live the word and live by the word

by Paul M. Nagano (California, U.S.A.)

The Word became flesh and lived among us . . . full of grace and truth.
-John 1:14 (NRSV)

WHEN I was first introduced to Christianity, I had no real knowledge of God or that God was a God of love. My Sunday school teachers taught me John 3:16, "God so loved the world . . . ." They also taught me Psalm 23 and the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. Being taught from the Bible was a real revelation to me. In reflection, what really convinced me that these teachers were genuine and that what they were teaching me was true was the way they lived their lives. Whenever I was absent from Sunday school, they would visit me and express their love and care for me.

I was from an immigrant family - poor, lonely, rather isolated, and neglected. But what I was taught became truly meaningful and life-transforming; what I was being taught was made flesh in the lives of these Sunday school teachers. Over time, my whole life and purpose in life were transformed as the Word became flesh to me personally. I surrendered and committed my life to God's love and have endeavored to serve God as a minister for 63 years. In Jesus, the Word of God became flesh. When love becomes flesh, things begin to happen. They did in my life.