Everyone knows about the classic All Quiet on the Western Front, of course. And a movie scholar could probably come up with the first Academy Award winner: Wings.

You may know War Horse, too.

PBS fans could counter with Birdsong and probably Downton Abbey, not to mention Upstairs, Downstairs.

How many of you know about Snoopy‘s escapes from

battling the Red Baron? (Of course, he was quaffing root beer with the French mademoiselles in his off hours!)

I watched them all as I took a crash dive into World War I.

Why watch a World War I movie?

Research, of course.

Many films were good examples of the types of clothing and machinery used during the war.

Another Masterpiece Theater presentation I remembered well was Testament of Youth.

It gave me an idea of the manners and attitudes of Vera Brittain's family during the war. (I read her book as well.)

Lawrence of Arabia provided insight into a man who emerged as a marquee character in A Poppy in Remembrance.

It allowed me to see British Army life in Cairo during the war. Who can forget the desert and those camels?

A totally ridiculous choice was Julie Andrews as a spy and Rock Hudson as a stupid pilot in Darling Lili. (Loved the music, hated the story).

World War I on the ground in film

My Boy Jack was so very sad--the story of how Rudyard Kipling browbeat his only, near-sighted son into serving. The boy died almost immediately.

We enjoyed the fantastic aerial shots by intrepid pilots in The Flyboys‘ biplanes.

I liked Wings better as a (silent) movie. The director used pilots from the actual war. (He filmed the movie about ten years after the end of the war).

Similarly, The Battle of the Somme film was shot by Pathe in 1916. Filmed before the end of the war, another major battle came in the Somme River Valley the next year.

That film haunted--because many of the men depicted, real soldiers, died there months later.

Gary Cooper epitomized Sergeant York--based on the true story of one of the great Army heroes of the war. A terrific movie worth watching, even if it did involve death and mayhem.

Humphrey Bogart--who served in the Navy during WWI--starred in The African Queen, during WWI. The story involved blowing up a German ship in the middle of an African lake!

Who can forget King of Hearts, Paths of Glory, Gallipoli, In Love and War, and The Blue Max?

You can see an entire list of World War I movies here.

Other films pertinent to World War I in the time period, but not the actual war.

Periphery films would include more favorites: Secondhand Lions and Chariots of Fire (post-WWI, but includes several wounded veterans; Harold served in the King’s Army).

Even Doris Day’s On Moonlight Bay includes WWI references.

The Titanic sank in 1912. I gained some insight into the attitudes and clothing depicted in the film of the same name. (I detested the movie, by the way.)

What comes to mind when you think of World War I movies? How many of them have you seen?

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Ernest Kilbourne, a Canadian, was the third North American founder of the Oriental Missionary Society (OMS).

(The other two North Americans were Lettie and Charles Cowman. The two Japanese founders were Juji Nakada and Tetsasubo Sassao.)

As the man who remained in the Far East for most of his missionary life, Kilbourne always struck me as the “unsung hero” of the OMS.

While Charles and Lettie Cowman traveled the world on deputation trips, Kilbourne remained at his desk in Tokyo.

While Juji Nakada went here, there, and everywhere preaching the Gospel, Kilbourne stayed in Japan.

He and Tetsusasuburo Sassao kept the Bible Training Institute and the OMS ministry on task in Tokyo.

He kept the Electric Telegraph Magazine going, did missionary work of his own, and raised children who shared the gospel for the rest of their lives.

Along with his wife, Julia, Ernest Kilbourne was the silent backbone in the beginning.

He also became the president when Charles Cowman died in 1925.

But who was Kilbourne to begin with?

Born into a religious family on March 13, 1865, in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Kilbourne wanted to be a writer.

Like his colleague Charles Cowman, he became intrigued by the new communication technology of the age: telegraphy.

Quickly becoming a skilled operator as a teenager, he eventually left Canada to take a position with Western Union in the US.

But he really wanted to be a writer, and so in 1886, he decided to see the world and write about it. Ernest traveled around the globe, stopping along the way in Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the Sandwich Islands (Hawai’i).

Then, just as Mark Twain did twenty years before, he went to California’s gold rush country. Finding a telegraphy job in Virginia City, Nevada, he stayed long enough to meet Julia Pittinger, fall in love, and get married.

Even in rough-and-tumble Virginia City, Kilbourne didn’t find enough excitement, so he transferred to Chicago.

And there his life changed forever.

Kilbourne and Cowman

Upon arriving in Chicago, Ernest took one of two jobs as a divisional chief at Western Union.

The other divisional chief was Charles Cowman.

Between them, they supervised nearly 1000 telegraph operators.

The job paid well, and the men worked hard.

Shortly thereafter, first Lettie, then Charles Cowman were saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The morning after Cowman’s conversion, he presented the gospel to Ernest Kilbourne. Ernest knew the story well–his parents were devout–but he needed to think about Charles’ words.

He did so all night.

The next morning, he told his fellow supervisor that he had accepted Jesus as Lord.

They immediately began praying together for the men in their office. Eventually, they rented a room where they could preach together to even more telegraph operators. They called the group “The Telegraphers’ Mission Band.”

(“Band” in the sense of gathering together, not playing musical instruments!)

Ernest and Julia Kilbourne began studying the Bible and attending Grace Methodist Episcopal Church with the Cowmans, which is where they met Juji Nakada.

A Mission in Japan?

Prayer was always at the heart of the Oriental Missionary Society, and it began there in Chicago. As the two couples and their Japanese friend talked and prayed about the need for evangelism in Japan, they began to dream of setting up a Bible school.

About this time, Kilbourne received a revelation of unusual clarity and signficance. He saw a great highway arching across the Pacific Ocean to Japan.

From Japan, a span of the bridge reached Korea, and from Korea, a third link touched China.

From China, the great highway seemed to extend directly to heaven.

No Guarantee But God, p. 50 by Edward and Esther Erny.

After his conversion, Kilbourne realized he needed to confess all his sins and make things right before God. As a result, he promised God he would pay off a debt–he had used a free pass.

It took him nearly a year to pay back the money he owed. Once it cleared, the entire family left for Japan. That included Julia and Ernest, and their two children, Ila and Edwin. (Their third child, Ester, was born in 1904 in Japan.)

Faith?

The four Kilbournes set off for Japan with great assurance that this was the right path. Before they boarded the ship, however, they received word that the church's pledge to sponsor the family in Japan had been canceled.

That meant the Kilbournes had no “sending church” to cover their expenses in Japan.

Disappointed by the news, Kilbourne turned to prayer. He saw traveling so far without funds as a challenge to his faith.

“I am so certain God wants us in Japan,” he told Julia, “I could start walking on water.” (No Guarantee But God, p 51.)

As the Ernys recounted, “This unshakable confidence in God was ever the hallmark of Ernest Kilbourne. ‘Faith grows amid storms,’ he later wrote.

The family sailed on the Nippon Maru, a Japanese ship.

Ernest spent the trip witnessing to the crew.

When the family arrived in Japan in August 1902, the Cowmans were on the dock waiting for them.

One Mission Society (nee The Oriental Missionary Society) celebrates its 125th anniversary in June 2026 at their Greenwood, Indiana headquarters.

Praise God for 125 years of spreading the gospel throughout the world!

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18 months after beginning work on a book, I suddenly came across information I’d sought for a long time.

How many times had I sifted through the depths of Ancestry.com, hunting details?

Apparently, not enough.

I’d spent hours redoing searches I thought I’d done before.

But this time, the information I wanted was there.

Boys in the Basement at Work

The concept of letting the “boys in the basement work” is part of the writing experience.

I learned of it from James Scott Bell, but other writers have used it as well.

It’s allowing your subconscious to work on an idea, rather than trying to push through to what you seek.

