What I Learned from Two Japanese Drivers

When I arrived in Narita/Tokyo airport (not knowing a 9.0 earthquake would hit almost two weeks later), my sister, niece, and I waited for some time to take the naval base bus to the base where my niece Kelly would get her car and take us to her home. As I walked 17-month-old Jack around in his stroller, I could see what looked like limousine drivers waiting for the people they would transport to their destinations. They stood right at the exit where passengers came out, holding their signs with the names of the people they would transport. But they didn't just stand casually. They stood at attention, in their black suits, with their white gloves on, hardly moving a muscle. Two men in particular stood side by side talking but their bodies faced toward where their passengers would walk by.

For an hour, I watched them stand there. Other limousine drivers moved around the area, standing casually. But those two men stood at attention holding up their little name signs, never even moving their feet.

"Wow," I thought. "That's dedication. They must know their passengers aren't coming soon. No one has exited on that walkway for over an hour. Is the plane late that carries their passengers? Do they expect them to come at any moment or do they stand at attention because that is their job?"

By the time we left over an hour later, the two men were still standing there. One of them began to drop one of his arms down, stretching it out. Then he would stretch out the other arm, but never allowing the card to lower. And never moving his feet. What dedication.

As I watched this scene, I asked myself whether I am just as persevering and dedicated to my God-assigned tasks as those two men. Am I distracted from being faithful to God's call? Am I sloppy in completing my work? Do I watch more TV than needed? Do I check email more often than needed? My friend, Linda Blue, committed to staying off of Facebook for Lent because she realized it consumed too much of her time--time that she could focus on the Lord.

During my time in Japan, I saw many instances of the Japanese culture that models faithfulness and perseverance. And it reminded me; yes, even convicted me, of my need to be faithful as I anticipate the arrival of the King. He could come any moment.

May you and I be like the faithful five virgins who were named "wise ones" and had enough oil in their jars for their lamps to meet the Bridegroom. The five virgins who did not were called "foolish." (Matthew 15:1-13).

Although those two Japanese drivers may have been excessive in their dedication, I can still learn from them. How about you?

Facing Fear in an Earthquake

When I was sharing about my earthquake experience in Japan with my friend, Mike Bechtle (author of books on making evangelism easy for introverts Mike's books), I told him about how I felt God's peace and protection even in the midst of possible danger. He replied, "Alfred Hitchcock supposedly said, 'People love to be terrified when they know they're safe.'"

That so resonated with me. As a California girl, I've been in lots of earthquakes and because I've never been in real danger of something crashing down on me, they've become sorta like an amusement park ride. I felt the same during the earthquake in Japan. It was rocking and rolling and we knew it was a big one because it was strong and long. My sister and I were definitely looking at each other wide-eyed. But we didn't know the extent of it, nor the destruction that would be coming because of the tsunami. We didn't see anything being damaged.

But I really know that the peace that surrounded us was more than all that. It was a sense of God's presence and that He was completely in charge and in control of anything that might happen to us. And as I've shared in other posts, He guided us and orchestrated everything we needed to return home safely.

Chuck Swindoll, pastor and author, says that God's sovereignty is "our all-wise, all-knowing God reigning in realms beyond our comprehension to bring about a plan beyond our ability to alter, hinder, or stop."

Trusting in God's sovereignty is how you and I can go through something terrifying without succumbing to the terror. We are safe in God's loving care. We are safe in God's incredible power. We are safe in God's amazing plan. If we believe He knows what is best for us and for His glory, then we need not succumb to fear. Nothing will happen to us outside of His protective plan for us.

Is something looming in your life that seems scary? Terrifying? Unhappy? Does it feel like the earth is rocking and rolling under you and terror is creeping up your spine? Life is scary. Life is uncertain. And there's nothing wrong with feelings of fear. But we don't have to succumb to those feelings. We can surrender to whatever God allows if we believe He wants only the best for us.

You are safe. Trusting in your loving Heavenly Father will help you go along for the rocking and rolling ride.

Privileged to Be There During the Earthquake

I talked with my sister yesterday and said, "It feels funny to say, but I feel like it was a privilege to be in Japan for the earthquake." She agreed she felt the same way.

I thought more about that statement and I thought of Philippians 3:10, where Paul writes, "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death" (NASB).

Somehow, I feel privileged that I could get to know the Japanese people and share in their sufferings. Of course, I was safe and didn't share fully their horror and grief. But I know that if I hadn't been there at the time of the earthquake, especially while interacting with our newly made "friends" on the train, (see previous posts and enclosed photo), I wouldn't feel the connection with them that I do--and the motivation to pray!

The Japanese people are a wonderful people who need the Lord. Their culture is one that encourages them to be kind, gentle and perfectionistic. When I received my boarding pass for my flight home at the Narita/Tokyo airport from the Singapore Air boarding agent, she didn't fling it at me, she didn't hand it to me, she "hands" it to me. With both of her hands grasping the piece of paper, she extended it to me and didn't let go until she was sure it was securely in my hands.

And always there were smiles that seemed completely sincere. At one point, as I walked around the Narita airport during my 12 hour stay there, I noticed a boarding agent standing alone at a desk smiling at me. That's exactly what I expected from her and smiled back. Only then did my vision focus and realize that I was smiling at a cardboard cutout of a flight attendant. Oh my! I smiled to myself and looked around to see if anyone had observed me. But that smile, even from a cardboard cutout, was what I expected from them.

