Oops. My Dad told me he will be turning 89 this July 20. I knew that; why did I say, in my last post, that he would be turning 90?I talked with him over the phone yesterday, telling him I was going to get started writing about him, at least before he turned 90 in less than two weeks. He let me know I had, not two weeks, but over a year to get started!
pic: June on the phone with Dad...one more year?!
I've been "getting started" by following suggestions listed by Dr. William Smallman, someone in the Baptist Mid-Missions home office whom I consulted several years ago when writing a short narrative about my Mom ("Kimiko's Travel Agent", one of my 2005-2007 blogs). As a result, I reduced the book into a short paragraph of four sentences to arrive at a "Message Statement"; wrote an overview of Dad's life and its lessons; made a timeline ("lifemap"); and have started strategizing what needs to be done...but before that:
pic: "Overview" of Dad's life
I did want to enlist your prayers.
There have been scads of books written by Japanese Canadians, Japanese Americans, concerning the historical events and conditions surrounding the war. I do not want to put another book in circulation simply expressing grievances of that era; professional writers can do that and can do it far better than I could. But something I told my sisters:
* Relating how God in His Sovereignty orchestrated it all to glorify Himself through Daddy's life may make the book unique and worth presenting to the reading world.
* The focus cannot be on the human being called Roy Oshiro, Japanese Canadian who overcame obstacles; or even Roy Oshiro, the spiritual missionary who achieved great works for God.
* It has to be on GOD and how Roy Oshiro's life uniquely conveyed His Greatness, yes?
"Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established." (Prov. 16:3)
Would you pray with me, that God would lead my thoughts as I write to best convey the above?
