SATAN

I'm convinced that Satan is very much concerned when the backslidden Christian, the mentally ill, the depressed, and those who are defeated by sin are trying to pray or seek relief or find their way out of their condition they become his special targets. He wants to keep them that way. When they begin to seek the Lord for help he releases the demons from hell to keep them where he has them and wants to keep them. He will even direct his fury against those who try to help them. "Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." -I John 4:4

HUMILITY

Dear Children,

 Do you remember Mr. Farquhar? 

Norman Farquhar entered my life in September 1979 when he attended our morning church service at Littleton Baptist Church in Littleton, New Hampshire.  I was glad to have an older man in the service and in the months to come he became a regular attender. I soon realized he was a believer who loved the Lord. He was retired and I asked him if he would join me during the week at a noonday prayer time. That continued for years.  We often discussed theology before or after we prayed. Norman was of a Plymouth Brethren background. We differed in how many pastor/elders should lead the church and in our views on the rapture and Lord’s return, but we enjoyed fellowship as brothers in Christ. When I started our Christian school, he backed me up and would help when we needed some teaching on different subjects.

In January 1986, we moved to Alaska and lost track of each other. When he died and I read his obituary,  I was absolutely shocked to find that he was a graduate of MIT and had taken part in the atomic bomb Manhattan Project during WWII! All those years I had been praying and fellowshipping with this man and had no idea who he was! Truly Norman followed Colossians 3:12, 13: "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."

Here is an excerpt from his obituary:

"When Norman was twelve years old he made the important decision to follow Jesus Christ, around whom the rest of his life revolved. He was an elder, Sunday school superintendent, teacher, Bible study leader and mentor in many churches in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Vermont. He loved people and loved encouraging them to study God's word and to follow Him. Prior to his death he was attending the Union Baptist Church. 

"In 1944, he married the love of his life, Esther Grace Briggs. They met in NYC during the war where she was stationed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and he was working on the Manhattan Project. Even just months before his death he would look at a picture of his wife in her Navy uniform and say, "I love that girl." He loved his family and spent his retirement years visiting their children and grandchildren. 

"Norman worked for National Aniline and Chemical Company in Buffalo and later at McGraw Hill in NYC, N.Y., during the war and was involved in the development of the nuclear bomb in the Manhattan Project stationed at Columbia University, N.Y., the Chrysler plant in Detroit and later in Oak Ridge, Tenn. He went on to work for Plymouth Cordage in Plymouth, Mass., Air Reduction Corporation in Stanford, Conn., Foster Wheeler in NYC and finally working in cryogenic systems for Westinghouse Electric including design for a nuclear rocket, design vehicles to travel on the surface of the moon and various systems for nuclear reactors."

Note: Others in our ministry there have told us in response to this that they also were unaware of Norman’s background. One response came back, "I, like you, did not realize his background, which, in retrospect, makes him all the more special.  Truly a man after God's heart and he and his wife both lived it every hour of every day."

SOAPED UP—NO WATER!

Note: As I am trying to put together a book about the Lord’s dealings in our lives I am posting some ahead of time that may be of special interest. 

  SOAPED UP—NO WATER!

Soon after Marlene and I were married in 1958, we read together the book George Muller of Bristol by A.T. Pierson.  On pages 75 and 76, we read that the conviction he and his wife held was "that a life of trust forbids laying up treasures against unforeseen needs, since with God no emergency is unforeseen and no want unprovided for: and He may be as implicitly trusted for extraordinary needs as for our common daily bread."

Pierson continues, "Yet another law kindred to this and thoroughly wrought into Mr. Muller’s habit of life was never to contract debt, whether for personal purposes or the Lord’s work…. He and his wife determined if need be to suffer starvation rather than to buy anything without paying for it when bought." 

Together we decided we would like to follow that course and only let the Lord know of our needs. Just recently we have begun to reread the same book and are thanking the Lord for the influence it had upon us. We have found that during 60 years of marriage the Lord has blessed us and our nine children as we followed the Mullers' example. We have seen His answers to prayer in many, many unusual ways during our nearly 17 years in Japan, 9 years in New Hampshire, and 30 years in Alaska, as well as in our periods of transition and retirement. Truly the Lord’s provision and care have been sufficient.