I think that’s what happened to me.

I stepped away long enough for my mind to look at the pieces from a different angle.

When I finally returned: frenzy.

What it’s like

It’s crazy!

New ways of looking at old information spring to mind.

As I hunt one person’s information, ideas for where to hunt for another pop up.

It does feel like a frenzy as I try to investigate so many different people, in different ways, all at once.

The research frenzy finally calmed enough for me to be logical: I wrote down the new ideas of where to look.

(I know, but you can’t think completely straight when you’re like this.)

I then proceeded in a calmer way — still moving quickly but not worried about forgetting anything.

Feeding on itself

Except that the more I found, the more enthusiastic I became about finding other information I lacked.

I moved back and forth between Ancestry.com, Google, and Google Books.

Things I should have seen suddenly appeared.

I couldn’t help that a book I needed a year ago wasn’t published until four months ago, but now I saw it!

Genealogists know this feeling well: a breakthrough on one line appears, and you can’t stop yourself.

A past experience

The most glorious time a research frenzy happened to me in public was at the DAR Library in Washington, D. C.

I was several years into my family history quest, and I had four hours at the library before a family trip continued.

I plodded through old books, musty pages, cramped indexes, hunting anything about my family line.

Where did this strange name Ballard come from? How was our name connected to Waddy?

Fifteen minutes before I had to leave, I stumbled on a notation referencing “Waddy’s Mill.”

And there I saw it.

Thank you, Waddy women.

Catherine Bibb Waddy married William Jennings Duval in 1830.

She had seven sons, whom she apparently named with a first and middle name.

Including one named Ballard Smith.

And as my eyes grew wide, I realized she had given each of those boys two family names from her genealogy.

Eureka!

Talk about a research frenzy!

I pulled every book I could find, passed them to the librarian to copy, and watched as the clock ticked down.

(At that time, before cell phone cameras and portable scanners, the librarian had to photocopy everything for a dime a page.)

(I didn’t care about the money–I needed the information pronto!)

In that remaining fifteen minutes, I broke open my entire family line back to, basically, Jamestown.

My hands shook, and I read like a madwoman on the Metro all the way back to my family.

Every time it’s happened to me, in my office, in a library, on the phone, research frenzy is glorious!

It’s also a lot of fun.

Even if my husband watches and just shakes his head!

(He had to drag me out of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City once, after 8 straight hours.

(I was babbling. But, I finished all the research I needed for a family history!)

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Juji Nakada was one of the founders of the Oriental Missionary Society (OMS).

Indeed, he probably could be described as the instigator.

Friendship with the other founders

Even while attending the Moody Bible Institute in 1897, Juji dreamed of establishing an evangelistic ministry in Japan.

He, Ernest Kilbourne, and Charles Cowman discussed and prayed about the idea together.

It excited them all, and a few years later, the Cowmans both “got a Word from God,” they should go to Japan as missionaries. Kilbourne and his family followed a year later.

Juji’s role in beginning the Tokyo ministry

A beaming Juji met the boat when the Cowmans arrived on Thursday, February 21, 1901!

Three days later, they gathered at the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Tokyo, where Juji preached the sermon.

The westerners also met the entire Nakada family that weekend.

Monday morning, they began the search for a suitable building for a Gospel Hall and a Bible school.

The school began as soon as possible, with both men and women studying the Bible.

Nakada gave up a salary and trusted God for his family’s financial support. The ministry had begun.

Preaching at the Central Gospel Mission Hall

This was an evangelizing organization. Central to it all was Nakada’s dynamic preaching at the Central Gospel Mission Hall.

The Bible Training Institute students studied the Scriptures every morning and fanned out into the community to evangelize every afternoon.

Along with the Cowmans, they handed out tracts everywhere, inviting people to the mission hall every night at 7.

Juji Nakada’s dynamic preaching inspired many. Afterward, the students and Cowman remained until the end of the evening to answer questions.

The first time Juji found an English-speaking Japanese man in the crowd, he directed him to Charles Cowman. An hour later, the man gave his life to Christ.

The Central Gospel Mission Hall sponsored an evangelist, frequently Juji, for 3000 straight nights.

Juji Nakada: Preaching and traveling

Once the ministry was established as the Oriental Missionary Society (OMS), Nakada continued as an evangelist.

During the Russo-Sino War in 1904-1905, Japanese soldiers fought the Russians in both Manchuria and on the Korean peninsula.

Juji Nakada traveled through Korea during the war to encourage Japanese soldiers and to preach the Gospel.

While riding on horseback one day, Nakada heard a Japanese workman shout, “Aren’t you from the Central Gospel Mission in Tokyo?”

The man had attended services when he lived in Tokyo. Juji stopped to fellowship with him.

But while in Korea, he also preached to local groups. The result?

In 1905, three Korean students arrived to study at the Bible Training Institute–and from them ultimately came the Korea Holiness Church. (One of the largest denominations in 2021 Korea.)

Nakada traveled to Great Britain and the United States in 1906 to raise funds. In England, he met Oswald Chambers. The two enjoyed each other’s company, and Juji Nakada invited him to visit the US and then Japan.

I wrote about their trip here.

He had plenty of evangelizing and preaching to do!

The Great Village Campaign

This fit right up Juji Nakada’s alley — sharing the gospel all over Japan.

Between 1912 and 1919, the OMS sponsored a massive Gospel literature campaign. Students, evangelists, and eventually Americans visited every home in Japan to leave a tract and Gospel excerpts.

It took everyone's effort, and Nakada certainly helped train the men.

As a result of the campaign, the number of OMS-sponsored churches grew. By the early 1920s, OMS declared the Japan Holiness Church independent of the ministry.

The OMS shifted its ministry’s focus to Korea and China.

Bishop of the Japan Holiness Church

Juji Nakada’s heart remained in Japan, and he became the first and head bishop of the Japan Holiness Church.

(The organization’s first name was the Oriental Missionary Holiness Church.)

Nakada wrote,

as the name indicates, a missionary society. Our purpose is simple: to propagate the complete Gospel, that is, the Foursquare Gospel (salvation, holiness, the Second Coming of Christ, and healing) all over Japan”

Jews in the Japanese Mind: The History and Uses of a Cultural Stereotype

The church remained affiliated with the OMS, though it was now self-supporting. (In the beginning, the church consisted of forty-six churches and fifty ministers.)

Nakada continued to write and edit his Tongues of Fire magazine, to speak in evangelization meetings whenever they occurred, and to keep in touch with his former colleagues.

During this time, Juji Nakada became passionate about Jesus’ second coming (particularly after reading W. E. Blackstone‘s Jesus is Coming).

His evangelism efforts, already profound, increased.

He also lost his first wife and remarried. His oldest child, Ugo, wrote hymns in Japanese.

Heartbreak at the end

Charles and Lettie Cowman returned to the United States for good in 1918. While Ernest Kilbourne remained, he was very much involved in the practical aspects of the OMS.

Juji Nakada had a new church body to oversee. He continued preaching and saw large growth in the Japanese Holiness churches.

The 1924 Tokyo earthquake, which leveled most of the city, became, in Nakada’s mind,

“a judgement on the nation like Sodom and Gomorrah. He proclaimed this message boldly and called upon people to repent of their sins. He also felt that the earthquake signaled the beginning of the end of the world.”

John Merwin dissertation, The History of the Oriental Missionary Society

This added even more impetus to the need to evangelize Japan. The Bishop focused his church organization on encouraging evangelists. He also began preaching on the radio — a new concept in Japan.

Merwin observed that much of the church growth during these years came from the inspiring Juji Nakada.

But during the heightened political events in his country, he also became engaged in an effort to marry Christianity with Japanese culture. According to David Goodman, this led Juji to see “Japan’s national salvation as inextricably intertwined with the national redemption of the Jewish people.”

