LAST FLIGHT

 In response to something e-mailed me:

One day, we will all depart on the most costly journey thinkable, but we tend to forget this because Someone else has paid the cost.

The flight is always on time; we're usually the ones not ready to board.

There is no room for luggage. Good Deeds NEVER get anyone into Heaven.

Passports and visas issued by humanity and love will be Rejected at Heaven. Only passports and visas issued at the Cross will be Accepted.

It won't make any difference if you're traveling by economy, business class, or first class. What matters is if you're Under the Blood or not.

*Upon arrival, passengers must go through immigration before entering their future destination. However, a select line is available for passengers with Cross passport/visa to enter their eternal habitations.

I'M STAYING RIGHT HERE

Recently, I saw a video that made me think and then cry...

It showed a series of people who publicly acted outrageously against God, and what happened afterwards. Sudden collapse. Mental turmoil and continuing health problems. Blacklisting, economic/occupational disaster. Those who don't acknowledge God call this Karma or even the rage of the universe; and some who say they believe in Diety and call themselves Christian say God's wrath did this. But the narrator said NO.

The Bible says our archenemy hates God and prowls about as a roaring lion seeking to devour all of His creation (I Pet. 5:7). Although God has spread His curtain of merciful protection over His creation to buffer any attack against it, He will not forcefully hold within check those who brazenly choose to step outside of His guardianship, mocking Him.

I said it made me cry too. Because it made me realize there were so many times I don't even know God is protecting me--when I'm too busy to notice He is right there--and deserve so much worse, but God is extending a merciful covering over me anyway. He is so so kind!

I am His own, not just by creation, but now by new birth, His child. He can't help but want to protect me. And I "can't help" but let Him do so. Some people don't like not having choices. This is one time I love not having the option of doing anything else but accept my Father's protection.

BEHOLD THE FOWLS OF THE AIR

On the way back from the clinic to pick up my medicine, God gave me a little treat.

It's still hot, so I'd decided NOT to take the scenic route home, to cut the shortest way home through the city just to get back to the air-conditioning. The only birds I'd see today would be those metal figurines of the birds on the bicycle hoops at that traffic light intersection, I figured. 

But when crossing the street, I heard a chirping I knew didn't come from inanimate objects. Besides, it was coming, from up to my right...

A real live sparrow was skipping around on the telephone pole, and seemed to be calling to me. Those birds usually run away if you look hard at them. But this one waited for me to grab my camera out of my bag and snap at it and then cry, "Rats! Forgot the memory card!"

So...I have no photo of my Heavenly Father's "blow-kiss"; this is what I could do in ballpoint.

JUST DO YOUR BEST; DON'T NEED CHRIST

"I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see." (Rev. 6:7)

Oh God, there are so many thots rushing thru' my mind, how it's just a repetition of other verses I've seen before it, with the only difference being in the number of the beast (but what a difference!)

"Let's stop right there," I was made to feel.

Humans often say, "Same difference," trying to rub out some distinctions. But God says these boundaries are important and must be given due respect and recognition.

I'm not claiming to be knowledgeable in art by any means, but I beg artists to be careful.

From what I heard, it'd be easier to go along and prefer "loose" art, since today's critics seem to be emphasizing self-expression of the artist. The emphasis seems to be, not the portrait as much as the portrayal.

I enjoyed the bit of symbolic drawing I tried. To the right is the "healthy brain" loving and meditating on the Word all the day, exercizing its mind with literature and keeping its brain young with piano lessons. You'll have to excuse the scribbling in the background...I did my drawing on pages of my journal.

But artistic expression, while it is a matter of personal taste, can be tinged with something like the desire to steer clear of God's standard for beauty.

The original standard: "Be ye holy, as I AM holy." has been restated as:

"Just do your very best; no one can expect anything more."

This is what the fourth beast most of us have become accustomed to listening to hearing. So much so that this voice sounds Christian.

