Friday, October 20, 2017

I have finished my first “quartester,” my first of four sets of classes for this school year. The three classes I have completed are, (1) a psalms class where we take a closer look message of select Psalms, (2) a class about the fifth century early church father, Cyril of Alexandria and his 700 page commentary on the Gospel of John, which yes we read the whole thing, (3) and a sermon writing class where we explored how to include types of personalities into delivering a sermon, especially those which are not native to my own personality. Thankfully most of the homework was completed at the beginning of the last week of those classes as many friends from my hometown were worried about their own home. That was Monday, October 9th.

On that day after I completed all my classes, I looked my phone to see what new messages I had received. The first one I found was from my parents. They sent me a text message stating that they were okay. I looked on Facebook to see what was going on. I had learned that a fire had reached its way into the main city, Santa Rosa, of my home county, Sonoma County. By the end of that day, I had learned that though the homes of my family were safe, a few family friends had lost their homes from the fire.

Here’s what happened: beginning late night Sunday night of October the 8th, a fire had begun in Calistoga, a little town in the mountains. It was named the Tubbs Lane fire. Tubbs Lane was the street where the fire had begun. Over the night, dry winds picked up and reached speeds as high as 68 mph. By early morning before sunrise, suburban neighborhoods of the City of Santa Rosa located 10 miles away from Calistoga were evacuating their homes. Later that day many who evacuated learned that their houses were burnt down.

Even today, a few weeks after this fire, there are still fires going on, but the firefighters are waiting for them to burn out. The fires are not in the cities but the country land. The statistics of the Tubbs Fire are over 35,000 acres burned; over 5,000 structures destroyed, most of them homes; 19 people have been identified as dead from this fire. Now thousands of people are seeking a new place to live.

Here are some pictures to help tell the story:

Subdevelopment of Coffey Park
Before

After


http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/How-the-deadly-Tubbs-Fire-blitzed-Santa-Rosa-12268552.php

This picture below is from a Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy body camera. He is making an urgent door-to-door effort in the mountains of the Mark West Springs area, urging people in the path of the Tubbs fire to evacuate.

https://youtu.be/ptsrbej99ag

I pray that God will continue to comfort the people of my hometown as they are recovering from their loss. Because the fire was moving so quickly, the people who lost their homes only left with the clothes on their back and a single vehicle. Everything else is gone. The food, shelter, and their everyday belongings that help them get through the day, and those priceless family treasures that you hope to pass to the next generation. It’s all gone. Every day since the fire, the people, local and distant, have been working together to get the community back into order. The police have worked hard at keeping the people safe and protecting what’s left standing in the destroyed neighborhoods. Firefighters from many different town and states have put themselves in front of harm’s way to do the best that they can to contain the fire. Many businesses and organizations including churches have stepped forward to care for those who have lost their homes and to help assist the first responders in any way possible. The people know that the county won’t be rebuilt overnight, but together as a team, they can repair their community.

Psalms 9:9-10
The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.

God’s blessings,
Sylvan Finger