Juji Nakada’s focus

Became his obsession with Japan Israelism–a strange teaching which held that the sole task of the church was to hasten the return of Christ by praying for the Jews’ restoration to their homeland.”

No Guarantee But God by Edward and Esther Erny

This caused a divide between the Oriental Missionary Society proper and Juji Nakada.

Despite many attempts to bridge the gap in their understanding, the OMS relationship with Nakada remained unresolved. It broke Lettie Cowman’s heart.

Juji Nakada and Lettie Cowman: the final visit

Lettie Cowman traveled to Japan to see Juji Nakada twice in the last ten years of his life. Despite their love and friendship, they could never resolve their differences.

She made one last effort in 1939.

They spent a lovely evening together on the OMS compound, remembering old times and all the good God did through them and OMS. As she got up to leave, Juji asked her to return and spend time in her old home.

Lettie agreed. She was headed to Korea for an OMS board of trustees meeting.

Two weeks later, only a few days after the death of Juji’s second wife, Lettie received a wire.

On the 15th anniversary of Charles Cowman’s death, the 69-year-old Juji Nakada died.

A sobered Lettie wrote:

How strange it is that these two, the founder and co-founder, of The Oriental Missionary Society should have gone to the glory land on the exact date.

It seemed to me as if dear Brother Nakada went to spend the anniversary of Mr. Cowman’s translation with him and the heavenly city was so beautiful and attractive that he never wished to return again into the land of pain and suffering.

The Oriental Missionary Standard, December 1939, p. 12

In the events leading up to World War II in Japan, many Christian pastors were arrested and tortured.

Those of the Japan Holiness Church endured great pain and suffering, but they never broke.

Juji Nakada had taught them well to love their Savior.

Who was Juji Nakada? Part 1

Nakada’s Ministry in the 21st Century Part 3

Now called One Mission Society, the OMS will celebrate 125 years of missionary work around the world in June, 2026.

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You start off searching for something, and before you know it, you’re wandering off into a completely different subject!

But sometimes, okay, almost always, I stumble on other interesting facts or stories. They catch me by surprise, and I want to share them too, even though there’s no room in my story.

What’s a writer to do?

Share them with friends!

The novella I was writing at the time took me to several surprising places!

The Yuletide Bride took place in Nebraska circa 1873. While remembering Laura Ingalls Wilder’s On the Banks of Plum Creek, I wanted to learn whether grasshoppers plagued Nebraska.

They did.

In 1874.

I found photos and drawings:

Drawn during the time of the invasion, Worrall’s work expresses well the revulsion farmers felt when grasshoppers first ate all their crops (including the wool off the sheep!).

The grasshoppers added to the problem when they dug their eggs into the soil. That left the land vulnerable to another cycle of devastation.

The actual creature was the Rocky Mountain Locust, and they returned in the 1930s, as well.

Locust invasions still happen. YouTube featured a video of one in the Congo. Watch if you dare, here.

What did that have to do with The Yuletide Bride?

Absolutely nothing. It’s just something I read and thought was interesting.

Just another research rabbit trail

Eventually, I discovered what I really wanted to know — land policies in 1873 Nebraska. With that information in hand, I returned to writing my novella.

But first, I stopped by Pinterest to look at photos of the Nebraska landscape. I needed to see rivers and streams pertinent to my story.

I got distracted by photos of the Russian Romanov family there.

I’ve read about the Romanov family since I wrote a story based on their murder while in high school.

I hadn’t seen many of those photos before and wasted far too much time examining them. (Fans can admire them here.)

One Pinterest board turned up a delightful smiling photo of Queen Victoria. Unfortunately, copyright prevents me from showing it to you. Look at this Pinterest link.

Here’s another photo, however, that Wikipedia allows:

What struck me in the Pinterest photo was how much Queen Victoria’s great-granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, looked like her.

I’m not sure you can see it in this next photo of the late queen:

Anyway, I had fun examining photos.

What did this have to do with my current project?

Almost nothing. The British royal family had no role in my story at all–except in regard to the bagpipes.

Maybe.

This is why researching is half the fun!

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Charles and Lettie Cowman began a mission on February 1, 1901, when they first sailed to Japan.

That mission and ministry are still going strong today.

They met their friend Juji Nakada in Japan three weeks after they left San Francisco.

Within a short time, they found a building and transformed it into a Gospel Mission Hall.

The trio opened a Bible school and began to share the Gospel with everyone they met.

Their organization soon became known as the Oriental Missionary Society (OMS).

125 years later, One Mission Society (its more recent name) is in many more countries.

Why become a missionary?

Like many missionaries, Charles and Lettie Cowman got a “call” from God to go.

It began with an interest in the mission field, birthed at a conference.

They’d been Christians about a year when, in 1894, they heard A. B. Simpson (founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church) describe a faith-based mission.

Simpson knew a couple who had sailed to a mission field based solely on their faith that God would supply all their needs.

Unlike many missionaries of the time, they lacked the financial backing of a mission board.

(Mission boards usually came from a specific denomination and funded missionaries through those boards.)

The idea of a faith-based ministry invigorated Charles Cowman, a successful Western Union executive at the time.

When the convention passed an offering plate designated for Simpson’s missionary friends, Charles emptied his wallet into it.

When the plate came around a second time, he dropped in his solid gold watch and chain.

Then he looked meaningfully at his wife, Lettie’s diamond engagement ring.

She twisted it off and placed it in the plate.

Once this couple made a decision, they did not flinch. They moved forward.

When Simpson called for volunteers to become missionaries, Charles Cowman looked at his wife.

That means you and me. Let’s stand and show our colors.”

Missionary Warrior (Abridged) p. 41

Preparation

The Cowmans were pragmatic. They knew they weren’t spiritually ready.

So, they enrolled at the Moody Bible Institute, studied the Bible, shared the Gospel with people they met, and prayed.

Charles, always believing that his money followed his mouth, began to give away the majority of his substantial income.

They even took in boarders to donate extra funds.

When Charles determined they should set their sights on India, Lettie blanched.

A petite woman, Lettie had heart problems. She went to the doctor for an exam. He shook his head and told Charles his wife wasn’t strong enough to live in that country.

They were part of the Holiness Movement and believed in physical healing. Charles listened and crossed India off the list.

Lettie would either be healed or another foreign mission would need them.

Meanwhile, the man himself began preaching at gospel-centered halls in the Chicago “Little Hell” neighborhood. He wanted to be experienced when the call came.

The day after he was “born again” into a life dedicated to God, Charles put his faith into practice. He began telling everyone at work about Jesus’ death and resurrection. He wanted all to become one with God.

The first person he spoke with, colleague Ernest Kilbourne, merely listened. But he returned to work the next day, saying he had given his heart to Christ.

Why Japan?

The men began to pray together, particularly after Charles attended the mission conference. They both became convinced they needed to serve as overseas missionaries.

That certainty only grew when they met a new student at the Moody Bible Institute: Juji Nakada.

Nakada, known as the D. L. Moody of Japan for his evangelistic fervor, invited them to Japan. Kilbourne and Cowman began to pray specifically about Nakada’s idea.

Kilbourne, however, had a vision of a road that went to China.

That would come later.

Lettie, meanwhile, spent long hours each morning praying and reading her Bible. One day, in July 1900, Lettie discerned that God wanted the Cowmans to go to Japan.

She decided not to tell Charles. If God told him the same thing, it would confirm her “call,” and they could move forward in confidence.

One morning, Charles, too, believed he had heard from God.

He wrote the date in his Bible: “Called to Japan, August 11, 1900, 10:30 am.”

When he went to Lettie, she laughed. She confirmed his call!

