TIME TO STORM THE CASTLE!

 This post is going to be such a jumbled mess.

"How long wilt thou sleep, thou sluggard? And when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?" (Prov. 6:9) I seemed to hear in bed one morning...or was it afternoon already? I'd worked 'til late last night, so..."This is not your rest; it will DESTROY you!" (Mic. 2:10) The voice continued. "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, and thy want as an armed man."(Prov. 6:10-11) Come on, came the gentle urging. Up and at 'em.

After all, it really WAS what I really wanted to do.  I don't know how many times I've found myself crying, praying along with the hymn, "Take my life, and let it be consecrated Lord, to thee."

I always felt like I wanted to serve the Lord as a full-time foreign missionary in church-planting work and wondered when God would give me a church ministry to step into. He had sent me to receive full training in the U.S., hadn't He? During my years there, I'd refused to look at anything that could even possibly deter me from that path.

42 years ago, I graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in the school of religion; 41 years ago, I studied for and passed the doctrinal questionnaire to become a missionary; about 37 years ago finished training at the Missionary Linguistic Institute in Ochanomizu. "Take My Life"...had seemed to take full color then.

When I finally returned to the field, God led me into a marriage union with a national, practically guaranteeing I'd bury my bones here on the mission field. But instead of being a more real way to "do missions" and reach souls with the life Gospel of Christ - "your people shall be my people," Ruth had said, and it has been identifying with the people of the land (even being willing to die there) that has won many to the Cross -ironically, it felt like the marriage distanced me from human organizations of church and missions.

The other day, while listening to a message about the walls of Jericho:

"Junie, those Israelite warriors were ready to give their lives but ended up marching around Jericho a whole day then were told to go back home and do it again the next day...and kept obeying until given the divine signal to GO. You will keep obeying too, right, even in your 60's?" Right, I decided; and e-mailed my sister about it. Less than a week later, it was as if a ton of bricks fell on me:

"Junie, what are you waiting for? All those things you have for readers online--get them posted! GO!" It was as if the walls were finally crumbling. 

" 'Ministry' doesn't have to be traditional church work," God seemed to say. "I can do it any way I want!" 

"Even through online readership?"

"Even through online readership." Need I say more?

So...there are many, many things being posted that have been collected and categorized. After seeing over 100 things written in Japanese, I stopped counting. They're being put on different blogs and if I were younger, it'd be on one big website. I studied HTML back then and actually designed my own site but don't even know where it is now, have forgotten everything I studied. Rats. So I'm just stringing together a bunch of blogs, one for Fiction, one for Family History, several individual Novelettes, actual Ongoing Blogs (like this one), Devotionals, ...you get the idea.

Ever Notice? WHEN WALLS FALL FLAT, THEY LOOK LIKE SMOOTH, WIDELY-PAVED HIGHWAYS! Anyway...much to do.

FLYING TURTLES

You know what I was realizing a while ago?  I'm having a terrible time in dividing up my blog stuff into categories of "family history", "missionary ministry", "spiritual stuff - Bible, devotionals", etc...; because everything overlaps so much!  But I thought about it and realized after a few seconds, that's the way it's supposed to be. Don't we teach life is NOT supposed to be divided into the secular and sacred?

Isn't that why some things that start out as silly fictions end up tripping over spiritual truths along the way? At the very least, the reader's heart wants the villain to be an ogre with an evil temperament, unlike himself...

But wait. Actually, EVERY reader does have a sin problem, doesn't he? And it should be when we are made to come face to face with that awful truth yet then know that God in Christ embraces us fully when we repent...it is when we get there, NOTHING can bring us down from the heights to which our souls would soar.

Yup, even them liddle turtles ken flaaaeei! (What, you haven't heard of mixed metaphors and such?)

WE HEARD

 I heard Norimi Jackson, receiving hospice care until recently, died this morning.

"What a reunion she must be having with Daddy!" my sister Janice e-mailed when she heard.

