As reporter Clarence W. Hall followed American troops through Okinawa in 1945, he and his Jeep driver came upon a small town that stood out as a beautiful example of a Christian community.
"We had seen other Okinawan villages down at the heels and despairing," he reported. "By contrast, this one shone like a diamond. Everywhere, we were greeted by smiles and dignified bows. Proudly," he continued, "the old men showed us their spotless homes, their terraced fields, and their prized sugar mills."
The newsman saw no jails and no drunkenness, and divorce was unknown in the town.
Why was this village so unusual? An American missionary had come there 30 years earlier and had led two elderly townspeople to Christ and left them with a Japanese Bible. These new believers studied the Scriptures and started leading their fellow villagers to the Lord Jesus.
The reporter's Jeep driver was equally amazed at the difference and exclaimed, "So this is what comes out of only a Bible and a couple of old guys who wanted to live like Jesus!"
That lone American missionary three decades earlier probably never saw the fruit of his work, and it is possible that he even became discouraged at times, but he steadfastly acted by love and faith in helping to fulfill the Great Commission to bring the gospel to these dear people in Okinawa. He planted a seed for the gospel there, and God watered and nourished it, and brought it to fruition.
"We had seen other Okinawan villages down at the heels and despairing," he reported. "By contrast, this one shone like a diamond. Everywhere, we were greeted by smiles and dignified bows. Proudly," he continued, "the old men showed us their spotless homes, their terraced fields, and their prized sugar mills."
The newsman saw no jails and no drunkenness, and divorce was unknown in the town.
Why was this village so unusual? An American missionary had come there 30 years earlier and had led two elderly townspeople to Christ and left them with a Japanese Bible. These new believers studied the Scriptures and started leading their fellow villagers to the Lord Jesus.
The reporter's Jeep driver was equally amazed at the difference and exclaimed, "So this is what comes out of only a Bible and a couple of old guys who wanted to live like Jesus!"
That lone American missionary three decades earlier probably never saw the fruit of his work, and it is possible that he even became discouraged at times, but he steadfastly acted by love and faith in helping to fulfill the Great Commission to bring the gospel to these dear people in Okinawa. He planted a seed for the gospel there, and God watered and nourished it, and brought it to fruition.
"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" (2 Corinthians 5:17, NLT)
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