Friday, December 30, 2011

What if all that we want isn't all that we want?

So I'm reading this book called the Divine Commodity by Skye Jethani and in one of his chapters he tells a story that really...struck me. I'm basically typing this out word for word here:

The Divine Commodity - Chapter 6: The Land of Desire (pg 113-114)
   On a previous visit I had been walking in New Delhi with my father. We were hoping to catch a break in the traffic when a boy approached us. He was probably six or seven years old, skinny as a rail, and naked but for tattered blue shorts. His legs were stiff and contorted, like a wire hanger twisted upon itself. He waddled on his hands and kneecaps, which were covered with huge calluses from the broken pavement. Like many other times in India, I wanted to close my eyes and pretend people in such misery didn't exist. But this persistent boy wouldn't let me.
   We kept walking down the street looking for a gap in the traffic, ignoring the bow and his shouts. "One rupee, please! One rupee!" The little guy was amazingly fast on his kneecaps, managing to stay ahead of us and i our field of vision. Finally, realizing he wasn't going to give up, my father stopped and gave the boy the satisfaction of looking him in the eye.
   "What do you want?" he asked.
   "One rupee, sir," the boy said while motioning his hand to his mouth and bowing his head in deference. My father laughed.
   "How about I give you five rupees?" he said. The boy's submissive countenance suddenly became defiant. He retraced his hand and sneered at us. He thought my father was joking, having a laugh at his expense. After all, no one would willingly give five rupees. The boy started shuffling away, mumbling curses under his breath.
   My father reached into his pocket. Hearing the coins jingle, the boys stopped and looked back over his shoulder. My father was holding out a five-rupee coin. He approached the stunned boy and placed the coin into his hand. The boy didn't move or say a word. He just stared at the coin in his hand. We passed him and proceeded to cross the street.
   A moment later the shouting resumed, except this time the boy was yelling, "Thank you! Thank you, sir! Bless you!" He raced after us once again - not for more money but to touch my father's feet. He blocked our way and alternated raising his hands with shouts of acclamation and bowing at my father's shoes. He was litereally worshiping us and attracting the attention of everyone on the street.
   This, I imagine, is how our God sees us - as miserable creatures in desperate need of his help. But rather than asking for what we truly need, rather than desiring what he is able and willing to give, we settle for the lesser things. And when God graciously says "no" to our misled desires and instead offers us more, we reject him. We turn away, cursing him under our breath. We simply cannot imagine a God who would give five rupees when all we desire is one.

...and I'm still thinking about this.

Do I hear God grabbing that five-rupee coin for me or am I too busy getting mad that He didn't give me the one-rupee that I asked for?  Probably somewhere in between...probably more towards the getting mad about not getting the one-rupee...

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Holoholo D.T.S.

In January 2001, I was a part of the very first one of these. It was hard, but it was good. During this time God started to become really...real to me. Not only that but He began to challenge me to see life with eyes of faith...to see things that 'were not' as if they 'were'...and to trust Him more.

Today, it would be fair to say that I am still learning about faith, trust, & God...but it would also be fair to say that in doing a DTS I'm further along than I would have been without it.

Here's their latest and greatest promo video.

"We Go" YWAM Holoholo DTS in Kona, Hawaii from YWAM - crown media on Vimeo.

Personal note: DTS is not a program that will change you forever. Instead, by doing a DTS you give yourself time to be changed forever. You remove yourself from the distractions of day to day living (work, school, bills, etc.) and give yourself time to strengthen your relationship with the Lover of our soul.

For more information, check out their website here:
http://www.holoholo.info/

Holoholo DTS is a ministry of YWAM (Youth With A Mission)

Friday, December 9, 2011

This Christmas get a Ben Rector...

...album.

Get a Ben Rector album!!!

Or give a Ben Rector album!

Or if you get a iTunes gift card or Amazon MP3 gift card, consider getting a Ben Rector album.

I can't tell you how much I love his music.  Here's some of his songs.  Hope you love it...and then buy it.

The Kill


You & Me


I hear he's better live...so either one day I'll make it to one of his shows OR maybe one day he'll make it to Hawaii!

Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Christmas Gifts? how 'bout a HASHI

Well, as you know...if you live in Hawaii or have lived here, the plate lunch is one of the main types of staples here in the islands. It comes in a Styrofoam container with plastic utensils or wooden chopsticks. In the container we have a variety of meat/chicken/battered fish/fried shrimp, rice and mac salad. After we eat the local goodness, we just trash the whole thing...styrofoam and plastic.

