Marsha's Blog

 Today I'd like to tell you the tale.  It could go something like the line by Charles Dickens in the Tale of Two Cities' and start off with: "It was the best of times and it was the worst of times." Yoshioka is a small village a few miles north of Sendai, Japan, where we lived most of our career.  The thing that struck us every time we went out there was the sense of history.  It was over 700 years old, and that was back in the ‘80s.  We came to know the place because a doctor by the name of Abe Sensei, ran a clinic there. By God’s grace, he became a Christian sometime in the ‘50s, and that changed the course of the land.  Because of his concern for the town and society, and wanting to share Christ in the community, he started a preschool with a church attached.  It sailed along with great success for over 40 years.  We got involved when Tony was asked to come play his guitar for the children once or twice a week.  It became a real bright spo...

 He is Risen!! I'll keep it simple today as I'm sure you're all getting your bonnets and gloves together for church!  Those words are enough to bring up a whole pack of memories. I’ll always remember the excitement of “dressing up” for Easter Sunday. It’s a tradition that sadly seems to be losing ground in the face of the Me Generation’s “Comfort is Everything” way of thinking these days, but I’ll leave that soap box alone for now.  In my home, Easter was a day for lace and hats and shiny white shoes. Never mind that where we lived in the Rockies west of Denver, snow was a very real possibility, and spring snows (like around Easter time) could be particularly wet and sloppy. But nothing could stop us from trying our best to look our best, even when the weather outside was, well, less than best.  We persevered because Easter spoke of New Life. And what better way to celebrate than by dressing up for the occasion? Why don’t you give it a try, Young Folks? You’ll love i...

 Hello All, As we are heading into the Easter Run Up, I had an interesting thought put to me the other day.  Maybe you've heard it too. It was the night before His Crucifixion. Jesus and His disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane. You'll remember the fracas when soldiers, led by Judas, showed up to arrest Him. With the “Kiss of Death” by Judas, things got crazy.   Peter, entrenched in moment, whipped out his sword and removed the ear of one of the perpetrators.  Scripture puts it this way:  “And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, ‘Suffer ye thus far’. And he touched his ear, and healed him.” I’m trying to imagine this as a stage play. How would I choreograph it? Right there in all the confusion, Jesus stopped what He was doing and healed the servant. And I’m thinking to myself, why didn't that MIRACLE stop everything in its tracks? Wouldn't the soldiers have been impressed?  Wou...

The other day I came across another of my favourite stories in the Bible. This one (again) involves King David. But first let me tell you a story, which may explain my point, at least I hope so. So there was a church bake sale and one of the mothers was running late.  She baked an angel food cake but in her haste, she opened the oven door too soon and it fell. There was nothing she could do because time was running out, so she grabbed a roll of toilet paper, put it in the crater of the cake and put an impressive amount of beautiful icing on it before jettisoning out the door for the church. As she and her daughter hurried for the church, daughter was given specific instructions,  "You run the cake into the back, I'll park the car and get to the table before it does and buy it!  Then, I will have paid my participation dues and no one will know what a disaster it was!" They agreed and the daughter hopped out with the beautiful cake.  But as the mom was heading into the...

Well, here we are at the three-week before Easter mark.  If you're like me, it’s a time when things seem to be moving more quickly than normal.  Around my house, there’s a sense of changing seasons, and the work that needs to be done as we’ll be going into winter soon, but unlike you folks in the northern hemisphere, that doesn’t mean putting up the storm shutters and tuning up the snow blower … more like exchanging the short-sleeved shirts in the closet for long sleeves and packing away the snake discouragers from around the trash bins and water taps.  The snakes are still around, but they move a lot slower when the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  Some of my friends at this time of year are talking about “Lent” and what they’re planning to give up for it. In a way, it’s reminiscent of New Years and the lists of resolutions we like to make in January.  I grew up in a Baptist home that eschewed any and everything that hinted of “Catholicism"....

The other day Tony was sitting in the living room with our oldest grandchild.  This was a rare experience, as he hardly ever stops moving, and Tony was thinking about how to capitalise on the moment. Maybe a little “Man to Man” talk he thought.   The Wise One versus the Young Accolade. But Grandson, who as a new 16 yr old,  feels pretty confident, and spoke up first. “Gigi”, he asked (This is not the French Gigi but the Japanese endearment for ‘grandpa’), “What’s it feel like to be old?” Tony sure didn’t see that one coming. Granted, he mused to himself, the question comes up often, but usually in the middle of the night, and not with anyone else present in the room. After a moment of reflection, Tony felt like he had something to say.  “Well, I miss the physical part of me. I’m in this recliner because it takes too much effort to go outside and play basketball with you ………. I’d like to, but it hurts.” While he pondered that, he thought suddenly, “Oh no! I don’t...