Norimi's earthly father's baptism Sun, provided a church burial place for the body. I hear when Norimi heard of the baptism, she couldn't respond with words, but tears came out of her eyes, she was so happy.

Would you pray for Sammy Jackson, all the siblings for that matter, as they ponder their mother's Homegoing; as well as for Mr. and Mrs. Arakaki (the former Miss Nakandakari), that God would send special messages of His love and leading grace for them? Thank you.

What would be His reason for changing my name?

Yesterday I mentioned my love for animals. Some people would say what I do is silly, extreme, even want to question my mental balance. Yesterday, I told of how I formed friendships with the park turtles, carp, crows in the Iwatsuki Park. (The turtle pictured was photographed a few months ago on the river in front of the house.)

I remember first calling a carp "Double" because I could never tell the difference between him and carp Jesse Fin at first. NOW I can't see how in the world I could ever make a mistake! I suppose that's how mothers are with twins too. Later, I decided to call that carp "Bubble" because...well, I have no trouble identifying it now, and it is in the frothy water, after all!

There was a crow I labeled "Stealth" at first because of its ability to silently, undetected, swoop into areas in the high shade of trees other crows wouldn't get away with near where the great blue herons perched. He'd get situated, and call to them. But later, when it seemed his personality changed--really--and he seemed to be working for friendlier relations between heron and crow, I pretended he asked to have his name changed from "Stealth" to "Health".

I think there was a man in the Bible called Saul who was later called Paul. Hmm. If God were to change my name, what would be His reason for wanting to do so?

The name of my favorite turtle in the park? "Quasimodo the Injured Turtle at Iwatsuki  Park with Shoe-shaped Shell" was much too long. I liked "Quasi" instead, so that name stuck.

SONGS AT KAZUE'S

"Lord, please make it cool!" Joyce and I walked up the hill to our cousin Kazue's house. It was only 2-3 mins.' walk away, I knew, but past experience had taught me that in summer heat, even that short amount of time was enough to get the body temperature to start on an upward climb that would not stop, and land me in bed, ever so sorry with high fever....

But not only had the weather "opened up" for a conducive visit; the schedule "opened up" to make it possible for all of us to get together at the same time; and it seemed God "opened up" even the subject matter: Kazue's love for music seemed to mirror Joyce's God-given gifts, and my love for animals seemed to echo Kazue's!

The biggest reason we went to Kazue's was to show her a Thank-you video sent by my sister Janice. She wanted her to see her little granddaughter Theia singing a Japanese children's song; Kazue had sent helps to learning those songs! After showing that video, we relayed the news the little girl's mother had been diagnosed with cancer but has been testifying of the peace that God gives despite everything.

I wonder if Kazue remembers how Mommy sang the same chorus of peace when her cancer diagnosis came?

YOU'RE STILL THERE?

"And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see." (Rev. 6:5)

I know. Some will think, HOW MANY TIMES will you have to write the same words, June? And when it comes to unregenerate readers giving what is that--how they deem one is "good" and one is "bad" --I've heard the comment: if they repeat what they've already said before, it's nothing new; I want to learn something new with every post; don't waste my time!"

Then don't read my blogs, I guess. And don't read scripture, which values line upon line, precept upon precept. In fact, anyone who really thinks and observes realizes that things of value merit repetition, and actually the very word "REINFORCEMENT" carries with it the concept of repetition.

Any language is learned by repetition of sounds and practice of combinations of grammar, expression, reasoning. Logic, for that matter, declares situation as fact if proven constant through repetition. Choices in life...are they not made by comparison, an actual variation of this thing called "repetition": repeated appearances, repeated financial status, repeated health-strength-medical conditions, repeated material assets, repeated natural resources?

Great castles may be built on repetitions of one brick placed on top of another; expansive halls covered with floors of tiles lined side by side; the Kingdom of Rome was held together by much-trodden-on slabs of rock!

