Sunday, Sunday...How I Love That Day
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Posted:May 10, 2006 2:44 pm
Last Updated:May 10, 2006 8:08 pm 3356 Views
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“HELP...Concerning the Sabbath” by Dr. Jack Van Impe
Most Christians worship on Sunday. Some look upon this practice as sin. Charges are often hurled at earnest believers, labeling them as “sun worshipers” or even recipients of the “mark of the beast.” Some who worship on Sunday are insecure in their practice and are thus easy prey for sabbath-keeping groups whose Saturday worship may be but a tiny part of a whole system of error.
The time has come to answer questions most often raised concerning sabbath-keeping and Sunday worship.
WHICH DAY IS THE SABBATH?
Saturday is the sabbath. God created the earth in six days and rested on the sabbath. There is no evidence that He gave a comman for man to do the same until the existence of the nation of Israel. He then instructed His chosen people to keep the sabbath as a part of His law (Exodus 20: 1-17), and as a special sign of their covenant relationship with Him: “Wherefore the of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”(Exodus 31:16,17)
WHO CHANGED THE SABBATH?
Sabbath keepers generally claim that the sabbath was changed to Sunday by the Roman Catholic Church. They often call to witness statements from publications they would never recognize as authoritative on other subjects. Actually, the first day of the week had become the regular day of worship for Christians long before the existence of the Roman Catholic Church.
In fact, one of the most shocking evidences to overturn the sabbath observer’s applecart is found inthe Talmud. How important is the Talmud? The Encyclopedia Britannica states: “Talmud and Midrash are commentative and interpretative writings that hold a place in the Jewish religious tradition second only to the Bible (Old Testament).” This ancient writing is sacred to Jews! In it, Christ is called “Otho Isch,” or “That Man who is known to all.”
Now for the shocker! The tract, “Abhodah Zarah, 6a,” states “[One] is called a Christian who follows the false teachings of that man, who taught them to celebrate the feast on the first day of the sabbath, that is, to worship on the first day after the Sabbath.” Ancient Jewish writing do not blame the change of day on the Pope, but on the Lord Jesus Christ!
The honest Bible student must face the fact that the sabbath has never been changed. It is still Saturday. However, Christ gave us a new day ~Sunday~ the day of His resurrection, because the sabbath as a part of the law was nailed to His cross: “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:14-17)
Christians are too timid about declaring their freedom from the law. They whisper what they ought to shout from the housetops. Paul knew no such fear and rebuked those who tried to entangle themselves with law-keeping after they had been saved by grace. He wrote: “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” (Galatians 2:21)
Early Christians recognized this truth and rejoiced in it. They saw worship on the first day of the week as a symbol of their deliverance from the bondage of the law. In the year 110 A.D., Ignatius of Antioch wrote: “Those who walked in the ancient practices attain unto newness of hope, no longer observing sabbaths, but fashioning their lives after the Lord’s Day, on which our life also rose through Him, that we may be found disciples of Jesus Christ, our only teacher.”
A new and better covenant, then, was established by Christ through His death and resurrection: “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.” (Hebrews 8:6)
The sabbath has never been changed, but the law of which the sabbath is a part has been fulfilled in Christ: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.” (Romans 10:4)
IS SABBATH-KEEPING NECESSARY TO SALVATION?
Some think so. But the Bible disagrees! Salvation is entirely by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8,9): “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” (Acts 16:31)
IS SUNDAY-KEEPING THE “MARK OF THE BEAST?”
Absolutely not! Those who promote this unscriptural teaching must be secretly embarrassed by developments in these last days. Instead of rigid Sunday laws increasing, as might have been thought ‒ and in some cases was predicted ‒ fewer and fewer restrictions are being placed on Sunday activity. The world largely ignores Sunday as a day of worship or rest.
The doctrine that says worshiping on Sunday is or will be the mark of the beast is the product of substituting theory for the plain Word of God! The Bible says the mark of the beast is a mark which will be received in one’s right hand or in the forehead (Revelation 13:16). The mark will be required to buy or sell the Tribulation period. Accept the Bible as it is.
