Happy Mother's Day!
With Mother's Day coming soon, we could talk about mothers in the Bible such as Sarah, Rebekah, Naomi, Hannah, Mary. Over the years, I have talked about these women of the Bible so many times. I have also shared stories about my mom Emily, and my wife, Bonnie Lou. Today, I want to tell you about a mom who is now with Jesus and was one of the best church members any pastor could hope for.
We called her Mama Kashima. Bonnie Lou and I were pastoring on the Island of Kauai at Aloha Assembly of God Church. One day in the early 70's, Bonnie Lou and I went to visit with her. We got into our Speed the Light car that was given to us 
from the youth department of the Assembly of God in the state of Arkansas. We drove several miles to her home which sat at the foot of the mountain. It was a beautiful, breathtaking trip as we drove down the dusty, winding dirt road to her place. Her home was very small, not painted and was a very plain cottage among several small trees. Mama lived on her rice farm where she toiled for many years in the muddy water of the rice paddies. This kind old woman was so little, she could not stand up straight and her body was bent over from all the years of planting rice and hoisting 50 lb bags of rice on her back.
We walked toward the cottage along a dirt path, and knocked on the door. Mama Kashima opened her door and she screams out, "Pastor!" and then said something in Japanese. She hugged and hugged us. We walked into a room where there was only an old picnic table and it had a dirt floor. She invited us to sit down at the table and she made us some tea and some lunch with rice. We noticed she also set another plate for someone else. I said, Mama, is someone else coming? She said something again in Japanese but we did not understand. We found out later, that when she was a Buddhist, she always put a plate out for Buddha, but now that she is a Christian, the plate is for Jesus so she could talk with Jesus during her meal time. I don't know how we had such a good time because we don't speak Japanese and she spoke and understood very little English! Knowing Mama Kashima is part of the wonderful memories we had in our 50 years we spent in our ministry here. Mama was so happy to see us and is was love that brought us together.
I remember the time in our church when I was preaching on the return of Christ riding on a white horse. During the service, Mama rose out of the church pew where she was sitting and without her canes she moved slowly toward the front of the church trying to touch something in the air in front of her. Though she could not understand English or my preaching, she was seeing a vision of Jesus riding on a white horse coming toward her and she wanted to touch Jesus! Often while I was preaching, she would have these visions of what I was speaking on. (I found this out from the other Japanese members and they would tell me what she was doing). Because our Jesus could do that for Mama Kashima, Jesus can and will open our hearts and minds with the help of the Holy Spirit!
Let me tell you another story about this beautiful Japanese Mama. Bonnie Lou and I went to a Buddhist festival where they honor the dead. To explain this, when Buddhists die and are buried in the graveyard, their families will bring fruit and put it at the head of the grave for they believe that they will get hungry and their spirit will come out of their graves to eat the fruit. So, at these festivals, the Buddhist believe that while they sing and dance and play their drums, that the spirits of their families that died will enjoy this.
Mama left that belief and learned that when she died, she would be seated at the table with Jesus, talking with him like she once did at that picnic table here on earth.
It is wonderful that we know and we have the assurance that when our Spirit leaves our body that we are at once with Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:8 "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:51-54. The apostle Paul appears to tell us here that something better than our current lives, namely being in the presence of God, awaits us after death.
Tiny Mama Kashima, bent over and her weathered face showing the years of hard labor, was such a blessing to us. I wanted to honor her and share her story of her experiences with our Lord Jesus.
Happy Mother's day, Mama Kashima and to all you mothers, stepmothers and adopted mothers!
