Herod...believed in God?

”Eeeeeee!" I remember feeling like i wanted to stretch until my joints came out of my sockets, when I had my first bout with restless leg syndrome in elementary, my variation of it affecting my arms down to my fingertips, not just my legs.

But it looks like it feels so good when babies do it. Stretch, I mean. The other day, I was watching some wake up after a good night's rest in tight swaddling, and they were irresistably adorable. 

How could anyone kill innocent infants (Matt. 2:16)? But...then I realized that King Herod's slaughter of babies was because he believed in God!

Some people think only those who don't believe in God do horrific things. Not so. Herod knew he'd acquired the throne by craft. When he heard the Christchild--the rightful heir to the throne--was born, the reason he felt threatened by a helpless baby born in poverty was because he BELIEVED a God in Heaven was out to get him.

Why else would a powerful head of government issue orders to wipe out defenseless infants of his own people?

Some have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, according to the Bible. Paul believed God, but he persecuted followers of Christ. Pharisees believed God, but framed, shamed, and crucified Jesus. Religious leaders, in the name of God, have tormented laity down through history. So...just believing in God isn't enough?

What God says about us, not what we believe about Him, seems to be more important. Hm. Does God say, lovingly, "This is my beloved child."--as this father and mother clearly feel towards their boy--when He looks at us? That's what He said when He looked at Jesus being baptized; the pastor said this morning. Here is a pic from last month when he says he unintentionally almost drowned a young member baptizing her!

P.S.: (The redeemed have a special relationship with God, but it doesn't do away with our need to constantly repent. Some church workers attain ministry ends by ungodly means; there are perpetual relationship self-sins among the flock. However, unlike Herod, we know the One with Whom we have to do is a Merciful Everlasting Father.)

Red or Yellow...Precious in His Sight

Itsuko Shimabukuro, the person who decorated the yellow hibiscus last week, is probably the oldest member of Gushikawa Baptist, the only one who was at the church in the old place where my parents established it, before we moved to our present location. Maybe she knew Mommy! I talked with her one week.

"Oh, but I never met your first Mom," she apologized; "She was already gone; your Dad had remarried; and Kiyo was the new Mrs. Oshiro by the time I went to my cousins' baptism at the Tairagawa church." (That's Kiyo in the blue dress on the end.) Itsuko wasn't a Christian then, got saved in 1986, four years later.

But these ladies at the church have been so faithful ever since! I met Itsuko's daughter, Wakana, only once as a single young lady--now she's a mother herself. Despite the indifference sometimes shown to her mother's talks about the Bible.... Excitedly, Itsuko reported that when it was time for her grandson to be put in kindergarten, the school Wakana chose, far from home, was a Christian one! The many years of seed sowing seemed to be bearing fruit. Wakana came to church for Dec.'s wreath-making activity; and anyone knows handcraft professionals can be found elsewhere if that's the only thing you really want.

Sunday, in that back room, Itsuko sat with children hoping to help plant seeds of God's love and life in any way possible. I guess she knows it doesn't really matter if it's robust red flora or Valentine-colored delicate hibiscuses or winsome yellow flowers; just plant the seed and then care for it; God makes buds bloom.