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.