WHAT DOES SABBATH-KEEPING SIGNAL?
Sabbath-keeping generally signals an effort to attain righteousness through keeping the law. Paul called this teaching “another gospel” and warned against it (Galatians 1:6-9).
WHY WORSHIP ON SUNDAY?
The first day of the week became the day of worship for the New Testament Church. No Wonder! This was the day of our Lord’s resurrection (John 20:1), signaling complete victory. Justin Martyr said it well when in 135 A.D. he declared: “Sunday is the day on which we all hold common assembly because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, mad the world, and Jesus our Saviour on the same day rose form the dead.”
The Book of Acts shows that the practice had begun long before Justin Martyr’s message: “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” (Acts 20 )
Paul designated the first day of the week for giving offerings: “upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him that there be not gatherings when I come.” (I Corinthians 16:2)
Perhaps the spiritual meaning of the first day of the week is the most important reason for observing it as the day of worship. The sabbath pictures the law perfectly. Under law, one worked and then rested. The first day of the week pictures grace. Under grace, we enter into our rest in Christ and then we work to serve Him.
Now that you understand the teaching of the Bible concerning the lord’s Day, be faithful in the services of your church: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)
~~I was given this pamphlet in church many years ago!...At the time I was confused on the sabbath-keepers and the Sunday-keepers! It really helped in straightening me out.~~~In His Graces!!!
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I WAS TAGGED by SUPABUBBA!!!!!
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Posted:May 8, 2006 9:30 pm
Last Updated:May 11, 2006 11:05 am 3854 Views
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OH! POOH!!!! But here I go!
1. I have a terrible sneeze!! Very loud and can be high pitched! Once I sneezed in the car and my ex-husband pulled over and yelled at me for 15 minutes because I had no warning of a sneeze was coming on! He really let me have it. I guess that was a sign things weren't going to work out! My sneezes just happen and surprise me at times!
2. I have not eaten beef or pork in almost 16 years and did not eat poultry again until 10 years ago! I stopped eating them because when I was pregnant with my I ate soooo much of those foods, I literally was sick of it when my was born! But started back on poultry 10 years ago, because I wanted to please my mother by eating turkey on Thanksgiving!! She got tired of me eating fish on that day!!! LOL
3. I do not have a middle name!! Why? Because my grandmother(dad's mother--American) wished for me to have her name, Wynell! So my parents decided to not give me a middle name and gave her an excuse that it was because in Japan they did not give middle names. Shewwww! Maria Wynell......I don't think so!!!!
4. I once yelled "TAP" into an educational computer for ! It was a Christmas gift to my . I was playing around with it. What I did not realize was the silly thing did not have ears! It told me to repeat the word "TAP"! I yelled at it several times when my little brother looked at me and said, "Maria, I think it wants you to type the word "TAP"! I finally typed it in and got the word right!!! And have to relive that incident every Christmas since!!! (Yes! It is true! Got caught on Video Tape)
5. A water fall named after me....Well, almost! Went on a camping trip with a group of people from church and decided to go white water rafting! I was second on raft when raft was caught and pulled under the fall! Girl in front went under first, and I soon followed! I reached up and only felt raft! Below me; I was standing on the head of the girl that went in before me! She was struggling, but it seems such situations do not panic me! I decided to kick off of her head and swim to the side! I took in a lot of water, but kept swimming to the side until 2 miles down where I was picked up (by an all guy raft)! My group was able to get the girl out of the water but did not know where I was and had started to panic!! So by word of mouth from each raft going back to my raft, they found out I was safe! The guide said they were afraid they'd have to rename the fall to "Maria's Fall" if they had discovered I did not survive!! The girl thanked me of course for having the wits to remove myself from her! She was terrified!! Anyways, the fame I missed out on!!! HaHaHa!!