ROLLING WATER

It's going to be another one of those "rolling posts" where one thought rolls onto another, because that's what seemed to happen this morning in my time with Father. Here goes...

I got back to the memory passage again. "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and hurt not the oil and the wine."  (Rev. 6:6)

It's the same verse as Sept. 16, but the Holy Spirit pulled my eyes to a different part of it. In the midst of the many voices clamoring "sensible, balanced love-calls" of man's world, is another "still, small voice" not mentioned here. Those belonging to the Shepherd recognize that voice and follow Him, run from the sound of this wheat-and-barley voice.

Father, thank You for the encouraging phone call You sent the other day from my Aunt Matsue.

I need to insert this here. My Mother's cousin, a schoolteacher in CA, on retirement, left the U.S. with her husband to help missionaries in Japan. The two served until he passed away, and God led her to a Japanese Christian later called to Bible School. It was from their church in Kumamoto Prefecture she called.

It just dawned on me: I'd been asking God for sign of encouragement, hadn't I, since it felt like I'd been "peddling" on by myself for a while? I'd kinda gotten used to His sending along the Kawasemi to do so, really (posted photo was Kawasemi sent Tengan River in March!) But this time, it was a clear, human voice with intelligible words. Aunty Matsue and I shared a love for the Word. She reminded me of the importance of sticking to it when walking with Him. Yes, Lord!

"Drinking at the Springs of Living Water...happy now am I; my soul is satisfied!" (chorus)

Keep sending the Water, Lord, and Leading Me to drink there...and oh God, do not let me be like the foolish horse who will not open his mouth to drink!

FOREVER

This is something I once e-mailed to one of my sisters:

*********************************

  I dreamed I was in the next life; had I died from a car collision? --sudden coronary? --unexpected terrorist’s bullet? At any rate, I found myself facing the perfectly righteous God of the universe demanding me to justify the way I had lived. He was much mightier and more awe-inspiring than anything I could had ever imagined.

  My mind’s eye saw this great Sovereign God’s wrath on me, the sinner. He was about to lift me up and cast me into the crackling lake of fire.

  “Jesus!” came out of my heart. From sheer terror, I could not scream. I knew I deserved to be flung in there forever, but the awful thought “forever” paralyzed me. “Jesus!”

  The same motion that had lifted me up in the Hands that should’ve hurled me into the depths of eternal hopelessness, I found kept lifting me higher, and it got brighter, and I landed somewhere.

  People came running. “Pilgrim! We are your brothers! You are safe forever!” That is, I think they were people. But all had shining, smiling faces, free from any hiding or threat or hardness, and they seemed childlike.

  I sucked in my breath– what happened down there? I turned around, looked down.

  Could it be? The face of God, dark with wrath against sin—was looking at someone He’d lifted off the ground…wait…that was me a few moments ago…then that’s not me, but Jesus! And He cast Him into the abyss below.

  I ran to the edge of the place where we stood, and I was hysterical. “Jesus! No, no, no!” But I could hear footsteps of the others behind me.

  “You don’t have to worry,” said one who reached me.

  “That’s what He did at the Cross,” said another voice.

  “Yesterday, today, and forever, I am the same,” said yet another. “I just wanted to show you what I did.”

  “Jesus!” I quickly turned to see Him walking towards me, arms outstretched.

  “But you were…I thought…in my place.” I couldn’t talk and fell into His arms.

  “I wanted you to see what I did at the Cross, I’d do it again and again if I had to—but I don’t have to.” He said softly, patting my head.

  I was about to say, “Oh thank you Jesus,” when there was a scream.

Someone was gesturing wildly and stammering, “B-but that’s Jesus!”

My tears barely dry, I walked up to the group. “It’s okay. He wanted you to see that’s what He did for you on the Cross. Look.” I said, and behind me, was One standing with open arms and a smile that will be yesterday, today, and forever for His own.

