Before and After in Japan

Google has uploaded several before and after pictures from Japan. These are satellite pictures and really show the devastation that has impacted this country. Some of these pictures show whole neighborhoods... whole towns washed away. Here is a sample:

Before

From Google's Media Tools Gallery

After

From Google's Media Tools Gallery

The New York Times uses these same photos for an interactive collection.  It has the photo with a slider bar that you can slide back and forth to compare the before and after.

John Piper has posted an excellent prayer for the people of Japan.  I would like to share a snippet of the prayer.

Father in heaven, you are the absolute Sovereign over the shaking of the earth, the rising of the sea, and the raging of the waves. We tremble at your power and bow before your unsearchable judgments and inscrutable ways. We cover our faces and kiss your omnipotent hand. We fall helpless to the floor in prayer and feel how fragile the very ground is beneath our knees. 

O God, we humble ourselves under your holy majesty and repent. In a moment—in the twinkling of an eye—we too could be swept away. We are not more deserving of firm ground than our fellowmen in Japan. We too are flesh. We have bodies and homes and cars and family and precious places. We know that if we were treated according to our sins, who could stand? All of it would be gone in a moment. So in this dark hour we turn against our sins, not against you. 

And we cry for mercy for Japan. Mercy, Father. Not for what they or we deserve. But mercy.

(Read the rest of that prayer by clicking here.)