Well, recently I've been becoming more aware how bad all that stuff is for the environment (I know, I'm really late to this party)...and not only that, but we are running out of places to put it (our trash). I know that second one is kinda scary. I never thought about running out of a place to put trash. I just thought it went to the dump and then the dump ate it or something like that...I dunno. Like I said, just never thought of that.

So one small thing we can do...or we can get this Christmas for each other is...

These 9 3/4" Black Wood Japanese Chopsticks (51314CS) have a beautiful black finish and a red lacquer tip that gives them a special Japanese accent with ties to the Japanese flag. Unlike Chinese chopsticks, which typically are made of unfinished wood, these lacquered chopsticks taper to a sharper, pointier end. The black and red design can match a variety of decors, atmospheres and tabletop settings, but are particularly suited to a modern restaurant with a contemporary design.

...a HASHI

...or chopstick

...actually A PAIR OF CHOPSTICKS!!!

Now I know that this might not seem like a lot and maybe it isn't. But it's a start. It's a step in the right direction. Plus you never know how great the trickle down effect might be! You know, like if we all get our own hashi, then all the L&L's won't have to keep purchasing disposable ones...THEN maybe plate lunches would get cheaper?!?!?!  I know it's farfetched, but still...you never know.

Anyway, the beautiful hashi that you see pictured above, I found on amazon...but said you can only get it from an external site. Can you guess how much it is? Find out here.

Did you check?!? I know...they are THAT EXPENSIVE. Plus did you see they were on sale? Wow.

Thanks to Kanu Hawaii for doing such great work in creating awareness and getting the word out.

Okay, that's all for now.

Oh and if you can buy local, buy local and support local people.  If cannot, then cannot.

Okay, now I'm done.

See ya.

Poems & Dust (PND) - Dirty Words

Does anyone know where I can get this album? or if it's still available?

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Looking for gift ideas? HELLO SOMEBODY

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be blogging a few gift ideas. 
Just some things that have caught my attention.

First up...HELLO SOMEBODY

Thinking about buying shirts, jackets, or a tank top for gifts?  HELLO SOMEBODY has that...here.
How 'bout a watch? Or watches?  HELLO SOMEBODY...right here & here.
HELLO SOMEBODY, music?  here
Beanie, scarf, combo packs (pink, black)? <---there, there, & there (& there).

HELLO SOMEBODY has a lot of great products.

BUT the best part of this company is that when we make a purchase...we are taking part in things like this:


Hello Somebody and Light The Streets from Hello Somebody on Vimeo.

Earlier in November, I ordered a jacket/tank top/watch combo pack and it came pretty quickly...and I live in Hawaii!  I feel like it came within a week.  Another thing that I think was cool...my address was handwritten on the box my stuff was shipped in.  I just like that small business-personal touch-feel that it conveyed.

Anyway, that's that. If you have any questions...umm check out the website at:

hello-somebody.com

There's a lot more stories, pictures, videos, and information there.

Any Christmas gift suggestions for me?

Alrighty...until next time!

Friday, November 25, 2011

CARROT MOB HAWAII!!

This past Saturday on Nov 19, Hawaii experienced it's first ever CARROT MOB! The basic concept is to BUYcott instead of boycott business to influence change. For a more in depth explanation you can check out their webpage here... http://www.carrotmob.org/


This past CARROT MOB was held at The WINE STOP.

"The Wine Stop--a Hawaiian owned and locally operated business--wants to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels to help Hawai'i become energy independent."

...and it was a huge success! From what I understand, The Wine Stop usually brings in about $1500 on a Saturday. They pledged to put 80% of the profits made above that $1500 towards retrofitting their store. From 1pm - 5pm on Nov 19th, can you guess how much money they brought in?

Almost $7000!!!

Thanks to KYA Sustainability Studio, the people of Hawaii, and other local business concerned with Hawaii's energy independence.

Here's the FB event page if you want more info on what went on. Click here

Next CARROT MOB will be at Kale's Natural Foods Store in the Hawaii Kai Shopping Center (next to Safeway)! Here's the FB event page.

Maybe see you there?

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

New David Crowder!

Can't wait for this album to come out!  Here's the new single "Let Me Feel You Shine" from the David Crowder Band.



Anything coming out that you're excited for?

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Still here...barely

Hey,

I'm still here. I haven't abandoned the blog.

I've just been going through a...I've just been going through some things.

Stuff like my faith and what it really means to be a follower of Jesus. & am I doing that or just living an American life with a little 'Jesus' sprinkled on top?

