Japan Quake Rpt: Mar 27 ’11

This is a poem by Brent Rogers, vocational missionary in Kojima, Okayama, Japan.  It conveys the feelings of those concerned about the disaster in Japan.

JAPAN REELING – Brent Rogers

There are many statistics,
of varying degrees of impact.
The height of the wave,
The magnitude of the quake.
The micros and millies of
seiberts.

 

But to me, more than the expected 27,000 or so deceased,
To think of about 200,000 people now in shelters,
Is utterly beyond belief,
and beyond bearing.

 

To the Japanese,
Used to smaller spaces,
A nightly bath in a tub,
And a strong sense of boundaries,
Spending the night on a gym floor,
With hundreds of strangers,
Calls for deep reserves of PATIENCE.

 

EVERYTHING IS NOT ALL RIGHT!
There is a shortage of heating fuel.
A shortage of gasoline for fuel trucks bringing supplies.
And a continuing grave nuclear emergency.

 

This will not be over soon.
This will take months, or years.
Where will the church be?
Where will you be?
With us?  With them?

 

We ask you to pray.
More, Harder, Longer!
And to give.
Generously, Sacrificially.

 

We ask you to come, and teach, and listen.

 

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15

Posted

in

by