The lone pine still standing out of thousands of trees planted to be a barrier to tsunamis in Rikuzentakata sends a powerful message. It is a message of hope of survival even in the most desperate of times. Each survivor can in some way identify with that tree. Six months from March 11th, life has moved on for much of Japan, and although there has been massive support, the realities of an interrupted life are pressing in hard even as that help begins to wane. Even the valiant pine tree is said to have little chance of survival.

Our mission at CRASH Japan is to bring both help and the hope of Jesus Christ to these people at this crucial time. The next six months will bring the harsh Tohoku winter and there remain great physical needs for people who escaped with nothing, but the most urgent need is for emotional and spiritual care. Thousands will face a winter having lost loved ones, homes and communities, jobs and professions handed down for generations, with no hope for the future. Many will not survive, not from cold or malnutrition but from a broken spirit.

What can we do? We cannot undo the damage. Even cleaning it up is painfully slow, but for the last six months we have been there with them sharing deep sorrows and small joys. It is our passion to continue to be there, but we need your help. We need you to volunteer, to give and to pray for Japan to receive the hope that was expressed so clearly on another tree.