Miyako

1 January 2017

Dear Phyllis,

I can't believe it! I can't believe it! I can't believe the date at the top of this letter. You talk about something mind boggling; run the clock back a couple of decades and ask the question, “What will the year 2017 be like?”; I'm sure that 90% of Christians would have replied, “You will have to ask Jesus, because He will have been here for sometime before that year comes”. Looking forward, there is no way that I can see another one or two decades pass before we see most of he culmination of biblical end time prophecy. Last weeks Obama/Kerry's betrayal of Israel was at least a hiccup of what most biblical scholars have said for years that someday America will turn her back on Israel, and God's people will be standing alone against the rest of the world. Hopefully Trump will reverse that, but anything could happen in the next few years; and the fact that nearly 50% of the US thinks that Obama is a good guy demonstrates how fragile the American culture has become.

For ourselves as we look forward to the coming year there is about as much uncertainty as there is in the world situation. Two months ago, Pammy met a brother that was at loose ends in ministry and seemed in desperate need. He had married a lady with an older son and they had taken in five boys to take care of them. In desperation we allowed them to sleep on the floor in our living room until we could make arrangements for them to rent the other half of our duplex house. Along with that a 10 year old girl came with the mix that we have temporally taken into our family as our daughter. Pammy talks much about adopting her and making her Bee Cook. My response has been, “Let's slow down and allow things to unfold a little bit”. The arrangement with the family of five boys and our new daughter has worked out beautifully thus far, but basic foundational issues are still hanging in the air. It appears that Lui and Lek were looking for a foundation to join that would pay all expenses for them and their boarding boys. I have told them in the bluntest terms possible that Pammy and I are not a foundation. We can just barely cover our own basic needs and can't pick up the tab for seven more. Their marriage is tenuous and under real strain. Yesterday I told them about my secretary Miyako.

Miyako holds a corner in my heart as one of the greatest - if not the greatest Christian sister - I have ever met. In her early years Miyako had been married to a very fine man and had a four year old son. But she was first class trash. As a married woman she was playing around with other men and her four year old son was in the way. To get rid of this hindrance she dumped her son by giving him to a family in the US. Of course she got divorced and continued to drift from one man to another for the next 20 years.

Then she got saved. Oh my goodness, you talk about getting saved. If salvation was on a scale of 1 to 10 Miyako was about a 11 or 12. As Jesus said, “She that is forgiven much loves much” (Lk. 7:47). I never met a person who was more aware of the load of sin that Jesus forgave and consequently loved Jesus more. I never had anyone work for me that was more loyal, more faithful, or more totally dedicated to Christ. She would take any suggestion as a command and would not rest until it was completely done.

Miyako was close friends with another girl that was working as a teacher in the language school. One day Yumi chan saw an advertisement in the Christian shimbun (newspaper) by a man looking for a Christian wife. Out of curiosity Yumi chan called the man to see what he was like. Yumi was in her 20s and the man tuned out to be in his late 40s and Yumi decided he was too old for her, but Miyako might be interested. At Yumi chan's suggestion Miyako sent the man a letter. He later told me that, from his newspaper advertisement, he had 35 responses. From all that flood of mail he was the most interested in Miyako's letter. He wrote her inviting her to come to see him and talk to his pastor. I knew nothing about this until a few weeks later Miyako told me that she had an omiai (arranged marriage) going and wanted me to check him out. He came up to Karuizawa to see me, and I had an interesting discussion with him or several hours. He had had a rough background but seemed to be clearly saved, and following the Lord. I gave him a passing grade. A few weeks later they met again and He said, “Before you give me your finial answer whether or not you will marry me, I have something important to tell you. I have leukemia and only have a short time to live.”. Miyako replied, “That is all right. What I was actually looking for was a blind man or cripple. Someone in great need that I could help. If you have leukemia that is fine. I will marry you”.

