Morning Bible Reading 7/1 & 7/3

Time: 10:00- 10:40am

From this passage, I learned about being humble. As someone who cares very much about what other people think of me, I have also tried to show off some of the things that I have. I realize now that that is because I do not understand my true image, which is in how God sees me. Nevertheless, he has been changing me day by day through Masami-san and Jun who have been helping me to understand the value that I have in Christ.

Another thing I learned was to think about others. I too have had the same selfish mentality that Hezekiah had of thinking that as long as I’m ok, nothing else matters. Even if someone else is in trouble, that is none of my business. I realize now that that is wrong, and in the same way that God cares for me and never lets me go, I should love others the same. Currently, God has been helping me to grow by giving me many opportunities to be a leader in the church, I have come to understand more about how I should think about the people that God has put under my responsibility through the guidance of Masami-san and Jun. It has allowed me to think bigger and is helping me to get rid of the mentality of only trying to see how other people can benefit myself.

Kanami shared about how she also has been learning to think about others as well. She applied this to how she felt about the praise time last Sunday. She thought it wasn’t good. She felt off and realized that she was only thinking about herself while singing. What she felt she should do next time is be a good example to the people that are watching so that they can see God through their playing.

After hearing this, I shared about how I was doing the same during the praise time. I instinctively start thinking about myself in the sense that I want to sound the best out of everyone. This results in a feeling of competition between the other players. That is not good. What I should be doing is, as Kana said, being a good example by praising God, really meaning what I say when I sing the lyrics.

From this chapter, I learned about how, as a leader, how you act determines how the people under you will act. Any person put in the position of a king carries a significant responsibility. The people that are under you may not always like you, but they do look up to you to a certain extent. This has made me realize the responsibilities I carry as a leader. As the leader, I often analyze how people are behaving and in the past, I would often allow myself to conform to those patterns. For example, if I feel that my group is not cooperative and does not really want to be there, I would also act as if I did not want to be there myself out of fear. However, If I conform along with how I think the people are acting, then I would just be allowing Satan’s to work all the more of making everything go wrong. Therefore, through these experiences, I have come to understand what it means to have the heart of a leader, once again through the help of Masami-san and Jun, and be the one to lead the group by always giving my best. That, I believe, will allow God to change the hearts of the people and bring them together.

Kana shared about how she could relate to what I was saying as she too, has had experience with being a youth leader.

Kana did not really have anything to share.

I shared about how the week before, I had mentioned that I wanted to go post posters at the Disney Hall since it was right in front of the Colburn School. However, I called them and they told me no, so that was that.

Also, I shared about the youth meeting we had about July 4th.

Time: 10:00 – 10:20am

I shared about how I learned from this story that it is important to always ask God about everything, that is something he is been teaching to me to do currently. The first thing Josiah did was asking God, instead of going to people, that is something I need to do more.

Kanami shared about how from this passage, she learned from the actions that Josiah took, how after hearing the word of the LORD, he immediately repented, asking God what it is he should do. She learned how she feels that she should do the same by having an open mind more and always be ready to accept God’s word.

Kanami shared how she was able to get the off day for July 4th.