Dinner with the Isomaes

We had dinner at the home of two of our favorite readers last night. Kelsey reads with Jun and I read with Reiko. Jun is a famous religious scholar. He knows so much about the history of religion in Japan. It's been fascinating for Kelsey to hear about Jun's research. However, when I asked Kelsey if Jun had faith, he said "hmmm. That's a tough one." Jun and Kelsey have been studying the book of John. Jun really wanted to discuss the meaning of "the Word." At the end of their study, he said that he had never realized that the Word is Jesus.

Jun and Reiko are complete opposites. Jun is an intellectual and likes to study. Reiko is talkative and likes to be social. I've had lots of interesting conversations with Reiko about her faith. I can really see it starting to grow. We finished the Luke book this week. She knew all about the story of Jesus, but she really didn't know about the resurrection. She was missing the most important part! At the end of the lesson she said, "I always thought Jesus was just a good man with good teachings. This changes everything." Reiko said she is not ready to become a Christian yet. She has been getting pressure from several Christians in Mito to make the decision. I told her that I would pray that God would touch her heart. I prayed with her and asked God to give Reiko a desire to become one of His children. Please join me in praying for Reiko that God will touch her heart.

During today's lesson, we talked about her Shinto religion. She said she felt comfortable with it because it was what she had always known, but she said there was no hope of salvation offered. She said it made her feel anxious because there was no way to REALLY know if she had done enough good to "tip the scales." God is so good! Praise him that we can be sure of our salvation. Pray that Reiko will come to know that freedom!