I am going through my diary and trying to record many of the ways in which the Lord has provided our needs. I happen to be in 1979 this week—the period two years after leaving Japan. After we returned to the States, we bought an unfinished house on 25 acres in Littleton, New Hampshire. We could relate many wonderful ways in which the Lord provided for us during those years, but I will just relate one here.

Our entire family pitched in and finished building the house. I had taken the pastorate of a church of 13 members and they were of great help in many ways. Our big need was water, so I hired a farmer with a backhoe to dig a hole to find some. Before beginning to dig he took a twig from an apple tree and “water-witched” until the twig bent down of its own accord. He dug six holes before finding water near the barn. We put a pipe to the house, hooked it up, and got water. For the next two years It would run out countless times. We’d have to wait a long time before enough water would accumulate in the hole. It was frustrating to say the least.

 At the end of August 1979 (I don’t have the date in my diary), I was taking a shower when, all soaped up, the water ran out. I looked up and asked the Lord to look at me. I said, “I’m just asking for water, the staff of life. Would you help me?" 

On September 4 I had a phone call from the treasurer of Rocky Mountain Lake Baptist Church in Denver. He said, “We just received a check for you from an engineer in Oklahoma who heard you preach at our church 15 years ago. He asked me to send it to you if we knew where you were.” I had never heard of the man. Before I could hang up he asked if I wanted to know the amount. I was thinking in the $50 range, but he said $3,000! The wheels were turning—a van, a garage, a well?  But I knew the answer. It was for water. 

When the check arrived I called the well drillers. They drilled all day until 8 PM—no water! I found out the drillers must be paid by the foot whether they hit water or not! I engaged them for another day, but I didn’t sleep well that night. They returned and drilled most of the day before finally hitting water at 310 feet—the length of a football field! Two and a half gallons a minute was sufficient.             

The bill was $2300. A man from my church installed the pump down in the well and hooked the pipe into the house. His discounted bill came to $675. Total $2975. We had $25 left over! Once again we found "that God may be as implicitly trusted for extraordinary needs as for our common daily bread."

A LONELY BURIAL

 One morning a call came from the local mortician.

He said he had received a body from a physician.

Would I conduct a burial service for a lady no one knew?

Her body would be in a wooden coffin nailed shut from view.

He would have it carried to the cemetery and placed by the grave.

She had died alone with no one to save.

She was homeless without a name, just a body with no one to care.

She died penniless so there would be no fare.

“Of course, I will do it” I said to the man, 

I will give her a burial the best way I can.”

I took my 3 daughters with me who sang,

            “Rock of Ages Cleft for Me, 

            Let Me Hide Myself in Thee.” 

I read from my Bible John 11:25 

And said that this woman may still be alive! 

When we took our leave, 

—there was no one to grieve, 

But I heard a sound

—a man had had been watching near the mound. 

A husband? A friend? We will never know 

While we are still living here below.

Ron Blough/a true experience

HENRY THE HAWK

         One summer one of our calves disappeared so our boys and I set out in the “boonies” to hunt for it. When we found it after hunting for a couple hours we noticed a hawk’s nest in a tree and one of the boys climbed up and found two baby hawks in the nest. They wanted to take them home but I said “no." They coaxed and I gave in and allowed them to bring one home and leave the other one with its mother. Little did I realize he would become an intimate part of our family for years. 

         The boys fed it strips of meat and other things it liked and he grew rapidly. During the day they would take him outside and tie him by the leg so he couldn’t fly away. Every day his mother and the one we left in the nest would fly over and circle above him for a visit. Finally, I said that we’d have to let him go so he could be with his mother and brother. The kids were sad and took last pictures, but “Henry”—the name we gave him—wouldn’t leave. 

          Our house became Henry's home. He would land on the window sill when he wanted to come into the house for food or just a visit, and I can still see him pecking at the window when he wanted to come in. He’d come right into the kitchen and survey how things were going. He had a wing spread much longer than my arms so it was quite a sight when we opened the window for his visits. 