LOOKING AFTER OUR FATHER'S PROPERTY

But isn't man the crowning glory of creation? And hasn't he been imbued with wisdom? He is waay above his fellow creatures.

Yes, but that wisdom wasn't given just so he would build strong bridges and edifices and intricate civilizations and advance himself. It's more than obvious in looking at the vast expanse around: the Creator intended humans to manage the rest of creation for HIM; none of the other animals get anywhere near able to do that!

Some people have the wrong idea of the heart of man. "Stop thinking, and Follow your heart," they say. El wrongo. The Creator Who formed us knows he equipped us with animal instincts to protect ourselves. When a half-starved critter, gorging on a carcase, sees a large predator approaching, he will fein anything to get the beast's attention to waver for even a split second so he can make a quick getaway. We don't know how to feel right; only to fend for ourselves.

"Everyone knows it's in the Bible somewhere you shouldn't follow your head but follow your heart." they say. Really? I've heard this too, but my Bible says: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked"  (Jer. 17:9).  DO NOT FOLLOW IT, the Bible seems to shout out.

Actually, God says "My Son, give Me thy heart." We children of God give Him what He has shown us to be a heart of stone, and He returns to us a heart of flesh with which to love Him and all His creation. Until our Father returns, this is what we get to do with our hearts.

SUGAR-COATED STUFF

 "To thyself be true."  Yes! I thought; I must know what I really love and stick to that!

"Those words sound noble. But," the Holy Spirit seemed to whisper, "how is it so different from 'SELF will be at the center of my world! I will do what pleases me, and nothing else matters.'" Hm; it wasn't so pretty anymore.

Our enemy is the Father of Lies, often sugarcoating his oily suggestions with words used for truth. Kinda like: "June, you love art. Become the best artist you can be and let God use you to reach other artist temperaments and outcasts in this world!" That sugarcoating looked so sweet.

You'd be able to spot the evil of selfishness if it took the appearance of outright wickedness, of GRABBING things for SELF, but what if it's just SELF-protection? What if it means saying nothing means others are defrauded at benefit of SELF? What if it's turning a deaf ear to cries for help because of the risk of harm to SELF? What if it means spending so much time in artwork you don't have time any more to do drawings of Kinya or Keima or write short anecdotes about them or write them e-mails?

"I didn't do anything wrong." the person licking sugar-candy may say. Exactly. When individuals DO NOTHING ABOUT what we know should be done, scripture says, "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (Jas. 4:17) 

By the end of the month, it'll start getting cooler, when I'll be able to get out of my air-conditioned throne rooms (J), cleaning and washing a little more, returning to a service-of-joy walk and to thinking, "To THYSELF be true." (About God this time.) Please pray I do.

PRAYERS, I.V.'S, AND DIAPERS

"The I.V. she received on Sunday apparently did wonders! I just saw her today and she actually looked normal;" part of an e-mail said.

The days just before this, Shannon, my sister's daughter-in-law, after receiving her first chemotherapy, had responded poorly: acupuncture for pain and nausea medication didn't seem to be working; in 6 days, she lost 15 pounds. There was consideration of foregoing further treatment and leaving cancer progress to the Lord.

(About this time, I think Dave had decided to present this prayer request to the MCC congregation in worship service in Japan and we took it to the throne of grace.)

Sunday morning, nausea medicine via I.V. was administered at the hospital in Minnesota. Shannon got up from that apparently feeling much, much better!

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *  

I remember after giving birth C-section and there were days of lying in the hospital bed those dreaded I.V.'s. I tried to work up smiles for the nurses, but... Those I.V. needles were uncomfortable!

But I know when I heard about the positive results to Shannon's I.V.'s, I could feel nothing but elation and gratitude toward these wonderful things called IntraVenous medicines!

