Japan - March 11, 2011
Chile February 27, 2010
Fall 2009. . .
Her eyes are brimming with tears and she raises her gaze to mine. Slowly she begins to speak as emotion shakes her voice:
"So you believe that my family, Japan, all of Asia.... if they die, they're going to hell?"
The words stung and sank deep into my stomach. I felt pierced as I saw the pain in her eyes. The Japanese international student, who'd become a dear friend of mine, put the truth in a blunt way that I'd never been capable of doing. The raw truth of the desperate need of Jesus' disciples in the world had never been said so bluntly and simply. And then came the earthquake.
Her words echoed piercingly, a resounding truth in my ears as the media came pouring in about this tragedy.
"My family. Japan. All of Asia . . . will go to hell?"
My breathing slowed, stomach churning as I looked down in shame. . . "Yes."
Now, thousands of bodies line the shores of Japan result of the tsunami. Empty vessels where souls a few days ago resided, and where have those souls gone?
The face of the earth is heaving with souls who do not know Jesus. Must God allow for natural disasters to wake His sleeping bride? Must the oceans crash around us? Must the needy scream in our ears for help?
I was sleeping. Too busy in my everyday routine to remember the great need. Far back in my mind were those sad, griping, and desperately hopeless words of a young Japanese girl.
Awake, bride of Christ! Tell of the love of your groom - for "you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."
