Dear Phyllis,
I’m home! Well almost. As the
years pass, and I have been in so many different countries, I feel in a very
real way that I am literally just a stranger passing through this world. But if
there is one place that feels more like home than any other it is probably northern
Thailand Japan Japan
I have mentioned a couple of
times before that this seems like the finest period of my life. Spiritual reality
has come into such clear focus, that I feel like I have just recently been saved.
Spring has come to my soul. The warm sun of God’s goodness is shining in my
heart melting the frozen land. As the ice melts the water is starting to flow.
It is embarrassing but tears are very close to the surface. The last three
times I have stood in a pulpit, the message of what I was trying to convey to
the people has been so overwhelming to me, I have broke down weeping so hard I
scarcely could project my voice. The last night I was in Japan
Yasuhiko and Miyuki Hirota
are a very unique family. They are the only real family I have in the world.
When I get to their house, rather than saying, “Gomen kudasai” (excuse me – I
am here), I say, “Tadai ima” (I’m home). Yasuhiko and Miyuki are my brother and
sister in the fullest sense of the word. I am not a guest in their home but a
family member.
I remember when they both
first came to our home 29 years ago as seekers. Neither one knew they were a
seeker at that time but that is why God sent them. Yasuhiko was saved within
the first month and Miyuki was saved the first night. No one knew what God had
in store at that time. It is a cause of unceasing amazement to see Christ
living and growing in them.
Yasuhiko is a very different
man. He was the eldest son of a wealthly executive. As a young man he was a
totally irresponsible playboy. As he was deprived of proper discipline while growing
up, he has paid a very dear price for that in life. He is now 60 years old and
is still as undisciplined as he was when he was 16. Yasuhiko is a very fine
Christian who has been seriously following the Lord for 29 years, but he lacks
the discipline to be a responsible business man.
Miyuki is the dead opposite.
She was never one to play with dolls as a young girl. As she set out in life,
her aim was to be a successful business woman. She had no interest in marriage
or family, but was committed to being a career woman. Through no fault of her
own, her first venture in business was a major failure. This left her shaken not
to make the same mistake again, and originally came to me for fortune telling
to give her advice on what she should pick for her next path in life. She was saved
the first night, and has been on the single path of following Jesus ever since.
She never had warm feeling
towards Yasuhiko but felt that he was the one in life that the Lord had directed
her to join in serving the Him. What a shock! She was stunned that he wouldn’t
get up in the morning to go to work, or return the calls to clients who called
him. Miyuki said, if she wasn’t saved they would have been divorced the first
six months. You talk about a dysfunctional marriage – here is a total disaster
zone. But she was determined to follow Jesus. If this was the path He choose for
her then she was determined to stay with it. I love them because they are
extremely different temperaments, but Christ is the glue that has kept them together.
Due to Yasuhiko’s extremely
wealthy father they were able to build a huge American house 22 years ago. They
only live in a small portion of it, and everything they have is totally given
to Christ for His use. After my world collapsed 20 years ago, I had no place to
live and lived with them for eight months. During that time I encouraged them
to have a katei shukai (home meeting) to reach their neighbors. Those were some
of the most amazing meetings I have ever been in. Every Saturday night around 7:30 or 8:00 o’clock a select groups of friends would gather to meet around the Lord and
His Word. Midnight would come and no one wanted to go home. Consistently,
it would be 1:00 , 2:00 ,
or 3:00AM before we were finally able to call a halt to the meetings
and go home. It was just like being in love and having a date with your lover. You
just can’t force yourself to say goodnight.
They are no longer having
those meetings but every time I am back with them, Miyuki calls some of the old
friends to come over for fellowship. The last night I was in Japan
The Hirotas are a never
ceasing living miracle of a couple who have proven the Lord, and are uniquely
blessed. The Kosugis are another very special couple. Brother Kosugi is a world-class
engineer. He has spent a great deal of time in the Middle East building water distillation
plants for everyone from the King of Saudi Arabia on down. Soon after we moved
to Ikoma he showed up at our house one night in response to a flyer advertising
cheap English. There was a huge turnout that night and he was alarmed when he
saw he had been trapped to come to a Christian meeting. I engaged him in conversation
and showed him our house. He said that he would rather learn carpentry than English,
so I set up a schedule to get together every Saturday to make a bed for them. It
was through that contact that he and his wife, Michi, were saved. What a joy to
see where they are today. He is one of the top elders in their church and they
are examplatory Christians.
But the highlight for me was
Nao chan. We had tried to adopt her and her younger sister when they for four and
three respectively, but her grandmother was uncomfortable about giving them to
a foreign family. When she was 14 she sent us a distressed letter asking if she
could come to live with us. Of course, we took her in with open arms and
offered to make her a complete American citizen. She said, no, she was Japanese
and didn’t want to be an American. At first it was wonderful, but after six
months she went bonkers, and the next four years were terribly tumultuous. After
graduation from high school she moved out and lived on her own. I saw nothing
but disaster in her future. I couldn’t imagine anything but a divorce and a
painful life. But God is sovereign. Miraculously she married a very fine man. They
live near the Hirotas and Miyuki has been virtually like her mother walking her
through the challenging years of life. She has a lovely Christian family and
her beautiful children are the same age as she was when she first came to be our
daughter.
As I sat there that night and
looked at the ones seated around that table, I was utterly overwhelmed at what
God has done. The love, the joy, the gratefulness to God for what He has done
for each one, burned in our hearts with such intensity, it is hard to imagine heaven
to be much better.
But this is only a foretaste.
Those that were there that night are only a very small fraction of the Family
of God. What will it be, when Jesus is seated at the head of that Table? We
will be free of the encumbrances that limit us today. In a higher more worthy way
we will be able to express to Jesus our inexpressible gratitude for the miracle
of the Christian life He has lead each one of us in until we safely reach the
gate of the City.
At times our feet get sore,
and we weary of our journey. It is one of the great mercies of God to provide
wayside taverns to rest for a night and enjoy the refreshing fellowship of
fellow pilgrims. These times are only for a night but they do give us strength and
encouragement to press on with new vigor.
We sure had a good time that
night, but if only you had been there… Praise God that time is coming.
Joyously, bill
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