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *  

I remembered there was a period of time I had a searing pain in my shoulders and could not lift my arms, much less hold heavy things. Just several months later, the announcement came my daughter had given birth; could I come help care for him? Because of my condition, it was thought best my husband come along too to do strength work and lifting things I could not do.

My daughter put a donut cushion under him so I could "hold" him!

My son-in-law remarked to my daughter how it surprised him how readily I jumped to change him when asked. Well, I knew I could not lift and hold my own grandchild, and I can see now this was God's wisdom; I wanted to do whatever else I could, even change his dirty diapers, something which seems disagreeable even to parents who genuinely adore the babies in those diapers!

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Something I thought I didn't like at all makes me really happy. What? We humans are so fickle, change how we feel about everything by the situation we find ourselves in. We aren't really the "Scientific and Reasonable" beings we claim to be. God's Love for us is the only constant thing through the whole thing, isn't it? THAT doesn't change, no matter what.

WRITING...AND POSSIBLY RE-WRITING?

Are there any readers who were around when I mentioned having the Lord's Supper after worship was already over, and a handful of brothers and sisters stayed to do it with me when I'd been late for it? Michael Bess, a brother in Christ, the head elder at his church in Oregon, led that group; and God used him again this past Sunday to encourage me.

I'd written and put up so much online in Japanese, but the rough translation of C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, I'd been rather hesitant about. I saw a professional translator had actually worked on it recently. When I graduated from language school 40 years ago, no one had touched it, and there was no translation app around either, but now...

When I saw this had come out, it rather scared me. Would I get in Copyright trouble if someone spotted my things online? I hurriedly yanked all of my things down, put them in "draft" mode. Whew. No one could get after me for copyright infringement.

But Sun, Michael commented as long as I wasn't selling the work and gave full credit of its authorship being C.S. Lewis as well as adding its actual sale being made elsewhere, he didn't see how I could face any copyright problems.

So...I've decided to put it back up. https://shingen16-25.blogspot.com/

You'll have to keep in mind this is just the attempt of a brand-new missionary who desperately wants a best friend to read an English book which has not yet been translated into Japanese.

1989. I will skip over what happened during that time. There are some unpleasant experiences I don't want to go into or to live over.

I will say, however, I remember writing, writing, and writing and then realizing it was all in English, in a language my friend would not be able to read, so then re-writing it in Japanese. The other day, she s-mailed me and said she'd been cleaning up and found an old book I'd written for her. I'd forgotten about it.

Among the 100+ things I thought I wrote in Japanese the past few years...I wonder how  many were actually written before, in some way? But God was watching the whole time, wasn't He?

WINE, OIL, AND BREAD

"measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." (Rev. 6:6)

I knew the superficiality man offered was far different from the promise God gave. THERE! Ps. 104:15 had the words I was looking for: "oil to make his face to shine". The result of being captured by God is a glowing countenance, not provocative sensuality characteristic of this world.

Actually, the Holy Spirit seemed to nudge me to look at the beginning of the verse. The Creator of human beings got the order right. He made sure core needs were taken care of first. " And wine that maketh glad the heart of man".

When the new man is drunk with the Spirit his heart is made glad; it follows then, joy leaks out through the eyes, making his face shine.  And I noticed the verse ended with; "and bread which strengtheneth man's heart."

Wheat bread? Barley bread? God hasn't forgotten man has physical needs, and this verse says God will send ample strength for them too, but it seems given less priority than the creature's wine-and-oil needs. How God will bring together every detail in our lives to meet our needs is His responsibility; but He will. Our responsibility is to follow Him step by step;

This blog business, I don't see the whole picture either, am just putting up a post at a time, plan to keep going until God tells me to turn. Please pray I just be obedient in the smallest ways, to obey until I can't or God tells me otherwise to stop/turn.

LIFEBREATH

Just a heartbeat away. Most humans don't realize, unless the medical physician gives the diagnosis that they're dying and may have a limited amount of time left, that they need to live as if each day is their last.

