I AIN'T NO SNAKE

It's not only the snake that speaks with a forked tongue. Humans do too. That is, I heard myself doing it today...kinda. Some friends were asking me about my writing, and I found myself first asking for prayer that I wouldn't get discouraged because I knew sometimes I found myself reading about the years of work, and finding myself feeling tired and bitter at the fruitlessness or thanklessness of it...

But the very next moment, I found myself talking about realizing, since I was writing about what I'd seen in a LIFETIME, it included some of these exciting, interesting things:

• I'd seen the Mr. and Mrs. Taba, my missionary parents' first converts, bring their son Takashi to summer camp as a little boy (I was in kindergarten then).
• 
  He didn't become a Christian tho'; in fact, strayed from church and got on the wrong side of the law, ended up in jail, where my Dad visited him. But one night when Takashi despaired of life, he remembered the story of the Cross and Jesus reminded him He gave His life for him--he was saved then.
• He gained electrician certification in prison; which enabled him later to help in the construction of many churches. Our Gushikawa Baptist Church in Tairagawa was among his first projects. Mommy got to see it before she went HOME.
• 
  Takashi did much children's work until an injury from a fall put him in bed (he couldn't move or speak), after which his wife took care of him for his dying years, returning to their workplace for several more years even after that.
• 
  His wife? God "happened to" have someone PERFECT for him. Just when the Tabas came to our first church was when Grampa Nagata (my Mom's uncle who came from Hawaii to help my parents) led to Christ my second cousin--yes, Rumiko. So there are pictures of her at summer camp around that time too, but alas, she strayed from church a good while.
• But to make a long story short, she came back when Grampa Nagata died; and she graduated from Bible School when Takashi got out of prison. There is so much more to this Boaz and Ruth story, but we won't go into that.

It's just that I realized, while talking, God had shown me so many things I should be thankful for having been allowed to see.

And I was feeling sorry for myself for having had to do so much hard work--HA! Silly girl. They do say snakes have wisdom, I think, and I ain't no snake...is that an excuse?