Appraisal. That's the word I was looking for a while ago. But scripture says, "Who is he that judges?" It is the LORD. We need to remember God in the Heavens looks down to hear man's words and renders judgment on them. As far as "repetition" is concerned well, it's like the way Paul Harvey looks down at some 2-yr-olds who "render judgment" and think they're so smart, but they look so cute to him, and he can't stand it.

Canon and finger exercises are necessary for the concert pianist. Practicing line control and doing gesture drawings are musts for the painter and visual artist. Not interested in repetition? Sorry; it's the building block for living.

(A later blog will tell why I've had to keep coming back to Rev. 6:5 mentioned at the beginning of this post.)

NAKANDAKARIS, NORIMI, TWO SPECIAL SUNDAYS

I wonder if Daddy would've been allowed to peer over the battlements of Heaven to see 8/24's baptism?

Because of some sensationalism and dramatization on TV, a lot of people have gotten  desensitized to the exceptional even when it happens in real life. What happened here...what's the big deal, they might say. But when you think about it, it's incredible.

That's probably why I've found myself talking about it several times. It's NOT just a fun fairy tale to relate. Over 60 years ago, young ladies by the last name of Nakandakari left the Uken village where there was no church to fellowship for the young people. They came to a tiny church started in a former public bathhouse in Shuri, about an hour south.

Started by missionaries Roy and Kimiko Oshiro, the ones who had come to their village with the Gospel in answer to the earnest prayer of a converted leper. In continued answer to that prayer, several years later, God used the U.S. military to donate a quonset hut so the believers there would have a church (sketched from memory above) there a few years later as well.

The Nakandakari sisters got married and ended up leading their children to salvation. When her oldest daughter Norimi came to visit Daddy in the hospital, she was a mother herself and had led her sons to Christ. Of course Daddy had no idea who she was, but she considered him the family's "lifesaver" since it was missionary Oshiro who was instrumental in getting spiritual life to her mother, who taught about it to her, who then relayed it to her sons.

I still remember when Daddy was sick and weak, He just wanted to go to Heaven. But God seemed to have a little more work for him to do, because He kept him around for just a little longer.

After Norimi's visit to the hospital, Daddy went to a nursing home, and Norimi came to visit again, this time with the mother who'd been saved about 60 years ago as well as her father. At that time, the father was not a Christian.

The next time I heard about this family, Norimi's recurring cancer gave cause for concern, but her father found Christ, giving us cause to rejoice! Also, one of Norimi's sons, Sammy, who'd been in his teens when she visited Daddy in the hospital, finished his training in the U.S.  and came to preach for us at  Gushikawa Baptist Church last month.

Then to top it all off, it seemed we were losing Norimi's father to senility, but recently, he pulled back mentally. So Norimi's parents were baptized Sunday, Aug. 24!

...which means Norimi's mom waited and prayed over half a century after she found salvation for her husband to become a Christian too before she could get baptized?!

THE KING OF THE UNIVERSE DIED "NEEDING"!

This just came to me...

I know how the saying, "A friend in need is a friend indeed" got started, but I wonder how many people really understand where that can end up? The person who "meets that need" really believes that other person was needier and thinks he was the benefactor on top providing that need so is the one to be thanked, feels absolutely no gratitude towards the person he helped!

Perhaps the end goal was that of encouraging the helper, of bettering his self-esteem, nothing more. SO IT IS ONLY IF GOD CHOOSES TO REMOVE A VEIL OF WISDOM FROM THE EYES OF HIS MIND (by various means) HE WILL RECOGNIZE THE FAVOR OF GRACE SHOWN HIM; otherwise, He may proceed the rest of his life unaware of this fact, simply thinking himself to be the benefactor.

When Joseph of Arimathea asked for Jesus' body off the Tree, I wonder if the VEIL OF WISDOM was removed then to see that he had been permitted to handle the clay vessel of the Son of God used for the Redemption of Mankind...including himself? Would it have occurred to him what an awesome thing it was for a human being to interact with God like that at the foot of the Cross?!