         We had bought a Franklin Stove in the States, had it shipped here, and it kept our large kitchen super warm. When Henry got wet he’d come in, perch on the wood box next to the Franklin Flreplace, and spread those long wings out to get them dry. We have pictures of that. 

         When we played ball in the yard he’d sit on the clothesline post and turn his head 180 degrees when he wanted to watch the action. He was mischievous and would snatch Valerie’s hat and drop it in a place where the snow was deepest. In my mind I can see her now angrily scrambling through deep snow to get her hat. 

         Once when Vicky was waiting for the bus to go for her piano lesson he landed on her shoulder. A car going by stopped and the driver came running to help her, thinking she was being attacked. She waved him off and told the man that Henry was her friend. Another time Henry's loving sweep near my head injured my eye sending me to the doctor for treatment. 

         One day when a lady newspaper reporter was interviewing us in the living room, Henry flew into our wide entryway, thence into the house swishing right past her. Her look was one of disbelief, but she kept her composure.

         Henry had a special place where he would sleep in any kind of weather. The kids would go to that place to check on him knowing right where he would be after dark.

         In February 1977 we decided to leave Japan after having lived there 17 years. (Valerie, our oldest of nine was nine months when we arrived in 1960 and was going on 17 when we left.) We were wishing we could take Henry with us. But it was not to be. 

         One night a cattle buyer came to buy our cow and other animals we had on our farm. (Farm animals listed in October diary:10 calves (I heifer) and a milk cow, a pony, steer, 2 pigs, 40 laying hens, 6 ducks, 1 falcon, 1 hawk, 1 blue heron, 1 monkey, 2 cats, I dog, 12 rabbits, 2 bandies and 3 goats.) He had heard about Henry and asked us if we would sell him. At first I said we wouldn’t but since he belonged to the boys they chose to sell him for $50. They went out to get him like they often did at night but he was gone! DID HENRY KNOW WHEN HE SAW US PACKING TO MOVE THAT WE WERE LEAVING?

IT NEVER ENTERED HIS MIND

Dear Children,

This morning as I was reading my Bible I came across something that the Lord said was an abomination committed by both Judah and Israel. “Something that never came into His mind.” Our Omniscient Father is speaking of an abomination that had never entered His mind! Since my IQ and my age hover around the same number it is hard for me to understand our Lord having an infinite understanding and still having something that has never entered His mind. Now I’m beginning to panic. It must be the fault of the translators—something in the translation I’m using? I began looking through my shelf full of translations. They all said the same thing so I got out my old 1611 KJV edition which I find difficult to read and it was verbatim like the others. Some words were spelled a bit differently, but the meaning was clearly the same. At last I thought of the ESV that is being used by most fundamental ministers according to a recent survey and it was the same—“nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination.” Now my kids will find this hard to believe, but I remembered a word from my college days at BJU— “anthropomorphic.” I think that means that our own Infinite Lord sometimes uses words about Himself in our own finite way so we could understand Him better. Since there are some besides my children on my mailing list, please, if you have a better interpretation, just smile. My children I’m not worried about. 

Now finally I get to why I’m writing this. We had two calls from our grandchildren last week. Both happily shared the good news that they were expecting babies in the fall. These will be numbers 4 and 5 greats to be added to the 38 non-greats. 

I knew Israel and Judah both had provoked the Lord to anger, but I had forgotten until I read Jeremiah 32:30-35 that they had set their abominations in the house called by God’s name and defiled it by casting their sons and daughters into the fire unto “Molech.” It never entered God’s mind they would do this abomination. What about the abomination of abortion where they cut healthy children up while they are still alive and breathing in order to sacrifice them to their own “Molech” to cover up their sin? Democrats and Republicans, like Judah and Israel, both pay dearly for this abomination. Regardless what you may have heard, the recent budget passed by the Republicans and Democrats this year and signed by the President of United States still contained 500 million dollars for the abortion machine called Planned Parenthood. Day after day thousands more are murdered while still in the womb in the United States of America. 

