depths thou would be there."

One Moore Married!

The wedding was a grand adventure of seeing many who i see not half as much as i would like and twice as little as i can bare. But though i see all of my close friends less frequent now than ever, it is always sweet to be back in their company, even if only for a while. But yet for awhile is all we hope for in this life. It may seem like only having a short while on this earth makes life trite. I think if we did not know of the eternal it might. Dan( the married one) was so keen to point out that if we looked past the ceremony of marriage we may see something eternal! And in the church that is our hope. The Glory of Christ and our union with him. Such will be the eternal glory which we long for in this life. John Owen says, "beholding the glory of Chirst is one of the greatest privileges that believers are capable of in this world, or even in that which is to come." The love of Christ culminates in the marrage of the church as the bride of Christ. What a wonder to behold that eternal union in this one . Thanks Dan!