The Earthquake Scare

On Friday, June 13 at around 6:45 pm central time an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale shook Iwate Prefecture in Northern Japan. Now, my youngest son, James, is visiting Japan with a group from his school from June 9 to June 26. At about 7:25 pm central time on Friday, June 13 I was informed about the earthquake and immediately got the location of the quake from Fox News website as Iwate Prefecture. I then looked at James' trip itinerary to see where he was in Japan. I was then faced with the very unwelcome surprise that James was in Iwate Prefecture. I spent the next 2 hours; looking at maps to determine how far James was from the epicenter, monitoring aftershocks, making phone calls, and sending e-mails. Finally, I got a response from someone in the International Exchange Office in Iwate Prefecture in broken English that said all of the students were safe, then shortly after the email one of the students on the trip called his parents to tell them everyone was safe and that parent called the rest of us. It was a very harrowing experience. Here are some thoughts from that experience.

• My son is in the hands of a Sovereign God.
• Prayer and the prayers of others is very comforting.
• Friends who attend you in a crisis are of immeasurable value (some friends were over when I got the news.)
• The quick and easy access to information via the world wide web is a blessing for which I am grateful.
• My wife is a strong woman of great faith.
• I am deeply grieved for those who do not have faith in God to sustain them during times of difficulty, fear, doubt, anxiety, and trouble.
• Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith.

We got an email from James today, the first since he left on the trip. This is what he had to say about the earthquake

The earthquake was pretty sweet and since my family`s home is in the mountains it was violent.

Not only did the boy get to go to Japan, he got to experience a 7.0 earthquake that was "sweet" and "violent" That email totally made my day.