6. Defying death again!! I was in a car accident on December 25, 2005!! I ran a red light (the light I never saw) at about a nice coasting speed of 15 mph! Again, such situations do not panic me! I heard a horn looked to the side, released steering wheel, removed foot off accelerator, relaxed and told my to hold on! I was struck on the driver side of my Ford by a Ford Explorer! I coasted through 6 lanes of traffic was hit by a Chevy van and stopped on a sidewalk. My was fine after he came to! I was conscious the whole time! I broke 3 left ribs, broke the left side of my pelvis in two places, punctured and collapsed my left lung! My and I were cut out of the vehicle and transported to a trauma center. He was soon released, and I was admitted for 6 days! Everyone else involved went to Emergency Rooms, checked for injuries, and released within a couple of hours!!! Why was it death defying? Because if I wasn't so short, I would not need the seat so close to the steering wheel, and I also sit with my seat very upright! If I had been seated further back, the door jam which upon impact was pushed in 2 feet would have hit my temple! Certain death! A matter of fact, pictures were taken as if there was a fatality. And the towers were told I probably would not make it through the night! But I had faith! I told them I was hurting but did not feel like I was dying! I guess they had forgotten it was Christmas, and it was Sunday!! So very thankful everyone was fine, and I am still able to do those back bends and splits!! God is Good!!!
Okay, Paul!!! Here It Is!!!! 
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Excerpts From The Diary Of Adam And Eve....by Mark Twain
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Posted:May 4, 2006 4:57 pm
Last Updated:May 10, 2006 9:48 am 3862 Views
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Part 1 - Extracts From Adam's Diary
Monday... We? Where did I get that word? ~ I remember now ~ the new creature uses it.
Tuesday...The new creature names everything that comes along, before I can get in a protest. And always that same pretext is offered ~ it looks like the thing. There is the dodo, for instance. Says the moment one looks at it one sees at a glance that "it looks like a dodo."...
Wednesday Built me a shelter against the rain, but could not have it to myself in peace. The new creature intruded. When I tried to put it out it shed water out of the holes it looks with, and wiped it away with the back of its paws, and made a noise such as some of the other animals make when they are in distress. I wish it would not talk; it is always talking....
Friday The naming goes recklessly on, in spite of anything I can do. I had a very good name for the estate, and it was musical and pretty ~ GARDEN OF EDEN....The new creature says it is all woods and rocks and scenery, and therefore has no resemblance to a garden. Says it looks like a park, and does not look like anything but a park. Consequently, without consulting me, it has been new-named ~ NIAGARA FALLS PARK....And already there is a sign up:
KEEP OFF THE GRASS
Saturday The new creature eats too much fruit. We are going to run short, most likely. "We" again ~ that is its word; mine, too, now, from hearing it so much....
Sunday Pulled through....
Monday The new creature says its name is Eve....Says it is to call it by, when I want it to come....
Tuesday She has littered the whole estate with execrable names and offensive signs:
THIS WAY TO THE WHIRLPOOL
THIS WAY TO GOAT ISLAND
CAVE OF THE WINDS THIS WAY
She says this park would make a tidy summer resort if there was any custom for it. Summer resort ~ another invention of hers ~ just words, without any meaning. What is a summer resort? But it is best not to ask her, she has such a rage for explaining.
Friday She has taken to beseeching me to stop going over the Falls....
I went over the Falls in a barrel ~ not satisfactory to her. Went over in a tub ~ still not satisfactory. Swam the Whirlpool and the Rapids in a fig-leaf suit. It got much damaged. Hence, tedious complaints about my extravagance. I am too much hampered here. What I need is change of scene.
Saturday I escaped last Tuesday night, and traveled two days, and built me another shelter in a secluded place, and obliterated my tracks as well as I could, but she hunted me out by means of a beast which she has tamed and calls a wolf, and came making that pitiful noise again, and shedding that water out of the places she looks with. I was obliged to return with her, but will presently emigrate again when occasion offers....
Sunday Pulled through.
Monday I believe I see what the week is for: it is to give time to rest up from the weariness of Sunday. It seems a good idea....
Tuesday She told me she was made out of a rib taken from my body. This is at least doubtful, if not more than that. I have not missed any rib....
Saturday She fell in the pond yesterday when she was looking at herself in it, which she is always doing....
Sunday Pulled through.
Tuesday She has taken up with a snake now. The other animals are glad, for she was always experimenting with them and bothering them; and I am glad because the snake talks, and this enables me to get a rest.
