Keep Looking Up To Jesus
By Gary
Murakami, August 31, 2013, for memorial service, "A Celebration of Life"
I’m Gary Murakami, Ken’s son, and
I want to celebrate his life and the many blessings God poured out on all of us
through him.
Blessed are the
poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Ken had humble beginnings as the son of Japanese immigrants
to America. He was raised on a farm outside of Seattle and grew up with 10
siblings. Ken often referred to himself along with his older brothers George
and Ben as “The Three Musketeers.” Ben was a year older and known as the good
son and angel of the family. Ken was the most outspoken of the eleven children,
and his dad considered him to be the most rebellious. As much as he tried to
please his dad, he never felt fully accepted. By his teen years, Ken was a
pugnacious kid looking for all the attention that he could get and had
significant achievements in grades and sports. The search for his father’s
acceptance factored into his search for his creator God and heavenly father.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Ken was a storyteller. He used stories often, sometimes to
entertain kids and regularly to illustrate sermons as many of you have
experienced. Here’s a story from his childhood.
I remember one incident of killing a chicken that limped. Dad
had brought home several sacks full of white stately Leghorns. They were a
proud looking flock compared to a few Rhode Island Reds that we had. But among
the flock was one sickly and scrawny chicken. He limped on one bad leg. So I
named him “Limpy.”
The other chickens continuously pecked him, and no matter how
much I tried to favor him, Limpy kept aloof and fearful of the rest of the
chickens. One day I picked up a rock and nearly knocked his head off. Limpy died
and I hid him under a ramp.
Later, I came to realize I had killed Limpy because I hated
weaklings, and here I was a kind of “Limpy” in my early high school days. From
then on, I began to defend the underdogs. Deep inside, I hated anyone who
belittled other people.
Ken recognized that he was flawed, weak and broken like
Limpy. We also are all flawed, weak and broken like Limpy.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Ken suffered many incidents of injustice due to prejudice
during World War II.
After his junior year in high school, all Japanese-Americans
in the Seattle area were evacuated and interned in the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho. Ken was
able to leave the concentration camp to attend Shelley High School. He was
exploited by a local farmer and worked 30 hours per week just for room and
board. It was a lonely time, and he suffered bullying and lower grades just for
being of Japanese ancestry. He was a victim of an assault. After graduation, he
couldn’t wait to get back to Minidoka even though it was a concentration camp
behind barbed wire.
Brother George and others were drafted by the US Army into
the all Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Their motto was “Go For
Broke.” In the face of injustice at home in the USA, they fought against the
injustice of Nazi Germany, even at the cost of their own lives. The 442nd
is the most decorated unit in all of American military history.
Ken was also drafted out of Minidoka into the US Army.
Ironically, they sent him to Japanese language school and after the end of
World War II, he served as a translator with the occupation of Japan.
Years later to illustrate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, dad
would tell kids the dramatized story of Medal of Honor winner Pfc. Sadao “Spud”
Munemori. Spud’s many deeds while fighting in
Italy were capped by a final self-sacrificing act. He dived for a grenade and
smothered its blast with his body. By his swift, supremely heroic action Spud
saved two of his men at the cost of his own life and did much to clear the path
for his company's victorious advance.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for
they shall be filled.
Ken thought that he had it all by age 34. He had completed
dental school, gotten married, started a family with two kids, built a home,
became the first Japanese-American member of Kiwanis International, and achieved
a 9 handicap at golf. Dad was a spectacular dentist. He took advanced courses
and applied the latest techniques with great success on his patients. By the
world’s standards, he was a story of triumph over injustice.
But it all felt empty. Brother Ben had died at age 25, and
his father had said to Ken, “You should have been dead in the place of your brother!”
Why did Ben, the good son, die? Why hadn’t he, the more rebellious and flawed
son, died instead? Dad worried about what would happen to us kids if he died. Ken
recalls,
In looking for an answer, I became convinced that I had
broken God’s laws. I prayed something like this – “Lord, forgive me and take
over my life.” A quiet peace followed.