Blessing on all who are in Christ,

Great Grandpa

TWO NEW YORK COLLEGE PROFESSORS VISIT US IN REUKE

Dear Children, Grandchildren, and Friends,

Here is another chapter from the book I am writing.

 TWO NEW YORK COLLEGE PROFESSORS VISIT US IN REUKE

From my diary July 26-28, 1975

We had a call from a town official that there were two tourists in town who wanted to meet us. We picked them up and brought them home and had a very interesting time with them.

Mom wrote to her parents about them and their visit:

"Ellis and Mary Blade are very unusual, intelligent people in their 60s. They live in the center of New York City in a 17^th-floor apartment during the week where their work is close at hand. She, a university mechanical drawing and engineering professor, he a mathematician presently in the field of making up computer programs in connection with the air pollution problem. She is one of only two or three women in this same field in the United States. They have no children and so their lives are wrapped up in their careers and varied interests—music, art, etc., and traveling. They flee to the country on weekends where they rent a home beyond the sidewalks. They are the type of people that make you feel that you've known them all their lives. We were laughing and chattering away before they were barely in the house. We feel that their hearts were touched and moved because of some of the last comments they made. He told Ron that his sermon was the highlight of his visit and said that 4,000 people should have been here to hear it. She told me that she was very thankful for our help, especially spiritually. We witnessed to them straight and of course they also got it in our family devotions, church, and just being here with us."

The Blades spend their summers traveling to various countries around the world. They hike, climb mountains, and engage in outdoor activities. They told us that a week ago they were climbing a mountain on the Shiretoko Peninsula on the eastern side of Hokkaido when they came to a sign in English that told them the mountain was closed! Our dear friend Kamidate-san who lives over there met them at an inn where he picks up and delivers laundry. He speaks little English but was able to get across to them that the Hokkaido bears, which closely resemble our grizzlies, are coming out of hibernation and are a danger to mountain climbers.

Kamidate-san was also able to get across to them that he had a church in town and invited them to his services the next day. Dr. Blade described to us their reaction to the invitation. "I said to my wife, 'We haven't been to church in years and here a heathen Japanese boy invites us to his church. We should give it a try.'"

They made arrangements to be picked up the next morning at the train station. When it was Kamidate-san the pastor himself who came for them, they were surprised thinking that he would surely have someone else do the job. (Kamidate-san was just beginning a ministry there in his home city and didn't yet have a faithful group of believers.)

They then told us that when they went inside Kamidate's "home church" they waited for the congregation to arrive. After a few moments Dr. Blade said to his wife, "The church must be us." Kamidate San put a tape on the cassette player and they heard a sermon by Pastor David Yearick on the "Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin."

You see, Hampton Park Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina, had been sending us monthly financial support and tapes of the pastor's weekly sermon. I had passed them on to Kamidate-san to listen to as a help in learning English.

Kamidate-san had called us, tried to explain about the Blades, and let us know that he had recommended that they meet us, thus  precipitating their visiting us. He was anxious for them to hear the Gospel clearly from us.

They were a unique couple to say the least. They slept in one of our tatami-floor rooms. They were amusing. We got a kick out of how they told the above story. On Sunday they attended our services which we held in our home. I preached in both Japanese and English for their benefit. After our family evening service he surprised us by telling us that he knew the hymn we sang— "Yesterday, Today, Forever"—and he quoted the reference to the Bible verse for that hymn. Then he told us that his parents had been missionaries to the Mormons in Utah.

The next day when I took them to the train station where they were going to tour an island from which Russian islands could be seen (one which we had evangelized with Bibles and tracts), they  told me that the best part of their trip that summer was the time they spent in our home. We prayed that God's Word would continue to work in their hearts. For a few years we kept in touch at Christmas time.

