Devastation

It's hard to imagine the effects of earthquake and tsunami on Japan, just as it is hard to imagine the effects of any natural disaster on a community. The pictures are mind-boggling and the continuing reports each strike a blow to the caring heart.

I have a friend who moved to Japan and got married last year. Initial (second-hand) reports were that he was (1) in a safe building on the 3rd floor before the tsunami hit, but was cold, hungry, and thirsty; and (2) he had made it to the coffee shop that he and his wife had opened at the end of last year. Unfortunately, his wife wasn't there and reports were that she was out driving in the flood waters looking for him.

That's the last we've heard from any of them.

Of course, they could be completely safe and back together, but unable to make contact with the "outside" world. That's not where the mind immediately jumps. It's frightening to be watching and waiting from the outside with no specific news to inform one's fears. I'm sure that my friends are just as frantic about getting news to family and friends as we are to hear it.

When I think back to Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike, major disasters of my own personal experience, my head says that it may take more than a week before contact is restored at an individual level for everyone. The question becomes one of finding ways to cope emotionally during that time of limbo.

Limbo in the midst of devastation.

Isn't that what the followers of Christ experienced after his crucifixion? Shock. Fear. Cowering in the upper room. Stunned. At sea. I hate being there in that emotional uncertainty.

Yet there was Good News! for those disciples, and for us. While I appreciate and rely on the certainty of God's grace for life after life, I also selfishly want to experience the good news of life in this life for my friends, and for all of those whose lives have been devastated, even if I don't know any of them.

And in the meantime, prayers arising! for the survivors and victims' families, for rescue workers, for those trying to restore order in the midst of chaos, for those awaiting news, for those who need hope, for those who are hungry, cold, thirsty, at risk, for all of these and more ...