A couple of days later, I woke up rejoicing, knowing that, in
spite of struggles at home, there remained a peace far beyond any that I had
ever experienced in my past. I prayed, “Lord, whatever you want me to do, I
will do for you.”
It was at that time that I suddenly found myself truly
rejoicing in reading and studying the Bible for the first time. Shortly after,
I simply knew that Jesus was God, the One who came as man. He in his death had
paid the penalty for my sins. That was enough for me, for He had also come into
my life to live with me forever.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Ken would share the gospel of Jesus Christ with anyone and
everyone. Over the years, this included fellow dentists, indios and mestizos while
on dental missions in Ecuador, hippies, kids in the church Awana club, my
fellow teammates on the Downers Grove South High School wrestling team, church
visitors, and medical workers in his last days.
I can still picture the day when Dad strode into wresting
practice wearing a robe reading “King of the wrestlers.” He then surprised me
by challenging me to a match with the whole team looking on. I took it too
seriously and pinned him without mercy. A teammate was astounded and said, “How
could you do that? My father would never let me humiliate him. If I did, he’d
whup me.” I realized that in spite of being a disciplinarian, Dad was a really
great loving and merciful father. My teammates were quite entertained, and over
time, Dad shared the story of God’s love and mercy with them. Many of them came
to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
As Ken shared the story of God’s amazing love, grace, and
mercy, he would use various key phrases repeatedly. I hope that you remember
some of the following evangelistic proverbs, and that the memory brings you
joy.
·
Keep looking up
·
God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your
life (Campus Crusade Four Spiritual Laws)
·
Please be patient with me God is not finished
with me yet (PBPWMGINFWMY – Bill Gothard – Institute in Basic Life Principles)
·
Give it all to Jesus
·
Lay it all down at the foot of the cross
·
Praise The Lord (P.T.L., as on the front of the
program for this memorial service)
·
You’re worth the price of God (one of my
favorites)
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Through the strength of Jesus Christ, Ken was transformed
and refined over the years. Pride was displaced by humility, bitterness was
banished through forgiveness, judgment was surpassed by mercy, tyranny was
overthrown by love, and “gaman” or stoic perseverance was transformed into joy
even during suffering by identifying with Jesus.
Ken emptied his life of human self and filled his life with
God’s Word and the Holy Spirit progressively over his course of his life.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
[Galatians 2:20]
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of
God.
After fourteen years of dental practices, Ken went into
voluntary Christian ministry. I recall that he preached to his patients as they
sat captive in the dental chair. He’d say “Repent” and the dental drill (with
sound effects) would give them all the reason to say “Yes, Lord Jesus!” He
decided, “I’m going to quit my day job.” All joking aside, Dad heard God’s call
to help other families, especially teens to find an answer to rebuilding
relationships in their lives. In dentistry, he always enjoyed making bridges. As
pastor of Lakeside Church, he enjoyed making bridges to restore relationship
with God and with each other, especially with families. One of his greatest
joys was baptizing believers in the waters of Lake Geneva in Wisconsin.
I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race
with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to
the gospel of the grace of God. [Acts 20:24].
Blessed are you, Ken Murakami
Blessed are those who are persecuted for
righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,
for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.
Ken can say, “I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
[2 Timothy 4:7] And his heavenly father will say with great
approval, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
We are blessed by God through Ken Murakami
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
[Hebrews 12:1-2]
What was
the joy set before Jesus? It certainly wasn’t a joy to carry the penalty of our
sin and die. But the result of enduring the cross was to redeem us to peace
with God the Father, to rebuild the bridge of restored relationship with us as
his sons and daughters. Ken, you and I,
we, all of us, are that joy set before Jesus.
Ken is
now one of the cloud of witnesses in the church triumphant face to face with
his Savior Jesus Christ in the presence of God the Father. And perhaps Dad is
smiling as he feeds a white leghorn chicken that’s zooming around his feet, and
he’s calling him “Limpy.” With Dad as a witness, I’m running the race set before
me, looking unto Jesus. I look forward to rejoicing with him in heaven surrounded
by many precious people that he touched with the gospel throughout his life. And
I look forward to hearing him say, we all look forward to hearing him say,
“Keep looking
up!”