I think about our planet and how we can't afford to ignore how irresponsible we have been with the resources we have been blessed with. I've always thought or imagined that there was an unlimited amount of things and that this planet would always be able to sustain us. But there is a lot of evidence saying otherwise. Not only regarding fuel...but water as well.

Then the greed that driving so much of this. I feel like it's a gigantic wave that can't be stopped.

There is so much that is wrong.

But what can I do to make it right?

Not much.

But recently I felt like God reminded me that, in spite of my seemingly good intentions, it can never be about me. It has to be about Him.

Who would I rather have working things out? Me? Who is just one out of what is now 7 billion people on the earth? or Him? Maker of the Heavens and the Earth?

I'd take Him, too.

And even then it's hard 'cause there's always that pull to try to figure things out on my own.

Then verse from the bible came to mind and gave me some clarity:

So Jesus explained, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does." John 5:19 NLT

I does comfort me in the sense that God doesn't want me to look at all the world's problems and fix all of them...although if that could be done, then that'd be great. But He wants me to watch Him and just do what I see Him doing.

That's seems easier.

We'll see.

Thanks for reading.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Ben Rector - Something Like This

I tweeted this and facebook-ed about this album Something Like This yesterday...and one day later, I still have to make sure you get this. If you don't trust my word, take a look (& listen) at what people in Nashville, Tennessee are saying about Ben Rector and the album...incredible stuff:



All kidding aside, here's a sample of the album:



Still not convinced? You can go to Ben's bandcamp page and download a free sampler of a few songs from his previous albums. That's right I said FREE. Go get it!

Hope you love it.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Big Idea

So I haven't blogged in a while.

And then today....5 POSTS!!! 4 of which are songs and lyrics that I've technically already written. So does that count? YES!!! I'm counting them!

But anyway, I've posted this songs here partially because I didn't know where else I could.

I'm rambling. Sorry.

So the Big Idea.

Lately I've felt that the church...our church...my church...should do something...something more...to be a blessing to our community. The thing that I felt the LORD say to do was to make a recording. So the basic idea is to make a live / acoustic / recording of these songs...which I wrote, plus 2 more covers. Next we sell the album. Then we give all the profit to the community. The target would be our local high school. Just to say that we are here and want to be a blessing to you.

If you know where I work and where we meet for church, you can probably put two and two together, but I don't want to post it here just yet.

Anyway, that's why I posted those songs...so you can practice!

My hope for this project is that the album wouldn't be the final product, but seeds that we are sowing into our community in hopes of bearing greater fruit than just music...but that lives would be affected for the better.

I need a lot of help, so if you wanna help in anyway you can, big or small, let me know. You can leave a comment, or send me a message on facebook or twitter. I think there are links to the right somewhere. Even a little note saying you're praying for this is more of a blessing than you know.

I'll post updates as more things come clear.

Thanks for reading...take care

& let your light shine.....

Song time - Be Still

wrote this song going through a rough patch in my life...it's about trusting that even though everything seems to be crashing down around me, I need to make time to stop and realize the LORD is there and He is God.

BeStill(082311DEMO) by jaredmiyamoto

Chorus
I will be still   I will wait here
For You to come O LORD
For You to come


Verse1
(&) save the day, rescue me once again
speaking to me words of hope
& peace, driving away all I fear


PreChorus1
In the valley of the shadow
I will find my strength in You


(Chorus)

Verse2
(&) take my hand, I am reaching out to You again
I have tried to make it on my own
but failed. I am weary and in need of rest


PreChorus2
Like the prodigal I must confess
Only You can fill this emptiness, so...


(Chorus)


Bridge
In the valley of the shadow
I will find my strength in You
Like the prodigal I must confess
Only You can fill this emptiness, so...

(Chorus)


Let your light shine.....

Song time - For You So Loved

...based off of John 3:16

  ForYouSoLoved(81111)DEMO by jaredmiyamoto

Verse 
Oh God, for You so loved the world 
that You sent Your only Son to die upon the cross 
the sacrifice for all 
 That whoever would believe 
Would gain eternal life 
For our sins are washed away by the blood that flowed from Him 
Our Savior Jesus Christ 

Chorus 
LORD You gave everything to show 
Your great love that rescues evermore 
Forever I will praise Your holy name 
For You alone are God Savior of the world 
Worthy to be praised 

Bridge 
God of mercy and grace I pray forgiveness fall like rain 
as I give my life to You Holy Spirit make me new 
& wash away my shame 
And I will join the angel's song 
singing, "Holy is the LORD" Forever and always for all of my days 
I will worship You my God 

Let your light shine.....

Song time - I Love You LORD

This song is just talking to the LORD about what He has done in my life and my response to Him.

