He Is

The circled area is our school. The yellow is the fire.

School chapel

7 days into the new year, I was finishing up my BSF meeting and got a call from the kid's school that they were evacuating due to a brush fire. By the time I got there the magnitude of the situation became apparent and the little brush fire had a new name - the Palisades Fire. The air was smoky and there was a frantic feel in the air. Parents were parking at the local grocery store and running up the hill to find their kids who were walking down busy streets filled with cars hastily evacuating. The next few days, our class group chats were full of people's pictures of where their homes used to be. I'll never forget it.

It's been two weeks and now that the smoke has cleared and the school tallied, 142 families and 15 staff lost their homes - half of the school. The entire Palisades community has been lost. A miracle of all miracles, the fire burned right around most of our school. Some buildings were burned but, for the most part, saved. It has been something to be so near to such grief. To hear the intimate details and walk alongside so many families who have lost everything. Everyone from school is safe but, as someone said, just behind the immeasurable loss of life, is the loss of the proof of life. 

I have no reason to complain since my home is standing. The school is setting up in a temporary location for the remainder of the year. By the time they go back, they'll have missed a month of school. I won't lie, having them home, and scrambling to figure out a patchwork of homeschooling, has been hard. 

The irony that I just posted about joy is not lost of me. January came and tested whether that newfound joy was actually in Him. Do my words still ring true in the most grievous situations? My heart is broken for our community but my faith is not. I trust Him because I know Him. 

He is El Roi - the God who sees every bit of our trials and triumphs.

He is Jehovah Rapha - our healer who is faithful to restore, renew, and make whole in every season. 

He is El Shaddai - God Almighty, strong enough to handle every situation.

He is El Elyon - the Lord Most High, nothing is higher or greater or stronger than Him. 

He is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. The Lord of Armies is with us and the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Psalm 46

In the upside down kingdom of God, loss brings gain, death brings life, and sorrow brings joy - so we hold on because this is just the middle of the story. As Katherine Wolfe so poignantly once said, "And still we show up and press on. There will be treasures found in 2025 too."