Note: Here is the link to some information we found about Mary Blade on the internet today:

https://www.revolvy.com/main/index.php?s=Mary+Blade  

MISSED A CROW BUT HIT A TELEPHONE WIRE

July 15, 1969 >We had no telephone and when I tried to get one I was told I would have to buy stock in the company which was very expensive and required at least a 2-year wait. We had to go to a neighbor and use his phone and he would have to come to our place if we got a message. I prayed and reminded the Lord that we were here to be a Gospel witness and a phone was very important if we needed to contact family in the USA or if they needed to get in touch with us. I said that it was a burden for our heathen neighbors to have to come to our place especially in the dark and sometimes in stormy weather.

Japan is ahead by 13 hours EST in America. I had a .22 rifle, one of the few in Japan, and the neighbors wanted me to help them by shooting the crows around our place because they were stealing their fish that were drying on wooden racks. They were even boldly attacking women as they carried their groceries in shopping bags. I was glad to comply and shot crows around our house when I was outside reading or working. The kids would run and get them and some times when they fell in the ocean they would wade out and retrieve them. The neighbors offered to buy a dead crow so they could hang them up to scare the others away.

One day when I was shooting at them above my house I shot one off a telephone wire, but the bullet made a funny sound. Soon after that a group of men in suits came to our door and asked if I had been shooting above the house. I was the only one in the area with a gun so they knew right where to come. I told them I was shooting in that direction and pointed to the area where I had heard a strange sounding shot. They said they were glad I was honest and they would be able to repair the telephone wire I had shot through quickly since I told them where it was.

I found that "Quickly" was 3 full days that a repairman hung up in a bucket about 150 feet in the air splicing wires together, and I prayed that he would not fall out of his bucket!  Ten thousand people from a near-by town had no phone service during that time!

After the phone service was restored the men came back and the man in charge of the phone company spoke to me in fluent English. He said that ordinarily they would expect compensation but since I was honest about it I would not have to pay anything. He politely asked if there was anything he could do for me? I told him about the 2-years waiting time it would take me to get a phone. Then he said in clear English, "Maybe God brought this about." He said he would like to come to our church services. He and his wife began to attend our Sunday services, but that soon ended when he was transferred to a large company in N.Y. City.

On November 14th I received a contract with stock in the company with a new phone! It turned out that the reason a man of his standing was in an isolated place like Rumoi was that he had lied in his job application and his punishment was to be sent here to serve for a few months’ time. On September 19 I had a long talk him. His father was the head of the largest Buddhist temple in Japan. Truly the Lord works in mysterious ways in answering our prayers!

Several years later the town decided to offer about a dollar for every crow we killed. Marlene and one of our boys took the first basketful to the town hall. A man in a suit put on a pair of gloves and gingerly took them out and counted them. When he paid her he shyly said, "Next time just bring the legs."

Soon after that I was called into the police station and the police chief, who had become a friend of mine, regretfully informed me that a new law was passed and all .22 rifles in Japan had to be surrendered to the police. The reason given was that they didn't make a loud noise when fired and could easily be used in a murder. I didn't turn mine in until a year later. He was patient with me. 

Your Dad

HERRING PALACE PART 2-AN ANGRY LANDLORD AND A MOVE TO RUMOI

My diary entries explain the next step of God’s intervention and undertaking in guiding our family to our next place of ministry.

JULY 7, 1968

Our neighbors in Sapporo gave us a going away party—Genghis Khan meal on a vacant lot in the neighborhood. Aoki San our neighbor and dear friend gave a speech about us and our new home in Rumoi. We had prayer and the kids sang “Hide Thou Me.”

"Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my life in vain. 

I'm tempted then to murmur and of my life complain; 

 But when I think of Jesus and all he's done for me, 

Then I cry, O Rock of Ages, hide thou me." 

Most of these neighbors attended our English Bible study and also evangelistic services with Pastor Ishiguro from the Mino Mission. Some attended church services with us hearing the Gospel in their own language.

