Letting God ‘do his part’ in Japan

A street near Tokyo Station (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Blogging live from Tokyo
The streets of this Asian metropolis are dark — or darker than usual, I’m told.
It’s my first visit to Japan, where the effects of a 9.0 earthquake are easy to see. The March 11 quake damaged a nuclear reactor, so the country is doing what it can to conserve power. That means fewer brightly lit advertisements. A few of the buildings in Tokyo are surrounded by scaffolding and mesh as workers repair earthquake damage.
I’m here with a team of volunteers from Abilene, Texas-based Global Samaritan Resources. Our group arrived in Tokyo late and night and is now en route to Ibaraki Christian University. The guest house at the university, with roots in Churches of Christ, will serve as our base of operations for a few days before we head north for a city near Sendai that was devastated by the tsunami that followed the earthquake. Global Samaritan Resources is working through a relief organization called CRASH Japan. The organization has relief sites set up in areas affected by the earthquake — including Ibaraki Christian.

A building under repair near Tokyo Station (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

I’m reading through the CRASH Japan “Survivor Care Field Guide.” Here’s an excerpt:

Our goal in Survivor Care is quite simple. Mitigate emotional impact. Maximize spiritual benefit.
Every volunteer in the field has capacity to contribute to this goal (despite language limitations). … Do your part. And be assured, God will do His part. You will face challenges beyond your ability, but He will be sufficient. Remember; God will use you. Someone is waiting for you — it could be the difference of life and death for them, on more levels than one!

Depending on Internet access, I’ll post updates as we get into the field.