Remember me and Pay it Forward

“One day a man saw an old lady stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.

“Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry.

“He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill which only fear can put into you.

“He said, 'I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.'

“Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty, and his hands hurt.

“As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid.

“Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need – and God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.

“He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance needed – and Bryan added, 'And think of me.'

“He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

“A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn't erase. The lady noticed that the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.

“After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. While the waitress went to get change for her, the old lady slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin. There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote. 'You don't owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do – don’t let this chain of love end with you.' Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.

“Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard.

“She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, 'Everything's going to be all right.

Being Honest to God

JACOB, IN CRISIS, knew that it was God’s nature to bless, and he needed that blessing. … However, God did not immediately bless him; God wanted to know his name. There needed to be an honest disclosure about who he was. For Jacob to receive the blessing that God wanted to give, he had to be willing to come clean.

There is a clear message here for those of us in crisis and in need of God’s blessing. We must tell God our names and share with God who we really are and what we have done. Usually we want our relationship with God to work the other way around. … But that is not the way God works. If we want God to bless us, we need to face up to ourselves honestly.

-Trevor Hudson
Questions God Asks Us

Presence

I AM AFFLICTED with the cultural plague of busy-ness. Trying to find time each day to write, walk, meditate, or make art and work makes it painfully obvious how busy I am. While I would not call myself a workaholic, I do tend to keep moving and I keep busy.

Spirituality is the experience of the presence of God. Spiritual practices are those attitudes or activities that open a person to the experience of the presence of God. The ones that first come to mind are prayers, meditation, reading the Bilbe, and attending church. In recent years many Christians have been adding to the list so that we now think of a walk in the woods, sitting in a sunny window with a cup of tea, or even knitting as spiritual practices. Anything that allows us to be still or to focus or attention on the Holy One can be a spiritual practice. Anything we come back to day after day, anything to which we give our attention, can be a spiritual practice. Washing dishes, walking the dog, even taking out the trash.

-Jeanette Stokes

Disciplines 2010

Volunteerism

I just happened to join the volunteer work for a day last Friday in Ofunato and i could say it was a fulfilling experience. I have been here for six months in the area, but have not really tried to say yes to the invitation to join any volunteer work for some reasons that my work does not allow it. Or i could say some very very personal reason.  I never thought that one day, while working as the diocesan coordinator for foreigners here in the Diocese of Sendai, i would be working cleaning some debris that is still left after the tsunami last Mar. 11, 2011.

We were helping a local restaurant owner who is rebuilding his shop. What is amazing is that, that spirit of being of service to the other is very alive in the group. i happen to work with amazing people and it was that camaraderie which leave a mark for me and made me decide to do another volunteer work again, next week.

Gambarimasu.

Like

Like us on Facebook." is the most common statement we associate with the word like. Like and Facebook are too common and one that we cannot even imagine to separate them.

But what is really the real meaning of liking ones status on Facebook? Let me summarize some of the ideas I got when people "like" your status.

First, liking ones status is just the normal liking. I like what you posted and I like what you are sharing. Most of these would be some inspiring words or prayers. Or any quotations taken from the Internet. Your lucky no one accused you of plagarism.

Second, liking someone's status could also mean, hey I like you, no matter what that person is posting you just simply like it. It could also express your interest on that person, or just simply saying don't forget I am existing.

Thirdly, liking could also be , a way to express yourself to that person indirectly. Yes most of us might be limited with words, or just simply not really expressive in our way to say "I like you". So this status thing provides us opportunity to express our feelings to that person whom we wanted to know more.

Fourth and last, maybe it's just simply to let that person know that I am here. Always seeing your status , (looks like a stalker to me), but it's simply to say that hey am here. Don't ignore me. Remember the days we were together, especially during our first meeting.i have enjoyed those days you were here, and I hope to meet you again in the future.