JULY 12, 1968

Ray Ruetz (fellow missionary) and I went to Rumoi to finalize our agreement on the house with Seki San (the owner of the house). We even brought a load of books to leave at the house. We found Seki San angrily clutching a tract from Mino Mission which I had given him and saying he had changed his mind and we couldn't move into the house. It quoted from I Corinthians 8 and equated idolatry with demonism. We discussed this for hours. I told him about our going away party and showed him the tie I was wearing that they'd given me as a gift. His son, who was listening to us and had been to Tokyo, urged him to let us move in. He understood our predicament and that Saito San hadn’t told us about the problem. (Saito San was supposed to have called to tell us the deal was off but hadn't, probably on purpose.) His father relented, we signed a contract and gave him the first month's rent of 20,000 yen—about $60. The Lord helped us!

JULY 19, 1968
 
We finished packing and loading a truck we rented for $50 with the help of three fellow missionaries, Ray Ruetz, Larry Burgett, and Gerald Smith. At 1:30 p.m. we headed for Rumoi. We arrived at 6:30. We unpacked and were starved having gone all day without eating. Then we found a large bowl of raw squid the landlord had left as a welcoming gift. They have a large squid boat. We had never eaten squid but we were hungry so we cautiously dipped some in the sauce provided. The more we ate the more we liked it, and in a few moments we had "licked the platter clean!” We all went to bed tired and happy. The next morning I walked along the beach while thanking the Lord for His goodness. The Rumoi Times had an article and pictures of us and young people began to visit us. Our efforts to reach Rumoi and the Japan Seacoast had begun!

Note from Mom: We later learned that the Seki’s squid boat had taken in an especially good catch that day and they had taken that as a stamp of approval for renting to us. Can you just imagine with what trepidation they had done so? It was so very unusual for a large American family to want to settle in such a place. Japanese on the island of Honshu considered Hokkaido to be a tough, backward, out-of-the way place to live, and the local Rumoi people couldn’t believe that we would want to live there during the severe winter. However, in the article in the Rumoi Times that Saito San had written, he had given the reason for our being there: Dendo (evangelism). Yes, he got that right! 

 

Mr. and Mrs. Seki looking at all the activity out the window or our new front room 

Making new friends

This newspaper article appeared December 24th in Rumoi Times. Following years they would feature our family in their New Year’s edition. The Japanese pronunciation of our name sounded like “Brown” to them. The year was Showa 43 (43rd year of Emperor Hirohito’s reign).

Herring Palace

Dear Children,

Many have said that we should chronicle our answers to prayer, God’s amazing blessings, and some of the unusual and interesting things that have happened in our lives during our 59 years of marriage. Recently I took my diary which I have kept from 1960 until today and began to go over the many unusual ways the Lord has cared for us over these years. When I came to 1968 this morning I thought, “ I'll never get this done since I'll turn 84 this month,” and then I thought that at least I could share this portion with you. It is a rendition of just the highlights of the events surrounding how the Lord provided and answered our prayer for a home from which to serve Him and provided us with a Nishin Goten (Herring Palace) in Reuke, Hokkaido.  I trust that it will give you a taste of our 17 years in Japan. We still thrill when we review God’s marvelous grace in our lives. To God be the glory!

Herring Palace

In mid-April 1968 we decided to quit language school in Sapporo and seek the Lord for the next step. For about five years I had a concern for reaching the people on the northwest Japan Sea Coast of Hokkaido, mainly due to the fact of it being entirely unevangelized. We felt the Lord would have us go there and continue language study while utilizing what we were able to use along with the ever-present opportunity to teach the English Bible.

What does a missionary do when the time comes to move into an area completely unevangelized? Usually if a missionary is under a mission board he will have the mission leaders advise him or even have more experienced men go ahead and help him settle in the new territory. We had no mission board (we prefer it that way) so it was up to us when and how to make our move.

On  Friday morning June 14, 1968 at 8 a.m., I with my wife, Marlene, and our five children ages 9, 7, 6, 5, and 3 headed west toward the Japan Sea Coast of Hokkaido. We stopped on the way,  bowed our heads, and asked the Lord to lead us. Three hours later we reached Rumoi, a seacoast fishing city of 45,000. First we went to the Shiakusho (city hall) and inquired about renting a house. The officials there told us there was nothing like that available and that we should return to Sapporo. We had hoped there would be some kind of a real estate broker there. We began walking through the city, not knowing what to do next. I said to Marlene, "Let's just walk and look for a miracle." People stared at us, kids crowded around, and people ran out of their shops to see the gaijin (foreigner).  Kids were shouting, "Gaijin," and saying things like, "Look how big he is," so I said, "Haven't you ever seen an American before?" They answered, "Yes, on TV, but not for real!"