Friday She says the snake advises her to try the fruit of that tree, and says the result will be a great and fine and noble education....I advised her to keep away from the tree. She said she wouldn't. I foresee trouble. Will emigrate.
Wednesday...I escaped last night, and rode a all night as fast as he could go, hoping to get clear out of the Park and hide in some other country before the trouble should begin; but it was not to be....In one moment the plain was a frantic commotion and every beast was destroying its neighbor. I knew what it meant ~ Eve had eaten that fruit, and death was come into the world....I found this place, outside the Park, and was fairly comfortable for a few days, but she has found me out. Found me out, and has named the place Tonawanda ~ says it looks like that. In fact I was not sorry she came, for there are but meager pickings here, and she brought some of those apples. I was obliged to eat them, I was so hungry. It was against my principles, but I find that principles have no real force except when one is well fed....She came curtained in boughs and bunches of leaves, and when I asked her what she meant by such nonsense, and snatched them away and threw them down, she tittered and blushed. I had never seen a person titter and blush before, and to me it seemed unbecoming and idiotic. She said I would soon know how it was myself. This was correct. Hungry as I was, I laid down the apple half-eaten ~ certainly the best one I ever saw, considering the lateness of the season ~ and arrayed myself in the discarded boughs and branches, and then spoke to her with some severity and ordered her to go and get some more and not make such a spectacle of herself. She did it, and after this we crept down to where the wild-beast battle had been, and collected some skins, and I made her patch together a couple of suits proper for public occasions. They are uncomfortable, it is true, but stylish, and that is the main point about clothes....I find she is a good deal of a companion. I see I should be lonesome and depressed without her, now that I have lost my property. Another thing, she says it is ordered that we work for our living hereafter. She will be useful. I will superintend.
Ten Days Later She accuses me of being the cause of our disaster!...
Next Year We have named it Cain. She caught it while I was up country trapping on the North Shore of the Erie...It resembles us in some ways, and may be a relation....I still think it is a fish...The coming of the creature seems to have changed her whole nature and made her unreasonable about experiments. She thinks more of it than she does of any of the other animals, but is not able to explain why....
Sunday She doesn't work, Sundays, but lies around all tired out, and likes to have the fish wallow over her...I have come to like Sunday myself. Superintending all the week tires a body so....
Wednesday It isn't a fish. I cannot quite make out what it is. It makes curious devilish noises when not satisfied, and says "goo-goo" when it is ....I said I believed it was an enigma; but she only admired the word without understanding it. In my judgment it is either an enigma or some kind of a bug....
Three Months Later...It has ceased from lying around, and goes about on its four legs now....As I discovered it, I have felt justified in securing the credit of the discovery by attaching my name to it, and hence have called it Kangaroorum Adamiensis...It must have been a young one when it came, for it has grown exceedingly since. It must be five times as big, now, as it was then, and when discontented it is able to make from twenty-two to thirty-eight times the noise it made at first....She reconciles it by persuasion, and by giving it things which she had previously told me she wouldn't give it....
Three Months Later The Kangaroo still continues to grow, which is very strange and perplexing....I pity the poor noisy little animal, but there is nothing I can do to make it happy. If I could tame it ~ but that is out of the question; the more I try the worse I seem to make it. It grieves me to the heart to see it in its little storms of sorrow and passion. I wanted to let it go, but she wouldn't hear of it....
Five Months Later It is not a kangaroo....It is probably some kind of a bear; and yet it has no tail ~ as yet ~ and no fur, except on its head. It still keeps on growing...I have offered to get her a kangaroo if she would let this one go, but it did no good...
A Fortnight Later I examined its mouth. There is no danger yet: it has only one tooth. It has no tail yet. It makes more noise now than it ever did before ~ and mainly at night. I have moved out.
Four Months Later I have been off hunting and fishing a month...Meantime the bear has learned to paddle around all by itself on its hind legs, and says "poppa" and "momma." It is certainly a new species....I will go off on a far expedition among the forests of the north and make an exhaustive search. There must certainly be another one somewhere, and this one will be less dangerous when it has company of its own species....
