Death Part 2

`1`1 May 2014

Dear Phyllis,

Gomen nasai. I am sorry I was late with my letter to you last week. The problem was Internet. We hadn't paid our Internet provider for a month and when I went to send it out we were disconnected. Pammy paid the bill Monday night so I was able to send it out Tuesday morning. Unfortunately we are back in the same problem today. After Pammy paid the bill last Monday, on Wednesday they cut us off again saying the service wasn't paid. That is their mistake – not ours. But that doesn't turn it on today. I don't know when I will be able to send this letter out but will write it today.

Today want to continue my discussion about death. As I mentioned in my letter last week, I have offended several people by my attitude and, in this, I may have a blind spot, but I view death radically different than the rank and file of most Christians. Several years ago my friend, Bill Reese, called me saying our dear brother Dick Dennis had cancer and it didn't look good. When I heard that news I wrote Dick the following letter.

////////////////////////////////////////

Dear Dick,

Yesterday Bill called me telling me about your sickness. It isn't surprising that you might get an early leave out of here. You ran so well when you were here in Japan that you were always two or three laps in front of the rest of us. It is not surprising that you might breast the wire at the finish line while the rest of us are still on the back side of the course with two or three laps yet to go. You will have been on the winners stand, off to the shower, and seated at the table with Jesus, while the rest of us are still puffing away trying to finish our course.

Your achievement is not only the way you ran, but the work you accomplished. You had your basket slam full to over flowing at 3:00 in the afternoon and the rest of us will be out here when the stars come out trying to get the bottom of our little pails covered to have something to present to Jesus. You had your basket so full that the Lord had to give you a second one to have both Japanese and American fruit for your harvest. It is a terrible thing to have to stand before the Lord empty handed, and it is a cause for gratefulness to have a full harvest to lay down. Omedeto gozaimasu (Congratulation)

When you first arrived in Karuizawa in 1965 little did you suspect the marvelous things that the Lord had in store for you for the next 30 years. There was that terrible agony of your trial with Tygert the first year and the misunderstanding with pastor Diden. But the Lord delivered you marvelously from all your trouble. I'm sorry for the way you used to have me over for supper every Thursday night to enjoy your favorite meal of pig tongue; and I said to you, “You know that this gravy is don't you – pig spite”. You said that ruined it, and you could never enjoy pig tongue again.

There was the time when your car broke down and I tried to pull you with my truck. I tied the rope to the tie rod and snapped it. After we got the car started, that was pretty slow going with you driving your car and me walking beside it kicking the tire trying to keep it going straight. When you lived on the hill, poor Millie never knew how many would be there at the breakfast table. Young kids came in at all hours and slept on the floor. You told me that you made so many trips to the eki to pick up kids who would call that you could just hit the start switch and the car could drive itself to and from the eki. The students in your house were like the frogs in Egypt. They were into everything. You and Millie went well beyond what any reasonable person would put up with, but, man howdy, the fruit that came out of that. You and the local church had a terrific combination. You were the contact man, and would prepare the fruit. Takimoto would come in the summer for dendo and harvest, and Pastor Takahashi provided the church for them to go to. That was one of the most fruitful combinations I knew in Japan.

And Mitsuko. My goodness that would be worth a life time just to have one convert like her. When she first came to Karuizawa, she got on a train from Nagano and got off at Karuizawa because she knew a lot of gaijins (foreigners) lived there, and she wanted to live with someone to learn English. She stopped at Takei's bike shop to ask where the gaijins lived; and they sent her to the language school. When I first met her she asked if she could live with us. I would have taken her, but we were just married and had Ritu living with us at the time. I called you, and you took her in. What a trip! You frequently told me about all the frustrating you were having with that fickled 20 year old girl living with you. You said she would get saved every month and then lose her salvation as soon as she had her next period. Man howdy she was up and down. But oh, what a jewel she became. She is a pastor's wife now in Kobe and doing spectacular. That is your fruit, brother.

I doubt that you were real happy when the doctor told you that you had cancer, but I think that is good news. At the end of the 2nd WW there were well over a million American GIs overseas. The name-of-the-game was get the boys home. The US was doing everything possible to get the men home again as soon as possible. They were double and triple booking troop transports to get as many men on ships as possible. Men would sleep in shifts so others could sleep in their beds, but no one complained. It was well worth any inconvenience just to get home. When a man saw his name listed on the return sheet posted in the orderly room bulletin board you could hear him shout all over base. One thing was certain, there would be a party tonight. There was a little sadness as they would be leaving their buddies that they had been with for months, but to get home... .

