From the Land Down Under to the Rising Sun

Milton:

I had been introduced to churches in the USA by Dr. Chuck Corwin. As the division chaplain at the army base years ago back in Kokura had urged me, I was given to opportunity to go to the US and share our story. Pastors kindly asked me to return for Spiritual Emphasis week conferences. When Stan graduated from the North American-oriented high school in Kobe, he won a scholarship from a Christian university in Florida.

I felt it would be good for me to travel over with him and introduce him to friends and churches. Three months before departure, it was an easy decision to go; but three weeks before going, the financial obligations of the trip shook my confidence.

Then I reread the jewel-studded prayer of Paul in Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…” Through this verse, the Lord spoke to me. The impression came drifting up into my mind like a voice; “If you will praise Me, I will do something more wonderful than you have thought of.” So I picked up the challenge and began to praise the Lord for the journey to come.

In the middle of August that year, Stan and I boarded the new “Bullet” train, with its rattle-free tracks and air-conditioned luxury, for the three-hour journey to Tokyo. It seemed like an eternity since June nursed this same Stan on the 3rd class bone-shaking 12-hour trip over the same route in 1949.  We were on our way, but I still didn’t have the money for the whole fare. I kept praising the Lord.

In Tokyo, a missionary friend asked me to contact him and have a talk. He wanted to give me some advice about traveling in the States. Because special trains had been put on to cope with the summer traffic, I arrived in Tokyo about thirty minutes before the scheduled time. Rather than keep my friend waiting while I was in the Travel Agent’s office, I rushed there first to get part of the way ticketed. To my surprise, the missionary was waiting for me right there in the office. He had reasoned I would eventually come and decided to sit and wait there. The agency was run by a very fine Christian Chinese man. The owner’s son handled my tickets.

“Why don’t you buy a return fare ticket and save yourself $100?” he queried.

“Frankly, I don’t have the money”, I confessed. I was trying hard to be praiseful.

“Look, let me make a suggestion,” he went on, “buy a one-way ticket for Stan. You get a return ticket. Write me a check for what you have and then post-date another one for the remainder. We won’t cash it for a month, and you will save $100. How’s that?” he smiled.

I smiled too. I liked saving the money and leaving the payment for June to figure out seemed an easy way out. I walked out of the place with both tickets, but into my mind filtered a doubt: is this ‘abundantly’?

Stan and an Indian visitor my friend was helping wanted to see the Tokyo Tower. They rode the elevator up to the observation deck while my friend and I slipped into the shop below for a cup of coffee.

“How are you off for dollars?” he asked.

“I have five,” I replied.

“You’ll need more than that in the States,” he laughed. “I have just come back and have lots but can’t use them here.” He opened his wallet and showed me the bills.

“Tell you what I’ll do. You take all the singles and I will keep the fives and tens.” He chuckled as he began to separate the money. Within 3 minutes, I put twenty dollars in my pocket alongside the five. That was something I hadn’t thought of; I knew the Lord was beginning to work. In the taxi on the way to Tokyo station, my benefactor leaned over and whispered:

“How did you get on with the ticket?”

I knew he was already financing his penniless visitor, so I wasn’t about to tell him my troubles. I simply said:

“Fine. It’s all taken care of. I have the tickets right here.”

We traveled on and just as we were about to get out of the taxi and separate, he turned to me again.

“Milt, what I meant about the ticket was, have you paid it all?” he asked.

“No.”

“How much do you owe?”

“Sixty thousand yen” I replied.

“What if I gave you a check right now for $200, how would that be?” he asked.

“That would be just fine by me,” I smiled.

I mailed the check to June. She had a month to pay the airfare to the travel agent and $200 to use. That was more than I asked or thought of. All I prayed for was sixty thousand yen and this was seventy-two thousand yen with a month to pay. I also had a pocket heavy with cash in US dollars. God was real at that moment.

              Meanwhile, back home in Kobe, June had explained the situation to the kids as they went to school. “Dad and Stan going to America, that takes all we have. We won’t starve, but we will not have luxuries and things, OK?” The kids agreed.

Then, in the mail that day came a letter from a widow in Australia with 100 pounds for our personal use. That cashed in then, at about 85,000 yen. June hadn’t received my letter with the other windfall yet. When the kids came home, she told them about it. That night as they went to bed, Dave called June over.

“Mummy, being a missionary is more exciting than baseball” he whispered and turned over to sleep.

Our plane jetted out of Tokyo with a 50,000 horsepower thrust. But I was riding on praise with no need for jet fuel.

              Stan and I traveled around to some churches and friends. They tried to give this kid from Japan the time of his life. Then after two weeks, I watched him walk down the ramp at Los Angeles airport for the non-stop flight to New York. He was passing out of my life as a kid, and I felt an empty stomach sadness. But he was to come back in again as a man of God and that made it all worthwhile.