Three Months Later It has been a weary, weary hunt, yet I have had no success. In the mean time, without stirring from the home estate, she has caught another one! I never saw such luck....
Next Day I have been comparing the new one with the old one, and it is perfectly plain that they are the same breed....The old one is tamer than it was...The new one is as ugly now as the old one was at first...She calls it Abel.
Ten Years Later They are boys; we found it out long ago....There are some girls now. Abel is a good boy, but if Cain had stayed a bear it would have improved him. After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her. At first I thought she talked too much; but now I should be sorry to have that voice fall silent and pass out of my life. Blessed be the chestnut that brought us near together and taught me to know the goodness of her heart and the sweetness of her spirit!
Part II - Eve's Diary
Saturday I am almost a whole day old, now. I arrived yesterday....I feel like an experiment, I feel exactly like an experiment...
Is my position assured, or do I have to watch it and take care of it? the latter, perhaps. Some instinct tells me that eternal vigilance is the price of supremacy. (That is a good phrase, I think, for one so young.)
Everything looks better to-day than it did yesterday....There are too many stars in some places and not enough in others, but that can be remedied presently, no doubt....
I already begin to realize that the core and center of my nature is love of the beautiful...I do love moons, they are so pretty and so romantic. I wish we had five or six; I would never go to bed; I should never get tired lying on the moss-bank and looking up at them.
Stars are good, too. I wish I could get some to put in my hair....When they first showed, last night, I tried to knock some down with a pole, but it didn't reach, which astonished me...
So I cried a little, which was natural, I suppose, for one of my age...
I followed the other Experiment around, yesterday afternoon, at a distance, to see what it might be for, if I could. But I was not able to make out. I think it is a man. I had never seen a man, but it looked like one, and I feel sure that that is what it is. I realize that I feel more curiosity about it than about any of the other reptiles. If it is a reptile, and I suppose it is; for it has frowsy hair and blue eyes, and looks like a reptile. It has no hips; it tapers like a carrot; when it stands, it spreads itself apart like a derrick; so I think it is a reptile, though it may be architecture.
I was afraid of it at first, and started to run every time it turned around, for I thought it was going to chase me; but by and by I found it was only trying to get away...At last it was a good deal worried, and climbed a tree....
Sunday It is up there yet. Resting, apparently....It looks to me like a creature that is more interested in resting than in anything else. It would tire me to rest so much. It tires me just to sit around and watch the tree. I do wonder what it is for; I never see it do anything....
It has low tastes, and is not kind. When I went there yesterday evening in the gloaming it had crept down and was trying to catch the little speckled fishes that play in the pool, and I had to clod it to make it go up the tree again and let them alone....One of the clods took it back of the ear, and it used language. It gave me a thrill, for it was the first time I had ever heard speech, except my own. I did not understand the words, but they seemed expressive.
When I found it could talk I felt a new interest in it, for I love to talk; I talk, all day, and in my sleep, too, and I am very interesting, but if I had another to talk to I could be twice as interesting, and would never stop, if desired....
Well, I will consider it a man and call it he until it turns out to be something else.
Next week Sunday All the week I tagged around after him and tried to get acquainted. I had to do the talking, because he was shy, but I didn't mind it. He seemed pleased to have me around, and I used the sociable "we" a good deal, because it seemed to flatter him to be included.
Wednesday...He does not try to avoid me any more, which is a good sign, and shows that he likes to have me with him....During the last day or two I have taken all the work of naming things off his hands, and this has been a great relief to him, for he has not gift in that line, and is evidently very grateful....The minute I set eyes on an animal I know what it is. I don't have to reflect a moment; the right name comes out instantly...
When the dodo came along he thought it was a wildcat ~ I saw it in his eye...."Well, I do declare, if there isn't the dodo!" I explained ~ without seeming to be explaining ~ how I knew it for a dodo...
Thursday...Yesterday he avoided me and seemed to wish I would not talk to him.
Sunday It is pleasant again, now, and I am happy...
I tried to get him some of those apples, but I cannot learn to throw straight....
