Massive quake hits northeastern Japan

A massive earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan on Friday has killed at least 95 people. Many people are missing, while authorities are warning Pacific coastal areas to be on the alert for possible tsunami of up to 10 meters high.

Japan's Meteorological Agency says the quake on Friday afternoon had an estimated magnitude of 8.8, making it the most powerful one to hit the country since record-keeping began in the late 19th century.

The quake struck at 2:46 PM local time, off the Pacific coast of Miyagi Prefecture, at an estimated depth of 24 kilometers. Tremors in Miyagi registered an intensity of 7 -- the maximum level on the Japanese scale of 0 to 7. Strong tremors were felt hundreds of kilometers away, including in Tokyo.
Several magtitude-7-class aftershocks continued off the Pacific coast.

The Meteorological Agency has issued major tsunami warnings to broad areas, from Hokkaido in the north, to Tokushima in the west. The agency says these areas could see water levels surge by more than 10 meters.

At 3:50 PM Friday, a tsunami surging higher than 7.3 meters struck Soma Port in Fukushima Prefecture. A 4.2-meter tsunami hit Oarai in Ibaraki Prefecture at 4:52 PM, while tsunami more than 4 meters high struck Kamaishi and Miyako in Iwate Prefecture at 3:21 PM.

NHK has learned that at least 95 people have been killed in the quake and tsunami, including 41 in Iwate Prefecture, 11 in Miyagi Prefecture, 26 in Fukushima Prefecture. Many more are missing.

A 6-year-old child was killed in Miyagi, when the ceiling of a supermarket collapsed. The child's mother is reportedly in serious condition.

At least 97 fires have been reported in 9 prefectures -- the largest number of them in Miyagi. In Chiba Prefecture, a massive blaze is raging at a Cosmo Oil refinery. A man in his 30s has reportedly suffered severe burns all over his body.

Narita Airport near Tokyo has partially resumed operations. But several airports remain closed in northeastern Japan, including one in Sendai.

Shinkansen bullet train operations have been called off for the day in central and northeastern Japan, and all train services have been suspended in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Expressways are closed to traffic in northeastern Japan and in central Tokyo.

According to electric power companies, 4.4 million households in northeastern Japan are without power. Nearly 4-million more households are also under a blackout in the Tokyo Metropolitan area.

The Meteorological Agency is warning of more possible tsunami and aftershocks. It says people in areas where major tsunami warnings are in effect should evacuate to safer ground.

Friday, March 11, 2011 20:37 +0900 (JST)

I often wonder how many people are stuck in their relationships in a cycle of repeating the same things over and over again. They repeat the same misunderstandings. They rehearse and re-rehearse the same arguments. They repeat the same wrongs. Again and again things are not resolved. Night after night they end the day with nothing reconciled; they awake with memories of another bad moment with a friend, spouse, neighbor, co-worker or family member and they march toward the next time when the cycle will be repeated.

It all becomes predictable and discouraging. They hate the cycle. They wish things were what they once were. Their minds swing between nostalgia and disappointment. They want things to be different, but they don’t seem to know how to break free, and they don’t seem willing to do the one thing that makes change possible—confess.

They tell themselves they will do better. They promise they will deal with their issues. They promise they will seek God's help. They decide to invest more time and energy in the relationship. They promise they will talk more. But it is not long before all the promises fade away. It is not long before they are in the same place again. All their commitments to change have been subverted by the one thing they seem unwilling to do: take the focus off the other and put it on themselves.

Here is the point: no change takes place in a relationship that does not begin with confession. The problem for many of us is we look at confession as a burden, when it is actually a grace.

It is a grace to know right from wrong

Change is all about measuring yourself against a standard, being dissatisfied with where you are because you see that you have fallen short of the standard, and seeking the grace to close the gap from where you are to where you need to be.

James likened the Word of God to a mirror (James 1:22–25) into which we can look and see ourselves as we actually are. It is impossible to overstate how important this is. Accurate diagnosis always precedes effective cure. You only know that the board is too short because you can place it against a measuring instrument. You only know that the temperature in your house is too hot because you have a measuring instrument in your house (called a thermostat).

The Bible is God’s ultimate measuring instrument. It is meant to function in each of our lives as a spiritual tape measure. We can place ourselves and our relationships next to it and see if we measure up to God’s standard. God’s Word is one of his sweetest gifts of grace, and open eyes to see it clearly and an open heart to receive it willingly are sure signs of God’s grace as well.

It is a grace to understand the concept of indwelling sin

One of the most tempting fallacies for us—and for every human being in this fallen world—is to believe that our greatest problems exist outside us rather than inside us. Despite this, the Bible calls us to humbly confess that the greatest, deepest, most abiding problem each of us faces is inside of us, not outside. The Bible names that problem "sin." Because sin is self-focused and self-serving, it is antisocial and destructive to our relationships.

You know that you have been gifted with grace when you are able to say, “My greatest relationship problems are because of what's inside of me not outside of me.”

thanks to caleb who sent this out in the email for YA leaders>_<>

Look tomorrow for Part 2 of "The Grace of Confession."