fires 2008.

seems i can’t escape the flames–last year it was the san diego fires, this year it’s the orange county fires. i took the 57 south today during the day time and the smoke in the sky looked like storm clouds. it’s pretty crazy–fires in carbon canyon, yorba linda, brea olinda, chino hills, anaheim hills. i’m watching footage of flames that are about 20 yards from a home. actually, not just one home, but a town of homes that are situated at a valley in the middle of circle of hills that are either blazing or flickering with embers. it looks like lava erratically flowing down, carried by the wind currents.

from my home i can smell the ashes and flames. there’s firetrucks in every driveway of every home in brea olinda. you can see the sirens flickering in the dark from overhead helicopter cameras–those lights and the glow from the fires are the only things lighting up the night. they’re getting ready and bracing themselves for what seems to be the inevitable–the fires are licking their way down to the homes and it’s terrifying to see. you can see a couple firemen waiting for the fire to jump and finally reach them. one of the news reporters remarked, "it must be intimidating to be those firemen who are just waiting to combat." they look very small in comparison to the raging flames. they’ve already anticipated that the flames would reach this area & have prepared to fight it with plenty of hoses and water. as much damage as the fires are going to do, the firemen are prepared and will, no doubt, save a couple homes in the process.

spiritual warfare is much the same. as we undergo the fires, the flames burning down our self-made structures of pride and self-sufficiency, some things will burn and some things will survive the inferno. but we don't go through all this alone--thank God that He is so much greater and more able than us to sustain life. fires remind us of our physical smallness; any feat of nature destroying things made by the hands of man is a reminder of this. spiritual fires remind us of our poverty of spirit and our desperate need for ther mercies of God. what will survive the flames? it’ll be the areas fortified and preserved by our Lord Protector–areas of humility, lessons in grace, dependency on the Holy Spirit for sanctification, knowledge of the character of God.

pray for the homes of the thousands evacuated from brea olinda--for the families who will struggle with much financial difficulty with what they might lose from this fire in light of this economy. pray that the unsaved people of orange county will turn to Christ as they realize the temporality of the things in the world.

EDIT:
the fires have spread crazily in chino hills--will be praying for those who have families there & for the people i know who live there now. the ash is heavy in fullerton and everything has a orange-ish hazy look to it.

EDIT:
fires in brea and yorba linda have died down, praise God! diamond bar area has a couple fires going on...my roommate diane's been evacuated. please keep her and her family in your prayers!