"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.
Altho' it was the pastor and his wife who were teaching her from the Bible when she found the Lord, it was Jaime who spent the most time with her, and he'll be stationed in mainland Japan at the end of the year, so we're really praying. Jaime helped adjust things on the platform for the baptism.
After her baptism, Shoko gave testimony of how she had found meaning and life in Christ. Then a family who recently visited Gushikawa Baptist Church requesting membership each came up and gave their testimonies too.
I almost forgot to mention this. More and more Okinawan families are becoming cross-cultural. Joyce interpreted the English for the father and son while the mother spoke in her native Japanese. People can usually understand a family member's language without being fluid enough to orate in it.
If human creatures can endure short lifetimes to somehow function in foreign languages and cultures, surely the Creator of humans (Jesus is Creator; without Him was not anything made that was made) is able to let go, during his short early lifetime, of His Divinity (language and culture?) and function according to human time and reason.
...to be continued...
