Mr. Nonogaki is a fanatic student of English. He studies English at his work place. He studies English at a private English school after work. And, he’s been studying English in my church for the past four years. This is not all. He enrolls his 2 boys of 7 and 10 in another private English conversation school too. And all of them take a recognized exam yearly for certificates.
Mr. Nonogaki is a handicapped. Due to the illness of polio, he limps.
Last night, he cried out his very first prayer to Jesus because he has been having nightmares almost every night recently. In his dreams, he was always being chased by someone. Someone wanted to kill him in his dream. So he has been waking up in the middle of the night almost every night. Last night, he was desperate. He told Jesus he was going to have an important meeting today. Thus, he needed to sleep. He also confessed to God he was a sinner and did many bad things. Then, he slept, in 30 minutes.
He told me he has been thinking of 2 questions lately. One, why is he not a Christian?
This question was asked by me last week during our bible study. Reason was, Mr. Nonogaki’s answers to most of my bible studies are so good and Christian-like. Hahaha. So I asked him candidly then, since his answers were so model-answers natured, why was he not a Christian. Little did I know, this question made an impact in his mind.
Next, why must Christians go to church? Why can’t Christians simply stay at home and pray to God and read the bible? Isn’t that enough?
To his first question, he does not have an answer yet. But he apologized to me because he felt that this would make me sad. Smiling calmly, I honestly told him, I’m a little sad only. I continued that I believe in God’s perfect timing. Accepting Jesus as our personal Saviour is a major decision to make, and being in this country and culture makes this decision even harder because a Japanese Christian is persecuted by the community, friends and family. Thus, I will not push nor pressurize him. He was pleased. Then he said that the reason why he’s still attending English lessons in our church is because none of the previous teachers and I push him to make that important decision. I told him, God’s timing is the best timing. Who knows that he would have nightmares and turned to Jesus last night?
He looked thoughtful. Then he replied that being a handicapped person, he was taught to be independent. So, he never thought that he’ll ever need Jesus. He can still survive by himself, with his family. But last night, he prayed. He needed Jesus after all.
To his second question, I told him that we basically go to church for 2 reasons. One, to get to know God better via the preaching and worship. Two, to fellowship and encourage other believers in the church. Both are important. So, I said that it’s not that Christians MUST go to church. It’s that Christians are so desperately in need of knowing God and fellowshipping with other Christians that we WANT to go to church. Wahahaahah… He looked pensive again. GOOD!
Let’s continue to pray for my students. The Holy Spirit is working in their hearts. Indeed, God will make everything beautiful in His time. Amen. Praise the Lord!
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