Praying for Japan

I'm still here - I promise!  I fell off the "internet radar" over the past few weeks...checking fewer blogs, not catching up on Facebook and all but ignoring my email.  But I'm really here.  Promise. Sometimes life just needs to get uncluttered.  Find what's important & stick with it.  Watching the news of all that is going on in Japan is heart wrenching.  And there are only so many clips one can see of people trying to outrun a massive wave before you have to turn it off.  My aunt teaches in Japan, in Southern Japan - Kobe.  Far from the devastation.  I have another friend in Japan, Mihoko.  She was an exchange student who stayed with us for about a week when I was in high school.  I had been emailing her on and off over the past few years after reconnecting through a random encounter with her English teacher from Japan (who is from my hometown & brought the students over) at Anthony's restaurant in Richland (see - random).  I tried emailing her right after I got news of Japan's earthquake & tsunami only to have it returned to my inbox as undelieverable.  Panicking, I emailed her English teacher hoping he could help - he did.  My email got forwarded to Mihoko through a series of friends in the US & Japan and today I got this message from her:  

Dear  Jessica

I am so sorry for long time no e-mail.

I am so fine. We are all very well, thank you.

Morioka inland areas and damages is little.

Still aftershock come. 

Supermarket few foods ,a petrol station gasoline a sellout.

But I,m fine. Thank you for live.

I hope you are happy.

Love mihoko 

Relief.  When I first heard from her English teacher he thought she was maybe living in Sendai (where the tsunami was severe).  Worried, I prayed for her & her family.  She has two adorable little girls.  I'm so thankful they are safe.  And not in Sendai.  I love her line "a petrol station gasoline a sellout" - almost sounds like a good thing!  


In the midst of tragedy there are stories of hope.  On CNN & other news sources you can find uplifting stories of survival - a fourth month old baby, a 78 year old grandmother.  Videos of reunited families embracing and crying fill our televisions & remind us how much our lives can change in an instant.  How a wave can wash it all away - physically, emotionally, spiritually.  Leaving us void & vulnerable. 


This week I'm praying for Japan.  I'm praying for those searching for missing family members, those who have lost family, the relief teams going to Japan, and I'm praying that God's light would shine in Japan during this time of darkness and tragedy.  That Japan would find in the rubble a ray of Hope.