The love of God is the same in the brightness of sunshine and in the hour when the shadows of gloom appear. It is the same in joy and in grief; when blessings are bestowed, and when they are recalled. True, it does not seem so to us. We are easily convinced that God's love is with us when he pours out showers of obvious blessing; but when sorrow comes we tend to imagine that He has forsaken us.
    It just may be that there are richer blessings to be experienced in things that make us grieve than in those which bring gladness. To say the very least, it is the SAME LOVE that sends both. Consciousness of this fact ought to comfort our hearts. Whatever comes from God, in whatever form or guise, is always rooted in divine and eternal love. Let us never doubt that it is true. And let us profit from the wonderful attitude manifested by Job in that which he was not able to understand.
'Naked as from the earth we came,
    And entered life at first;
Naked we to the earth return,
    And mix with kindred dust.
Whate'er we fondly call our own,

    How sad were the words spoken by our Lord concerning the Pharisees & Sadducees: "because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand .... For this peop1es heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed..." (Matt. 13:13, 15). This spiritual blindness and deafness had come upon them through simple, but malicious, neglect of opportunity to know and practice the truth.
    Through neglect of use one's natural senses, as his physical members, begin to deteriorate and fail. Refusing to heed the words of God, spoken in gentleness and love, results in the loss of ability to hear. In all the vast universe of divine love he shall hear no sweet sound; the very voice of tender mercy will appear identical to the scream of terror. Refusing to understand and act on the things of God leads to the dulling and deadening of the senses so that, eventually, one CANNOT understand -- even if he should desire.
    Let us learn to keen every gate of our souls open toward heaven, and discipline ourselves to atten-

    Excerpts from a recent letter express both the faith and gratitude of missionary Edger Sullivan:
    "I am not sure if I have written you since receiving that enormous check. I had told the children that we were approaching another ragged edge, and to observe how the Lord would deliver us ... We have reserved seats on the January 10th flight of the Korean Air Lines .... Arrive in L.A. at 4:30, January 10th, the Lord willing ... Words cannot describe our wonder, joy and sense of His providence (I should say, His providing), that that check produced in our hearts. And too, a sober sense of careful responsibility. That's the best and shortest way I can say it. Thanks to you and ALL WHO WHERE INVOLVED."
    (This was in response to the offering taken during our Fellowship Meeting here on Thanksgiving Day.)
    Let us pray for the Sullivan's safe arrival in the States; accompanied by Bro. Tajima.

    In these days of materialism and political intrigue our President, our Congress, and our Nation may be both shamed and instructed by observing the humiliation and spiritual insight manifested by another generation in a day that was fully as dark as that in which we live. In the darkness and gloom that had overwhelmed our nation in l863 the Congress of the United States called upon the President to proclaim a "Day of National Humiliation" --- a time for self-examination and earnest prayer. The resulting document speaks for itself:

    'Whereas, The Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and Just Government of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation:
    And Whereas, It is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:
    And, Inasmuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may

be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us: And we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
    It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
    Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this proclamation, designate and set apart THURSDAY, the 30th day of this month (March), as a day of National Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of worship public and their respective homes , in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to

that solemn occasion.
    All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope, authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.'

tiveness --- to see whatever God would show us. Thus shall our vision be sharpened to discern more clearly the beauty of our Father's glorious design. And our ears must ever be open and attentive to every word that He speaks -- striving to understand all that He would teach us.
    Through a faithful alertness to hear and do as the Heavenly Father directs, we will be preserved from that disastrous corrosion of spiritual discernment which weakens and destroys the capacity for full enjoyment of divine blessings.

    Please take note of the change that has been made in the TIME of our Regular Quarterly Business Meetings. In the future we will meet on Saturday night before the Second Sunday of: January, April, July and October. This decision was made at our last business meeting because too many holiday weekends were interfering with attendance.
    May we count on YOUR PRESENCE at 7:00 P.M. on January 13?