Page 26 - good and useful man 2022 cover page

preaching better. Many people would come to Jesus because
God had filled him with His power.
Juji returned to Japan to tell everyone he met about Jesus.
The telegraphers’ group that Charles had started sent money
and prayed for their Japanese missionary. Charles didn’t know
then that God would one day send him to Japan to work with
Juji.

One Sunday, while sitting in church, God finally spoke to
Charles’ heart about Japan. Charles wrote in his Bible, “Called
to Japan. August 11, 1900, 10:30 a.m.” After the church
service, Charles, with tears running down his face, held
Lettie’s hands. He told her what God had said. Lettie surprised
Charles by saying, “Charles, six weeks ago, God spoke to me
about going to Japan. I have waited for Him to speak to you, so
I could tell you!” Both knew that they were to be missionaries.
From then on, the Cowmans prepared to live the rest of their
lives in Japan.
At the same time that God called Charles to move to Japan
as a missionary, his boss offered him a bigger job that paid
more money. His company didn’t want him to leave. But no
matter how much money they offered him, Charles didn’t want
to go back to his old work. God had better plans for him.
Now that the Cowmans had decided to move to Japan, they
had to sell their house and furniture. Charles put an ad in the
newspaper and a large sign in his front window. No one
answered either ad. He remembered the story of Gideon in the
Bible. Charles, like Gideon, wanted to be sure of God’s will, so
he asked God for a miracle as Gideon had.
Charles was depending on God to send someone to buy the
house, so he removed the “For Sale” sign from the window. He
prayed like Gideon. He chose something more difficult so that
when the answer came, everyone would know God had done it.
In no time at all, the second man Charles had led to Christ

25