- or - 

As the natural mind would have it, would onlookers say, this was a "good man," the benefactor who stooped to extend an act of kindness to an executed criminal, discarded and forgotten, whom no one else cared to touch, who deserved no care, who was alone and unable to fend for himself? ALL actually as untrue as the billionaire who retired his disguise as a beggar in a slum alley and returned to his estate, accounts, limousines, and bodyguards. The kind custodian friend came by and found the old rags and buried them for him.

P.S.:(A big difference between the above allegory and the reality is that Jesus REALLY DID DIE. It wasn't just his clothes that were tattered and buried. He was dead for 3 days. But then He came back to life again. HE DIDN'T NEED ANYBODY'S HELP FOR THIS!)

HADN'T THOUGHT ABOUT THAT

 I had to write this while it was still fresh.

Today is our wedding anniversary. As I was doing this morning, some might wonder, "Does my spouse REALLY love me? I've thought of EVERYTHING, and..."

God seemed to interrupt me. "No you haven't."

What?

"You've thought about your husband's past, his needs, his self-esteem, his spiritual condition, your own spiritual call, your responsibility as wife-mother-Christian, your various spiritual responsibilities...but you haven't thought about ME."

What? What was God talking about? Would I listen while He talked, I seemed to hear. Then:

Had God become so stupid now He couldn't get one man just right for one woman and bring them together? I mean, He did it when He brought animals to an ark before a worldwide flood in Gen. 7, didn't He? Didn't we believe God could do that anymore?

"You say you've thought of everything, but you really haven't, June. The next time even a feel a tinge of negativism about your condition, can't you just say, 'Gen. 7'?

Noah didn't understand/approve everything either; he just had confidence in GOD to know God knew what He was doing. And look what God did!"

Chapter 8 starts out, "GOD REMEMBERED NOAH, and every living thing". That is not a bad way to make a difference, agreed?

The rainbow in chapter 9 was like an engagement ring promising the regenerate bride we would never have to face a "Flood of Destruction". Another not ungreat way to make a difference, Noah.

And most people thought he was shut away in a dark old boat while a tempest was going on all around him, and that oceanliner didn't even have controls but floated like a jellyfish.

CANTATA of PRAISE to GUISE of DISOBEDIENCE

"On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross/An emblem of suff'ring and shame/And I love that old Cross where the Dearest and Best for a world of lost sinners was slain./ So I'll cherish the old rugged cross/'till my trophies at last I lay down/ I will cling to the old rugged cross/ And exchange it some day for a crown."

I woke up this morning with that tune running thru' my mind. Actually, it was the Japanese lyrics of part of the song「十字架の悩みは我が罪のためなり。」

When the church today moves from hymns to contemporary music, claiming this only reflects the change of time, I beg to differ. The majority of songs today, with emotion-arousing chords and repeating sentiments, do not have the strength of hymn lyrics.  It's not mere modernization of music then but the church seems to lose spiritual depth too.

Let others sing these songs, but they felt like cardboard for me those 5 weeks in Taishokan when I needed "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" coming out of my earbuds (those aware of my situation know of my dire need). I still remember how much I liked "Shout to the Lord", but that song just did not do it for me at that time.

And these new songs - I know none of them make me feel like wings are sprouting on my back and make me fly, the way some of the old hymns do. They spell out reasons to sing, not merely state that I should. New ones don't tell me why God is Great or why we worship a Holy God, just state that He is and that we will. Also, they seem centered around how God has benefited me, speaks far less on what God has done showing Who He is.

This is the most embarrassing thing: the church changes hymns shamelessly. If anybody did this in the secular world, there'd be copyright problems instantly. But the church blatantly ignores God's mandate, "Thou shalt not steal" Sunday after Sunday, assuming a merciful God will allow this. And it's been mentioned before, but hard-necked Christians will not repent. The most common excuse is that individuals don't memorize hymns anymore so say we don't know when hymns are being changed so are guilty of nothing; we in the congregation wash our hands of the matter.