Oh my goodness, I never heard of such a testimony. They asked me to marry them and I agreed with the provision that I first have three sessions of serious counseling. The first was about their walk with the Lord. The second was to discuss the marriage vows one word at a time. And the third about married life. My initial talk with him covered the first one, but that meant we had two more sessions to go. The marriage was set for a Sunday after church, and he would come to Karuizawa the day before for the remaining two sessions. But the wedding was on Golden Week which is one of the busiest weekends of the year in Japan. What was a three hour drive took him 15 hours. He was supposed to be at our house by 2:00 PM Saturday afternoon. At 8:00 o'clock he called from Takasaki, and then it took him four more hours to come the remaining 40 km arriving at our house at midnight. He hadn't eaten all day. Rosemary fixed supper for him, and while he was eating I began our counseling session. Just in passing I asked Hayashi san if he would promise never to strike Miyako. Stunningly he answered, “NO”. I asked Miyako, “What will you do if he slugs you?” She answered, “I don't know. I have never been hit.” Unbelievably his feet were stuck in concrete and he wouldn't promise not to deck her. The call was mine. Whichever way I nodded was exactly what Miyako would do. She looked to me to make the decision whether or not the marriage was on. He was good on everything else. He would love her as Jesus loved the Church (Eph. 5:25) and everything else the Bible requires of a husband, but he would not promise to not hit her. On the grounds that the Bible does not say, “Thou shalt not slug your wife” I overlooked that one problem and married them the next day. It was an incredible wedding.

Shortly after that we went to the states. Miyako and Hayashi went to Hawaii for a honeymoon. Miyako had been in Karuizawa for a couple of years and was accustomed to American men where it is ladies first. As they got on the elevator at the hotel Miyako got on first. He grabbed her violently jerking her back demanding, “I'm first!”. The war started at the elevator.

He was a rough one. She got beat - repeatedly. Miyako took three months of that and walked out to come back to Karuizawa. We were in the states at the time so she stayed with our dear friend Takako Yamamoto. Takako was close to being the top Christian woman in Japan. She listened to Miyako's tragic story of the hell she had put up with. Then Takako said to her, “You call yourself a Christian and can come up here to bad mouth your husband like that!” Miyako burst into tears. From her heart she repented and went back to her husband to be a faithful wife – for 15 months – until she lovingly saw him off to heaven.

Years passed. Amazingly Miyako's first husband got saved and they were remarried. The last time I saw them was in 2000. They had been married for three years then, joyously serving Jesus together. They were as fine a Christian couple as you ever wanted to see. That was 17 years ago. If all has gone well for them I highly suspect that they are faithfully serving the Savior for whom they have such deep love.

I have shared this testimony with several Japanese girls asking them, “How would you like to be like Miyako?”. So far everyone has answered, “No way.”. To which I have replied, “Yes, I can believe that. You don't love Jesus like Miyako”. There maybe one or two rare Christian sisters in America, but it would be the most unusual Christian that would be so devoted to Jesus to follow Him in the path that Miyako walked.

I shared this testimony with Lui and Lek yesterday. I told them, “Quit your squalling. I don't want to hear either one of you demanding, 'I want my way or I'm out of here'”. Our Lord told us that when we pray our main burden should be, “Father, hallowed it be Thy Name”. Then we should plea, “Lord please let Your Kingdom come to my heart, and above all else, let Your will be done in my life, our marriage, and our home just like it is being done in heaven”. Pammy said, “Yes that is right and that is the way it is.” I responded, “No, it's not. Jesus doesn't fight with Jesus. The fact that they are arguing proves that the authority of Christ is not functioning here. Somebody wants their own way.”

That is easy for me to tell Lui and Lek, but truth comes closer to home. If that applies to them it applies double to me.

What would be a good goal and prayer for 2017? Maybe if that prayer was more functional in me Jesus might get a little more honor.

Oh Father, please make it to be real. Amen.

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