JET Christian Fellowship Retreat

This weekend, November 22-24, we had a retreat at Yamanakako, one of the Fuji-Goko (one of the big lakes at the base of Mt. Fuji. It was a retreat for JETs all across Japan, and just by coincidence it was really close to me--just about an hour by train and bus, but would've been a 30 minute drive. (The last one was down in the Osaka-Kobe area.) So anyhows, we had a nice time talking about how we're dealing with life as Christians in Japan. There were only 9 of us there, which was too bad considering that there are something like 6000 JETs in Japan. But, nonetheless we had a good retreat. I realized that I have a favorite Bible passage: Romans 7:

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

So, anyhows. Here's some pictures from the retreat. As you can see, we stayed in a nice lodge called "Torchbearers". It seems to be a Christian retreat center. It's just a few minutes walk to the lakeshore. Lake Yamanaka is kind of a weekend resort area. As you can also see, there's lots of tourist-resort stuff to do like riding on these little swan paddle-boats.