For those of you that don’t know, my family survived the 2003 Cedar fire in San Diego, which came 1200 ft from our historic property in Valley Center, CA.  We awoke at 3 AM to the intense smell of smoke and (2) 50 ft high walls of fire heading rapidly towards us.  The Santa Ana winds in that fire were 1/2 the speed of this week’s fire and had they been as stiff, we might easily have perished, as the fire came up so quickly there was no warning at all given.  We evacuated our place with just a few things in our van and no idea if we would ever see our 125 year old adobe farmhouse again.  We were the blessed ones, we came home to a lot of smoke and soot damage, but nothing destroyed.

However, our little community had more homes lost per capita than any other area in So. California that year.  We lost 265 homes and two lives.  A dear friend of my high school daughter’s died and her sister was burned so badly she was in the hospital for an enitre year.  We lived through the paralysis that comes after the adrenaline subsides and we saw very intimately what happens AFTER the TV crews go home and the next news story fills the airwaves. 

I wanted to let you know a little of what will be coming ahead for the fire victims, their families and their communities so you can be praying and if possible can send a donation to help them get back onto their feet. If you’ve watched the news, you’ve seen families standing in front of their homes seeming shaken and yet unexpectedly strong and thankful.  They are strong for the moment, drawing strength from the fact that they have each other, but in reality they are in shock.  In a few days, that shock will begin to wear off and the enormity of everything that has happened will begin to set in. 

Right now, most are thinking about the loss of their personal treasures and a lifetime’s accumulation of memories.  They’re thinking about what could have happened to their families and how they could have lost their lives.  There’s a certain amount of joy and relief in those thoughts, but also there can be some torment as well, the "what if" scenarios often play through the mind without ceasing and a good night’s sleep is a long way away.  What most haven’t yet had time to really think much about is "How do I make a new start?  How do I go about rebuilding?  Where do I even start with my insurance company?" 

There will be 2-3 years of battles ahead of them before they find a new normal.  They will have to fill out reams of paperwork, potentially have to  fight an insurance company if there’s no pictures of what was in their home, find a reputable contractor if they are going to rebuild, design their home and go through the permit process etc.  Many of them will sit in the assistance centers later this week with eyes glazed over and unable to make the simplest of decisions.

This is where agencies like the Red Cross and The Salvation Army are absolutely amazing.  They not only meet the most immediate needs by providing safety, shelter, food, and comfort, they provide for their long-term emotional needs as well.  They have trained crisis counselors that have been dispatched to the area to help these families face their loss and deal with their grief.   If you can spare a little bit out of your budget right now, I would love to encourage you to send it to either the Salvation Army or The Red Cross.  They will make sure your $ goes a long way to bring comfort and hope to families in a place so heavy and overwhelming most of us cannot even come close to imagining it. The web sites are: http://www.redcross.org/ and http://www1.usw.salvationarmy.org/usw/www_usw.nsf   KFMB TV and Radio believes in the Salvation Army’s work so much after the fires of 2003, that they are working to raise donations to send to them.  In 24 hours they have raised over $335,000.

Many of  you have visited San Diego and seen the beautiful side of the city.  There are many amazingly beautiful homes and people who have very adequate resources to handle their losses, but there is a more ordinary part of this city where familes struggle to make ends meet living where the cost of living is very high and the wages relatively low.  There are many poor that were burned out in this fire and many families that were renting will not have any insurance to collect from.  FEMA will provide a modest grant to these families, but it will be no where near what they will need to get back to where they once were.

Pray for these families.  Ask the Lord to remind you to pray in a couple weeks, a month from now, several months from now… this will be a very long recovery process and they need us to stand with them as they walk the long, difficult path.  Stop and pray for those who are still recovering two years later, from hurricane Katrina.  Especially those outside of New Orleans, who have received much less attention and yet whose needs are still great.  Thank you for reading, caring and praying.