Faith training

Having accepted the call, the Cowmans took the responsible step of applying to a mission board.

The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was willing to send them to work in a Japanese school. (Charles to teach English, Lettie music).

But the missionary society needed the Cowmans to wait a year for the next year’s budget.

Once they made a decision, they acted. They believed their call meant now, 1900.

Charles resigned from his job. They sold their possessions and left Chicago to attend the brand-new God’s Bible School in Cincinnati. They were the first of 72 students to enroll in the first semester of classes.

Principal Martin Wells Knapp welcomed and liked them. But, he also challenged them, why wait for a missions board?

Charles and Lettie fasted and prayed. They became more convinced they should go immediately.

Juji Nakada urged them to come to Japan. They could open a Bible school together.

They decided God wanted them to start a faith-based mission.

Initial funds for the mission

When a young woman gave them a quarter, they were excited!

A week later, it got more exciting.

As Knapp recounted the story:

“I shall never forget his [Charles’s] cry as he swung the check in the air, “O Japan! Japan! Glory to God! Japan.”

Lettie ran up to him, “Charlie, what is it?”

“Look,” was the only answer.

By this time a number of students had gathered and such a time of rejoicing! Sister Cowman crying, Brother Cowman laughing and shouting. God knows how to answer.”

When the Fire Fell, citing God’s Revivalist Magazine, November 15, 1900

A farmer had sold property and tithed 10% to the Cowman’s trip.

The money, worth $9200 in 2020, paid for their steamship passage to Japan.

Friends pledged to support their monthly living expenses with prayers and donations for the first year. Someone else donated money for the first year’s rent.

Leaving America

At noon on February 1, 1900, friends from the local Holiness Movement waved them off in San Francisco.

Their first steamship voyage was on the SS China Maru and included a stop in exotic Honolulu.

The couple, raised in Iowa and never so far west, watched the Pacific Ocean with wide eyes. Three weeks later, they caught a glimpse of Mt. Fuji’s triangular silhouette on the horizon.

About their arrival, Lettie later wrote:

We stepped out by faith to follow our Lord to dark heathen shores, knowing naught of what the future held.

We did know, however, that we were called of God, as we heard Him saying to us, ‘Go ye into the vineyard.”

God’s Revivalist Magazine, April 4, 1901

At the sight of Juji Nakada’s beaming face and welcoming wave, Charles and Lettie Cowman’s mission had begun.

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Oswald Chambers first encountered the Oriental Missionary Society when he met a Japanese evangelist in Perth, Scotland, in 1905.

Many people considered Japanese evangelist Juji Nakada “the D.L. Moody of the Orient.”

The two became fast friends and traveled through the United Kingdom speaking on Holiness Movement issues.

The 19th-century Holiness Movement was based on the teachings of John and Charles Wesley:

At its heart, the theology of John Wesley stressed the life of Christian holiness. It meant to love God with all one’s heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself.

Wesley’s teaching also stressed experiential religion and moral responsibility.”

Commonplace Holiness: Wesley & Methodism

The Oriental Missionary Society (OMS) and Holiness

As explained in Bridge Across the Century by Edwin W. Kilbourne:

No one can long be associated with any church of the OMS-related holiness churches in Asia without hearing the phrase: ‘the Fourfold Gospel.’

“In simple terms, this is a belief in the biblical teachings of (1) the new birth or regeneration.

(2) Sanctification, sometimes referred to as the fulness or baptism of the Holy Spirit. It’s a second work of God’s grace wrought by the Holy Spirit subsequent to regeneration.

(3) Divine healing, and

(4) The Second Coming of Christ.

These were the emphases of the holiness movement of which OMS was born.”

Kilbourne quoting from Dr. John Merwin’s dissertation: A History of the OMS Holiness Church of North America.

This teaching resonated with Oswald Chambers, and he spoke on similar issues for the Pentecostal League of Prayer.

Nakada encouraged Chambers to visit the OMS Bible Training Institute in Tokyo, Japan:

“You must come to Japan . . . We need a man like you to teach at our pastors’ Bible Training Institute.”

Bridge Across the Century

Chambers yearned to either serve as a missionary or encourage missionaries; he wanted to go.

In late 1906, Nakada (and the Holy Spirit) encouraged Chambers to travel to the United States to speak and to teach at God’s Bible School.

Upon arrival, Nakada spoke at camp meetings to raise funds for the Oriental Missionary Society.

Chambers taught a semester at God’s Bible School. He received a stipend sufficient to pay for transportation to Japan.

I wrote about the Nakada-Chambers trip here.

The Oriental Missionary Society in Japan

Oriental Missionary Society founders Charles Cowman and Ernest Kilbourne met the boat when it arrived in Japan.

The enthusiastic Chambers described the visit:

We took a train and what a reception we had at the station on arrival.

All the Bible School students were there, and they escorted us to the premises and we had a welcome meeting. . . God was mightily present.

I spoke through an interpreter. It was splendid but restraining.”

Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God by David McCasland

Chambers quickly recognized the value of the Oriental Missionary Society in proclaiming the Gospel.

I cannot hope to state the impressions and sensations of the place. It is unbearably pathetic to see the temples with their god of healing. The idol is worn quite smooth with the hands of the people.

Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God

Chambers and Nakada both spoke at the YMCA, and he thought everything interesting.

As he wrote in his diary, the eagerness of the people to hear what the missionaries said, “is simply wonderful, one sees nothing like it in the homeland.”

He appreciated the OMS ministry. “I never expected such an elaborate, splendidly organized work as it is.”

A lasting Impression

Chambers ended his trip to Japan when Charles and Lettie Cowman realized they needed to travel to England to raise funds.

Because Chambers did not speak Japanese, they invited him to join them on their trip, rather than try to teach at their Bible Training Institute.

They felt he could better advance the mission by discussing it in the United Kingdom.

Ultimately, Chambers did not speak on their behalf, but what he observed affected him deeply.

In 1911, he opened a Bible Training College in London.

He never forgot his fondness for the Cowmans, Juji Nakada, and the OMS.

Long after Oswald Chambers’ death, his widow Biddy and the Oswald Chambers Publication Association donated funds to Lettie Cowman and the Oriental Missionary Society.

(The Oriental Missionary Society changed its name in 1973 to One Mission Society.)

Now called One Mission Society, the group that changed Oswald Chambers’ ministry by introducing him to a Bible school (and he subsequently opened one in England), celebrates 125 years of ministry in June, 2026.

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A Poppy in Remembrance

Well, it happened to me—was my life on the line—three times!

Let this be a warning to you. Researchers may look nerdy and pale, but behind our flashing glasses, we could be superheroes.

Here are three tales.

A Midwest Research Library.

I spent a week there, scanning documents and photos.

I’ve never lived in the Midwest and am unused to extreme weather in the summertime.

But it caught up with me one day.

Three of us worked at long tables filled with material.

A young library worker was filling in for the archivist at lunch.

In the silent room, a ping sounded. She looked at her phone and gasped.

“Oh, no! We’re supposed to be in the basement!”

The German man looked over the top of his glasses, and the New Englander of Japanese descent startled.

I asked the obvious question: “Why?”

She bit her lip. “There was a severe tornado watch, and I didn’t check my phone. I was supposed to take you downstairs immediately. This is the all-clear message.”

We all turned to the windows. It was windy.

“I’m driving into the city after this,” I said. Am I safe in the car?”

She smiled eagerly. “I’m sure you are.”

I survived.

A Big City Library

Fifteen minutes after I arrived at a research library in Pasadena, California, the loudspeaker announced,

“This is a drill. We are practicing. This is a drill. An active shooter is on campus. Please hide, immediately.”

I grabbed the six-hundred-page dissertation on the shelf in front of me.

