Cool Water Blog

Photos, or even video, cannot really convey what it is like to be in the areas hit by the giant tsunami. Rikuzentakata is frightening because of the near complete devastation – there are only a few buildings left in the lower part of the city, 70% or 80% of the city is simply gone. The […]

Here is a video showing some scenes from the cleanup at Ofunato Baptist Church in Iwate Prefecture, Tohoku region, Japan. Volunteers from OMF and CRASH are helping to restore this church as a place of worship. Like many churches in Japan, the congregation is tiny. This church has only four regular members plus a couple […]

We serve a risen Lord! Jesus is alive! Click on his photo to hear Keith Green’s message about Jesus.

Last night at about 11:30, the seven of us staying at the CRASH Tono Base house were awakened (well, at least I was asleep – actually, one of the guys was in the shower!) by the strong aftershock that you are probably reading about in the news.  We get several small aftershocks every day, but […]

Today several of us attended services at the small church here in Tono City. About 15 people came, including a refugee couple with a baby whose home had been destroyed in the tsunami. They are currently staying in the home of a retired pastor while they wait to see what the future holds for them. […]

Tonight I am writing from CRASH Iwate Base in Tono City. Tonight we have 14 people staying here, most of whom have been out working in the disaster area all day. I am mostly in the management role keeping this place running, but I have made it out to the disaster area a couple of […]

Tomorrow morning (March 24th), Karen and I are flying to Misawa Air Base in northern Japan. At the base we will connect with the chaplain’s office to see what relief efforts are being done through the base and to discuss possible areas of cooperation. Calvary Baptist Church has offered to host us overnight and then […]

The title of this entry is actually the slogan of CRASH (Christian Relief, Assistance, Support, and Hope), the disaster response organization with whom we are volunteering (see http://crashjapan.com).  We cut short our Guam vacation and rescheduled our return flight to Osaka so that we could prepare to go north and help with both physical and […]

Karen and I are still in Guam (25th anniversary). We are fine; there was little or no damage here, although they did close the roads near the coast and beaches overnight. The big problems are in the Sendai area in northern Japan, 300-400 mile from where we minister in Osaka. Please join us in prayer […]

Tomorrow morning, Karen and I are flying to Guam to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary (March 8th) with warm weather and some scuba diving. We have been to Guam once before and enjoyed it very much. Praise the Lord for all of the beautiful places He has created and for airline mileage programs that give […]