We've been praying for my sister Janice's daughter-in-law Shannon especially this week. I mentioned her in an earlier post, but her chemotherapy treatments began Tues., and response has not been very good requiring acupuncture for the pain. Would you join us in prayer? Thank you ever so much.

This morning, I realized I must've caught my finger on a nail or splinter somewhere, because one of my knuckles was skinned and turning red, and I could see a tiny piece of loose skin just above the area. When I was younger, I would've mostly ignored it, but I removed the dead tissue and washed the affected area with water and soap just to be safe. You never know.

Yesterday, I was made to think about 9-11 25 years ago, how fragile man's securities are. He thinks matters are bound up in binding contracts, sure negotiations, and fixed networking...but the symbols of the world trade powers came crumbling down in smoke and ashes, literally, in an hour of terror.

Yesterday afternoon, I was talking with a sister in Christ about how awesome it is that we are the children of God. Whether limited by elements of health, accident or even human hostility, God gives us all the breath we need, (even at those times I cannot understand why He does not give me more!) He is our Father.

STILL ON REVELATION 6:5

 This is part of my journal entry for today.

Rev. 6:5 Again? Hopefully, a great many will see in me a mirror of a child of God who desperately wants to follow Him but finds it tough going, constantly falling down and having to get up, dust himself off, and look around to see a sign post saying he has to start at the same place, AGAIN.

Um, may I share personal stuff about my memory work? Not everyone will be able to use it, I know, if you don't share my temperament. This is just what happened to me so would be applicable for others who aren't memorization naturals but are writers like myself.

1. Whenever God gave me strong truth from the Bible, I wrote it down as well as everything about what it meant, why it was important. 2. Then when sharing about it with a friend, I made sure to open the Bible to that portion and wrote it out again. 3. When journaling about that day and mentioning the talk, I turned to that scripture passage to write out the verse word for word. 4. Later on when recalling that fellowship, I wrote down the scripture again, usually realizing by this time I knew where in the Bible it was and needed to refer to it less to write it down accurately. 5. Frequently, I ended up unconsciously learning related surrounding verses/passages of the verse I ended up memorizing (no; I hadn't actually set out intending to do so!).

People who memorize chapters at a time and are known for their intellectual abilities make what I do look like a snail's trail. But over the years, I think this has ended up sticking with me because these verses are the truths God gave ME, even if they seemed to be "just a few a year."

But for some reason, that kinda snowballed. I don't know how it actually happened. Maybe in Heaven, He'll explain it to me, because it's not supposed to have happened; somewhere in there, I wanted to do some "patchworking together" of passages that were special to me and ended up with larger "quilts" of chapters and books.

THE GERASENE

I guess not everybody gets to follow Jesus like the disciples, the healed demoniac must've thought; but he'd been told to go back home and "show how great things God had done for him." So...he got to work right away, publishing throughout the city so much so when Jesus came back, the people gladly received him; for they were waiting for him."  (Luke 8:37-40).

It was reading about that incident today that hit me between the eyes. I don't know why some of us dense humans need truths related to us many times before we finally get it. I think God was telling me: "June, you want to tell others about me, and you want to do it in church...but maybe I want you to witness, like that demoniac, to publish to family and friends in Decapolis.  When they meet the Gospel again, maybe they too will have hearts prepared: eager and receptive for Me. Go to it."

Obedience is the key word. When Jesus instructs, "Tell no man, "MUM is the way to go. Some intelligence work requires absolute hush-hush. But when the Master says, "Let the Redeemed of the Lord say so!" (Ps. 107:2) why, like the demoniac at the Gerasenes, we can let out all the stops! Pictured is one of the pigs that went charging down the hill when Jesus freed the man of his Legion of demons. Because he'd stayed a layperson and told those around him about God's tender love and his new life, the people were all ears by the time the Lord returned! Better spiritual-personal PR work than any disciple could've done, don't you think?

