You will have probably heard about the earthquake that occurred here in China earlier this afternoon (while you were sleeping in America). It was a very large quake and its epicenter was relatively close to where we live; about 400 miles to the south.

The quake was at least a 7.5 and was felt as far away as Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Vietnam, and Thailand, all thousands of miles away. But the crazy thing is that we felt nothing here! We are not sure why, but it could be because of all the high mountains between us and the epicenter, or the fact that we sit at such a high altitude (9,500 ft) and the shaking was more intense at lower altitudes.

Either way, we are safe. However, the places that were heavily damaged are places that we have visited. We traveled through the rural town that was the epicenter (Wenchuan) just back at the end of February. Pray for all those people, that God would use this disaster to open people's eyes to the fact that this world is not the most important thing... that we must prepare for the world that is to come!

Luke 12:16-21:

¹⁶And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive. ¹⁷"And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?' ¹⁸"Then he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' ²⁰"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' ²¹"So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."