I forgot to mention written-in-English blogs:
The end of last month, I began a major shuffling online. The latest, biggest changes have been in making Japanese blogs:
・３つのねがい Please read! (Kimiko's Travel Agent translation)
・覚えている childhood memories
・主の思い出に生きる from 2016 blog
・やっと戻ってきた ongoing Japanese blog
・JUNIE'S LIBRARY fiction and animal tales, English posts also
・WHY SHOULD IT CHANGE Bible stories and devotionals, English posts also
By the way...all former computer systems will stay where they are, and be assured "KIMIKO-ROY'S ADVENTURE" will continue to be available here.
I changed the name from "ROY OSHIRO: for posterity" to "OSHIROS: for posterity" but don't know how to shut down this blog, actually! Sometimes, I think God gives us just enough ability to do His will; absolutely no more. I know first-term missionaries and I have talked about initially feeling frustrated for not knowing enough of the language, but then realizing that was actually God's safety belt for us: He keeps some of us from saying things we don't need to say.
Besides, I'm told Japanese isn't a difficult language; it's only the first 30 years that's hard.
I'm doing a major overhaul. My ongoing personal blog will be continued on "Come into an MK's Kitchen" https://graceexceeding.blogspot.com
(It is actually a very old blog I found from 20 years ago and "reactivated".
Japanese things have been moved to やっと戻ってきたat https://souseiki28-15.blogspot.com
Fiction can be read on JUNIE'S LIBRARY at https://gloryphotos.blogspot.com
Little by little, readings are being moved to others blogs--I actually wanted to set up a website but don't know how to do one so have made half a dozen blogs instead.
I actually learned HTML when I was younger and made a site before new neurological medicine, the tsunami, church change, move, letting go of transcription work...I can't remember anything and don't think I should spend the time trying to learn from scratch again. Besides, it seems technology has changed so much, it wouldn't make sense to re-learn archaic skills...rats.
Anyway, all my literature can be found on blogs: * OSHIROS: for posterity; * TOMOKO Pen; *Why Should It Change; * Come Into an MK's Kitchen; * JUNIE'S LIBRARY; and * やっと戻ってきた; as well as book-blogs (these have only one long story on them): *KIMIKO'S TRAVEL AGENT; * DESERT STEW; * スクリューテープをなんとか・・・；AND ACTUAL ONGOING BLOGS: * Come Into an MK's Kitchen; (and eventually * やっと戻ってきた, altho' I'm still in the process of cleaning that up right now.)
It's like the Bible. People who are really interested will hunt, read, discover; those who are not will not bother; I'm afraid the majority of readers will be lost here. But for any who are still wanting to go on, the links and contents will be:
OSHIROS: for posterity (this blog) https://royoshiro.blogspot.com Incidentally, Kimiko and Roy's Adventures, the writings starting with Grampa and going thru' Daddy's life, is available here on One Drive.
TOMOKO Pen https://junchrysalis.blogspot.com Contains imaginary publications of Iwatsuki Joshi Park Wildlife, the RAVEN REVIEW, until hands change to 3 other birds for 5 more issues, changing name to PARK REVIEW. Also "Goldie's Last Hurrah", a photo fictional story about a carp, friendship, aging.
Why Should It Change https://tentativenavigator.blogspot.com Bible Stories, there may be stuff here you've never really seen altho' it's been there all along. It's just never been taught this way. You might want to bring your Bible and bookmark for this.
Come into an MK's Kitchen https://graceexceeding.blogspot.com Actually 2005-2007 posts that were found and started up again.
JUNIE'S LIBRARY https://gloryphotos.blogspot.com Collection of fiction, the type you want to grab a bowl of popcorn and a mug of hot chocolate and do light reading. But this blog is going to be cleaned up much in the future, and longer novelettes will be moved off to their own blogs--just letting you know in advance--while shorter stories will stay.
