WHOAH

"Whoah." Unless a horse heeds THIS instruction of the Master, he is well-nigh useless.

It felt like the Father was signaling to me a "whoah" in reference to the "Mini Museum". It feels like I've been moving furiously, almost obsessed, with all the thoughts it feels God has been giving me about what He wanted me to do here. But all of a sudden, it felt like He said, "look at your Sept. 5 post 'Next Post New Pics...'.

Pictures--all 300 of them--have been taken down and categorized, have been made into digital files and entered into the computer. The screws and supports for them have been removed. Decorative borders, have been taken off. Pencil marks have been rubbed clean. Kinya took out old extra electrical wiring systems. Four slide shows have been composed.

Daddy's sermon notes are arranged in decades. Prayer letter folders are in chronological order and sitting on the bookshelf in the study, next to memoir albums. Above them are the relatives' photo albums, a shelf for ministry photo albums divided into early years with CJM, active years with FEGC, and later years with BMM, as well as his final years with BWM.

All the Lloyd-Jones books Daddy lent me have been returned. His Romans and Ephesians sets are now complete and line his back bookshelves--which have been cleaned.

Maybe the month of September, it was a good thing God kept the temperatures too high. for me to go outside. There was plenty of me to do in here.

Would you continue to pray? As the temperatures have dropped, the Lord has made it possible for me to walk several minutes away where my cousin lives--I posted about her several times--and visited her yesterday. She's in her 70's now but doesn't know the Lord yet.

And it seems now the Lord is saying He would have me let go of any more work on this "Mini Museum", to exult in paths He has trod in the past...just do things from time to time as he brings them to mind--but for now to turn onto new paths he wishes to travel.

No horse would be useful to his rider if he kept galloping in one direction, heedless to the whoahs cast in his ears now, would he?

LORD SENILITY'S BIBLE

Most people put up pictures of themselves that are flattering, but I was shocked at the way Daddy taped this picture in his study.

He titled it "LORD SENILITY". He'd written ボケさまunder the picture, and put it on the bookshelf, on the wall, on last page of photo albums! I think he wanted to make sure he didn't take himself too seriously.

But I wanted people to think well of Daddy, so I took the pictures down and hoped not too many people knew about them. I wanted to show the words of acknowledgement he'd received for over half a century of service, display the unquestionable time Daddy had spent in study of Scriptures.

I thought they represented Daddy better than that silly ole' picture!

Daddy's Bible. I so wanted that. I wanted to pick it up, browse through it, especially some of the passages we'd talked about, and see what notes he might've written in the margins. Mustn't, mustn't. I could see myself losing myself going from one passage to the next to see what Daddy found and messing up the pages of the precious museum piece that needed to last a long time...

I caught myself recalling the time I'd accompanied a friend almost 20 years previous, in northern Japan, whose father had been one of the first preachers in Japan. She'd told me her father's Bible was now kept under glass in a Christian museum. At that time, I'd said silently, "The Bible is a Living Book to give God's joy to men, not just to put on display!"

"Nah, you don't want people thinking about some senile old grampa," I knew Daddy would say if he were around; and he'd probably add: "Junie, if you want, you can get rid of this bookshelf and take the Bible to get a good look directly at the Lord Himself--that's better, don't you think?"

I thought: there was another handwritten reminder Daddy kept in the study: "No Spirituality without Humility." Humility. Screwtape talks about it today.

Tying Up Loose Ends on Sept 29

"We've been here a month already." Kinya and I looked at each other. We could remember thinking we had only a month to pack for the move...but we've been here in Okinawa a month?! Transforming the photo museum into a home has made the 4 weeks zip by.

This post is going to be a hodgepodge of loose ends, because I just want to report things I know you want to know about, and there's no way to keep them connected.

First, I want to say a big thank you for praying God help me keep my head on straight, that I not lose sight of what's important. There've been days I've almost forgotten, and the Father has had to yank me back with a "Where do you think you're going? Haven't you forgotten something? I can't afford to start the day without gazing into God's Face...any more than anyone could start the day running outside without his clothes on! Tomorrow, I'll be working on learning the last verse of Rev. 4--yes--my goal was to do chapters 1-5 this year!

While clearing out my Dad's study, and taking down all the photos around the house, I was able to compose 5 different types of "slide shows" with them to display on the monitor in the study. I did an experimental slide show just to see if it could be done; a short tour of the house BEFORE taking down the pictures; a longer one showing Missions in Okinawa; a detailed one giving Roy Oshiro's history; and a family one for relatives or any who might be interested.

Oh yes--I mentioned my Dad's beautiful Canadian clock had wreaked havoc on my foot when I dropped it last week. But it's doing nicely, see? My Dad, when he was making the photo museum, fell off a ladder and hurt himself--his hand got all black such he phoned us in mainland Japan, and my husband and I flew down and finished the construction work at that time. I just thought about it. Doesn't that mean there are some places Kinya actually dismantled the very things he built years ago?!

My stepmother's sewing//reading/room, we were going to let Keima use, but since it doesn't have AC, it can get uncomfortably warm in the summer, and my son opted for the dining area near the AC, moving the tables and chairs into the main living room area and bringing his mattress and computer desk and equipment in where it gets cooler. The smaller room will be my private workplace to write, draw, translate, read...of course, later in the evening, when it's cooler..

Yesterday, with the bulk of the cleaning out of the way and everyone pretty much set on where they wanted to sleep, I decided to get out my colored pencils and watercolor markers. I haven't done any serious drawing for about 3 months now--please pray it come back to me smoothly. Of course, God may want me to forget all the bad habits I picked up in Iwatsuki and do it right this time!