LITTLE BLUE BIRD

There is a bird called the Kawasemi, a species of the iridescent blue Kingfisher, native to Japan, that has been sighted at the Park. Photographers have tried to capture prize-winning images of the bird and gathered from all over the place to one corner of the park where the bird has, apparently, been sighted, bringing their cameras with humongous telescopic lenses mounted on tripods.

* Bird Watching Paparazzi - They came from very early in the morning to catch sight of the bird...until rumor spread that it had migrated. The crowd migrated too. I was glad, because then I could enjoy the park a little more. Now I could see the waterfall behind where the cameramen had been sitting and the grass they’d been tramping on began getting green.

 

* Kam from Kim - You know the cousin in Canada I mentioned in a previous e-mail? She knew I was fond of photography, and when she found out the compact camera I had up in Koriyama broke, she bought and sent me a brand new one! It's not one of those huge ones--but I don't want to become a "serious" photographer, just take nice pictures on my walks. Anyway, I was photographing turtles in the pond when God decided to cheer me up by sending a little blue birdie to a nearby boulder!

 

* 05-29 Escape Artist's Visitation - The birdie that evaded all those telescopic lenses' sights for all those months, God brought smack dab in front of my compact camera! I knew I could not get a good picture, but I wanted some record of God's grace, so I pointed the lens in the direction of the rock and pressed the shutter. Then I didn't want the “Paparazzi” coming back, so I decided not to tell anybody about the bird. I really didn't have much choice. I had physical problems--remember back in '16 when I had that vise-like things in the chest? It was something like that. Except this time, they weren't as severe, just took a lot longer to go away. I didn't trust myself to walk 10 mins to the park, and of course I didn’t I tell anyone about seeing the Kawasemi.

 

*06-21 Kawasemi Visit - It was after Yayoi’s mother’s “second opinion examination” on June 18--when I felt strong enough, I asked Kinya to come with me to the park, and we were admiring the carp in the pond when a ribbon of blue swooped past my forehead. Had he seen that...Butterfly? Bird, he told me, and we were trotting off to the other side of the pond, where we saw the shiny blue flame on the rock. I took a picture before it flew away. But without a zoom, it was just a blue blotch--I couldn't show this to Kinya; he had seen the striking bird with his own eyes!

 

I skipped various things that happened with Yayoi's mother. Last year, when her unsaved mother was deathly ill, she’d come and asked me to pray. No doubt others in the church had been praying too. God had extended her mother’s life a full year to accept Him. But now in a recent e-mail was the accusation that I was, like the Laodiceans, a lukewarm Christian, not being in a church—God knows what led up to the present situation, why I, who never miss a day of church if at all possible, am not at Bethel. Until Heaven, let men call me Lukewarm. I felt rather depressed one morning early July and was talking to the Lord about needing refreshing.

* 07-06 3rd Visit - Summer mornings get hot quickly, so I try to get in morning walks early, try to get out of the park by 5 a.m. But could it be? It seemed God said, "June, look over here, I have something for you." On one of the rocks bordering the pond was a vivid azure-looking...bird?! This time I would not get a mere blob, I would use the zoom! Z-z-z-z-snap! Got it! And the bird flew away. But I had forgotten that use of the magnification requires increased light. Early morning illumination is nowhere sufficient. The resulting image was so blurry, I could barely differentiate the bird from the rocks around it. When I went home that morning, I could say to Kinya, "The Kawasemi came again today." but I had no clear photo to show him.　“He was for your eyes only,” God seemed to say.

 

Altho’ God had brought the Kawasemi ' three times in three months, I hadn't been able to get one decent photo of it! But when God wants to go on pitching, it's never strike out, but “play ball."

 

* 07-16 Visit - Just ten days later, I went in the park’s back entrance, when I saw, on a branch across the pond a...blue blob! I whipped out my camera and snapped a picture. But wait a minute. I could see myself explaining that that dot was a bird...no, that would be no different than the 06-21 picture! I had to get in closer! But I needed more light...oh God, please send more sun...and that bird's gotta hold still...this zoom's not hardly strong enough...I found myself praying desperately and snapping shot after shot (and God did hold that bird still even when a few joggers passed by!)

* “Flying Sapphire” - This is probably the best of the resulting photo edits of that morning. May, June, July--and God had brought that bird to me four times--is He kind, or what?!