ILoveYouLord(81811DEMO) by jaredmiyamoto

Verse
I come before You LORD  For You have made my heart to see
Your unfailing love is pouring out on me
Your mercy saved my soul Your grace it makes me clean
And I'll worship You my LORD, forever I will sing

Chorus
I love You LORD
and I will praise You with my whole heart
for my life is Yours
I love You LORD
may Your name be exalted
in all of the earth

Bridge
to the one who's saved my soul
to the one who makes me whole
to the one who redeemed me
to the one who sets me free
to the one who reigns on high
to the one who gave His life
to the one who's always faithful
O LORD my God I'll praise You


Let your light shine.....

Song time - Holy Is the LORD

This is just a simple song that I wrote to express my heart in what some call "worship". A prayer of sorts.

HolyIsTheLord(81111)DEMO by jaredmiyamoto

Verse
We praise You God above all things 
Savior of the world The King of kings 
We bow our hearts before You now in awe 

We gather here O LORD to seek Your face 
Let Your glory fall here in this place 
As we worship You with all our hearts 

Chorus
We cry out holy is the LORD 
We cry out holy is the LORD 

Bridge
Let Your glory fall here in this place as we worship You 
Let Your glory fall here in this place as we worship You

Let your light shine...

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

You Were a House on Fire by Listener

I cannot tell you how much I love the Wooden Heart album by Listener. Dan Smith's lyrics are amazing. I shared a bit of what I thought about the track Wooden Heart a while back, here.

However right now, their song You Were A House On Fire is what...is what is moving me...challenging me...helping me to see and understand the world a little better. Here's the audio.



The whole song is amazing, but the parts that really get to me is in the second verse. It reads:

We all write songs about life, we just sing them different.
you sing the words but you don't know the song
and you expect us all to sing along? how selfish.
- for me it speaks about thinking my way is the only way...that for a long time I have been "selfish"...not listening to the way others sing their songs...and because they don't sing it my way, it think it's wrong...that needs to change. basically, I need to listen better.

the lengths that we go to, to put so much distance between us is staggering
- here is pretty self explanatory. crazy how much time, $, & energy we spend to isolate ourselves from each other...and then just as much of the same trying to meet others...something is not right.

I can't decide if I should knock down your door or on it
say the word and I'll take an axe to your heart or a pin prick

- this part is just full of emotion that i don't know why, but connects with me. just the conflict he is struggling with as to how to rescue this person. should he come crashing in? or wait to be invited in?

cut right through the dark, let it spill out the contents
on our knees sorting through the remnants
pour out your hate in my hands, I'll let em slip through my fingers
- i just love the the 3rd line here. beautiful.

You can find the whole song w/ lyrics here at Listener's Bandcamp Page...and while you're there you can check out the rest of their album as well!

Also, here's a live performance of the song with a little intro to the song itself. And as you'll hear Dan say, "hope you love it."

Monday, August 29, 2011

A quick look back

So I've been trying to go through the bible this year with Youversion.com & it's been pretty good, I must say. I do miss my readings some times, but so far, I've been able to catch up on most of them. One thing that I feel has been a theme for me this year is 'to remember' because as one lyric from Listener's Wooden Heart says, "We only have what we remember"...and I don't want to be robbed (or rob myself) of what the LORD has given me (family, friends) and what He has been showing me in this season of my life. Now, there are a few...well, maybe a lot...of misspellings and grammar errors, so I apologize in advance. But as I've looked back, here is a small sample of what I feel the LORD has been showing me as I've read and journaled. Just click on the links below...and if you have any thoughts, let me know. I'd love to talk it out with you...cause I might be still working through some of it myself.

The Garden, The Law, & Faith
The LORD buried him
A personal encouragement
Just got slapped in the face by Paul
He is in the whisper
This Never Gets old
He cuts everything
Continually seeking Him
only fooling myself
Wholeheartedly

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Song time - You & I

To those of you who read the blog from time to time, you probably have heard this one already. But for those of you who have just started reading...this'll be new. I just uploaded another song.

It's called You & I and basically I wrote this for Tiana. Just to say that I love her and I always will love her no matter what lies ahead. Thanks for reading and thanks for listening!
- J

YouAndI(81111)DEMO by jaredmiyamoto

Friday, August 12, 2011

Look at what I did...


So I made a Facebook Musician/Band page and uploaded some songs...really rough demo's. 2 for church, 1 for Tiana. (side note: I messed up on some of the recordings, but I'm just way too lazy to do it all again...and not savvy enough to be all tricky like real sound engineers.)