やっと戻ってきた https://souseiki28-15.blogspot.com Japanese literature, kinda. I'm getting a headache wondering what to do with all the literature tho', because I want to keep this an ongoing blog, only in Japanese, so I think I'll put much into other blogs...please be patient with me as I do.
KIMIKO'S TRAVEL AGENT https://hopeassured.blogspot.com First "book-blog" (not actual blog, but one entire story in one blog, last chapter put in first). This is probably the only blog that I am keeping completely untouched since 2007.
DESERT STEW https://tsunamiwavelove.blogspot.com This was the first attempt I made at writing fiction involving this much research yet intertwining fun with scriptural truth too.
スクリューテープをなんとか・・・ https://navigatedforhisglory.blogspot.com This is not an actual book, not really an actual translation. I'd just finished language school, and I so wanted my Japanese best friend to read Screwtape Letters, this is what I sat down and sent her, and my sister told me I needed to get it into others' hands.
Come into an MK's Kitchen https://graceexceeding.blogspot.com I think this will become my ongoing personal blog, actually. It may not have the attractive illustrations I used to be careful to use in past blogs.
やっと戻ってきた https://souseiki28-15.blogspot.com Every once in a while, I think I'll do a Japanese post and put it here. Apologies to my Japanese readers; for organization's sake, I first moved ALL my Japanese posts here, and am slowly moving them into separate blogs, so it looks like a great big mess!
Several things happened in my mind then:
I knew my sister would try all sorts of things, but I never expected her to be able to do this.
What a sweet little surprise!
"What do you do indoors then, when you can't go out in the summer heat because of your medicine?" I was once asked. I've done a lot of reading, especially because I've seen a lot of books on my parents' bookshelves.
The apostle Paul talked about the one thing that appealed to him and for which he would give his entire life. I wrote about it on another blog. If you wouldn't mind reading boring posts that don't have pictures, you might look at https://graceexceeding.blogspot.com (the post Captive to One Thing is Aug. 11,'25).
"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations," the Lord had said, "baptizing them." (Matt. 28:19)
"Will I have to hold my breath a long time underwater, perhaps be willing to die to show my dedication to God?" a new convert and baptismal candidate once expressed. Some Christians who have grown up seeing baptisms forget how strange the concept of ceremonial immersion can be.
Um...I'm going to just go ahead and post something without illustrations and post pictures later, because when I tried posting pictures, I started to change what I'd written, then everything got all funny....
------------------------
Another teacher said there were many facets to giving truth. He asked us to imagine we were civilians during a war in which a guerilla warrior neighbor came running into our yard, injured, with a desperate look and ran between the bushes to the right. A few moments later, when enemy soldiers with guns came looking for him, without hesitation, you'd probably motion to the left, LYING INSTANTLY, UNASHAMEDLY. And it would seem so right, wouldn't it? To do otherwise, in this case, would seem so wrong.
That was only one instance.
The instance from 2 Chron. cited by the Sunday School teacher frightens me. Those were men who prided themselves as prophets of God who had been sent a lying spirit. How long had they disregarded God's voice, before Yahweh decided He would no longer bless them with his visitation? Why does this frighten me, you ask? Because I wonder if I will ever let that happen to me.
I have seen many a ministerial student on fire for God who, decades later as pastor, has gradually had his heart numbed by busyness here, procrastination there, cutting corners and not having time to listen to the little man. He has countless times ignored the whispers of the Spirit. He looks and sounds very different now, probably like the person he never wanted to be. But perhaps a lying spirit from God tells him to remember the humble person he "really" is on the inside; this deceives him into thinking this is his present condition; he sees no need of repentance.
A thick envelope? I still remember the time I was a young mother and feeling down about something--it was the day of snail mail--and I saw something in the post box from my Dad.
I remember one time hearing Daddy pray God would make him a good Christian father...was he sitting at his desk when he muttered that? I can't remember.
I can't remember either, what it was I was depressed about when those photos came. I just remember they made me smile.
