The Bible As A Guide For Life

Something amazing and unexpected had happened in the little village of Shimmabuko on the Island of Okinawa. An American missionary on his way to Japan had stopped there and had given a Bible to Shosei and his brother Mojon. He had told them about a loving heavenly Father who cared for them and who had sent them his Son, Jesus Christ, to help them.

“Here is a book which will tell you more about Jesus,” he had said before he continued on his way.

Now Shosei and Mojon held this strange book in their hands. Mojon turned the pages to the story of Jesus which the missionary had marked. He read aloud.

“This is amazing,” he said. “This book will show us how to live. Look, here it says that we are to love and serve one another.”

A crippled man came down the dirty village street. The brothers knew that he had a hard time making a living. He could go fishing only if someone helped him.

“Let us take Crooked Leg with us when we go fishing,” suggested Shosei. “That would be helping others as the book says.”

Crooked Leg was amazed at being asked. Usually he had to beg to go along. The brothers even shared their lunch with him.

When they came back, Crooked Leg asked the brothers, “Why have you done this for me?”

It is because of a new teaching we have received,” said Shosei. “We have heard there is a loving God who is like a father to us. He wishes us to do good and not evil. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to save us from our sins. Would you like to learn more about him, too?”

“Oh, yes!” said Crooked Leg. Day after day he and several others came to sit about the door of the hut where Shosei lived. They listened to the reading from the Bible.

More and more people came to listen. More and more decided to follow Christ and try to live according to his teaching.

That brought about many changes in the village. The people suddenly saw that the roof of the house where a widow lived with her children was leading badly. They fixed it for her. But now the new roof made the others look shabby so one after another the roofs on the other houses were fixed too.

Mojon studied the Bible more than anyone else and so the people came to him for advice. When someone was angry with his brother, Mojon said, “Forgive him. That is what Jesus said we should do.” To the one who had offended, he said, “Do not make your brother angry anymore. Be kind to him.”

In time the people of the little village chose Shosei as the new headman. Shosei was careful to make each decision according to the teachings he found in the Bible.

Gradually the old ways of doing things were left behind. Christian ways took their place. Laughter rang out in the village streets, and poverty disappeared when people were fair to each other and lived for the good of all.

The houses were made neat and clean, and the rubbish disappeared from the village streets. Sickness was less common. Rules were made so people could live in peace. The village was happy and prosperous.

Thirty years went slowly by. Shosei and Mojon became old men and were much respected in their villages.

Then another unexpected happening shook the village. A terrible war came ot the Pacific. American troops stormed ashore on Okinawa. They forced their way across the island. The village of Shimmabuko lay right in their path. The American troops advanced toward it, bayonets ready, guns leveled. Shosei and Mojon knew they must do something to explain that they were not enemies.

The two little old men stepped forward into plain sight. They smiled and bowed low in front of the soldiers. They spoke words of welcome.

The soldiers halted in amazement. An interpreter rushed forward to hear what Shosei and Mojon had to say.

When he came back, he scratched his head in puzzlement. He told the soldiers, “They are welcoming you as fellow Christians! They say their missionary was an American, and they are overjoyed to see you!”

This was very strange. The officers asked whether they could walk through the village.

The two old men bowed and led the way. The people came out of their houses smiling as if to greet their new friends.

The officers could hardly believe their eyes.

Here was a shinging, clean village instead of the dirty, hopeless ones they had seen before. The people were intelligent, healthy, and friendly.

“Tell us,” asked one of the men, “how did it happen that you have this kind of a village?”

Mojon told them about the missionary and the Bible he had left with them. He described how the people had studied it and found in its pages a pattern for living.

The officers were silent. They did not know what to say. Before they left the village, Shosei and Mojon showed them the old, old Bible that had made such a difference in their lives.

Then the Americans strode off to their camp. “Maybe,” muttered one tough army sergeant, “we have been using the wrong kind of weapons to change the world!”