Few even know about that healed demoniac. He probably wasn't a certified preacher with ordination. But I wonder, wouldn't God have welcomed him to Heaven with, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"?

I THOUGHT I WAS IMPARTIAL

And I thought I was impartial. When today's message was from James, about treating the rich man with deference while telling the poor man to go sit under his footstool; why, I told myself smugly I never do anything like that!

But the pastor said that's what he told himself. Then he said that's what many pastors unconsciously do when they welcome visiting speakers up on seats on the platform, making sure they have a bulletin and a glass of water, asking if they had a good night's rest the day before, etc. But if a church member happens to bring a friend and wants to make introductions, the pastor usually gives little more thought than a practiced welcome, deciding someone can show visitors to their seats. "I hadn't meant to be partial," he said, "but was very partial, wasn't I"?

I had this uncomfortable itch. "Junie, even in the very things you think you're doing for God, is it possible you're doing it with partiality?"

I could picture myself trying to write all sorts of truths glorifying God, and the Holy Spirit was leaning back with His arms crossed, nodding approvingly, a gentle and knowing smile crossing His lips. Yet then, His Head cocked ever so slightly and seemed to beckon me follow His gaze to the far end of the room. There, my husband Kinya prepared a meal for me, and my son Keima sat at his computer station, perhaps both needing my attention. 

I'd preferred to treat my writing with deference, while I put them under my footstool?

Oh God, I'm so sorry. Thank you for showing me. Now please show me what to do.

IT LOOKED GOOD AND NEW THEN

 "and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand" (Rev. 6:5)

It doesn't take difficult scholarly acrobatics to realize riders are easily thrown from their saddles; the "most balanced" human rider then, can be easily thrown, can't he? 

My sister e-mailed me a delightful photo this morning. It was the first A&W in Okinawa in 1963. Drive-in's were new then, so eating here was as big a deal as going to the restaurant. Cars parked at stations, and complimentary mini "baby burgers" and "baby root beer" came on the tray hooked onto the car window.  Our order of regular hamburgers, root beers, fries was delivered to that tray where, of course, we stayed and ate. Daddy, Mommy, Joyce, and I ordered regular sizes, while Janice insisted she was happy with the baby meal!

What looked like "a modern way" then seems rather inefficient and clumsy now. It went from "drive-in" to "drive-thru"; ordering by intercom to doing it by tablet. Yes, the rider has fallen off his high horse a few times.

No one expects anything "new and improved" to stay "new" forever but one day will become old, even archaic, like the drive-in. Isn't it only Jesus Christ Who can claim He will be "the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8)?

"To whom shall we go?" Peter once responded when asked if he was disappointed in Jesus and would turn away from Him after all; "Thou hast the words of eternal life." (John 6:68)

When it seems He has let us down--and there are many times in life it will look like that--we must remember He is the only one, actually, that will NOT. It is just before those words of "yesterday, today, and forever", we find the promise:

"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Heb. 13:5)

WHAT HE WAS INTERESTED IN

Oh-oh. I realized in order for this post to make sense, I'm going to have to write at least a little summary of last night's old film:

It's about a boy who gets a wild pony and foal on an island, (saving the life of the almost drowning foal as it crossed the channel). After taming--not breaking, but a gentler way--the filly, he is challenged with the champion black steed, which he beats clearly. The day before a horse race, the boy, unable to bear seeing the mare's unhappiness whenever she hears her mate's call from across the channel, returns them to their island.

"And I beheld and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand." (Rev. 6:5)

In the human world, "black horses" symbolize advantages, ways to get ahead. But Father, it's like You're not interested in "getting ahead," are you? In yesterday's video, the owner of the pony, the day before the big race, saw his own could beat that fast black stallion all hollow. He heard the call of the mate across the channel day after day and let his horse go free, seeing how it wanted to go back. THAT OWNER COULD'VE HELD ONTO THE HORSE AND WON ALL HIS BETS THE NEXT DAY IF HE WAS INTERESTED IN WINNING, BUT HE WAS WAY MORE INTERESTED IN THE PONY'S HAPPINESS.

