Remembering the 311 Great East Japan Earthquake (東北地方太平洋沖地震)

As I was watching a video Crash Japan posted recently on the recovery efforts on the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear disaster (see "Hope Persists" Slideshow), I was wondering what I could share or relate to others on this anniversary.  My heart is filled to overflowing with grief and good news.  There is so much that could be said and so much that compels one to be silent.

Some wreckage Phil Foxwell came across in Shichigahama: 主はわが道 (something like that?)

For followers of Christ, there is much for us to be praying for.  For those who do not know the new life with God that Christ offers (i.e., John 17:3; John 14:6), open your Bible.  Call out to Him.  Give me an e-mail and we can have coffee together to talk.

For now, I thought it best to simply bring to remembrance four passages I posted on Facebook a year ago.  The Scriptures are as true today as they were then, and as they were thousands of years ago when they were first penned down.  Listen!  Open your heart to listen for the voice of Creator God, calling you to Himself for peace...

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." - Psalm 46:1-3

神様は私たちの隠れ家、また力、そして苦難にあえぐ時の確実な助けです。 ですから、たとい全世界が吹っ飛び、山々が海に沈もうとも、こわがることはありません。 海よ、鳴りとどろき、白くあわ立つがよい。 山よ、激しく揺れ動くがよい。 詩 篇 四六:1-3
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"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you." - Isaiah 54:10

山々は動いて場所を変え、丘は消えてなくなっても、わたしの愛はおまえから離れない。 平安を与えるという約束を、どんなことがあっても破らない。 あなたを愛する神様は、きっぱり断言なさいます。 - イザヤの預言 五四１０
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‎"He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” Jesus asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” - Luke 8:24-25

そこで、イエスはゆっくり起き上がると、「静まれっ！」と嵐に命じられました。 するとどうでしょう。 たちまち風も波もおさまり、何事もなかったかのように静かになりました。
イエスはおっしゃいました。 「ああ、あなたがたの信仰はどこにあるのですか。」弟子たちは驚くやら恐ろしいやらで、「なんてお方だろう。 風や波までが言うことを聞くとは！」とささやき合いました。
ルカの福音書八:24-25
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"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." - John 14:27

ところで、贈り物をあげましょう。そう、あなたがたの思いと心を安らかにしてあげる、それがわたしの贈り物です。わたしが与える平安は、この世が与える、 はかない平安とは比べものになりません。だから、どんな時にも、おろおろしたり、恐れたりしてはいけません。
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The best the world can offer you is a counterfeit. The peace Jesus provides is unlike any other. Not a mere band-aid or biting of the tongue, but whole-hearted reconciling of enemies Jesus gives, starting first of all with a reconciliation to the Lord God, the King of Heaven and Earth, your Maker.

(For some essential truth stories: Psalm 139:1-18; Psalm 95:3-6; Psalm 95:4-6; Acts 17:16-34; Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 1:18-2:5; Colossians 1:21; James 4:4; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Romans 5:8-10; Mark 7:1-23; Isaiah 64:6; Matthew 8:1-3; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; John 4:4-42; John 8:12; Romans 10:9-13; Acts 2:38; Luke 24:46-47.  Or view this convenient online link). 


Oh friend, I plead with you.  I know this blog entry is very short and incomplete and I won't be communicating all that I could were I talking to you in person.  Seek Jesus and surrender to Him.  He alone has power and authority over nature, over storms, over evil spirits, over sickness, over life and death, and over our offenses against God.  He is faithful.  He is true.  You can trust Him with your life and with your eternal soul.  I did and He has not failed to give me a new heart and to change me inside day by day until I see Him in the glory of the kingdom of His heaven.

I'll close with a basic gospel outline a group called OMF has:

The universe was created by the one true God.  God also created us; he cares for us and wants us to know him and to follow him so our lives will be happy and blessed.

We have a problem.  We are sinners.  We are selfish, greedy, proud, jealous.  These sins prevent us from knowing God and he will not listen to our prayers.  Sin is a self-centered departure from God our Creator.  In our separation from God, we are bound to our sin and covered with shame.

Through his death on the cross, Jesus Christ made it possible for us to be forgiven so we could experience God’s love and blessings.

If we believe in Jesus, that barrier of sin is removed and we can experience God’s blessings.  He is our mediator or go-between.  When we give our lives to Jesus, he gives us his spirit, God the Holy Spirit, to come inside of us, comfort us and clean us and enable us to have the power to live a pure life for him.

For a resource in Japanese, I very much recommend this website here.

Grace and peace,
Daniel