Naoyoshi diligently strove to be the best in his field his entire life and a few
months before these upcoming, life changing, events occurred he had thought that
plateau was reached when he was appointed the Director of one of the largest Nuclear
Reactors in Japan.
“Why do I feel so empty?” he thought.
When out of nowhere he received
a call from an old school friend that would eventually answer this question and change
his life forever. The long time friends made plans to get together to catch up on
the past twenty years. Finally after rearranging schedules they met and to Naoyoshi's
dismay his friend Ikeda was a pastor and a follower of Jesus Christ.
“What did I get
myself into?” he thought.
It was very obvious after spending a short time together
that Ikeda was still the same caring person that had given him a listening ear and
never spoke empty words whenever called upon. And, that was quite often as Naoyoshi
struggled in his early years to build a firm foundation to build his career on. His
friend, Ikeda, had a joy and passion for life that was infectious and drew you to
him.
Naoyoshi thought, “If I could only find that same kind of peace.”
The two friends
continued to meet on a fairly regular basis over the next few months with much discouragement
from Naoyoshi's family and friends. But, he knew deep inside that his high position
didn't fill the void he was experiencing and somehow Ikeda knew the elusive answer
to the question he'd searched for his entire life. How to be happy and live a fulfilling
life outside the confines of his own intellect.
One day they met in Tachikawa where
they both grew up and as they were chatting. Ikeda said, “Do you believe this Jesus
I serve can fill that emptiness we've talked about all these months?”
Naoyoshi teared
up as he responded, “I know this Jesus is the answer, but how could He love me as
much as you have said when I've scoffed his very existence my whole life?”
Ikeda,
embracing his friend, led him to Christ and over the next year they met every few
weeks. Naoyoshi grew in the Lord and for the first time in his life had an unspeakable
joy and peace regardless of the turmoil and pressures that surrounded him.
Then without
much warning. As quickly, as the words spilled from his mouth when he asked Jesus
to be the Lord of his life. An earthquake, tsunami and a chain reaction of nuclear
reactor meltdowns brought his homeland to their knees. They would recover from the
quakes and tsunami but a meltdown could have catastrophic repercussions if Naoyoshi
and his team couldn't restore electrical power to get cooling water inside the reactor.
Even
though the task before them was certainly a suicide mission in the eyes of their
peers and the rest of the world. Naoyoshi remembered in Daniel 3: 22-
His
love for God and to save his country drove him to enter the firey furnace laid before
him with the mindset. “If I perish, then I perish...”
My thoughts as I set back with
the rest of world watching the events unfold in Japan in catastrophic proportions
were,"nothing, but nothing takes our God by surprise and He will never leave us or
forsake us as we walk in obedience and are led by His Spirit. Naoyoshi you were born
for such a time as this my brother."
Michael W. Cochran
If I Must Perish
