The news about the earthquake, tsunamis, death, and devastation in Japan and other places…it’s all too much to take in, isn’t it?

Last night I was up too late (as usual) and caught a status update from a college friend who lives in Tokyo. He was stuck in his building while the 8.9 quake shook the city.

His status simply said, “It is really shaking.”

It brought back so many memories.

And not necessarily good ones…ones that make my stomach turn and my heart pound…again, even a year and a half later.

The day was Wednesday, September 2, 2009…a little before 3:00 in the afternoon.

I was relaxing upstairs in our bedroom with the balcony door open before I had to begin my afternoon tutoring about twenty minutes later. I remember hearing the leaves of the palm tree in our front yard swishing in the wind and being thankful for a breeze despite the hot, humid weather that came with dry season.

What happened next was something out of a movie. It was almost as if I stepped out of reality and watched myself experience it all.

I heard a loud noise and things started to shake. We’d been in smaller earthquakes before, but this one…was Big. I could see the walls shaking. I immediately ran for the doorway and stood there for a few seconds before deciding to brave the stairs to get outside. I’m pretty sure my feet didn’t hit the tile at all as I flew down them.

Things were shaking so badly that I began to envision the house falling on me.

That was the first time I felt the panic rise within me.

Then I got to the front door and realized I had bigg

er problems. The latch on the screen door had broken that day and wouldn’t open from the inside; therefore, I couldn’t get out. In fact, the only way I could get out of the house was to go find the keys (and when do I ever know where my keys are?!) and let myself out through the garage door. I didn’t know if I had time for that.

So I tried to punch through the screen door to reach the handle on the outside.

By this time the neighbors were starting to congregate in the street.

I started to scream.

Buka! Buka!

Open! Open!

I know they heard

the panic in my voice.

But I had two golden retrievers right next to me, just as anxious to get out of the house.

Looking back, it must have been the dogs…the reason several of them looked at me but wouldn’t come up to the front door.

Finally, a neighbor, a single guy in his 20’s, ran up and opened the door so we could get out.

Andre and Sammy sprinted to escape.

(I sometimes wonder if dogs understand far more than we give them credit for.) Thankfully they came when I called and sat down next to me in the front yard.

It had been less than a minute since the earthquake began…and then, I finally let the tears fall.

I had left my hp (cell phone) in the house, so when things stopped shaking, I ran back inside to grab it. I was able to get through to Tobin long enough to find out that everyone at school was okay.

Initial reports said the quake was around a 7.3 about 60 km south of us. So it was pretty big. The death toll I think was around 80, and while tsunami warnings were issued, nothing happened.

It was a scary time…and even after, there were many nights when I let my mind wander back to what we had experienced that day. It made me thankful that, somehow, our house had held up through the quake, even though it was lacking in quality.

There were a few more cracks in the walls…reminders.

Reminders that God was there with us that day in His All-Powerful, All-Present,

All-Knowing way.

I had been shaken…but I knew I was secure in His hand.

Though our experience was not the magnitude of what those in Japan and other countries are facing today, He still made His presence know.

He held us each in His palm.

Yesterday, Jap an was rocked with

an earthquake bigger than anything I can imagine. People are dead, injured, physically and emotionally scarred. Lives changed in an instant.

But God was still there…still All-Powerful. Still All-Present. Still All-Knowing.

As these people begin to sift through what’s left, let’ s keep them in our prayer

s. Let’s not only pray for physical healing and restoration but also that they will come to know the Father through this.

That they will feel His presence and know that He’s right there with them.

That though they have been shaken, they will feel secure in the palm of His hand.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling…Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. ‘Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!’ The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

Psalm 46: 1-3, 8-11 (ESV)

Amen.