This was an incredible day in many respects. Let me share with you just some of the things that went to make it a day to remember in my mind.

Before I relate the events of the day, I would like to point out that I believe God was and is in control of all the events in our lives and that it is HE (and not we) who order the events to coincide with His divine purposes.

I want to thank all of you who were praying, especially for opportunities like those I had today. I'm convinced that God has been at work answering many of your prayers on my behalf, for which I'm so grateful.

Firstly, as is our custom here at Japan Mission, we spent time sharing items for prayer and then prayed together.

Since there were only 4 of us (instead of the usual 6 or 7), I was reminded of the Scripture which says, "where two or three are gathered in My Name, there am I in the midst".

As we prayed, I remember praying specifically that God would bless the Bible times at the various churches today, and that God would speak to the hearts of the students. That He did so, will be evident as I relay what happened later on as I reached the church where I teach English.

I remembered sharing with a co-worker just the previous evening of how that sometimes I would arrive at the church only to be told that I had to teach the Bible times as well as the English lesson.

The Bible Time

Today was one of those days, and when I arrived, the pastor's wife had a bad cold and could hardly speak, and so, after giving me the Bible passage for the lessons, excused herself.

The passage was John ch. 14 verses 1-14, especially verse 6 where Jesus says, "I am the Way, The Truth, and The Life, no one comes to the Father, but by Me."

My first class is a ladies class, and their English is of a fairly high standard. It was amazing that one of the ladies who relayed with joy of how she had been to the temple the previous day to view the beautiful cherry blossoms didn't have the same enthusiasm when we read the Scriptures together.

However, another lady, (who really seems to be seeking) was very open during the Bible time, as I asked the students ‘who is Jesus’, to which she immediately replied ‘He’s God!’

Only 3 weeks prior to her statement she had told me, ‘I believe in God, but I’m just not sure if Jesus is God or not’.

It seems that God has indeed been at work in her heart, as we haven’t discussed the matter since.

After the lesson, she stated, ‘I want to believe, but I don’t feel ready yet’! For a Japanese person to even show interest in the Bible in front of others who are not believers is quite unusual. It is truly marvellous to see God at work in a person’s life. What a relief to know that a person’s salvation does not depend on us, we are merely God’s servants to be used in any way He chooses. And what glorious service it is.

We were also reminded of the suddenness of death when we heard the news that one of my student's husband had died the previous Wednesday! My student is a Christian, but her husband (to my knowledge) did not know the Saviour. He had had diabetes and a liver complaint, however on the 24th February, my student had told me after a visit to the doctor with her husband, that the doctor had given him 3 years to live! He hadn’t even lived to see another 2 months!

I realised afresh the urgency of the task of using the opportunities we have while there is still time, to warn people to flee from God’s coming wrath against their sin.

Again after my second class, to which only 1 student (out of a possible 4) came. She also said that she understood the Bible lesson (quite incredible as her English isn’t that advanced).

The final class is an advanced class and again we were reminded of the ‘impartiality’ of death. One of my students shared how that her 19 year old son’s friend had died just two days ago. He had gone out of the house at 12 midnight and was found dead at a vending machine near his home. Nineteen years old! What will it take to waken people up to the fact that we do not have forever to prepare to meet God! What will it take to waken me up to my responsibility before God for the people I meet each day?

As I again asked the question ‘who is Jesus?’, one of my students started saying things like ‘I can’t believe Jesus ever lived’ and various other similar statements about how far-fetched the Bibles’s teaching was (in her mind). Normally this young lady is quite untraditional in many of her ideas, and yet when it came to considering who Christ is/was, she was saying things like, ‘we Japanese believe ...’ and ‘we Japanese have been taught ...’ and of how different it is here in Japan compared to the ‘west’ or other countries.

It was also amazing to hear how she was content not to know anything about the historical Jesus (let alone all the Bible tells us as well). She admitted that she had never really looked into the matter.

Does she think that will satisfy God when she meets Him? Imagine if I came to Japan and never attempted to study Japanese and went out and flagrantly violated some traffic laws in my car. When the police caught up with me, I simply said, ‘sorry, I never studied the law, so you can’t prosecute me’. What do you think they would say? As they say about the law, there is no escape clause for ignorance.

Now, I didn’t once say that she had to believe ANYTHING about Jesus, but merely asked the question, ‘who was Jesus’? It was incredible to see her response.

For 15 minutes after class, she chatted frantically with one of the church members who is also in the class (in Japanese of course) about how she found it difficult to believe the things she was hearing from the Bible.

I just sat in amazement at what God was doing. I didn’t need to say anything about believing in Jesus or trusting in Him, but God’s Holy Spirit had obviously been at work showing her that what she does with Jesus is vitally important, and that she can’t afford to just ‘put off’ having an opinion about Him.

Providence on a Train

To top it all off, I had been praying during the day, as has often been my practice since coming to Japan, that God would put someone across my path to whom I could speak for Him.

On the very last train I caught home (I take 3 trains to get back to Ikoma where I live), I got on to a crowded train (surprise, surprise), and as I stood there, a man started talking to me (highly unusual in Japan). One of his first questions to me was ‘are you a missionary’? To which I replied, ‘yes’, how did you know? He then told me of ‘another’ guy he had met on the train some time ago who also lived in Ikoma etc.

You can guess what was going through my mind at this time (‘that was me’, I thought). And, sure enough, he mentioned that we had e-mailed each other a few times and had planned to meet etc. He still didn’t know it was me that he had spoken to (almost two years earlier!)

I want to tell you something else before I go on. My memory isn’t the best, and as far as names and details are concerned, it’s terrible. As the saying goes, ‘in one ear and out the other’ is very true for me.

Anyway, I remembered part of his e-mail address and his name! So when I said his name, he looked at me in total amazement.

Now, of course, I remembered what I had just been praying about (meeting the person God wanted me to speak to) and I was totally amazed by it all too.

He has also been to Ireland, and not only that, but parts of Ireland that are very remote!

I’m so glad that even when we ‘give up’ on people, God does not.

So, I know that God has brought this man back into my life for a reason, and I want to ask God that He would help me to be obedient to His will in this situation.

Thanks for all of you who pray and who are fellow labourers with me here in Japan.

The Lord continue to bless and encourage you as you pray and see His mighty hand at work in your lives and in the lives of those around you.

Let me finish with this appropriate verse from Proverbs 16:9 "A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps."

Aaron Wilson