Thank you Lord, for sending me a Daddy who'd make me smile. You knew he'd do that, didn't You?
I didn't know why people wanted to be stalked when they were wanting viewers to "follow" them; I liked hashbrowns, but what were "hashtags"; and was "hardcopy" something sold in stores with pipes and extension cords? I make no secret of how computer illiterate I am. But earlier in the week, I enjoyed another of God's gleanings from technology.
One Day, we'll be meeting together and having more than 60 mins. to share about what siblings share about and to praise Him. And with everything He's done for us, I'm sure it'll seem like His coming will have been ever so soon. Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Yesterday, I saw a video of Tom Sawyer.It had been a while since I'd read the story. I forgot he gave his shiny doorknocker to Becky Thatcher as symbol of engagement. We all smile knowingly, but whoever decided it had to be diamond rings? Can't it be one of those "broken medallions" where both partners keep the partial fragments, and the centerpiece is whole only when the two are united? I always liked those heart-shaped lockets.
"When God seems to be blowing out your candle and making your room all dark," I once heard, "it could be He wants you to throw open the shutters because He has some secret light from Heaven for you to see."
I wonder if the Lord is letting the darkness descend on Shannon and her family right now? Please pray the Heaven's light would shine delightfully brightly through them too!
"And when I had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say..." that's way too repetitious, I thought. How come? I was working on memory work from Rev. 6:3.
(Oh--I had only 2 mins. for last week's drawing of a sheep; this one was done in 5 mins.)
"A Bullet for the General". I'd watched a spaghetti western online to sketch some portraits from its first and last scenes, and when I submitted my work to an artists' site, a moderator there made encouraging comments, saying my drawing had been improving.
She did...until she heard the guns go off, and a horrific dread yanked her to her feet and to the fence where she could see the pile of executed corpses...yes, her beloved's was there. He loved her; he had protected her and saved her life. He took the bullet for her to do it. Decades later, when telling of how her beau loved her, she couldn't help but speak of how He died in her place. Wouldn't it be almost cruel to not let a holocaust survivor share of her experience?
"Did you call me? I saw you waving, so I came," I said to the man on the bench. Actually, I knew he hadn't meant to call me, but I had to give some reason for crossing the street and coming over to speak with a total stranger.
I had been walking home from the park one morning when it seemed I felt a tug to talk to the person in front of the drugstore. What? But I'd just crossed the street to get to the other side! But the urging was unmistakable, so I found myself crossing the street again, glad there was little traffic that early in the morning.
I suppose the person just wanted to talk, and this was a way of keeping me there. It turns out he had been sitting there for quite a long time thinking about "his friend"'s son's suicide, and he had been crying and trying to get drunk while trying to make sense of it all. This man, my age, was born in the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Okinawa and knew the name of the small village where I grew up. Altho' he hadn't accepted Christ for himself, he had been given a Bible at that hospital and even knew of the word "agape" referring to God's Love!
That was Aug., 2022. When I first met my friend at the bench, he was in such a negative and garbled state of mind, he could not go to work. God must've cleared up a lot of things for him, because we didn't need to meet for any more talks. Hopefully, we'll be meeting again in Heaven someday and talking about this encounter. It will be August soon, and now I am back down here in Okinawa, the island we were both born in. Father, please do take care of my bench friend.
What? This is the sketch that was inspired by the worship service message.
Pastor Nishino was teaching the significance of the words "This Do In Remembrance of ME" often quoted during the Lord's Supper. It's a good thing, he said, to focus on our need to maintain holy lives an intimate walk with the Lord, but that isn't what God is telling us to remember. He's telling us to remember JESUS HIMSELF.
This is the first time I've heard Peter's sinking in the water being used as an illustration to teach COMMUNION!
Not sure what to name this post.
"You're thinking too hard;" seemed to come from the gecko; "keep it simple." This was his suggestion.
