highs and lows

::: life is full of hope-filled highs and heart-breaking lows...today reminded us of this...

...today we spent the afternoon with minoru and yoko nishioka...today was their 16th wedding anniversary...over cake and tea, we thumbed through all their photo albums (yoko is an amazingly talented scrapbooker)...it was a record of faithful love and friendship that has endured all of life's challenges, such as the hanshin earthquake of 1995 and recently an physically and emotionally painful surgery...

...one of the greatest privileges of incarnational ministry is loving people and celebrating milestones with them...

..."what is the secret to your happy marriage?" we asked them...

..."never go to sleep with the day's argument unresolved," said yoko seriously...

...then, with her sense of humor, she added..."say sorry for the argument and start a new argument the next day"...we all laughed...

..."oh, and say 'i love you' all the time," she said as she turned affectionately to minoru...

...the afternoon got even better when mutual friends came over...we shared stories...

...and songs...

...yet our smiles were curbed by sadness...yoko received a phone call and shared the news...the wife of one of our members has been diagnosed with late stage cancer...our member -- who recently committed his life to christ -- told us that he would no longer come to church...simply heart-breaking...as we pray for her healing, we are praying for and pursuing ways to love and care for both of them...

...life is full of hope-filled highs and heart-breaking lows...today reminded us of this :::