Monday This morning I told him my name, hoping it would interest him. But he did not care for it. It is strange. If he should tell me his name, I would care....
Although he talks so little, he has quite a considerable vocabulary. This morning he used a surprisingly good word. He evidently recognized, himself, that it was a good one, for he worked it in twice afterward, casually....
Tuesday All the morning I was at work improving the estate; and I purposely kept away from him in the hope that he would get lonely and come. But he did not....
He does not care for me, he does not care for flowers, he does not care for the painted sky at eventide ~ is there anything he does care for, except building shacks to coop himself up in from the good clean rain, and thumping the melons, and sampling the grapes and fingering the fruit on the trees, to see how those properties are coming along?...
There were ashes, gray and soft and delicate and pretty ~ I knew what they were at once. And the ember; I knew the embers, too. I found my apples, and raked them out, and was glad; for I am very young and my appetite is active. But I was disappointed; they were all burst open and spoiled. Spoiled apparently; but it was not so; they were better than raw ones. Fire is beautiful; some day it will be useful, I think.
Extract From Adam's Diary
Perhaps I ought to remember that she is very young, a mere girl, and make allowances....I am coming to realize that she is a quite remarkably comely creature ~ lithe, slender, trim, rounded, shapely, nimble, graceful...
When the mighty brontosaurus came striding into camp, she regarded it as an acquisition, I considered it a calamity; that is a good sample of the lack of harmony that prevails in our view of things....She believed it could be tamed by kind treatment and would be a good pet; I said a pet twenty-one feet high and eighty-four feet long would be no proper thing to have about the place...
Nothing ever satisfies her but demonstration; untested theories are not in her line, and she won't have them. It is the right spirit, I concede it; it attracts me; I feel the influence of it; if I were with her more I think I should take it up myself....
Friday...I had to have company ~ I was made for it, I think ~ so I made friends with the animals....
I have learned a number of things, and am educated, now...It is best to prove things by actual experiment; then you know; whereas if you depend on guessing and supposing and conjecturing, you will never get educated....
When I have found out everything there won't be any more excitements, and I do love excitements so!
After The Fall
...The Garden is lost, but I have found him, and am content. He loves me as well as he can; I love him with all the strength of my passionate nature, and this, I think, is proper to my youth and sex....I love certain birds because of their song; but I do not love Adam on account of his singing ~ no, it is not that; the more he sings the more I do not get reconciled to it. Yet I ask him to sing, because I wish to learn to like everything he is interested in....
It is not on account of his gracious and considerate ways and his delicacy that I love him. No, he has lacks in these regards, but he is well enough just so, and is improving.
It is not on account of his industry that I love him ~ no, it is not that....
It is not on account of his education that I love him ~ no, it is not that....
It is not on account of his chivalry that I love him ~ no, it is not that....
Then why is it that I love him? Merely because he is masculine, I think....
Yes, I think I love him merely because he is mine and is masculine....And so I think it is as I first said: that this kind of love is not a product of reasonings and statistics. It just comes ~ none knows whence ~ and cannot explain itself....
Forty Years Later
It is my prayer, it is my longing, that we may pass from this life together...
But if one of us must go first, it is my prayer that it shall be I; for he is strong, I am weak, I am not so necessary to him as he is to me ~ life without him would not be life; how could I endure it?...I am the first wife; and in the last wife I shall be repeated.
At Eve's Grave
ADAM: Wheresoever she was, there was Eden.
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"Until Death Us Do Part - The Afterlife We Will Re-Unite"
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Posted:Apr 24, 2006 10:22 pm
Last Updated:May 10, 2006 9:58 am 3662 Views
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A 16 year old boy living in the city of Atlanta, GA decided he wanted to quit school. He joined the Marine Corps in 1967 after asking his dad to sign a waiver to allow him to volunteer. He joined not just because he wanted to, but he was so very unhappy. He thought what better way to die than to die for God, your country, and the Marines. He joined the Corps to die. Die with dignity and honor and by someone else's hand besides his own.
