24 January 2016
Dear Phyllis,
You've got to be a little bit crazy to effectively serve the Lord. By that I do not mean it is meritorious to be dumb. There are some things that are just plain dumb and there is no virtue in being stupid. But one of the most ridiculous acts I know of in the Bible was the five women who went to the tomb Sunday morning to anoint Jesus. With all due respect to femininity, no man would have ever done that. Had Mary and the other women talked with the disciples the night before saying, “We want to go anoint Jesus' body tomorrow. Will you go with us?”. Unquestionably, they would have got a cynical response, “Impossible!”. What are they going to do with the imperial seal on the tomb? What are they going to do with the two guards? How are they going to move a one ton rock from the mouth of the tomb? Perhaps they could say to the guards, “Excuse us sir, but could you help us move this rock?”. It is to their credit that they did think about the rock and, on their way they did discuss, “Who shall roll away the stone?” (Mk. 16:3). That attempt to anoint Jesus' body was about as foolish as it gets. But they got the greatest reward in being the first to see Jesus.
I was on a Bible run taking Bibles into Laos one time. We missed our contact and I was confronted with a difficult decision what to do. Early in the morning of the day we had to leave the Holy Spirit spoke to me and gave me one of the best words I ever had. He said, “Don't do anything dumb.”. That saved us. We carried the Bibles back to Thailand with us rather than endangering someone else there by leaving them behind. That was one of the better moves I have made.
John Cathcart is one of the most child-like foolish missionaries I ever met. Tenri City is the spookiest city I know in Japan. It is the headquarters for Tenri Kyo religion and it is one weird town. Until 1983 no one had the courage to go in there and raise the flag for Jesus. John and Gloria were new missionaries to Japan and felt the Lord had called them to evangelize Tenri City. At first he rented a room over Mr. Donuts and started teaching English and having services. That lasted about a year and then they got put out. After getting closed down in two or three different places John decided his only hope was to build his own church. That was about as realistic as considering building a rocket space ship. But John started walking around asking farmers to rent him a rice field so he could build a Christian church on it. Lots of luck. It took a measure of grace on my part to keep from being cynical. But one day John asked me to go with him to talk to a man he found that had a rice field. Fujita san had a small pharmacy store but did own a small rice field that was in a good location. When we first went in there to ask him if he would rent his field to build a church on it, I wondered at the ludicrous scenario, but was surprised at his reaction when he said, “Please give me a couple of weeks to think about it.” That was amazing. But the truly astounding thing was when John went back two weeks later, Fujita san said John could have it for $50 a month. That was a gift. It wasn't until three months later when we were framing up the building that we heard the rest of the miracle story.
Forty years before then Fujita san had been a young man working as a civilian in public works in what had been the Japanese colonization of Manchuria. Two weeks before the war was over Russia declared war on Japan and came pouring into Manchuria and Korea like gang busters. The civilians who were trapped there were desperate to get out, but for the Russians it was slaughter trail. The Russian soldiers thought nothing of killing a Japanese on sight. Fujita despaired for his life, but a very kind Korean family took him in, hiding him, housing him, and helping him get to the port where he was eventually successful in getting back to Japan. The Japanese have a thing called “giri” that is extremely strong. If someone does something special for you, you are under heavy obligation to reciprocate with something special for them. This is “giri”- moral obligation; and it is extremely serious. Fujita had had this heavy burden on his heart for forty years wondering how he could repay his giri to the Korean family that helped him. That was in what is now North Korea, and there was no way Fujita san could ever get there to thank them. Then one day a blue eyed gaijin (foreigner) walked in his store asking if he could rent his rice field. Fujita san saw that as the answer to his dilemma. He was a gaijin to the Koreans and if he helped another gaijin with his problem that would balance it out. The Lord used the bestiality of the Russian soldiers to make it possible for John to get the land for his church.
Everything about that church was miraculous. In early December John went to the states to buy the material for the church. He had no organization behind him and didn't even have enough money for a return trip to Japan. But he purposed he would not return home until the church was paid in full. He first went to the Bible school where he had graduated who gave him a generous offering. Then his father-in-law emptied the building fund they had been saving for their own church. But that was only a fraction of what was necessary. His mother suggested, “Why don't you talk to your uncle?”. He did call his uncle who lived a couple hours away from Boise and said he would fly down. They had a nice day together but it was getting late and no one had said a word about the need for the church. His uncle was a good friend of Wirt Edmonds who had promised to go to Japan to bump up the church, and asked him how much was still outstanding. Wirt said, “We still need another $20,000.”. His uncle reached in his pocket, pulled out a check book, and paid for the church in full, and John's ticket back to Japan. John was home for Christmas. In June they had the dedication of Kami no Ai (God's Love) church in Tenri – debt free.
That was in 1987. Kami no Ai church was the first witness for Jesus in Tenri City. It has been there for 29 years and John's son Joseph is ministering there today. You don't have to be nuts to be a good servant of God but it does help if you are just crazy enough to do foolish things.
Lord Jesus may we love You like the women at the tomb and let our love carry us beyond what makes sense to do impossible things for You.
bill
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