"Take away from me the noise of thy songs." (Amos 5:23) is the sentiment God expressed, not wanting melodious, solemn, or sacrificial form worship, actually disguises for disobedience.

Maybe we need to get back to memorizing why we should joy in God and then just do so. 

GOD & SIN, LOVE & JUSTICE

Here's part of today's journal entry:

I was thinking of the conversation I had with an ardent Buddhist friend who talked of her belief that the dieties left when displeased with the wickedness they saw on the earth. Isn't that kind of: "We'll protect you if you please us, but not if you scare us away?" But wait. How does that differ from the Bible God's way of looking at sin? Don't we say God hates sin too? Father, show me, I prayed.

I needed to remember I was trying to understand with my limited mind, in finite semantics, infinite spiritual matters.

God's Absolute Purity was the basis for which everything else was compared. The backdrop, so to speak, against which anything was placed. Sin was not merely something that was bad; it was an abomination; what happened when you put like ends of a magnet together.

BUT God was Absolute Love. Again here, man's semantics had no expression to do justice to this. He was Love in such a way DESPITE that Absolute Sin in the heart of man, He would wrap us with unilateral mercy that any who would repent of that sin could become His Adopted Heir and have nothing more to do with that absolute sin which repelled Him so; rather, take on the nature of the magnetic pole of the other end forever!

Now when it came to God's way of looking at evil, I saw two almost diametrically opposed teachings regarding this, and both were just as convincing to me.

1. I looked at some human parents with wayward children spending time with the wrong group: there were drugs, questionable illegal stuff going on, drinking, all the dress, lighting, music, hours, money, language, age, shouted out: BAD NEWS. Parents did all they could to discourage the children from going there. Time after time they talked to them, scolded, reprimanded, grounded, punished, did anything they could, until one day they decided the child would just have to learn on their own. They didn't even bail the child out of jail when there was a police raid as they'd done before. They pulled their hands out of their child's life because of the wickedness yes, but because they loved the child.
2. God promises He will never leave us nor forsake us. God's holiness must not be mocked, His patience tested. Altho' these concepts seem so opposed, God claims them simultaneously. We created beings should not demand to understand the mind of our Creator; merely submit to His demands. Cannot we believe the same God Who promises to be our Everlasting Father has Infinite Hatred for Sin? In fact, He allowed His Only Son to swallow His Wrath for us on the Cross! Some people think the love and justice of God are two separate, foreign, almost opposing truths. Actually, the latter proved the former!

HE DIDN'T TELL US TO WITNESS?

"I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not;" Jesus assured Peter. What an encouragement those words must've been! "When thou art converted," the words following are pretty much forgotten: "go tell the lost of thy Savior's dying love"? NO! The Master's words were: "STRENGTHEN THY BRETHREN." (Lk.22:32)

Our FIRST responsibility should be towards the others of the flock. Sometimes I think we get things backwards. We're supposed to show such a strong bond in the family that it makes those outside marvel and want to know our God too. We're not supposed to be treating family members like slaves in order to reach the lost! Some Christians think the biggest reason God leaves people alive on this earth after salvation is to witness to the unsaved, so of course, such sacrifice is necessary! Effort and money is spent on fliers and posters for evangelistic meetings, but it seems meaningless to give time  pursuing other spiritual siblings' interests.

God wants to save souls and give us love, joy, and abundant life. But does it occur to those of us in the church that to be too busy evangelizing to give priority to strengthen our brethren is disobedience of Jesus' words--is SIN?

Yes, our Everlasting Father will continue blessing His children no matter what they do, knowing we truly want to please Him deep down. But we may need to take a step back and repent, realize that He is blessing while shaking His head and despite of  our omissions instead of because of pleasure with our actions.

