That's right! Grocery shopping today to pick up a few things before lunch. We are in the middle of the Japanese "Silver Week". At the end of April and the first week of May there is the famous "Golden Week" which has three national holidays in one week's time. The Silver Week is new. It consists of two national holidays - Respect for the Aged Day and the Autumn Equinox. All together everyone gets off for five days when you include the weekend. The expressways are packed full of cars since the government dropped the fees on weekends and holidays.
Sharon and I have been kind of "laying low" since the roads are very crowded with the holiday makers. So today I needed to pick up just a few items. I questioned whether or not to go to the larger discount store which is normally crowded with cars waiting for open parking spaces. It also has narrow isles filled with shoppers jostling for positions in front of the refrigerated food cases. I got what I call a "Sharon Parking Space" right in front of the entrance. For a number of years she has confessed that our Heavenly Father always favors her with a parking space close to the front of stores where she goes shopping. It is true! I have observed this for years. At first, I doubted and even made fun of the very idea. Since then I have repented to her and God. After that I began to pray about parking spaces and have been known to pray for a "Sharon Parking Space" when in a hurry and needing to get in and out quickly. Since repenting over my doubt, it seems to work on numerous occasions.
Today I picked up my needed items and headed to the checkout counter. While the lady was checking me out a very short older Japanese lady reached in front of me asking the clerk for an additional plastic grocery bag. Being much taller than her she did not see my face. When I looked at her more closely I realized that I knew her. I touched her shoulder lightly and said, "hisashiburi desu" (lt's been a long time)! She was very surprised and happy to see it was me. Her husband and I were in the same hospital room when I had emergency appendicitis surgery five years ago. He was there for prostrate cancer. The chances of meeting this lady at a large supermarket with 10 checkout counters at the exact same time and place are very slim. This was God showing me without any doubt that He is wanting this precious family to hear the Gospel very soon!
There were three other men in the room with me back then. The one closest to my bed passed away over 4 years ago with cancer of the spine. He was the one who was won to Christ through simple acts of kindness, Japanese Christian Music, and Bible tapes in Japanese. The other two men became friends with me. Two of the men went to junior high school together. I have visited with both of them several times over the past few years. Since being the hospital together the remaining two men have been placed on my daily personal prayer list. Each night I bring them before the Lord asking for them to hear and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Both men are staunch Buddhists. The older one is a Master of Tea Ceremony, being a teacher of teachers over a large region. Both men are in their mid 80's now and in failing health.
Today I learned that the one now is suffering from diabetes and recently was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. We have not been together for the last several months. As we left the store I told his wife that I pray for them on a daily basis for which she seemed very thankful. Before parting she invited to come to visit them in their home as soon as possible. Driving away alone in the car I began to pray for the remaining two men I was in the hospital with five years ago. Many times I have rejoiced in the fact that one of the men had accepted Jesus Christ as Savior before he died. It seemed that the Lord told me today hat I had been asking for too little in accepting that only one of three had been saved. It came clearly to me that God's Plan is for all three of those men to be saved! Funny how we believers accept way less than what God has intended for us. I began to praise God for the salvation of the two remaining men as I drove home.
I thought how unpleasant the emergency surgery was for me along with complications in recovery over an extended period of time. Many times I thanked God for the great privilege of helping a Japanese man in my room come to faith in Jesus Christ. I accepted the fact that my suffering and pain was worth it if that brought me in contact with someone who came to Christ because of meeting me. What a joy to realize that God's plan is for each of the men who shared that hospital room with me to be saved! I also thought how long and sometimes difficult it is for some people to finally come to faith in Christ in Japan! It is as if leading some to Christ here is truly a type of guerilla warfare with several stages of battle before they surrender to confess Jesus as Lord of their lives. For the past few years it seems my daily prayer for these people has been a type of Mercy Covering for them while yet unsaved. Then in God's time circumstances take place in lives where they are finally ready to hear and Gospel and to respond in a positive way. I am feeling this is the case with the two remaining men from the hospital. This is the season of their salvation. Please join with me in prayer that I will be open to the Guidance of the Holy Spirit in how to relate to the two families in sharing God's Love.
May God bless you as you share His Love with those you meet!
Dan Corbett
"Reaching One Among Millions"
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