JUST PARK ANIMALS

Call me crazy. But I tell you, SOMEONE who reads blogs is telling the critters at the park about the posts!

Because I wrote about the animals in Okinawa coming out where it was warmer, and not to be outdone, when I went back to the park up here in Iwatsuki, altho' it's still Feb., in one day I was met with spot-billed mallards, greenhead mallards, egrets, great blue herons, kawasemi, turtles, carp, pigeon, wagtail, thrush, and the usual crow and sparrow.

Then I wrote about the Cormorant, and from the neighboring river, not only did the cormorant come to the park, and not only did he bring a companion, but as I wrote in my post, he brought 2!

Yesterday, I posted a drawing made 2 years ago, made from imagination. I found another one made of the birds at the park, but it included the Starling. Altho' I thought about posting it, I said to myself I haven't seen Starlings here for months now (it is an autumn bird), so maybe I shouldn't post it...but when I walked into the park this afternoon, guess what bird first met my eye? The Starling!

"Starlings don't wink, do they?" I e-mailed my sister. It felt like this one did!

Today, for reasons I won't go into, I didn't take my memo or drawing pens with me. But it seems the birds were all smiling and trying to keep me guessing. Egrets, kawasemis, herons, crows, wagtails, thrushes were all out, joined by turtles and carp.

"What? You think we can understand human words or something?" they seemed to say; "We're just park animals!"

Huh? Baby in Basket?

I just remembered a picture drawn 2 years ago and felt a need to post it.

It was of an Egyptian steer finding a basket floating in the reeds of the Nile. A frog has leaped up on its forehead, surprised at the gurgling coming from inside. A locust looks on as the basket passes by, and a fly and flea peer down at the baby's face in the floating bassinet.

Moses. Drawn out of the waters. The offspring of these animals will hear of him...and 80 years later help lead his people into freedom. I imagine they never guessed, by looking at that little baby in that basket in the water, what God was planning.

We can't tell what God is going to do by what it looks like at first. Maybe we should just be faithful in whatever it is we're supposed to do, no matter how humble it looks.

SEIKO & SIX COUSINS

I remember crying when I sat in the worship service of Gushikawa Baptist Church many years ago. My Aunt Yoshi was sitting in the back with her unsaved husband Seiko sitting next to her. I was glad he'd agreed to come, but when the song chosen had to do about how we'd all be meeting One Day in Heaven...and I knew Uncle Seiko would not be there...well, I just could not go on singing. I found myself crying.

It was a few years later, my stepmother Kiyo led Seiko to Christ! When we sang of Heaven later, I knew my crying had changed to tears of joy.

101 years old. That's how old he is now. Oh--Seiko's the one who went swimming with Daddy in the river when Daddy came to Okinawa for 2 of his grade school years, the only blood relative who converted to Christianity as a result of Daddy's missionary work while he was alive.

During our time together in Okinawa last month, my sisters and I went to Uncle Seiko's house and had a meal with him and his 3 children--in other words, 6 cousins sat around plates of sushi, laughing about old photos. We'd gone to Sunday School and Summer Camps together.

Their mother, Yoshi, of this family, found freedom from the bondage to demon ancestors and was a vibrant believer. She is now with the Savior she fervently adored. The children: Masako, Morii, and Chieko, have yet to follow the faith they have seen in their parents. How we long to see the day we can say everyone in this picture will show up that Day in Glory too!

INSTEAD OF FROGS

I told you Nov. 30, 2022 how I viewed animals via a TV wildlife show. That time, I sketched a picture of a bat flying over the swamp. 

My sister hadn't forgotten my love for critters in the wild and recorded things for me to see on this visit too. Only this time, it wasn't bats. It was a documentary about hordes of little frogs' precarious pilgrimage to their final mountaintop home lake. Of course, many of them never make it. 

Is it really possible that the Potentate of the Universe plasters His Eye on every single one of His own little creatures and sees to it that they reach their eternal Havens of Rest? And as far as being as undeserving little frogs, well, we're so ugly and deceitful and selfish and...but our Everlasting Father stays with us anyway.

Instead of drawings of frogs, I thot readers might be more interested in animals featured on another week: a hawk-like bird of prey called the "Tombi" being squawked at by some mallards.

Altho' this is being blogged Feb. 19, 2023; and I got back to Iwatsuki yesterday, this drawing was made while viewing the screen down in Okinawa last week. I'll be seeing the mallards in real life in a few days!

SISTERS

As part of our time together in Okinawa, my sister Janice used some points to treat Joyce and me to an overnight stay at the ANA Intercontinental Hotel.

The actual treat began before even approaching the entrance lobby, as we picnicked on the grass near the front beach. A friendly little butterfly welcomed us, doing its best to keep its pretty wings open for us even when landing altho' they usually fold them, knowing humans usually enjoy seeing their pretty colors on the wings.

Our room was up on the 7th floor of the resort, where we were able to relax, reminisce, pray together, and enjoy the beautiful Okinawa scenery as evidence of how our loving Father would continue to bless us, His own.

Here is a drawing of the day God gave us. That's Janice reading from a book of memoirs; Joyce holding a laptop on her tummy while listening to her; and yours truly standing in front of the blinds--there's a story behind that.

WHOSE IS THIS?

That question was asked several times in the Old Testament.