Down in the basement, all I could hear was the air conditioning hum. I’d seen no one else on the floor.

I found a door with a lock and a closet behind it, also locked. Inside the cement cell were six chairs. Perfect.

I locked the second door and set up my scanner and the books for two hours.

At one point, I heard someone moving around outside in the stacks, and my heart raced. Was this part of the drill?

I stayed quiet, wished I had stuck my sweater beneath the door to hide any possible light, and waited, holding my breath.

When would the all-clear sound?

In the cement bunker, I couldn’t pick up a cell signal or send a text. I drank my water, ate my granola bar, and shook my head.

After two hours and with my appointment with the archivist upon me, I snuck out of my hiding place.

Upstairs, I whispered to a woman happily working on her computer, “Is it safe to come out yet?”

At the horrified look on her face, I laughed. They hadn’t announced the all-clear over the loudspeaker 90 minutes earlier.

We were all safe.

The librarian, however, wanted to know where I’d hidden so successfully!

A rival university’s research library

I’m a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, the second of three generations of UCLA graduates in my family.

My parents raised me to be suspicious of “the other college,” also known as the crosstown rival.

But their library system, which is wonderful for online researchers, had an important volume I needed to examine.

My daughter was a graduate student there (earthquakes in LA? My parents rolling over in their graves), so I visited to look for my book.

Which turned out to be on microfiche. They had to search for it.

“It will take a little time,” the kind woman said on the phone. “Let me call you back when I’ve got it.”

I gave her my phone number and sat back to admire the gorgeous library.

And then I realized the danger.

The ringtone on my cell phone is the UCLA fight song, “Sons of Westwood.”

Everyone in Los Angeles recognizes that song.

This particularly cross town rival has a white horse statue displayed in the quad outside the gorgeous research library.

The halls would soon echo with the music that always compels me to action.

I hurried outside to a quiet corner where I adjusted the phone’s volume to low.

As soon as those opening notes sounded, I answered the phone: danger averted.

It was the librarian.

Alas, they couldn’t find the microfiche, but I escaped with my life!

Who said research libraries are safe spots?

Who else understands that knowledge is not only important but can be dangerous if misused?

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“You’re a fine writer, and you concoct very interesting ideas, but it means nothing if you don’t cite the references.”

Glenn had spent years researching his family history. He happily shared information with me. However, when he read my work, he asked me to prove how I had reached my conclusions before he followed me down the rabbit trails.

I disciplined myself to cite the references--just like in, gulp, geometry all those years before.

I didn’t mind sharing where I got my information; it just had never occurred to me that it might be important.

(Geometry students, pay attention. You think it’s about the math--but it’s really about putting together a logical argument.)

Changing my focus

I became a fanatic about the research discipline after that. I was a genealogy bore citing stats, references, and sometimes the entire story about how I ferreted out one fact or another.

My family yawned.

My genealogy cohorts cheered — they could trust my research once I demonstrated my discipline in pursuing it.

And of course, as a result, I can explain all those cousins once, twice, or even thrice removed, without a second thought!

Research tools that serve me well

A camera phone has helped the research discipline in the years since I first approached libraries, microfilm, microfiche, and fragile documents with paper and pencil (never pen in research libraries).

Now, I take a photo of folders, book title pages (including the spine for the reference number), library catalog information, and even where I park my car. It all helps me keep track of information I need to know.

A personal scanner I can attach to my laptop has also been invaluable for keeping track of exactly where I found that tidbit of information.

I use a dedicated notebook for my current project--which is now full. When I need to know where I learned obscure facts, I can check it.

I also make a point of copying URLs of documents I access on the Internet. I put the information into an email, including the quote I need, and sent it to myself. I’ve got a folder in my email where I stick all the research and can pull it up when necessary.

Making notes

Using those same skills I honed so long ago, I can retrieve the 1895 mortality tables for Woolwich, England, or 1913 childbirth practices.

I make voice memos on my phone of writing ideas or thoughts about my projects, which I transcribe later.

The same phone feature makes it easy to interview people.

I print copies of documents and read them with different-colored highlighters. The color indicates where in the project that quote might fit, or where I could use those ideas elsewhere.

And of course, Post-it tabs are invaluable. I even use them on library books. Whatever I find valuable, I transcribe directly into a Word document to save on my computer.

The point of all this is, unless I can tell someone where I found the information, why believe it? Without a reference, the comment--whether in genealogy or my writing project--has no value.

Research discipline is important and too easy not to use.

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Those spots I could physically visit, I did.

I stood on the steps of Oswald Chambers’ former Bible Training College at #45 Clapham Common in London.

My husband and I paused romantically in front of the “Light of the World” painting at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

I spent a day roaming Oxford.

We even visited trenches in the Somme and hiked all over Paris like Claire and Nigel.

“How did you learn so much about Egypt?” several people asked after reading Mrs. Oswald Chambers. “Did you go there?

I wrote A Poppy in Remembrance following the Arab Spring. How could I travel to North Africa?

I don’t think, at this point, I’ll ever go to Egypt–though I’d like to.

Instead, I turned to research materials on WWI Egypt—when I could find them.

Books

Books, of course, led the way.

Since Oswald and Biddy Chambers lived in Egypt during World War I, I found books written about that time period.

Both fiction and nonfiction were invaluable.

Most notably in the fiction category, the Amelia Peabody stories by Elizabeth Peters.

The stories take place from the 1880s until WWI.

Since I knew Peters, a pseudonym for Egyptologist Barbara Mertz, knew her facts, I trusted her observations.

T. E. Lawrence of Arabia also had descriptions of this time period. Since The Seven Pillars of Wisdom is one of my husband’s favorite books. I merely had to pluck it off the shelf!

I had a lot of trouble with Thomas Kenneally’s The Daughters of Mars (owing to an inexplicable non-use of quotation marks!).

The novel, however, provided me with insight into the Middle Eastern theater from the ANZAC nurses' point of view.

The most important book was Baedeker’s 1914 Egypt and the Sudan, which I read online.

Since it was published in 1914, it was the same book my characters would have read for information about life during the years they lived there!

In fact, both Claire and Biddy used the book when preparing for their trip overseas!

Egypt Research Through Movies

Many movies are set in Egypt, ranging from Raiders of the Lost Ark and The English Patient (WWII) to Cairo Time (modern day) to Murder on the Nile (1920s).

They all gave me a sense of the air, the country, the dress, and where things are located.

Did you know the Sphinx looks across the Nile at a Pizza Hut Restaurant today?

Only one person in A Poppy in Remembrance went to Gallipoli — another film that conveyed a sense of the time and place.

I also watched a variety of documentaries set in the country, again for a feel for the land and what my characters would have endured.

Lawrence of Arabia was the major source of movies for World War I in Egypt.

Against David Lean’s telling, I could better follow the politics in the Ottoman Empire during WWI.

Beautifully photographed, I could see the type of British officers who walked through my story.

I even gave Captain Lawrence a cameo part in A Poppy in Remembrance.

The story of his life was one of the reasons I thought to write the novel in the first place.

What about the sense conveyed by books and movies?

Books and movies filled in my sight knowledge–what things looked like in the Middle East during WWI.

But what did the country smell like? How did food taste? Other than the horrors of sand dunes, what did the air feel like?

For that, I had to investigate a little more creatively.

(Next week’s post!)

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Frankly, neither my agent nor I could come up with an inspiring, encouraging story off the top of our minds.

But as we chatted about WWI movies we’d appreciated and skipped the

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ones that were difficult, I remembered Lawrence of Arabia.

My puzzled agent asked what I meant.

“How about the Oswald Chambers story?”

“What Oswald Chambers story?”

I’d recently read David McCasland’s fine biography, Oswald Chambers, Abandoned to God.