We came to an ice cream parlor and I wanted to go in, but Marlene said it would be too expensive. I said, “Now if someone asks us if we want to rent a house you will be sorry you didn't want to come in." We bought each a cone, and while we were sitting at a table eating our 11-cent cones, about 10 minutes later a man looked in the window and spotting us  came in and asked me what my business was here in town. I told him that we were looking for a house to rent. He said that he knew of many and asked us if we'd like him to take us to see some. "Just a coincidence," some might say, but to us it was as much of a miracle as turning the water into wine! This short little man wearing a tam and sunglasses, turned out to be a newspaper reporter for Rumoi Times.  He asked us if we would go to his newspaper office where he could take pictures and write a story about us. Of course we went.

For two days Saito San showed us different places that were available. They were all too small for our family of seven. Finally, on Sunday we returned home to Sapporo but confident that the Lord would continue this work. On Monday we received a call from Saito San, and he said he had found a house we'd like. We returned on Wednesday, and although we turned down the house Saito San thought we would like, he kindly helped us to keep looking until we found the perfect place.
We had asked the Lord for a place with lots of room for the kids inside and outside to play and a place where we could have a cow, chickens, and a garden.  Our language teachers had told us that we would never find such a place. Saito San took us to Reuke, ten minutes out of Rumoi, to a huge house right on the seashore with a road between the house and the beach.

The owner of this very large house had been a herring fisherman. The house had been built 70 years before and had housed his family on one side and 70 of his fishing crew on the other side. It was called a Nishin Goten (Herring Palace) built without a nail; all the wood was cut and inserted in grooves. About 10 years before this the herring for which he had fished in front of his home had disappeared and forced him to change fisheries. He moved his family to be closer to the harbor from which he began fishing for squid. Thus their home place remained without occupants these many years.

We were advised to go to the head of education of the Rumoi area to get an introduction from him to the landlord of the house so that he would more readily rent to us reasonably. We did so, and this man very graciously called the owner, Seki San, and arranged an appointment for us at 1:30. You can imagine the surprise when this fisherman heard that a large American family wanted to rent his home.

When Seki San, showed us the house, we saw that one of the rooms was dark and eerie with a large Buddha encircled with pictures of the dead parents, relatives, and the Emperor. We told them we couldn't live in a house with a room like that. Also there was a kamidama (Shinto god-shelf) built right into the house. There was an offering of fresh strawberries in front of it that day. They balked when I told them that would all have to go, but the $80 a month I offered them won the day and they moved everything to an outside storage building.

That house proved to be a tremendous blessing from the Lord as we raised our children there for 11 years. The first morning living there when I looked out the window and watched a ship sail by, I was overwhelmed with what the Lord had done for us.

My Dad (October 9, 2016)

