A Life Well-Lived: Rev. Masaya Hibino
Masaya Hibino grew up in Japan during the decade preceding Pearl Harbor. He was too young to fight, but that changed in 1945. Japan, desperate to avoid defeat, sent Kamikaze pilots to fly their planes into American ships. Masaya was about to volunteer for Kamikaze training when the war ended.
General MacArthur forced the Emperor to renounce his divinity. Westerners cannot understand the devastating effect this admission had in Japan. It created a spiritual vacuum that ultimately led to Masayas conversion to Christianity.
As he walked along a road, an American couple had a flat tire. Masaya helped them and continued on. Later that day, he was driving a taxi when he saw the same couple with another flat tire. He helped them again, and the couple befriended him.
The wife later suggested that Masaya correspond with her mother in the States. Through this exchange of letters he eventually accepted Christ as his Savior. The mother and her friends arranged for him to attend college and seminary in America.
As pastor of a Chicago church, Rev. Hibino officiated at my wedding. He led me to Christ and discipled me in the faith. With his gift of evangelism, he took me with him to witness to Japanese unbelievers.
Sometime later Masaya moved to California to pastor another church. A well known ministry asked him to serve as Director of their Asian ministry. Rev. Hibino declined as he knew that God had called him to be a local pastor.
By any standard, Rev. Masaya Hibino has lived a life well-lived. I thank God for him and his impact on my life.
Dr. Steve Lake is a retired educator with over 30 years experience in the American public schools. He has served in a variety of position, including teacher, elementary school principal, junior high principal, Associate Superintendent, retired from public education as Superintendent of Schools in Lincolnwood, IL. He has his Bachelors, Masters and Doctor of Education degrees from Northern Illinois University. For the past 25 years Steve has attended and been a member of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington and Northfield, IL. At Willow Creek Steve has taught adult classes on spiritual gifts, life purpose, and spiritual disciplines. He has ministered overseas in Angola, Zambia, Honduras, Germany, and Russia. Steve is co-founder of Designed to Serve, a ministry that equips Christians to live out their unique God-given calling. Steve is married and has two adult children who are married.