“He led a revival among the ANZAC troops in Cairo during WWI. There’s your inspirational story out of the awful war.”

She shook her head, shrugged, and asked the pertinent question: “Can you write it?”

There’s only one answer to that question from your agent. “Of course.”

“Great.” She looked at her calendar. “I’d like the proposal on Friday.”

I raised my eyebrows. It was Monday.

“Okay.”

(A proposal, BTW, includes the entire synopsis condensed into 8 pages, the first several chapters, and information about the writer. Since I’d just written a proposal for another project, I had information about the writer: me!)

MONDAY NIGHT

I reviewed McCasland’s book and took notes on Chambers’ life during WWI.

He died in Cairo in 1917, so that was going to be interesting.

My husband and I discussed what I knew (little) about WWI.

No ideas.

TUESDAY

I couldn’t find a storyline that worked.

Finally came up with something—but it didn’t match the parameters.

WEDNESDAY

Nothing.

THURSDAY MORNING

I woke early. “You know, Lord, I’m willing to write this story, but you’re going to have to give me a story.”

Click. Right then, my mind filled with a scene, which included the main characters’ names.

I got up and wrote the first chapter.

After that, I leashed my dog and took an hour walk with my prayer partner, where we discussed the story.

I returned home and wrote the next chapter.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON

I printed out a WWI timeline, and then scribbled out the dates/facts of OC’s life during WWI.

I put them side-by-side on my kitchen island, with paper between them, and simply cross-referenced the facts with a story idea onto the paper(s).

For four hours.

I typed up the notes—20 pages—cooked dinner, and went to choir.

FRIDAY MORNING

I condensed 20 pages of plot into eight single-spaced pages, put them into my proposal format, along with the pertinent information, ran spell check, and emailed it to my agent 10 minutes before I left for work.

WHAT HAPPENED?

That 20-page plot became A Poppy in Remembrance.

And, it led to my writing Mrs. Oswald Chambers.

Which is why I know so much about both Biddy and Oswald Chambers! LOL

You don’t wake up one morning deciding, “I’d like to become an expert on WWI and on Oswald Chambers,” but that’s what happened to me.

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I use Google Maps all the time.

Not just for driving instructions–though that’s important–but to understand how places play into history.

It proved invaluable while I researched Mrs. Oswald Chambers.

Here are ways Google Maps answered questions.

Putting locations into neighborhood context

Several times in writing my book, I tried to figure out why someone lived where they did.

When investigating the family home of Mary Riley, a close friend of Biddy and Oswald Chambers, I looked up the address on Google Maps Street View.

The house was one of many in a row on a cramped street.

Even though the Riley family lived there 100 years ago, the townhouse looked old enough, except for the garage and cars!

Sometimes, if you investigate through plain Google, you’ll see the house is for sale on Zillow.

When I moved to the English equivalent, I discovered the former Riley home is worth far more than I expected.

Mary’s father was a groomsman. How could he afford to live in such an affluent neighborhood, and why?

I switched from “street view” back to “traffic view.”

When I pulled back the map from the Rileys’ dead-end street, I discovered the house backed onto a mansion’s acreage.

Returning to Ancestry.com to examine the 1911 census records, I learned the mansion owner sold horses and ran a track in his backyard.

That explained why the Rileys lived there.

100 years ago, the rowhouse probably wasn’t an expensive home, and servants could have lived on the street.

(As a side note, it’s also only a few blocks from Abbey Road where the Beatles crossed!)

Showing where someone worked.

The Reverend Phillip Hancock’s family sent me on a search around the world (Egypt, Persia, California, England).

I had their British address on a 1952 death certificate signed by Rev. Hancock.

Using Google Maps, I traced the home to be twenty miles from Biddy Chambers’s home, but didn’t understand why the family lived there.

Shouldn’t Phillip have been pastoring a church?

Nothing appeared likely on the traffic map, though there was an Anglican Church nearby.

Hancock was a Presbyterian minister.

But one day, I decided to admire the house from street view.

What a surprise!

The house stands right next to a welcoming sign to the United Reformed Church of Eastcote.

Non-map Google took me to the church website, where I learned it was once St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.

A history of the church mentioned Rev. Phillip Hancock as the clergyman there from 1947 to 1956.

On a whim, I wrote to the church secretary, who not only knew of Hancock but also contacted an old church member who remembered him!

On location

Of course, we used Google Maps to find Oswald Chambers’ sites while in London.

It led us right to #45 Clapham Common, confirmed as the Bible Training College by a blue plaque on the wall.

While we did not visit Biddy’s home in Muswell Hill, I did check the map for directions, just in case.

Combined with Zillow, I learned the house was for sale in 2013, and I examined the interior through the listing.

Post-location

I didn’t hunt down Biddy’s Oxford home when I spent a day there in 2013, but I did see a photo.

Found the BTC!

Once again, armed with a 100 year-old address, I put the number into Google maps–street view–and watched a house appear.

It’s traveler’s apartments now, but the bulky interior can’t have changed all that much.

If I ever return to Oxford, I’ll have to rent a room.

My father was a geographer; I’ve always loved maps.

It’s amazing how helpful a good map can be when you’re trying to understand a way, a place, and a sense of life.

Once again, armed with a 100-year-old address, I put the number into Google Maps — Street View — and watched a house appear.

It’s traveler’s apartments now, but the bulky interior can’t have changed all that much.

If I ever return to Oxford, I’ll have to rent a room.

My father was a geographer; I’ve always loved maps.

It’s amazing how helpful a good map can be when you’re trying to understand a way, a place, and a sense of life.

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It’s part of the background for A Poppy in Remembrance, a novel set during World War I.

The novel is a coming-of-age story about a young woman growing emotionally, spiritually, and professionally during the war.

Oswald and Biddy Chambers are marquee characters in the novel, which is what started me on the research that led to my biography of Mrs. Oswald Chambers.

WWI plays a significant role in the novel, so I had to learn a lot about that war.

(Really, who in their right mind would want to learn about it otherwise?)

I’ve written a lot of posts about WWI, but I needed to see the sites of the story--and thus the hunts through Pinterest.

Pinterest Pinners Choose Sides

In 2013, when I began, almost all the pictures that came up in searches were from the Allied side — England and France, as well as the Anzac countries of Australia and New Zealand. (Anzac stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps).

Russian photos have crept in — usually of the czar — and, of course, the Americans are all well represented in their pride.

I noticed almost immediately that the pin sources were unbalanced by nationality. Were there no Germans, Italians, or even Ottoman army fans pinning on Pinterest?

Red Baron fans posted his photos, of course.

Flyers provided plenty of boards featuring Sopwith Camels (British airplanes) and their German counterparts. Zeppelins appeared regularly as well.

The preponderance of books written from the Allied side, particularly in English, would explain some of that--to the winners go the spoils and the history books.

(The UK’s Imperial War Museum released photos, videos, and masses of documents over the years, making their materials far more accessible to English-speaking scholars, which also added to the flooding of the resources.)

As a former journalist, however, I’m skeptical.

In researching my novel, I learned how much the British government — under the original direction of former journalist/ head of the Navy, Winston Churchill — relied on propaganda.

The first thing the British government did after declaring war was to sever the German telegraph line to North America. Britain controlled the news--and it never had a good thing to say about the Kaiser’s men.

Perhaps that had something to do with the few German-themed pins on Pinterest 99 years after the war began?

The Axis Pinners finally begin to Pin

That’s still true now.

The majority of pins still come from supporters of the Allied army.

But I’m seeing more pins featuring photos of German troops, Italian army men, and even an Ottoman or two when the photos are of Gallipoli.

One morning, I saw this article about a German soldier’s photo album, which featured plenty of pin-worthy photos.

