How are you spending your short years on this planet? Are you living with intention—or simply drifting through life? Have you embraced the purpose God entrusted to you, or have comfort and self-interest dulled your spiritual edge?

The clock is ticking—tick-tock, tick-tock...

Yuri and Hanaya confront the dangers of spiritual passivity. This is a wake-up call to shake off complacency and own your God-given calling. Now is the time to live with urgency. Steward your gifts, time, finances, and influence to make it less about yourself and more about revealing Jesus to the world.

Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy.
– John Piper

Hanaya Oki Series:  https://superdifferent.com/hanaya

I lost all my friends at school, now that I’ve begun to ‘walk my talk’, they make fun of me. I don’t even know what I have done. I don’t really have to say anything and they turn from me. But you know what, I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus. I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me. If I have to sacrifice everything I will. I will take it. If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend Jesus, then that's fine with me.
— Rachel Joy Scott | From her diary, 1998

I dedicate this clip in memory of Rachel Joy Scott. Rachel was 17 years old and the main inspiration behind the character Hanaya Oki. If you want to know about Rachel and what happened to her, you can read the post "Rachel Joy Scott: The teen who loved Jesus".

Is Jesus the most important person in our lives? When the trials of life arrive, and we suffer loss, is Jesus still worthy? We can never glory in our capacity to love Him back. The spotlight isn't really on us or Rachel. Those who know they're loved best, love best.

If you've lost sight of Jesus, may your heart be stirred, realigned, and renewed as you listen to Hanaya's heartfelt words to Jesus and the worship song.

It's not the stretch of life that matters. It's the depth of life. It's not how long we live. It's how we live.
— Leonard Ravenhill

God can’t do anything in your life unless you meet him halfway. You have to make room for him. A lot of room. Go after God. Whatever it takes, do it. And don’t give the excuse, “I am just a teenager” or “I’ll do that when I grow up,” because it doesn’t work that way.
— Rachel Joy Scott | From her diary

I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.
— Apostle Paul

Hanaya Oki Series:  https://superdifferent.com/hanaya

On their way back from Shichirigahama beach, Hanaya and her mom engage in a conversation about what causes the hardening of the heart and the falling away of believers. They explore the sobering reality of how people can shipwreck their faith. False prophets, false Christs, false Gospel, and a false church are proliferating among us. How do believers get off track? What throws them into confusion and deception?

Hanaya's mom cites that the fundamental problem is not the ignorance of the truth. There's a basic reason why people do not own up to the truth. As you listen to the words of caution and encouragement in this conversation, tend to the soil of your own heart. Stay anchored, stay alert, and most importantly, stay in love with God. 

The most ridiculous thing you can ever say is keep God first, keep God number one. Don't ever say that. Because you're assuming He's in the same category with everyone else. God's in a box all to Himself. There is no second. He's in a category completely separate and distinct from everything else that exists and He's there alone. I labor in my own heart to drive out other loves, competing loyalties. Let us get a greater vision of Him that He might be singular in our hearts.
— Paul Washer

Proverbs 4:18 tells us, “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” When we walk the path of the righteous or the right path, our walk will become continually brighter no matter how much darkness increases around us. If this is not the case, if we, too, are experiencing increasing darkness, depression, and disorientation, then we have gotten off the right path. If we ask the Lord, He will help us understand where we got off track, but we must make the choice to turn around and be decisive in doing so.
— Rick Joyner

Hanaya Oki Series:  https://superdifferent.com/hanaya

God created time itself—and carved out a piece of eternity for you to exist in. You are not a random accident or just another number in the crowd. You were intentionally designed by a God who knows you more deeply than you know yourself.

He is all-knowing, ever-present, and because of that—you are never truly alone. A single whisper from Him can shift the direction of your entire life. This isn’t about religion or rituals. This is about a real, personal relationship with the God who made you.

Do you truly know God outside the box of tradition and religion? Are you open to a deeper connection?

Let this message from the Bible awaken something in you. Open your heart, lean in, and explore the life-changing truth of how intimately God knows you. May this invoke curiosity in you to dig deeper and go farther.

Being known by God has deep transforming effects upon the human heart. Namely, it produces love for God.
— John Piper

Hanaya Oki Series:  https://superdifferent.com/hanaya

What we see depends on what we look for. There’s always more to every story. Hanaya reflects on how the world’s distractions and deep longings reveal a need for something more — something eternal. In a journey of perspective and faith, we’re reminded that Jesus is not just the guide, but the goal. May this help you to refocus and realign your heart with Jesus.

Hanaya Oki Series:  https://superdifferent.com/hanaya

Paul Washer on temptation and ongoing sin and why you must kill it before it's too late.

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.
– Charles Stanley

Do you ever feel like you’re not enough? Are you struggling with self-worth issues? Are some battles we’re fighting so hard to win worth losing? Perhaps they are. 

Noriko dreams of becoming a K-pop trainee. For the past three years, she has been submitting videos to showcase her talent, hoping to catch the attention of an agency. Despite her best efforts, she hasn’t received any responses, and lately, she has been questioning her self-worth.

One day, Hanaya and Yuri find Noriko sitting alone on the beach. As they begin talking with her, Noriko opens up about her feelings regarding her struggles with the K-pop trainee auditions. Although she has heard the Gospel and learned about God's love and Jesus, something is holding her back.

The world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.
― 1 John 2:17 | The Bible

The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret. And surely, from this point of view, the promise of glory, in the sense described, becomes highly relevant to our deep desire. For glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.
― C.S. Lewis | The Weight of Glory

Hanaya Oki Series:  https://superdifferent.com/hanaya

Life moves in rhythms—times of planting, waiting, growing, and harvest. Whether you're facing delays, frustration, or uncertainty, divine purpose is always at work. Trust God's process. Time spent in preparation is never wasted. Embrace the season you're in. Trust God's perfect timing. Don’t give up—your breakthrough is on the way.

Don't surrender the symphony in your heart to the tyranny of delay. Trust God's timing. It is perfect. Your dream you cherish has a reality attached to it. Frustration is evidence that a greater purpose in you is yet to be fulfilled. You are actually a coiled spring being compressed. Soon that delay will give vent to a divine release and fruit will break forth in your life.
— Lance Wallnau

Hanaya Oki Series:  https://superdifferent.com/hanaya

The story of the rich young ruler is one of the saddest stories in the Bible because he had so much upside potential. He could have leveraged his resources, his network, and his energy for Kingdom causes, but he spent it all on himself. He thought that was what would make him happy. 

The moment Jesus said, “Follow me”, it was the opportunity of a lifetime, but he didn’t have the guts to go for it. What Jesus asked him to give up was nothing compared to what Jesus would have given him in return.

We want everything God has to offer without giving anything up. We want to buy in without selling out. The Gospel costs nothing. We cannot buy it or earn it, but it demands everything. 

When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places to do easy things? That faithfulness is holding the fort? That playing it safe is safe? That radical is anything but normal? Jesus didn’t die to keep us safe. The will of God is not an insurance plan. It’s a daring plan.  The complete surrender of your life to the cause of Christ isn’t radical. It’s normal. It’s time to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. It’s time to go all in.

— Mark Batterson

Scripture: Mark 10:17-31