One more thought--Christians do not simply decide to love one another. Individuals must open up their Bibles and see for themselves GOD and fall in love with Him. "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee," Job said  (42:5)  When that one Christian goes to a place of gathering and meets another soul who has also fallen in love with the God of the Bible in the same way, there will be an unquestionable knitting of hearts. Of course, this should happen repeatedly with the 3rd individual, the 4th, the 5th, and by the time the entire flock has been "knit together in love", the Church undaunted has a bond so strong, nothing can unravel the cords. Methinks today's church is weak because so much talk of love and unity centers on community of - love between - the faithful humans themselves. While unity of the faith is precious, we center on Christ; community should be just the result, not the aim.

DON'T WIPE THE TEARS AWAY TO BE STRONG

I see now David couldn't get fully angered with Abner or other ungodly subjects who turned their faces of impudence toward him or willfulness against the Most High; he had to envelope them with the same mercy he had been shown when he had thrown himself at God's Feet when he was forgiven and loved despite all that happened with Bathsheba.

No wonder scripture says he that does not forgive his brother is not born from on high; no one who has experienced death row and then been pardoned finds it hard to excuse someone for calling him a fatty!

Anyone who realizes he has escaped the relentless, eternal torment of sin would find it that difficult to release offense of temporal injustices, and whenever he does wrestle with it would only need to flee back to this reality to free his mind and soul of enslavement right to bitterness.

Also...I realized God doesn't want us to wipe the tears away to be strong in trying to display these spiritual truths! He wants us to acknowledge these truths yes, but there is a  difference, a very fine line, but a difference in what He wants us to do.

I think God the Father would rather we go to Him and say honestly, humbly, "These are my tears. This is how I feel. This is what You've said about it, and I know You can fix it. Would You?" And He will. He will take us up in His Arms, tell us He has been watching the whole time, is aware of the working of all hearts in the situation, and will make everything all right. He will tell us of His mighty love for us - how could we ever doubt it - and ask us to trust Him again.

Of course I will. And His faithfulness makes me, like Isaac, laugh.

CAPTIVE TO ONE THING

 "This One thing I do" Paul said in Phil. 3:13-14, referring to pressing for the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Earthly artists may speak of other mark-making. Secular psychologists speak of forgetting past traumas. While Paul was saying he will leave ALL behind, the good and the bad makes no difference, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ!

Mary sat at Jesus' feet to listen to him talk to the other men visiting. In that day, adults, men especially, were given a place of prominence, but women and children were supposed to stay in the background, and as it is said in modern society, they were "seen but not heard." Here was Mary, a woman, SITTING plop at Jesus' the central speaker's feet! But then He said of her: "One thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." (Lk. 10:42) Wow. What would I give to have Jesus say something like that about me?!

There is another "One thing" I think about in the Bible. Ps. 27:4. People think often of Solomon's prayer for wisdom when God asked him what he desired and mention how he was pleased. Well, He was pleased He heard "wisdom" instead of "riches" or "power" or "fame", granted; but far, far greater, methinks, was God's pleasure when He heard David, Solomon's father, respond: "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold, the beauty of the LORD, and the inquire in his temple." (Ps. 27:4)

To be perfectly fair to Solomon, this was not in response to God's request to David as to what he wanted. It's only a guess that if He had asked him, this is what he would have said, since this is what he had expressed separately. All his life, David was given, not the spectacular house, throne, temple, peaceful kingdom, fame, that his son knew; rather, he grew up as a shepherd boy battling bears, lions, giants, jealous siblings, a murderous king, instability in the home, conflict in the nation. But in it all, his "one love" never changed. 

Lord, make me a captive to that kind of love too, all my life.

HERE GOES NOTHING

It is Nov. 9, 2024. I have found, in Daddy's study, some e-mails from 2001-2003 that were lost in this blog. Altho' they would be read most enjoyably when surrounding circumstances could be known--and it is fairly impossible to ascertain all the details of what happened over twenty years ago--even having these posts without that background information is better than having nothing at all, so I decided to get this started again plus  add  present journaling  to it, so there will be a distinct break between the writing of a mother, in mainland Japan, with two young children and now me, in her 60's, back in Okinawa, but "here goes nothing," as they say.