Anyway, I'll be updating the blog from that page now instead of using the regular one, so if you want updates from Facebook it'd be better to 'like' the page. You can click here for the link, or up on that screen shot above.

Also, if you're not on Facebook but still wanna listen...
http://soundcloud.com/jaredmiyamoto ...and you can check me out there, too.


Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Gifts of Water

Last year around Christmas time, I got involved with a campaign called Gifts of Water.  A few of you joined in as well. Each of us chipped in $10 and our $10 added with many others became something more amazing than any of us could have done on our own. Today the village of Malindi Uganda has clean water to use for drinking, cooking, & cleaning! Before this, many people there suffered from skin diseases, bilharzia, tape worms, diarrhea, and vomiting due to the dirty water. But now, that is a thing of the past. Here's a little video showing what $10 can become...


Malindi, Uganda Safe Water Celebration from Water Missions on Vimeo.


For more information, check out their website:
http://www.watermissions.org/

Also, did you see that lake? Did you see that green water? That was what they had to use before!

Crazy.

Finally, just wanted to say thanks to everyone who joined our team (Team Wai Mau) and in doing so let the people of Malindi, Uganda know that Hawaii sends them some love.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I'm not as good as I thought.

I thought I'd write about this while the thought was still semi-fresh in my brain. It has to do with sin, God, salvation, & judging. Looking at that combination of topics, it doesn't look like it's gonna be a great post, but hang with me here. This is gonna be about me. If you get something out of it, then that would be awesome, but I just wanted to share with you where I'm at.

Still here?

Cool.

So yesterday, I was doing my daily bible reading (...BTW I'm trying to read thru the bible in a year w/ Youversion. just click on that logo on the right to see where I'm at...) and the verse that stood out to me was Isaiah 11:4. It reads...

He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. Isaiah 11:4 NLT

Now what I feel like God showed me in this verse was not just because of reading this particular verse. It's that plus the EVERYTHING that came before. Bible, Church sermons, life experience, etc.

So here's what I thought first. I thought that this was super hopeful. The LORD will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. Very much a church appropriate verse. Paints me (the hearer) as the poor which the LORD came to save. Also for all the injustice that is going on in the world, the LORD will give justice to those who have been wronged.

Then the next part, I usually just skim over. You know the part where the LORD comes to lay the smack down on the bad guys and all EVIL people of the world! It reads...

The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.

...destroy the wicked.

I don't know why, but that part stuck in my head. Then I kinda started thinking...wondering if I...was the wicked. I mean, you know how you can think that you're one thing, but others perceive you as the opposite? That would suck so bad if when the LORD comes to bring justice...I think I'm "the poor" and on the good end of the stick...but really I'm "the wicked" and I get whooped! I mean the bible talks about that sort of thing in Matthew 7:22-24.

So I was kinda stuck for a while. How do I avoid the possibility of being the wicked? Then I felt like the LORD came and saved me all over again with this thought:

Admit that you are wicked.

Admit that you are wicked...because that is who the LORD has come to save. Those who see their wickedness but who also humble themselves and confess their need for a savior.

I think that for the longest time I look at myself as a "christian" and say that yeah, I've done some not so good things, but not like "THIS GUY" who murdered, stole, etc. But thinking about salvation with an American judicial filter is the wrong way to go because that's not really how God sees it. The way most of us see things is the harsher the crime, the harsher the penalty. But the way the LORD sees it is this: the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23NIV). Period. Big sin or little sin, all sin leads to the same place. And that is humbling for me to realize. To be honest, I thought I was better than the murderer, or the adulterer, or the thief, and on and on. But really we are the same.

That's not going to change the way that people see me. But I really do pray that it changes the way I see others. That I would be slow to judge & slow to condemn...and that's difficult.

So that's just where I'm at. Kind of a scattered blog entry. But those are the things that came to mind. If anybody wants to discuss, I'm open.

Thanks for reading.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Now Listening to...Josh Garrels

I'm always looking for music to listen to...and a while back, my friend @kaizologos mentioned Josh Garrels. And as of right now, he is giving away his new 18 song album "Love & War & The Sea In Between" at his website joshgarrels.com for FREE. Not sure when that will end.

Here's a clip Josh playing his song "Ulysses". Hope you like it.



Josh's blog: http://www.joshgarrels.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Now Listening to...


I am currently in love with this album! It is playing everyday on repeat since we bought it last week. This album (The Outsiders) is from 2009...and all I have to say about that is why did it take me so long to get this?  Just about every song is good.  That is something I definitely appreciate when buying music.  Here is a live studio version of their title track "The Outsiders ".  Hope you like them!