Some people say foolish things like a self-serving God just wants humans to praise Him. If God were really interested in just that, He wouldn't have chosen to have His Son born into obscurity into the town of Bethlehem to an unwed mother where shepherds would come to worship Him, not even relatives. (But wise men did come from afar!) And God wouldn't have chosen to have that Son grow up in Nazareth where "nothing good comes from" in a carpenter father's shop, subject to neighborhood gossip of being a bastard. Nor would God have allowed the religious leaders of the day to ban him from the synagogue nor forbid people to follow him. At the very least, a God Who craved praise would not have allowed His Son to be betrayed by one of his own disciples, denied by another, forsaken by the rest, shamed and tortured in public, framed and condemned legally, sentenced to a slow death of suffocation-drip bleeding and thirst.

No; God was NOT Interested in "GLORY" for Himself in the way some people accuse Him of. The glory ascribed Him results in those He LOVED and GAVE HIS LIFEBLOOD FOR. They love Him.

In the film, I noticed at the end, the pony's little foal whose life the boy saved from drowning as it came across the river ended up staying with him. The worship, adoration we end up giving God because He saved our lives is something we choose to do and should not be denied with the claim that it is something a "greedy God desires!" It would be just as senseless as refusing to let that foal stay with the master he has grown to love.

The balances the rider on the black horse of Rev. 6:5 seems to be kinda whacko. "God is Love", will lead to salvation, joy, and peace. But man's common sense, when it starts out with "God desires Praise" cannot lead to "gentle"-ing a horse. The film showed you can forcefully break a wild stallion into submission, OR you can slowly ease it into wanting it to trust you, and then you have a friend for life. Conflicts can be tamed temporarily by breaking them into submission, it is true. But it's only regeneration of the soul that will motivate acts of permanent loyalty.

God does not break us then just call us His good submissive servants. He dove into the water for us when we were drowning and called us friends.

How can we not love Him forever?

HUSBANDS (FATHERS) AND WAX

This morning, my mind ran in two separate directions, and I wasn't sure which to take...so here's both of them:

When I was younger, I was pretty critical of my own father. But after I got my own husband, Daddy looked like a saint! (Of course, he'd been walking with God for MUCH, much longer! And you KNOW I'm not talking about the doctrine of sainthood of believers, right?) It made me smile too when I thought of how my daughter used to get impatient with Kinya, but after some frictions with her own husband, she looked more favorably on him than she used to.

Well, if my daughter is going to see her father as a hero, maybe I should tell him (she definitely won't)? I'm praying about the best way to do this.

Kinya brought my sketch of him to Okinawa, so I framed it and put it on our headboard, with our beanbags!

There; that's the first thing that I was thinking about this morning in bed. The next thing was what happened yesterday. I'd been struggling writing in a journal, and I gave up and switched to a different one. It's a pretty one, but the pages have some kind of treatment that resists ink. Maybe when it was new, that wasn't a problem, but since it's been sitting around for several years, in some places, the waxy coating has gotten nonporous.

"Without Wax." a Bible Teacher once explained that was the old expression for Sin Cere. Nowadays, when people think "without hypocrisy" or "genuine", they use the word, "sincere", without realizing where it originated. It was explained thusly:

Cracks in fired pottery were filled in with wax; sanded down; painted over; and the only way you could detect any flaw was to hold it up to the light. The earthenware showed translucent only where there was wax; any item without wax, or sin cere, was declared GENUINELY FLAWLESS.

I wasn't dealing with pottery; but I wanted pages of a journal that didn't have wax on it. And I guess this can be tied into the first part of this article: everyone wishes for a spiritual, mature spouse; but the best part is that Kinya is a sin cere one, I think. He doesn't know how to put on airs.