Marsha's Blog

 Hello Friends! As promised, here are a couple of chapters of the upcoming book, “Stories in Time”. We’re trying to write about people who have experienced identifiable meetings with God in their last moments.  I hope you will be encouraged by these, and by the way, if you know any similar stores, please share them with us. We’ll write up a sample chapter based on your story, and with your permission will include it in the book.  Here’s the Preface, to give you an idea:   “Cars eased to the left and the right of the road ahead, as their drivers noticed either the red flashing lights or heard the whoop! whoop! of the siren. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, I saw a car hugging our back bumper. My partner, Steve, said, “Gonna have to dob that one in. Ambulance chasers are a menace to traffic.” “Will do,” I answered, reaching for the radio’s hand-held mic. I called the dispatcher, who in turn called the local police. That poor fellow was about the have a bad day. Coming...

 So there was a pastor and a bus driver who stood at the Pearly Gates. After a few moments of discussion, the Powers-That-Be stepped aside and let the bus driver in. The pastor protested as the gate swung shut, but then the answer came. “Well, pastor, when you preached, people went to sleep, whereas when the bus driver drove, people prayed!” We did a lot of praying on this last trip. We recently watched from the back of a pickup truck (which had been converted to tourist seating) as a young girl careened us all over a mountain road while texting on her phone, vaping and managing to drive using her last two available fingers. When you get down to it, travelling of most any method is not for the timid, that’s for sure.  For Tony, at least, it was all worth it since he had plenty of opportunities to peach and teach along the way. Arriving back home the other day, we were reminded of something we’ve always said, sometimes in jest but sometimes deadly serious: we need to consider a...

A good friend turned 95 this last week (you know who you are), and it startled me to realize just how fast the time is flying.  I remember this particular birthday because we had been commissioned to send a comment on his 70th that day.  But that was the day the world stood still, 9/11. I’m guessing there wasn’t much celebration that day.   Do you realise that was 25 years ago already? So, we heard a good sermon while we were on the ship recently.  It was delivered by a very humble and straightforward layman passenger, not a great orator or decorated scholar.  When I commented to him afterwords, I said, “I’ve heard a lot of great preachers, and I’m married to one as well, but that was absolutely a great sermon and I won’t forget it soon.”  He almost cried to feel that God would use him in such a way. We weren’t the only ones blessed to hear him speak that day. People were lined up with comments and questions so that it looked like backstage after a Tay...

 A long time ago, in a Bible study we attended, Tony & I met a remarkable man by the name of Marcus Uzielvsky.  He was quiet.  Usually sat at the edge or just outside the circle. We knew he had a story, but this group took seriously the decision that we would protect each other’s privacy. We did know that he was an artist and rumour had it that he'd once been a part of the popular "New Christy Minstrels". If you think you’re getting old, I’ll just affirm that by adding that when he left that group, his replacement was none other than Barry McQuire, known for his hit song, “Eve of Destruction”.  Google it. You’ll be blessed. There was an aura about Markus I can't really explain, but it was obvious to all that here was a man who walked with the Lord. He will never know this side of Heaven what an amazing impact he made on our lives, one that would carry us through years of mountaintops and valleys. The first collision came one night at Bible study. We had just shar...

 Lately I've been really enjoying the Old Testament.  Maybe that’s because I'm getting “old” myself; who knows?  Anyway, the other day I came across Isaiah 2:3, “Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,     to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways,     so that we may walk in his paths.’” Suddenly an old song that I knew popped into my head.  It's in Japanese, but so beautiful. And the reason it was dually beautiful was that I remembered Tony singing that scripture to me about 40 years ago as we were walking up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This song was written by a dear friend of ours, Makoto Iwabuchi. Over the years, he’s been a real inspiration in our lives, in addition to a lifelong friend. It was the early 80’s. Tony and I were settling into life in Sendai when Makoto and another fellow by the name of Chu Kosaka came and held a concert in the city auditorium. We fell in love with...

 We were talking the other day in Bible Study about how to be ‘full on’ Christians in the world we live in now. History shows us dramatic examples all over of men and women who keep their faith razor sharp, and often pay the ultimate price for it. But what about us, in the world in which we find ourselves today? Of course, all the obvious things were mentioned, like reading our Bibles faithfully, or praying like Miss Clara in the 2015 classic, “War Room”. That raised lots of related questions, and someone asked, “What about praying in restaurants?” Wow, that opened the kettle. Some thought that prayer is a personal thing and so praying in public might not be appropriate. Others brought up the “Pray without ceasing” quote from Paul in I Thessalonians 5:16, and that reminded me of my son’s father-in-law, who has taken that verse quite literally.  We all agreed that this was a subject that bore deeper inspection. The group was split over whether or not praying in public is a mark...