WOWWWww!yipes, it was titled

For those who have hung around since the Iwatsuki Pond, do you remember this excerpt? (Aug.17, 2024)

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One early morning I saw a crow at Lower Bridge admiring a swimming grasshopper.

I can't swim, he told the crow; I misjudged and jumped into the pond.  

Sometimes Mr. Crow, the spring in my hind legs scares me.

Yup; we're to boast GOD's strength and protection. I know I usually do a great job of getting in hot water if I were left to my own devices! And am I grateful then to find lily pads of grace to help in time of need! He is always watching our foolhardy ways.

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God let me find this just in time.

After finishing our family missions book in English then writing personal memoirs in Japanese, I'd been posting quite a bit of my journaling in Revelation...and, thrilled to see their positive reception, kept putting them up.

 

There is nothing wrong in that, I realize; it is just that I have GOT TO REMEMBER: TIME WITH THE LORD COMES FIRST!  PERIOD! Please--pray I keep it there! If I lose sight of this, I too can "overspring" and find myself making a splash of pride larger than I know how to handle.

RANA'S MESSAGE IS IN ENGLISH--YES!

Remember Saaya, the Bible School graduate that went to Bangladesh Nov. '25 ("Okay God, Do Your Thing" Nov. 14 post)? They finally returned to Japan for a few months of deputation...and the doctor told her she needed to get bed rest and take care of her pregnancy (baby's due next month!) Saaya has been reading all the things I've written in Japanese about growing up as an MK through joining BMM, giving me encouragement and prayer all along the way.

June and Saaya

I got a real thrill out of reading how God worked in my life for 30 years, yet I gotta say I got tired all along the way and wanted to cut it short. I finally finished 172 pages of my Japanese testimony-diary (thru' first years with BMM and marriage to Kinya) and felt mentally ready to crash.

The Second Point

For the Sunday worship service message this past weekend, Pastor Nishino's wife is expecting her first little one also, and he asked the Rana, Saaya's husband, a newly ordained minister, to preach for him for a while.

Rana Biswas did have an interpreter to put things into Japanese for most of his hearers, but for me, the treat was that he gave the sermon in English! Most people figure I understand Japanese so don't give it that much thought, but it still is slightly mentally more tiring. It was 100% restful to be able to listen through the entire morning sermon and not have to exert myself mentally at all, just kind of let it slide in effortlessly--thank You so much God.

I have a box   　　　I’m not worthy

The message talked about the alabaster box being broken and expensive spikenard oil being poured on Jesus' head as an expression of love for Him. (Mk. 14:3) 

What a waste         Even half this money

I realize that's what this incident is supposed to point to. But I felt this week, it was the other way around: God Himself had anointed my soul with much-needed Balm!

"Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over" (Ps. 23:5)

UNTIL WE DIE, WE'RE IMMORTAL

"Are you okay?" some concerned friends asked after hearing about some of the typhoon damage over the news.

"As long as I stay indoors, I don't even know about what kind of damage was caused by the storm," I replied; "Okinawa has about 4 typhoons a year."

I told you about how, as a child, I often illustrated my parents' missionary prayer letters so once inadvertently drew my mom as an elephant climbing a ladder securing the home before a storm approached Okinawa.

I've blogged posts about our family's move when the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation fiasco of 2011 resulted in our family's evacuation from Fukushima and move just north of Tokyo.

But recently, I was reading about my freshman year in a college chapel, when a tornado hit the upper corner of the amphitorium, and I saw the far walls--they'd looked solid to me before--begin waving like drapery. I have never to this day seen anything like that. There was rushing wind (sound like a thousand freight trains) on the other side of that wall. Memory is foggy.

I'm pretty sure someone on Security interrupted the speaker and announced over the speaker how we were all to leave our seats in orderly fashion and go back to our dorms, down to the basement. Leaders checked attendance and safety while we sat there and sang choruses until things quieted down.

I still remember two roommates who were personality opposites. The emotionally charged one, when leaving the building, seeing a large corner of the building that had been lifted and then deposited nearby, decided the end of the world had come. She screamed WE'REGOINGTODIEWE'REGOINGTODIE and frantically wrapped herself around one of the entrance poles. Her roommate, cool as a cucumber, peeled her off and walked her back to the dorm, where she sat trembling, wet (it was raining), and speechless for a while.

Our leader and remarked how it seemed Linda had brought in Susan, "bless her heart" (she always said that), like a poor drenched puppy.

I don't know if it'll be by Typhoon, Tsunami, or Tornado, but we ARE going to die some day. Susan was kinda right there. But Daddy used to say until God wants to take us to Heaven, we can't die. Until then, we are immortal. J

THE WAY GOD BLINKS AND ANSWERS PRAYER

I just had to post this. I wanted to whip off a few things about something during my college years. For Christmas Vacation my junior year, I was riding a station wagon going from our school in South Carolina out to California, a 3-day trip. Here are some things about that trip:

I don't know how we did it, but there were 6 of us and our luggage packed onto that station wagon. At school every night, for 15 mins. before lights out, 3 rooms got together for prayer; so we decided to do something similar before we konked out, just while the car was in motion (and of course, the driver stayed awake afterwards too!) We didn't realize it, but one person in that group thought we were batty; she wasn't a Christian and couldn't image why anyone would want to pray when we were no longer under the campus rules and required to do so! She was gloriously saved that Holiday Season, and on the way back to school, when we hit a patch of ice and went into a spin, she says her first thought was, "I'm ready to go now." The car ended up off the road but we stayed in God's protection.

We called ourselves the Christmas Gang. We didn't know that was going to happen, but I think it was a result of our praying together every night and joking together every day for three days (THAT'S close fellowship!) We got together in the University Snack Shop and celebrated birthdays, prayed for tests and interviews, and this group supported me when I had health problems and had to leave school. Special prayer bonds, campus brothers and sisters grew out of this group too. Matters of prayer begun then continued for decades, in fact...

The person I rode shotgun for became my campus brother; and I remember facing the dawning of a new day over the dashboard while enjoying cool mornings with the Lord. The spiral index card-memo notebook I used had written in it "THE MISSION'S JAPANESE BIBLE SCHOOL" its leader, faculty, financial advisor, even janitorial staff. One of the other men on the car saw the cards and commented, "I like the way you pray."

Now over 45 years later, I am talking with a missionary to Bangladesh, a person who graduated from Grace Baptist Bible School, the way God answered those prayers.

Yes, these are memories from college days...mere blinks in the life of God. Thank you for letting me share them with you.