The soldiers look as young and raw as they do on the Allied side.

Research and my eyes have shown me that the Germans built better, more secure trenches. They did not suffer as much as the British and French troops did in the mud.

Some of that is because they tended to have the physical high ground.

The German army had superior training and materials.

Their people suffered just as much as anyone else. The German forces were depleted by 1918, and their people were starving.

War was terrible for them as well.

Objectivity

My grandfather served in the American Army on the side of the Allies--that’s where my heart lies.

But from my journalism training, I seek objectivity — I want to read and SEE both sides.

So, I welcomed pinning photographs from the armies of Axis countries, and I’m thankful Pinterest gave me a look at a terrible war.

It’s still not pretty, but it’s important.

For the sake of our humanity, we need to know, even on a platform like Pinterest.

I maintain several WWI Pinterest boards. Here they are:

World War I Shots

World War I Notables

World War I Animals

World War I Fashion

WWI Britain

WWI France

WWI Americans

WWI Egypt

YMCA WWI

Wandering the Somme

WWI Research Books

(A Poppy in Remembrance covered quite a bit of ground—from the day the war began in England, through Egypt, and finished when the war ended in France)

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High-resolution photos are needed to achieve sharp image quality when printing.

It’s based on the number of pixels–the higher the number, the denser the photo, the clearer it will print.

While writing Mrs. Oswald Chambers, I discovered how important they are–especially for research.

Low resolution

While researching Oswald and Biddy Chambers, I found a superb site for photos at the Cadbury Research Library in Birmingham, England.

There, a collection of World War I photos from the YMCA's work in Egypt provided plenty of sleuthing material.

An Australian, Peter Wenham, found my blog posts about Oswald Chambers and informed me of the site.

Wenham also sent me photos of Oswald Chambers’ burial.

We’d not seen them before, and I stared in amazement, trying to make out who was in the photo.

He pointed out his grandfather -which is how he discovered the picture–but no one else was clear to me.

Here’s the photo from Cadbury Research Library’s digital file online:

Low resolution and sepia make it unclear.

I blew it up to see if I could recognize anyone and made a few guesses, but it just wasn’t as clear as my eyes needed.

Wenham pointed out his grandfather, and I saw him, but I wasn’t sure about anyone else’s identity.

High-rez instead

My publishing house, Baker Books, required all photos for Mrs. Oswald Chambers to be high-res.

I contacted the YMCA-UK for permission to use their photo and then sent that permission to the Cadbury Research Library.

A few days later, on November 16, 2016–or exactly 99 years after the photo was taken–I received my copy.

Oh, my!

Here it is:

WordPress won’t let me post a photo with such high resolution.

Here are details I could see in high-res:

The man looking at the camera is Wenham’s grandfather, George Shapley, a YMCA chaplain newly arrived in Cairo during the war.

In the background on the right, you can see the officers who served as the 100-man honor guard that escorted the artillery caisson carrying Chambers’ body.

They are leaning on their rifles–which, of course, will be fired in salute at the end of the service.

In the next photo detail, you can see the pallbearers (in uniform) who shouldered Chambers’ coffin into the cemetery for burial.

I believe that is missionary Samuel Zwemer on the right with his back to the camera and not in uniform. He conducted the service.

And, the last detail that jumped out at me.

Where was Biddy Chambers?

Draped in black and standing beside Lord Radstock, the senior British YMCA official in Cairo at the time.

Daughter Kathleen is not visible in this photo, but would have been standing beside her mother.

The woman in the white dress beside Biddy was probably Eva Spink, who accompanied her on a trip to grieve immediately following the service.

This high-rez photo appeared in Mrs. Oswald Chambers–along with 39 others.

From this photo, I gained insight and further information about the funeral service, all of which added to the poignancy of Oswald Chambers’ sudden death in 1917.

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Enjoy!

It was an exciting time.

“Unusual” activity began that Easter Sunday when Jesus appeared to his disciples.

Joy quickly followed their initial disbelief.

And why wouldn’t it?

Wouldn’t you be excited if a loved one died and then appeared, alive, three days later? Especially if they look whole and hearty and have an appetite?

Post-Easter events to Ascension

Jesus spent forty days with his disciples after his resurrection.

He walked to Emmaus with two disciples.

Held a post-fishing barbecue on the shores of Lake Galilee for most of them.

Jesus appeared to all eleven, including the suspicious Thomas.

Without Thomas saying a thing, Jesus held out his hand and invited Thomas to put his finger there.

He suggested Thomas put his hand in his side--where the Roman spear left a wound.

Thomas was astonished, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.” (John 20: 24-29; ESV)

During that post-Easter time until Jesus’s ascension in bodily form to Heaven, Jesus continued teaching his disciples--who numbered about 120.

Over 500 people saw Jesus during this time. They would have recognized him.

None of the Gospels detail what Jesus taught them. The physician Luke in Acts 1 mentioned that Jesus spoke to his disciples about the Kingdom of God.

Given they’d seen him raised from the dead, it’s likely they reviewed what Jesus told them before his crucifixion.

They asked if Jesus would now restore the kingdom of Israel.

“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:6-8 (ESV)

And then a cloud appeared and took Jesus out of their sight.

Now what?

Who was the Holy Spirit?

How would the Holy Spirit baptize them?

No one knew, so they headed to a building on the Mount of Olives. There, they gathered in an upper room.

Mary, Jesus’ mother, went with them, along with other women and Jesus’ relatives.

There, they prayed and celebrated the Feast of Weeks, bringing them to the 50th day after Passover, or Pentecost.

The Holy Spirit came down upon those praying folks, “like a rushing wind,” and filled the entire house.

“Divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The Holy Spirit bestowed spiritual power and gifts on all present that day. Suddenly, they spoke with authority and confidence. The preaching began! People changed!

The fledgling church grew to 5000 people.

The same unhappy pre-Easter characters were unhappy post-Easter

The book of Acts describes one exciting event after another. With the Holy Spirit filling and directing them, the disciples began to

• speak in tongues

• preach

• heal

• and set the captives to sin free--in Jesus’ name.

Pre-Easter, the Temple priests, Sadducees, captains, and the Pharisees were irate.

Lazarus being raised from the dead, Jesus being raised from the dead; they couldn’t control God’s work.

Peter didn’t help by pointing out that Jesus being raised from the dead was responsible for all this excitement.

The priests and the scribes knew the Law--that was their job.

Seeing all the activity post-Easter, some began to reread the Messianic prophecies.

The respected teacher Gamaliel, a Pharisee, reminded the council to be careful what they did next.

It was too late.

The word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 6:7 ESV

They must have watched as Jesus performed miracles on the Temple Mount before his crucifixion.

Surely, they scratched their heads and compared Jesus’s actions to what the Scriptures taught about the Messiah?

What other conclusion could they reach?

The Messiah had come. They recognized the Messiah’s description from Isaiah 53.

Eventually, one particular Pharisee saw the light: Saul.

And so the church began.

The Bible Project also takes a look at Pentecost and what happened next.

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Jerusalem in uproar best defines the month after Jesus rose from the dead.

As conquerors, the Roman army was always on guard in the ancient city.

But now, despite the best efforts of the ineffectual and corrupt Sanhedrin, everything had changed.

The rabble-rouser risen from the dead?

Who thought that?

And what was up with the High Priest screaming in the temple?

The post-Easter weeks were busy and teeming with the unexpected.

Uproar, “a state of commotion, excitement, or violent disturbance, described it best.

Where was Jesus amid the uproar?

It started on the Road to Emmaus Easter afternoon.

He appeared to over 500 people during the 40 days after Easter.

Here’s a list:

• Mary Magdalene, Salome, and “Mary the mother of James” (Mark 16:1).