I may not be able to express what you wanted to say when you like other people's status, but this is just a short attempt to summarize what you feel. When you push the "like" button

Survivor

I had taken my time to walk to the port of Ofunato after a month. I feel I really need to have a walk around today after that long days of being out of the town.

I pass by the church hoping to offer some prayers and greet the blessed sacrament, unfortunately it was locked. So I just decided to pass by and pray outside. I plan to visit the place where we had the celebration of the one year anniversary of the tsunami, near the port. So I headed to the port and while passing through some areas, I could sense that people shoot suspicious looks on me, as I stop to watch the garden near the destroyed railway. It's amazing to see how vegetables grow in that area. I reach then the area of the Ofunato station. A taxi is waiting for a passenger that of course would never come because there is no one coming in that area. Then I pass by a sushi restaurant near the river. It's a good place to visit too when I have some visitors later.

As I am nearing my destination, I begin to see some trees around that destroyed park and wonder why, only the surviving Matsu tree received so much media attention, when in fact there are trees too that survived the tsunami here at the port of Ofunato.  Although broken, they have bear their beautiful flowers last season during the Sakura blooming period. 

I can compare these trees to our life, we can be like that Matsu tree of Rikuzen Takata, a survivor, yet dying. And it has allowed itself to be helped by others in order to survive. Or this Sakura tress, which are broken by tsunami, yet had shown signs of liveliness and vitality. A truly independent survivor. Some people are survivor too yet they stop living and stop to hope that one day everything will be back to normal. Or some people broken, yet they ride wite the season, living their life not as it used to be, but as it come. Yet hoping for a brighter future, a future that all these things is but a bad dream, a nightmare. And that one day, everything will be in their order.

"It`s not a tourist place, its place where people had lost their lives." Please Respect it

Watching a documentary in NHK about the tsunami has taught me so many lessons. First its about the respect for the feelings of the families of the people who lost their  loved once especially those who have not yet found.  As of now there are around 5,000 unaccounted bodies. The families of these people are still hoping to find even just a bone to confirm that their lost family members are really gone.

I was assigned in Ofunato seven months after the tsunami and i can say, that like most of the people who come and visit the place, the first impression is just awe and wonder. How on earth this happen,  and without any respect to the place i took as many pictures as i can, just like a tourist who wonder on the newness of the place.

But as i stay longer here and meet some people who lost a love one and hearing their stories. I begin to realize that this is a sacred place, people lost their lives here. Even in front of our apartment a body was found there. I even saw some things, personal belongings of people, wondering if the owner is still alive or not. But  with the efficiency of the Japanese in terms of returning things, i could only think of the worst scenario, these people might have died on that day or even the whole family that is why no one claimed those things.

As I reflect deeper, i feel that my mission is to tell the people who are coming to visit the disaster areas not as a tourist spot.  But places where so many people had lost their lives and need respect for all of us. So if we happen to come and visit these place, take time to offer a prayer for the victims and their families. Those who are left behind suffer much. They need our understanding.

We Received our blessing from the sea, it's natural that sometimes the sea takes it back

This was the statement I heard from the locals here in Iwate ken during my visit today. Most of us who will hear that will surely say "what kind of thinking is that?" For people who survived the great tsunami, their relationship with the sea is unbroken. Most of them get their livelihood from the sea. The sea is a treasure, that supports them.
Upon hearing this words from the local fishermen, I feel that there is a great hope within their hearts. That they will never abandon the sea and their livelihood despite their experience of the tsunami in this area. The hope that one day everything will go back to normal and that the sea once in a while will take what it his own.
It's a mutual relation, we can never be enemies forever but we have to live in harmony with one another with the sea and the nature.

Our life stories over a glass of wine

Most of us are drawn to drink. It could be for relaxing or just merely the sake of being drunk. I drink not because am stressed. I drink because i wanted to be with the company of people I like.

Today another story is revealed over a glass of wine. She poured out her hearts to us and was very honest to tell her story.

One day I will be telling my story too and when that time comes. Everybody will listen attentively to me.