October 9, 2016

Dear Children, Grandchildren and Friends,

I haven't written since last Christmas and have no excuse whatsoever. I'm not sure if you want to take the time to read my ramblings but then I began to think of how I would have loved to read what my dad would have written about his thoughts and experiences. He only went to the 8th grade (it still stands over near his old farm home) but we could never trip him up in spelling. I wish he'd have written about the WPA ("we poke along") "OPA" (other people's affairs"), John L. Lewis who headed the coalmines he worked in during the depression--one was only 36" high! The time I heard him yell to the neighbor "The dictator died" and the neighbor yelled back "Hitler"? and he yelled back "Roosevelt"! His view of politics if written would have left no doubt where he stood. As the oldest of 5 children I got the brunt of his thinking. He hated unions, and being forced to contribute to the "United Way" because of the places like Planned Parenthood who received some of the money. There were times when to the exasperation of his bosses in Bethlehem Steel Mill where he later worked, when he kept them from getting 100% of the men to contribute. He was upset when he heard there were some players on the Pittsburgh Pirates who were not from Pittsburgh. He didn't believe in intentional walks when he came to my baseball games and didn't believe me when I told him my manager ordered me to do so. He used a Damascus twist barrel 12 gauge single shot shotgun and sometimes got both rabbits when they ran out of a brush pile at the same time--shot one and reloaded and got the other one. He got in some "knock down drag out" fights at the Jenners Recreation Hall poolroom and I had to go and get his torn shirts the next day. He was an expert pool player and was very tricky when a newcomer challenged him to a game for money. He'd let him win until a large "pot" came out and then he'd clean them out. We lived in an old mining company house heated with coal we would gather out of the hot slag pile the mine threw out.--no hot water and an out-house and wash tub was our bathroom. I could hear my mother and dad arguing about money every night when they went to bed--Mom spent too much at the company store and there was nothing left in his paycheck but a little "script"--the money they paid with and you had find a kind soul to exchange it for the real stuff--usually "Jess" the barber who would do that for us if we wanted to go out of town for something like a 10 cent movie. Tennessee Ernie’s' "Sixteen Ton" was literally true.  He would complain if his partner didn't work hard enough to get sixteen ton. We had no car so he would take me on his shoulders and hitchhike to my grandfather's farm where he would work and bring a chicken home for supper. When he took me fishing I had to use a bent pin for a hook--hooks were too dangerous he said.

No need to comment on my ramblings they are mainly meant for our 9 children. I'll write again before the election DV. I started out to write about the Trump/Clinton debate which starts in an hour but got side tracked thinking about my dad who came to know Christ as his Savior at 50 years of age and as a new man in Christ kept the faith until the Lord called him home at 77 YOA.

"More Than THESE" (February 17, 2017)

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Dear Kids, Relatives and Friends,

A lot has happened since my last letter—an election, an inauguration of a new president, cabinet appointments—lots of political stuff that has been thoroughly covered over and over.

This blog was originally started because Proverbs 1:8 begins with, "My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother." I have in my possession a sheaf of papers handed down from my forefathers more than a century ago called "Instructions To My Children." They contain good clear Biblical instructions about salvation and godly living. They are meant to be handed down from generation to generation.

The verse quoted above is not meant for little children nor even just for sons and daughters still in the home. Charles Bridges in the best Bible commentary there is on Proverbs says, "Nor must this reverence be confined to the years of restraint. Neither age nor rank gives any claim to exemption.”

My nine children and their spouses and my 38 grandchildren are included here! I have used most of my space in my introduction but I want to send you at least one lesson I've been thinking about lately.

John 21 begins with Jesus revealing Himself to the disciples after his resurrection. He addresses Peter, Thomas, and two other disciples before they know who He is. Peter said he was going back to the same occupation he had before he met Jesus—he said, “I'm going fishing.” The others said, "We will go with you." You can read the rest of the story yourself about fishing all night and not catching anything. I relate to that very well! Then Jesus appeared on the shore and told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and they caught 153 large fish. After they had breakfast with Jesus He asked Peter if he loved Him "more than these." Three times He asked Peter if he loved him.

Remember just a few days before this Peter had betrayed Jesus three times. What are "THESE" that we find in verse 15?  What had become more important than loving Jesus? These=Fish!

Now in closing I ask each of you to think upon this question—Could you have a "THESE" in your life that you love more than Jesus? I hate to make a list of possibilities because you could quickly deny any of them being your "THESE."

A "THESE" could be an obvious thing like husband, wife, your children, or grandchildren. Perhaps your job or some pleasure? TV or techie stuff like computers or video games, Facebook or phone? A boy friend or girl friend? A car or 4 wheeler or snow machine? Airplanes and traveling? A sports team or physical exercise? Camping, fishing, hunting? None of these are sin, but if you love anything more than you love Jesus they become a sin. Take some time; meditate and pray about whether or not there may be a "THESE” in you life.