Stories of Hope

Here are a few stories that stood out for me.  These are stories that contain sadness, but also are stories of hope.  The stories tell me this is not just the 6:00 news.  These are people with names.  The story of people like Grandma Sumiko who escaped to the mountain behind her house and huddled with 60 other neighbors, building a fire in the snow and passing the night, before the water would receded enough to crawl back down the hill and step across the empty foundations where their houses stood, on the way for help. It is also the story of how her daughter with who she now lives, has chosen to begin a life of faith in Christ & how in the town where 5,000 of the 10,000 residents died or are missing, a new Bible study will begin in their home, the only such in a town that has never had a church.  When Sumiko’s husband died last year, the town experienced the first ever Christian funeral & seeds were planted even then with the 300 in attendance that day.  We stood on the ruins of where Sumiko's house used to be and prayed for God to bring new life out of the rubble and that through her family, others would come to know Christ. 

This is also the story of survival in the likes of Mr. Kimura, the 81 year old man who returned to the house that had been flooded the day after the tsunami hit and lived for 5 weeks on his own before some returning neighbors discovered he had not evacuated, like the others. He opened canned food that survived the flooding and then he walked past multiple stores that were unable to open, as far as he needed to until he could get to a store.  He slept on water-logged bedding, and lived without heat, electrical power or gas.  Mr. Kimura used to be a sailor & reports losing 80 of his former workers and friends. Thanks to a neighbor letting the church around the corner know, we could clear out the water and odor filled bedding and tatami mats, clean up his small 2 bedroom house and provide him with new bedding. Thanks to our team, Mr Kimura knows today that there are Christians who care about him.  When cleaning out his house, we asked what he wanted to do with his idol and he said "You can throw that out!"  He also kept saying, "Christianity is good. Christianity is good!"

This is the story of Japanese who have been taught not to cry who are now experiencing emotions and tears that seem out of character. It is also the story of Japanese who have been told that Christianity is not for Japanese, but who are flocking to line up at churches and church run distribution centers to receive what they need & are learning that Christians from both Japan and around the world care about what they are going through.  There is great sadness in Japan, but for God's people, there is also hope!