14th Anniversary of Disaster in Japan
March 11, 2025
Today marks the 14th anniversary of the 3/11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in northern Japan. We turned on the 7 o’clock news this morning and watched people standing by the ocean at sunrise, praying for the souls of those lost in the huge tsunami waves. At precisely 2:46PM, a siren sounded from the loudspeaker in the playground next to our house. It rang out for one minute, as everyone was to stop and spend one minute in silent prayer for the victims.
This morning I glanced through my 13 years of 3/11 Facebook posts and thought a little about what has transpired. It has been a FULL 14 years. Full of every conceivable emotion. And full of God’s faithfulness, as we are still here to tell about it. He has been with us every. single. moment.
We are beyond words thankful for 14 years of THOUSANDS of volunteers and supporters.
Since 2011 we have held HUNDREDS of events of all kinds, and HUNDREDS of concerts by professional Christian musicians who have volunteered their time and talents to bring hope to those in our neighborhood. God sent the right people at the right time, in that special way He has of arranging divine meetings and appointments.
12 years ago my favorite husband and I left our favorite sons in Sendai and moved to the seaport town of Ishinomaki. Although it was amazing to be involved in this ministry, at the time, moving away from our kids was one of the hardest things I had ever done.
10 years ago we started House of Hope as a Christian community center. During that 10 years, which included the global pandemic, Dean’s stroke and rehabilitation, and my mental health crash, God continued to be faithful. These were (and, for me, continue to be) hard, hard times, but…here we are.
3 years ago, House of Hope officially became a church with the Japan Lutheran Brethren synod. We had been praying for a Japanese pastor for a long time. Then, about 5 years ago we began praying EVERY DAY for God to lead one specific person to Ishinomaki to pastor House of Hope. God answered those prayers, and this year in May, exactly 10 years since our opening ceremony, Pastor Haruya will be ordained.
There is no possible way to summarize the past 14 years in a neat and concisely written post. But as I read again what I wrote one year after the day that forever changed our lives, I decided to include the following:
Last nite our family went to hear PHILIP YANCEY lecture about his book, "Where is God when it Hurts?" Heading into the 3/11 anniversary weekend, his topic was timely and I loved what he had to say. We know how God feels when people are suffering by looking at how Jesus responded to suffering when He was on earth. He treated people in pain with compassion and cried with them.
We were also encouraged not to confuse "Life" - which is often harsh and unfair, with "God" - who is just the opposite, and also feels sad when people are suffering.
There’s not a lot of good news out there right now. Whether it’s people suffering from natural disasters, or people suffering from war and man made disasters, God’s heart towards those in pain is always compassion. May our hearts be the same.
Dean & Linda Bengtson have been serving as missionaries in Japan with LBIM since 1989.