Believing in Japan

Today is 4/11 and we have lived the strangest month of our lives. I am sure I have claimed this many times before, but the rollercoaster we embarked on after the M9.0 3/11 Tohoku Kanto earthquake has been unchallenged so far. After we survived the earthquake – an experience we will never forget, vehemently shaken on the 51st floor, strangers staying overnight because of a city in disarray while separated from our boys for 24 hours – we decided to leave as planned three days later for the US, for a trip to New York and Michigan. We were torn, because we wanted to stay and help with the relief efforts of Grace City Church Tokyo. However, upon arrival we received message from the Dutch embassy urging all citizens to leave Tokyo due to the threat from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. God provide a way out for our family even though our hearts stayed behind. All we could do was raise funds for the relief work and encourage the church community from a distance.

By the way, despite the challenge of staying on top of things on three continents at the same time, traveling 2000 miles with 7 in a small van, our time in the US was greatly blessed. The gospel coach training at Redeemer, the meetings with Redeemer staff about faith & work, youth & kids ministries, short term missions, listening to Tim Keller, attending lecture series and more were very inspiring. Meetings with wonderful friends in New York, Newport, and Grand Rapids were a warm oasis of encouragement. It was a blessing to worship and spend time sharing about church planting and relief work in Japan with our brothers and sisters at Riverside CRC. We loved speaking and teaching at Kuyper College.

We planned to fly back to Japan on March 31st, but our mission assessed the risk for our children as too high and they wanted us to spend some time in the Netherlands (NL). So here we are, torn apart, overwhelmed by the radio and newspaper coverage of our family in limbo, waiting for permission to return to Japan while raising more funds and working long distance for Grace City. Today we received a conditional green light to return next Monday, April 18. We look forward to being reunited with our friends and the community in Tokyo. It will be the start of a new chapter, for Japan, and for Grace City as it seeks to serve the city with the Gospel and bring relief to those affected through the new GraceCityRELIEF ministry.

When asked to make a logo for GraceCityRELIEF, Geert explained the following: The logo in the colors of emergency and rescue, darkness (black) and hope (yellow), is a variation of the Grace City logo. In this case, however, the circle refers not only to the city, but to the sun, symbol of a whole nation, Japan. The lower half is darker yellow, an image of the earth burning. Creation is in pain
and in need of hope and rescue. The upper part is bright yellow, the color of hope. It is reflection of the belief in restoration of creation when God himself will be the sun (Revelation 21:23). A subtle yellow cross is added to the bolded RELIEF. This expresses that even though Grace City executes the relief work it is the Gospel of Christ that empowers the church community to do so. The cross is the only thing that can truly make sense of hope through suffering.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. … And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “… ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21: 1-5)