One of our newest praise songs is "One Flock." It is a long piece born from chapter

ten of John. Part three of this praise song, "One Shepherd," was sung for the first time in the one-day
Retreat in Miyazaki. The tone changes to a higher key in the latter half unlike many other Hato
praises, resounding as if angels and all creatures are responding to Jesus' words, "So there shall be
one flock and one shepherd." To sing the Lord's words, "there shall be one flock," must be the
declaration that it will surely be done.

I think that we have entered a new time. We shall become the Lord's new body and

Yesterday was the first evening of the "praise and prayer for peace." We have

been praying for true peace to be done on the earth and for the land and the time to be healed,
because we believe that the Lord gave us His praises not only for our personal pleasure, but rather
for the healing of people living in this perilous and uneasy time and of the wounded and weakened
earth.

The Church of the Wind  is to be the stronghold placed in the front line of such

praise and prayer, and the lighthouse in the dark sea. For the past few days, the word "fortress" has
been springing up in my mind. When I realized that it was "toride (castle)" in Japanese, a phrase
echoed in my heart.

"The Lord is my fortress."

The Church of the Wind  must also mean the Lord's fort.

Last night at the time of "praise and prayer for peace," Pastor Peter announced

that we would need two hundred million yen (roughly two million dollars) within two months to purchase
the plot on the southern Ashiya shore.

The Lord made the land available for us. We would like to pay for it in cash, and a

Upon hearing Pastor Peter's daring talk, I too prayed concretely to the Lord. I am almost always the
first person to pray when having the time of "praise and prayer for peace."

The first time I said such a prayer in front of many staff workers. Actually, I had

done it once before. It was when I prayed for six million yen (roughly sixty thousand dollars) for Ms.
Okugawa who had lent her money to someone who never returned it. At first, two of us prayed
together for half of the money, three million yen, and it was promptly returned. Then in about two
years we prayed with other people attending the Kohitsuji no Mure praise gathering in Kobe for the
rest of the money also to be returned. This story had already been posted in "The Vine" and "The
White Dove," and last month I spoke in a healing service on our church's tenth anniversary. I had not
planned, but suddenly felt an urge to speak about it. (The remaining three million yen was also
returned to Ms. Okugawa right after the prayer.) It happened ten years ago.

I believe that when we become one in prayer, the Lord should give us two hundred

Shortly after that, I was praying to the Lord when the next praise was sung. I must

"Lord, I have at last said the prayer."

I was not shaken by my prayer asking for the specific amount of money. God's time

felt so pressing that I rather prayed with conviction. The Lord had led us thus far, so I trusted that He
should also take care of the rest.

I have always believed and have exercised to this day that when we are truly

honest to the Lord, we can leave all to Him. If we are dishonest, we cannot leave everything to Him.
We can pray for money not because we are attached to it. We can honestly pray because we have
the total trust in Him, and because we are so honest that we can leave the rest in the hands of the
Lord. Then I heard an inner voice clearly resounding in me.

That is what I desire.

"Is that what the Lord desires?" I first thought that this was about the sanctuary. "

Or is it about what we prayed for specifically? It is about the land and the sanctuary, isn't it? You
desire the Church of the Wind, don't you?"

What I desire is your praise and prayer.

My body will be built upon your praise and prayer.

Instantly I spoke out about this to everyone in the gathering. Normally, I would not

disclose what I personally hear in my prayers except when I think it better or necessary to do so
after some time. This time, however, I could not be silent. The Lord is asking for our praise and
prayer, on which He will realize His wish.

Actually, this prayer had a continuation, though I did not say to them. (The words

were easy and yet hard to understand. So while I was pondering on them, they might have become a
little different from the original.)

I chose you not for you to love me

but because I have loved you first.

Similarly I have believed in you.

The Lord loves those who He knows will soon betray Him, and believes those who

are not trustworthy. I wonder if it is how He entrusted praises to us, and if the Church of the Wind 
will be a symbol of His love and trust. The Lord will manifest His love on the cross, but speaking
honestly, His love is too grand and too deep for me to understand intellectually.

One thing I would like to say is that the death of the Lord symbolizes His trust in us.

On the evening of the following day, December 12, a big rainbow appeared over Nishinomiya. A
large and perfectly semicircle rainbow hung in the northern sky. The staff workers rushed out of the
office and shouted for joy. Some of them were in tears.

The last time we saw such a big rainbow was in August, just before obtaining the

approval of our religious corporation status, for which we had been waiting for a long time. This time,
I was convinced that the Lord gave us a sign that He had heard our prayers of the previous day.

While everyone was being excited over the rainbow, Pastor Peter turned on the

engine of his car and dashed out all by himself. He told me later that he had long dreamed of touching
a rainbow. He seriously wanted to touch a rainbow once in his life after having heard a story of
someone who had actually touched a tip of the rainbow. I did not think it possible to touch the
rainbow because it would move away, but according to the person who actually touched it
(according to Pastor Peter), if you touch the end of a rainbow, your whole body will turn rainbow-
colored by its reflection.

Pastor Peter told me that he had gone near the rainbow, but could not get any

closer by car since the end of it sat in a valley. (Although we could not touch the end of the rainbow,
not only our whole bodies but also our minds were dyed in the rainbow-color. That beautiful
rainbow still remains in my mind. I see in it the Lord's promise.)

That evening, the second day of "Praise and Prayer for Peace," we talked about the rainbow.
Everyone was still excited and moved by it. We may look strange in other people's eyes being so
excited over a single rainbow, but we stand on God's will. We are delighted to have seen His will in
that rainbow.

Pastor Peter said to us, "From now on, call me Petero Nizhinski." He made us all