Half way around the world was a 16 year old girl from Okinawa, Japan. Her father was physically and verbally abusive. He had told her that girls did not need to go to school. Educating a girl was a waste of time. So she came home with her grades and did what some in the states did. She changed some of her grades. But her grades were all very good. She thought she would please her father by showing some bad grades. He became very angry and chased her out of the house with a very large knife. The house had a small crawl space, and that is where she slept. She was not able to return in doors for her father had nailed boards over the doorway to keep her out. She cried and spoke to her sister through the wooden floor. The next day her mother gave her brother very little money to give to her. She asked her to leave. Because the mother feared for her 's life. The girl did as she was told and found other places to sleep. She slept in docked fishing boats after the fishermen had returned with their catch. She was discovered, but the fish house decided to give her an accounting job. Paying the fishermen for their catch of the day. Soon she was able to rent out a closet room in a local general store to sleep in. She later got a job as a bank teller and started her education as a nurse during her free time. She was going to survive through hard work and determination, and she would prove her father wrong.
When Vietnam was basically "hell-on-earth" at the time, the "Georgia" boy was shipped at the age of 17 with the rest of his platoon. What he saw and what he did there was some of the most horrific things any man(boy) had ever witnessed. The humidity, smell, and Agent Orange coated every soldier. New soldiers landed and stepped out of the helicopters; dead soldiers bagged and the injured were put on the same helicopters that arrived. Later the boy would spend time in Okinawa, Japan. He was stationed at Kadena Air force Base.
One day, the boy joined his buddy for the day. His friend needed to go to the bank. Yes, this is where it all began. He was "awe" strucked! The teller was a beautiful Okinawan girl with coal black hair and eyes of black pearls. Her smile captured his heart. He tried to find out where she lived, but she did not speak very much English. But understood enough to turn away from him. The boy would not give up. He waited for her to get off work. He followed her to a house and left but with intentions to return the next day with flowers.
The next day, he with flowers in hand knocked on the door of the house. A fragile old woman opened the door. He asked for the young woman who lived there. She had no idea what he was talking about. After struggling through broken Japanese, he was able to discover that the girl did not live there. But the old woman understood who he was speaking of and directed him to the general store. He found her there! He asked her to teach him Japanese. She was cautious at first but decided to do so if he would teach her English. Nurses were paid more money at the American hospital, but English was necessary for her to get that job.
It did not take long before they were in love. The boy decided to ask the girl's parents for her hand in marriage. The mother was happy, but the father had disowned her. But even with that, he still showed disapproval of her marrying an American. So with the approval of one parent, they were married in Naha City, Okinawa by the court there.
Nine months later on June 25, 1969, the boy was at the airport ready to fly out to Vietnam for his second term. The girl had cleaned and taken her shower and carried her bag to the hospital on foot. She was going to have their first . News was sent to the boy's C.O., and he was given a 3 hour pass to visit with his newborn baby girl and his wife. When it was time to leave, he realized how happy he was. He said he never lived before meeting his "Okinawan" girl. Now, with a baby , he knew he did not want to die; and he prayed God would grant him life even after asking originally to die. He would survive through hard work and determination and prove to his wife the will he had to live.
He spent a total of 11 years in the Marine Corps. He and his beloved wife had a total of 4 . Through many ups and downs, good and bad times, they survived through almost 39 years of hard work and determination and proved to each other "until death us do part" and maybe in the not too distant future, " the afterlife we will re-unite".
In 1996 the boy is now a 47 year old man. He sits down and pens his wishes for when he passes. He prayed that he would have his beautiful wife's arms around him. He wrote that he took his first breath of life with her by his side and with the end of his life he wished to take his last breath as he took the first. And with the very last breath he expels he would tell her he loved her. He also wrote he would smile down on her and watch over her and his and their . He would rejoice when the two of them could be re-united in Heaven.
On Saturday, March 25th, 2006 at 7:30 p.m., Tim had Masako's arms around him and as he expelled his last breath he whispered, "Masako, I love you." And a grin was upon his face, and he was happy. For he knew in his heart, they would be re-united again through God. Two souls would be one forevermore.
Tim was my father, and Masako is my mother. And I am my father and mother's first with deepest of admiration, Maria.
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