Hi — I’ve never done a blog before, so there’s going to be some trial-and-error.  A few friends thought a blog would be a good idea for me to keep people updated about my upcoming trip to Japan.

For those who’ve already talked to me, I’m going to be repeating myself, my apologies.  Since the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan, I wanted to do something to help.  I was born here in the States, but nonetheless have always had a strong kinship with the people of Japan.  I do have family and friends there, but I think it’s more than that.  Anyway, I was on NHK Online (NHK is sorta like PBS here in the U.S.) right after the quake.  I watched the tsunami destroy thousands of acres in Northern Japan, live as it happened.  I was speechless.  Not something that commonly happens to me.

I watched hours of NHK in the ensuing days afterward.  I know we’ll always deal with earthquakes and other disasters in this world — two-thirds of the book of Psalms has people crying out to God in their time of need.  Still, my heart is confused, hurt, and pained to know there are people in Japan that aren’t back to normal or any semblance of normal.  It’s the rebuilding of Japan that’s now a priority — of course, that means rebuilding the cities and communities, but it also means rebuilding and healing the Japanese.  That’s going to take time.

My former ministry director and good friend Tommy asked me to participate in an effort to send student teams to Japan to serve this summer, you can read the details at japanrebuild.org.  I was going to — and still am — going to help train and debrief these student teams here in L.A.  That’s a cool opportunity.  What I didn’t expect was Tommy asking me to go to Japan with him to get this project launched.  I’ll detail some of the complications later, but suffice to say we’re leaving on June 6 and returning on June 22.  We’ll spend a week in the Sendai area of Japan, then we’ll be working at the headquarters of the relief effort in Tokyo (you can read about this relief effort at crashjapan.org).  

I’ll see how this blogging thing works out to keep people posted about my experiences during my trip, maybe I’ll keep blogging afterward.

So I’ve had my shots, picked up my new passport, and done at least some of my necessary shopping.  Now it’s time to get things done here at home before I head out on Monday.  Oh yeah, packing is probably a priority too.  Stay tuned.