Oh Dick I am envious. I would trade anything I have to swap your place in line. You have been trudging towards that City for so many years and now it is in sight. What will it be like? Imagination fails us to envision the things God has prepared for them that love Him. How intensely we have longed to see Jesus. And you will get to see Him before I do. The Bible tells us very little about what He has prepared for us other than we know one of the first events will be the Marriage Supper. I hope you don't get too far into it before I can get seated. If I am late, please save a little for me. I don't know what the seating arrangements will be at the Table, but if I had my choice I would like to get seated next to you. But that probably won't be possible. I suspect you will be up near the head table and my place will be well towards the back with the servants. But regardless of what the seating arrangement is, we do know that the main thing is the wedding garment. No one is permitted there without the wedding garment on. We know what that garment is – Jesus. We must be clothed in Christ. Brother you always looked handsome in your garment here. It fitted you so well.

Dear Dick, I don't know if I will get a chance to shake your hand again on this planet. If I do, I will thank God for that extended mercy. But if you leave before I get there, please accept my deepest appreciation of you. What a blessing and an encouragement you have been to me! You set the bar for us to try to follow. I am deeply indebted to you. Honto ni arigato gozaimasu.

Your grateful brother in Christ,

bill

///////////////////////////////////////////////////

As it turned out, Dick's cancer went into remission and he lasted another two or thee years. I did get a chance to see him one more time. He had a goal of walking the Appalachian Trail in his area with his children. The day I stopped to see him, he just got back. He told me that was the happiest day of his life. He finished the trail as he wished, and I was waiting at his house when he got home.

After he was gone Millie wrote me that in the later stages of his cancer, he would occasionally get out the letter that I had sent him and reread it. I had a desire to preach Dick's funeral but I was in Japan when he finally crossed the River. But Millie later wrote me that they read my letter to Dick at his his service so I did have the privilege of having my voice heard at Dick's funeral even if it was only by a letter I had sent him years before.

Am I wrong about my attitude towards death? Jesus said that those who believed in Him would never die (Jn. 6:51, 8:51, 11:26). Eternal life begins at the new-birth. Eternal life does not begin after a person gets to heaven. If the life of Christ that is in them is eternal how is it possible for a Christian to die? Admittedly there is such a thing as translation. There is such a thing as putting off an old worn-out suit to put on that is vastly much better. Admittedly we do leave this world to enter into one where angels worship the Lamb of God in a way that we don't see here on this planet, and we don't come back. Admittedly we do say goodbye to loved ones here briefly and, we will have to wait until they can join us in heaven. But is that such a tragedy? If I am wrong, would someone please help me.

On a totally different subject. Praise the, Lord Pammy is one horns-down, hard-charging soul winner. The other night she came home saying, “I just led an 86 year old lady at the market to Christ this evening.” The other day Pammy stopped the motor bike Walls ice cream lady in front of our house to buy some ice cream. Pammy stood there talking to the lady for 40 minutes. After she left Pammy said, “Well, I just led her to Christ.” She had previously given her a tract. The lady said that everything happened exactly as it said in that tract and her heart was open to accept Christ. For all of her other supposed weak points, her main strong point is that she is 1 in a 1,000 soul winner.

She has a vision that she wants to start a Gospel Coffee shop in front of our house. To me that is ridiculous, but yesterday she got everything fixed up to be very attractive. This morning she called me outside to see how beautiful she had it arranged. Indeed it was very attractive, but totally impractical, as we have terrible thunder storms every afternoon that will destroy her beach umbrellas and tables. She wanted to serve me tea at her table. While I was sitting there, our neighbors that I have been praying for for ten years came by. She had them sit down and got some more tea. The dear man is half gone with Alzheimer and the wife has her hands full taking care of him. They had never been in a church one time in their life, but decided to come to the church service. I was preaching this morning. Last night my heart was not right with God. This morning it was no better and the message I had was extremely bad. With those new unbelievers there, the Lord forbid me to share what I had in mind. For their sakes I preached the most basic message on salvation you could think of. God used them to save me from making a bad mistake. Thank God, God uses foolish things and perhaps that might give me a chance.

I find the road to heaven a very steep uphill grade at this point, but – praise God – I am getting nearer the top. Thank you for your prayers.

See you next week,

                                 bill