READ: 2 CORINTHIANS 2:12-17 A child and a spoil of war. Forced to live with the enemy, far from home. Then, as a young woman, a war prize again, forced to serve the nation’s most powerful leader. Finally, exiled to an island for her Christian faith. This was the life of Julia Ota, who lived [...]

READ: MATTHEW 22:34-40; ACTS 9:1-20 When I worked in Japan as a young international schoolteacher, I often spent weekends exploring Tokyo’s neighborhoods or other parts of Japan. Sometimes, I’d get lost and have to ask strangers the way in my simple Japanese: “Migi? Hidari? Massugu?” (Right? Left? Straight?) Their rapid, fluent answers often left me [...]