When Boaz saw Ruth in his fields, his first reaction wasn't: "Get that gaudy-looking foreigner off my property--everyone knows Moabites are only trouble!"

No; he'd heard of all Ruth had done, the discrimination she'd risked for Naomi and was impressed with her unselfishness and industriousness. 

He asked the reapers, "Whose damsel is this?" (Ruth 2:5)

King Saul saw the shepherd David unable to bear a giant's taunts of his God...and then that boy gallantly did away with that pagan warrior!

He found himself wondering "whose son the stripling was" (Sam. 17:56) This was no average young man before his eyes.

Do we live in such a way people around us ask right away whose we are?

Unexpected Blessings Dotting the Islands

On Sunday, we sang "Little Village Church" (Little Brown Church in the Wildwood) in Japanese, remembering God's raising of the first few churches in Okinawa. Brian was then asked to share with the Gushikawa Baptist Church believers--many of them finding themselves teary-eyed listening to Sherri's glowing testimony of their son.

An unexpected visitor that week was Rumiko, a second cousin who came when she heard my sisters and the Waala siblings (she knew us from high school) were coming. During our fellowship session afterwards, she shared her testimony too.

When it was discovered I'd never been to the outer islands, Brian and Sherri invited me to come along; I jumped at the chance. Here are a few drawings from those few days. When we got off a ferry at a small island called Taketomi, we had to request a shuttle bus. The elderly driver responding to the call had known Missionary Russel Waala, and his heart leaped when he heard the name; he took us to his family lodging and his friend's eatery; drove us to a believer's grave; took care of all transportation while we were on the island. Ohama-san's two sisters are believers, but he still hasn't found Christ. Please pray He find Jesus to be His Big Brother soon.

Brian and Sherri let me stay with them for 2 more days on the island of Ishigaki. We went to a fish shop and immediately recognized family members of people Brian had grown up with. The person shown speaking to Brian on cellphone in yesterday's post took us out to eat then treated us to a glass-bottom boat on which we were flabbergasted to see a deep-sea turtle on the reef altho' it was low tide. Thank You, Father! 

Would a vestige of the old house still be there, we wondered, and went to the place where Brian's first home used to be. The person who seemed to be a gardener outside turned out to be a person who loved and had bought the property from his dad when asked to keep it going. That night, we had dinner with a friend of mine, not realizing God's number one reason for having us meet was the absolute encouragement her husband would be. In some ways, he and Brian acted as bright and free as young boys.

That night, we talked of how sometimes God blesses us but treats us like trained dogs who have potato chips placed on their noses. The master no doubt gives treats, but the dogs don't dare gobble them up until given the ok. All these ways God worked the past few days, we mused, are like yummy potato chips which we are to ponder in our hearts as Mary did until He gives the ok to fully enjoy them. I wonder when and how that will come.

MORE WITH BRIAN

Wow. Brian's older sister Sharon came to Okinawa too, and his younger sister Brenda joined in one night for an online pow wow--nothing like reminiscing like this. One night that week, Sharon decided to treat all of us to a meal out, where we cooked our own thin slivers of meat on a small grill on the table. It's called "Yakiniku", and I noticed a good deal of the customers of that Japanese-style meal restaurant were foreigners!

It wasn't just food and laughs; as MK's, we prayed together for another MK mother (whose parents are missionaries in Japan), one has been afflicted with cancer. We sang and videotaped "Jesus Loves Me" in both English and Japanese in harmony and sent it to her, hoping she would be encouraged to know our Loving Big Brother is with us in every single moment of our suffering.

Brian and his wife Sherri had borne testimony to the comfort of that Big Brother. They took the ashes of their deceased son Aaron to the church tomb the next day. Aaron never used the word "die" when referring to his own demise but said he would "fly to heaven." So the telecommunications tower that stood in the background, Brian and Sherri must've mused, only pointed to Aaron's new abode.

Oh--the pillar-like thing in the drawing? That evening, to celebrate Sherri's birthday, Brian took everyone to a nearby restaurant, and now the waiter bringing out dishes is a robot. At least it never spills the food or gets the orders mixed up.

Special Time with "my brother"

I always wanted a brother, and Brian Waala, child of missionaries Russel and Lois, my parents' co-workers, was the closest I ever had to a brother growing up. Last week, he and his wife Sherri, who are visiting Okinawa after over 30 years, invited me along on their overnight trip to the northernmost tip of the island. 

After getting back, I made a sketch of them posing at Hedo Point (where they took the ashes of their oldest deceased son). A black monarch butterfly graced the special time too, so that was included in the drawing, along with the Yambaru Kuina bird we saw often as well as the crab Sherri found on our walk on the beach.

We did notice the large sign above the receptionist counter read "Haisai," the familiar Okinawan greeting, so that too was drawn into the memorial sketch as well as the billiard table on which the receptionist and Sherri played a game of 8-ball and the ping pong table on which Brian played some table tennis with another young man from Germany.

There just wasn't room to draw the cafeterias showing the Okinawan food we enjoyed or professional baseball team we got to see in training.... It was just one day, but what a full, rich time it was.

Brian and Sherri have already invited me to come along to visit the outer islands where he grew up. We take off tomorrow, and I plan to stay with them about 3 days. What a promising start we've already seen. Thank you so much, Lord!