5 a.m.

That’s what time I was awakened this morning by a loudspeaker from a police car. “This is a mandatory evacuation”. We had watched the news all night and was hoping the flames wouldn’t get close to our house, but they did.  I went outside and saw my neighbors sprinting across the street with their lives in their hands. My job was to pack up the home movies. Check. Then I went for my college diploma and pastoral license, then this collage of pictures my mom made for me.  Grabbed some clothes, my phone charger, Bible, some of my favorite books.  You always talk about what you would grab in case your house was on fire, but now this was almost reality.  You really find out what your stuff means to you, when you have to load it into a car at 5 a.m., which turns out to be not that much. We ended up not having to evacuate (even though Channel 9 told us to).  I think our street is no longer in danger, but the fires continue to burn. I can still hear the water planes fly over my house. Please continue to pray for those who have lost their homes or are in danger of doing so.  Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Jesus is with us in this fire.