I wonder if Jesus considered it a privilege to come and live amongst us and see what it was like to be one of us. I do know he suffered in the same ways we do: weariness, temptation, dealing with people, abuse, and so much more. As a result, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

He suffered with us and as a result, the next verse gives us the benefit: "Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (vs 16). Because Jesus knows what it's like to be human, we can come to God's throne where He forever abides and know that He'll never say anything like, "I just can't understand what you're talking about."

I'm so grateful for a Savior who suffered with us and knows our challenges. I only tasted a tiny portion of the pain that the Japanese people experienced. But Jesus experienced all of ours--except sin!

(The photo above is when we were waiting in the train for two hours. The boy on my lap is my great-nephew Jack (my sister's grandson) and the Japanese boy is Kokie who helped to entertain Jack while we waited to be rescued.)

God's Provision In the Train During the Earthquake

Here's the train that we were riding in when the earthquake struck in Japan. You can see the ladder in the center of the photo that we climbed down to get out. God was so good to my sister, her grandson, and me in so many ways. I've actually wondered whether we didn't feel the earthquake as much as others because the train shock absorbers may have absorbed some of the motions of the earth. I don't know if that's true, but regardless, we felt safe enclosed in the train.

I was concerned, though, for as you can see, there is some sort of electrical pole with wires which was right beside and over our train car. As it swayed and lurched, I did wonder if it might fall on us. Would that be dangerous? I didn't know. But it stayed solid as did everything we saw, since we were at least 200 miles from Sendai where the tsunami came ashore. We didn't see any damage.

The Lord provided for us in so many ways. For the first hour that we waited in the train, my sister's 17-month-old grandson, Jack, was content to sit in the stroller. We figured we'd be underway in a short time. But the aftershocks came one after another. One time the engine started up and we thought, "OK, we'll go on now." But then another strong earthquake hit and the engine shut down.

After that first hour, we thought we might as well let Jack out of the stroller and God provided a little 6-year-old Japanese boy, Kokie, to play with him. He and his mother were in our train car and even though they didn't speak English, we smiled back and forth and tried to communicate. God also provided a Japanese woman nearby who spoke limited English and she would try her hand at her English to interpret. Kokie loved Jack's attention and they followed each other around in the car during the second hour of being in the train.

Finally, a train conductor came through the car and brought people from the back cars toward the front and ushered us to an open door. We climbed down the ladder but didn't have any clue where we were or how to get to the next station or home. We asked the conductor about reaching the next station "Jimmuji" which is where we would get off, but he didn't seem to understand.

Within a few seconds, a Japanese woman said to me in very good English, "Are you going to the Jimmuji station?"

"Yes," I replied.

"We are too. You can follow us."

Then began our 45 minute trek along busy streets with little sidewalks until we neared the Jimmuji station. Karen recognized the street that would take us to her daughter's home and we said goodbye and "arrigato" to our friends. God had protected us. In fact, I felt more tense walking along those busy streets than feeling the earth shaking.

We arrived at my niece's home at 5:30pm to discover the electricity was out. We had just enough time to find some candles. We couldn't find any matches but Karen thought of using the gas range and we had just enough daylight left to feed Jack and put him to bed. Karen made us a salad in the candlelight and we tried to play a game of Scrabble as best we could with limited light. Yes, we are Scrabble fanatics!

God took care of us. As my sister and I had walked along those busy streets, at one point, we both were in tears feeling as if God were enclosing us in His cocoon of love and protection. He was our "Ladder" out of the train, the kind people who led us, and the timing of arriving before dark.

I know that many were not aware of God's protection but He still calls to them to come to Him. He wants them to know Him.

I Was There During the Earthquake!

I survived the 9.0 earthquake in Japan.

I was in Japan visiting my niece, Kelly, with her mom/my sister, Karen, and we experienced the earthquake. Kelly is married to Tim, a sailor on the Blue Ridge Naval Ship stationed there. On the day of the earthquake, Karen, Kelly's 17-month-old son, and I were traveling on a train after dropping Kelly off at the naval base so that she could get a bus to go to the airport to visit her husband in Singapore.

All of a sudden with no train station in sight, the train stopped. Since the train was rocking back and forth, I wondered if they were changing tracks or something. Then I looked out the window and saw an electrical pole above the train swaying back and forth at least a full foot or more. "Earthquake" I said to my sister!

I'm a California girl and been through many earthquakes but a 9.0 takes them all. We rocked and rolled for what seemed like a very long, long time! It was like being on the Universal Studios ride "King Kong" where they have the earthquake. The train remained stopped and we continued to experience the strong aftershocks and the little ones too.

After sitting in the stopped train for almost 2 hours, we escaped out by a ladder onto the street as if we were in a disaster movie. We didn't know where we were or how to get to our train station but someone overheard us asking and invited us to walk with them. We walked for 45 minutes home to Kelly and Tim's home which had no electricity. We didn't know at that time and didn't find out until the electricity was restored about the massive destruction, especially from the tsunami. In many ways, since our experience ended safely, we consider it an adventure. But we know that for those who are affected, often with their lives, it's no "adventure."

After the earthquake as we would encounter various people, the question always was, "Where were you when the earthquake hit?" That made me think of the old Gospel song, "Where were you when they crucified my Lord?" Maybe someday, we will ask each other in heaven, "Where were you when the Lord returned?" For those of us who know Christ as our Savior and Lord, it'll be an adventure to join Him in heaven. The experience will be a safe one.

But for those who don't receive Christ, it'll be far from an adventure. It will be a disaster for eternity. Far worse than any tsunami or earthquake.

I loved my encounters with the Japanese people. They are a wonderfully kind and gentle people. But most of them do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. May we pray that God uses this disaster to draw many to Him, which is exactly what He wants to happen, because He wants to use everything for good.