• Cleopas and a friend (Mark 16:12-13).

• Simon Peter (Luke 24:34).

• Eleven other apostles and friends (Luke 24:36-43).

• Thomas (John 20:28).

• Eleven disciples on a Galilean mountain (Matthew 28:16-20).

• A gathering of about 500 on a Galilean mountain (1 Corinthians 15:6).

• His brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7).

• A group as Jesus ascends into heaven. (Acts 1:9).

What were the disciples up to?

• Traveling to Galilee and going fishing. (John 21)

• Waiting for the Holy Spirit, and then being filled with his power, praise, and direction at Pentecost. (Acts 2).

• Testifying as to who Jesus was and what he did.

• Healing a crippled man and preaching in Solomon’s porch in the Temple area. (Acts 3).

With all of Jerusalem in uproar, they caught the attention of the Jewish religious leaders and the Romans. (Because they kept preaching, even when told not to.)

(Definition of the Sadducees and Pharisees).

Then John and Peter were arrested:

As they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them.

[The Sadducees were] greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³

[As a result, the Sadducees] laid hands on John and Peter. [The Sadducees] put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed. The number of men came to be about five thousand.

Acts 4:1-4 (NKJV)

What was the Sanhedrin’s reaction to Jerusalem in uproar?

(The Sanhedrin was the Jewish ruling council.)

The High Priest was aghast–how did the temple veil rip into two pieces?

And how would it be repaired?

Even worse, from their point of view, many priests who worked in the temple became Christians! (Acts 6:7)

(The priests and scribes should have recognized Jesus’ identity because they memorized the Scriptures. They recognized the acts, particularly after Jesus’ death, were prophesied in the Old Testament.)

Their wisest teacher, Gamaliel (Saul/Paul’s instructor), advised them to be careful:

³⁴ A Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people stood up. He commanded the Council to put the apostles outside for a little while. ³⁵ He said: “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. . . .³⁸ I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone. If this work is of men, it will come to nothing. ³⁹ But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.”

Acts 5:34-39 (NKJV)

Then what happened?

The Christian diaspora began.

Believers in Jesus’ words acted in the 40 years after his death, as events in Jerusalem grew more difficult.

“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let those who are in the midst of her depart. Let not those who are in the country enter her. ²² For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.”

Luke 21:20-22 (NKJV)

By the time of Jerusalem’s destruction in AD 70, most of the Christians had left the city.

The Jews and the Romans oversaw the scorched-earth horror that destroyed the city.

Jerusalem in uproar, yes.

But those who believed Jesus had already left.

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Who stood at the foot of the cross that Good Friday so long ago?

A variety of people:

• Roman guards,

• a centurion,

• bystanders,

• disciples

• people who knew Jesus,

• his mother,

• his aunt,

• women

• followers

• people Jesus loved.

The Son of God didn’t die alone.

Passersby, as well.

A variety of people went past Golgotha that day. Some stopped at the foot of the cross; others jeered from the road.

Their reactions to seeing Jesus were ugly

Those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads. They said, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

Matthew 27:39-40 (NKJV)

Scripture doesn’t tell us who those people were, but they were not alone in their nastiness.

Jesus spent Holy Week reaching out to a specific group of Jews. They were the worst.

The men who claimed to know the Scriptures conspired with the hated Roman government to have Jesus killed.

Likewise, the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said,

“He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”

Matthew 27:41-44 (NKJV)

Jesus tried tough love on men who spent their lives examining the Scriptures.

They refused to consider how Jesus could be the Messiah.

So they rejected him.

Men crucified alongside him

Jesus was one of three men crucified on Golgotha that day.

He hung on the cross alongside two robbers.

One shouted, “Why don’t you save us?”

The other replied.

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Luke 23:40-41 (NKJV)

The second criminal understood his guilt. That’s the best spot from which to ask Jesus for eternal salvation.

He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:42-43 (NKJV)

Family at the foot of the cross

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

John 19:25 (NKJV)

Commentators note women remained the most loyal. His mother, Mary, was the one disciple who knew him from the beginning and stayed with him to the end.

His disciple John also waited at the foot of the cross, for Jesus entrusted his mother, Mary, to John’s care.

It’s possible, too, that Joseph of Arimathea also attended the crucifixion. As soon as the Roman centurion pronounced Jesus dead, Joseph asked for permission to bury Jesus.

Technically, not at the foot of the cross

Jesus died nearly two thousand years before my birth.

But as a follower, I gained from his death on the cross.

That came home to me in a startling way when I stood before this painting by James Tissot.

My sins were forgiven that day. Thanks be to God.

Below is a compilation of seven blog posts (including this one) about Holy Week. If you’d like a copy yourself, you can download it here:

Thoughts-on-Holy-Week and-EasterDownload

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What did the Romans have to do to kill Jesus on Good Friday?

Nothing.

They were pawns in God’s hand.

That’s not exactly true. They had to play along with Pontius Pilate, who was manipulated by the High Priest Caiaphas and his minions.

These men concluded it was better that one man should die (Jesus) than they lose power.

At least they thought they had decided that.

In actuality, the events of Jesus’ last week on earth were orchestrated according to prophecies made long before. Jesus told his disciples what would happen.

They didn’t like hearing that Jesus had no plans to be an earthly king. They heard Jesus’ words (they will kill me, and three days later I will be raised from the dead). But they didn’t want to believe it.

It’s all there in the Bible — prophecies in the Old Testament, Jesus fulfilling them in the New Testament.

For Christians, Good Friday is the central event of Holy Week. It comes between Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and his glorious resurrection from the dead on Easter Sunday.

Many of us spend “passion week” reviewing Jesus’ last days on earth.

There’s an interesting story that happened prior to that week, often overlooked but pertinent.

I shake my head every time I read it.

You remember–Lazarus of Bethany raised from the dead?

It’s such a dramatic moment. Jesus himself reminds Lazarus’ sister, Mary, that Jesus’ delay in reaching the sickbed was so that God would be glorified.

Jews from Jerusalem had come the seven miles to see what Jesus would do. A large crowd gathered around the tomb, where Lazarus had lain for three days, and decay would have set in.

Jesus ordered the large stone blocking the tomb to be rolled away. People worried about the possible smell, but they moved the stone.

“Lazarus, come forth!” Jesus called.

Lazarus stumbled out. Alive. Raised from the dead.

The Scriptures record a variety of responses to that resurrection. His sisters Mary and Martha were joyful. So was Jesus.

The ruling Jews, however, had a different response. From the text John 11:45:

Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”

The High Priest Caiaphas, a crafty politician, had the last word:

“You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.”

From that day on, they plotted to put Him to death.

I always wonder what they were thinking. They just saw Jesus call a man back to life who had died.

How did they think they would kill Jesus himself if he had such power?

Obviously, the Pharisees weren’t thinking.

God sent Jesus to earth to “give himself up to death,” for the sins of the world. Christian theology teaches us he was the “Lamb of God.” As John the Baptist pointed out, “come to take away the sins of the world.”

I can’t explain why God put the world into this order, but this is what he required.

Old Testament prophets foretold Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection. Some Bible scholars believe there are more than 300. You can review a list of forty-four of them here.

Jesus came to die. If the Romans hadn’t done it, someone else would have. The point is, Jesus chose to go through the crucifixion. He could have called those legions of angels down at any moment to save him. But to do so would have negated the reason he was born.

God sent him as the savior of the world–Jesus had to die to do that.

Sometimes I feel sorry for the Romans, the Pharisees, and High Priest Caiaphas. Even Judas. God used them to accomplish his will.

(Some traditions believe Pontius Pilate and his wife had a happier ending.)

Regardless, no one really killed Jesus. Jesus willingly gave himself up to die.

Thanks be to God.

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