We have been in Niigata for about 3 days and it truly has been a really meaningful time for me. From the minute we got off the train, I felt something stir in my heart. I can only describe it as being in a place for the first time and yet feeling like it is strangely familiar. As funny as it sounds, I had to stop, take a few deep breaths and collect myself. As I scanned the city from the train station, my mind wandered and wondered how many of my relatives and ancestors, unknown to me, walked those corridors and climbed the steps of that station. “What ifs” entered my mind., “What if my grandfather stayed in Niigata?” “What if he never came to Hawaii?” Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about God’s wonderful plan. 

I thought of Ps. 139:13-16 in a more profound way. 

“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Ps. 139:13-16

To think that God handmade me and saw me before I was even born, that I was thought of while my ancestors were still living thousands of miles away and born on an island in the middle of the Pacific is mindblowing! Only God! Only God has the love and power to think about and do that. 

Being here has touched my heart in a very special way I never would have expected. It reminds me in a very real way that I am here for a reason and purpose. It is no accident that I exist. What a crazy and amazing truth! Every day of my life was recorded in God’s book. Every moment laid out before a single day of my life had passed. How is that even possible? Only God. Only God. 

May we all experience the grace and truth of God’s Word. May we experience the reality that we are God’s masterpieces, personally handmade, created with a divine purpose. To which I can only say, “Only God!”

Thank you, Father. 

Another step…

Props to my son, John for the pics. I don’t do pictures very well. But he does!