A week ago, while I was on my sisters’ get-away, the 9.0 earthquake hit Japan.  We were taking time to relax and enjoy one another for a couple of days when across the world, families were in upheaval and being torn apart by death, devastation and loss.  I can hardly write about this knowing that the death count is over 200,000 people and even now, over 400,000 people are living in shelters hungry, cold and displaced. Reading anything that has to do with this 1-2-3 hit is overwhelming.  Is the earthquake not enough…but then, a tsunami…and now the nuclear reactor plants?!   I have pictures in my mind of the ground trembling and the earth giving way….I see the floods come upon the city and families being swept apart….I imagine the silent, deadly radiation reaching out to capture people in its grasp….

running, running…but to where?

holding on, holding on…but our support crumbles in our hands.

O God, we need you in this time of despair and deep sadness.  We are desperate for something solid to stand on in this unstable world we live in.  We realize once again that we are but a vapor in this world and that our lives, apart from you, are fleeting, at best.  I thank you for the many hands that are reaching out to help in this crisis….I see lifelines being thrown into the water…I see troops doing search and rescue….and medical teams setting up mobile clinics.    But the heart, Lord…the deep parts of us that have been struck by fear and loss, that can not see into any future, and have lost our footing…only You, Lord, can mend that part of us and rescue us from the depths of darkness that wants to envelope us in its grip.  Draw us to your throne of grace…may our hearts tremble as we see our God, may we be swept into your river of life and may the intangible power of your Holy Spirit fill us.  Come, Lord Jesus, come.