What a Friend We Have

“Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season…” 2 Timothy 4:2, NASB.

Today I went for a monthly gathering of senior citizen ladies, expecting just to be a part of the chatter and conversation. I was told that we were going to listen to some music. The ladies were already there when I arrived, and the main person who always serves as emcee, Mrs. Min, made a point about my being there.

Then she said, “Well, why don’t we sing some of those Bible songs?”

I was confused, and said, “Do you mean the hymns?” She was not sure, but gestured to a couple of the ladies in the group, one of whom is a Christian. I was unprepared for this, and don’t know my hymn words very well in Japanese, but we were able to sing “What a Friend we Have in Jesus” and “Amazing Grace.”

Then Mrs. Min said, “Well, maybe this is an opportunity to ask questions or find out anything that Mrs. Norton wants to tell us about Christianity.” Then she gave me the floor!

I shared my personal testimony, including something about how God has helped me in the hard times. I shared about my mother’s cancer experience, and asked them what they do when life is difficult. They were unsure of what to say, so I asked, “Do you depend on yourself?”

Surprisingly, Mrs. Min told that her father died when she was young, and when she went to her grandfather’s house she always prayed before the Buddhist altar, asking her dead father for answer to her prayers. But he never answered, so she decided that she could not depend on people after all, and trusts only herself. She is a retired school teacher, and also said that in her teaching days, she always thought that the children who went to church seemed to have a purity of heart. Then she said, “I always could see that, but I never tried to go in that direction.”

I took the opportunity to tell her that Jesus is calling her now. I plan to invite Mrs. Min out for coffee, and pursue this conversation with her privately. I saw it as her expression of a desire to know why Jesus makes people different.

*Excerpt from a Pacific Rim worker from Japan.

Pray that:

Mrs. Min might be open to have deeper conversations about Jesus.

She might want to spend time reading the Bible with this worker.

God will lead, so that she will see Jesus as the one she can depend upon.

Pacific Rim is a region of the International Mission Board, SBC.