The English Page with Excerpts
Jesus’ Love for the Homeless-What is thegoal of parenting?
Interview:Pastor Masayoshi Yamauchi (Okinawa
Bethany Church/NPO Promise keepers)
We planted thischurch with thevision to serve thepoor, the troubled,
and the suffering.
Soon we hada person withmental problems
living in ourchurch. Within ayear, we had many homeless people come and stay at
our church, too. What we discovered is that most of thehomeless were former prison inmates whom no one
would hire, so they had to live on the streets…
Most of them grew up in poor or dysfunctionalfamilies and some with no parents. One man was told
by his case worker that as a baby
he was found in a coin locker.
Knowing that they are not loved
nor wanted by their parents causes
these men to lose motivation forliving and to succeed. This is why
we worked very hard to express
love so they’ll know they are
deeply loved by God.

Becoming Parents that Children
Can Look Up To
Interview: Mr.Daisuke Matsuo, Mr. Hikaru Miyaji,
Mr. Shinya Nagao
These three men from Okinawa Bethany Church share
how while growing up
they got into trouble andwent to prison. However,their lives changed when
they met Jesus, and now
two of them have enrolled
in a seminary.
Through their stories we
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learn that the way parents treat their children truly
impacts their future. Parents need to be the people
that they can respect and be an example as followersof Christ.

Craft Time With Kids! Fish Crafts
by Haruka Otsuka

In summer time, we havemore time for playing inwater. Fish appears inmany places in the Bible,
such as the creation story,
Jonah, and Jesus feeding
the 5,000. Here we havethree craft ideas that cango with those fish stories.
Your children will enjoy
making them along withthe story you’ll tell.
Enrich your devotion
time with those fish!
Miracle fish:
Fill Tare-bin (fish shaped
soy source container forObento) with glitter glue or some drop of water withpolymer beads. You can buy polymer beads at the100 yen shop in the gardening section. Some are dry
and small, other are already soaked in water and big.
Use dry ones to fill the fish.
You can substitute thiswithotherfloating
materials if you like. Justfill your fish with it andenjoy how they float in thewater. Use a screw tosecure the top instead ofusing the original lid of
the Tare-bin. Fill a petbottle with polymer beads
and water and put the fishin. Then enjoy fishingwith magnets!

FamilyForum
No.66

Parenting for Beginners No.5

Ask Pastor Hori

by Jon Benedict
Q. My husband loves his older son and ourdaughter but has a hard time handling oursecond born son. It seems as if he doesn’t likehim. What shall I do?

Q. Recently my non-Christian neighbor in his70’s lost his wife and is very lonely. This loss
has been very hard on him and I heard him saythat he has lost his interest in living. What can I
do to encourage him?

A. I want to encourage youthat this sort of problem ofclashing of personalities in thehome is not unusual. We findfavoritism and friction even in
the Bible.
Sometimes the problem maystem from insecurity on the partof the father who doesn't want tolose face by having a rebellious son. The father
needs to know that it is love and affirmation, notcontrol and criticism that will win the heart of thechild. And the father must understand that he needs
to loosen his grip on the son give reasonable
freedom so the son can to make his own decisions
and grow in character.
Another reason for the friction may be that thefather and son both share the same character flaw or
weakness. This is a humbling experience, to say theleast, but is a good opportunity for the father tomature and not worry about the speck in his son'seye but instead work on the beam in his own eye(Matthew 7:3).
A parent does not have to “like” the child, but heshould always love him. What I mean is, we may
not have a natural liking for the child because weare so different or too similar, but in spite of theaversion, we as parents must intentionally reach out
and love the child like God loves us sinners.
I Corinthian 13: 4-8 is a good place to start for how
we can love thechild who may be“hard to like”.
“Fathers, do not
provoke your children
to anger...” Eph. 6:4

A. There is no one answer tothis problem since it depends on
the person and how each has led
his/her life up to this point.
However, I can give somesuggestions on how we can show
compassion and care for those
who have lost their loved ones.
First, sympathize with the deep
sense of loss. It is ironic, but the surviving spouse’s
depth of sorrow will correspond to the depth of lovehe/she had for the one who died. So the more they
loved, the more they will grieve the loss! When theintimate partner dies, they may lose their interest in
living and the ability to take care of themselves.
Please keep this mind as you encounter grieving
people so that you do not over react.
Second, keep connected with that person. You do
not have to be around him all the time, but makesure to express to him that you care. The best rolemodel for us is in the Bible, “Never will I leaveyou; never will I forsake you (Hebrews 13:5 NIV).”
This is the promise given us from God, and so we
too can come along side the surviving spouse andwalk the path with him.
Personally, I have no idea how I could survive if I
were to lose my wife, but I know that God willalways be there with me.

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