Hello! We made it through wildfires, an unbelievable two weeks, yet the fires are still burning (and will for months, even underground). Fires fizzle out, people endure with hope, and life moves on. In 2020 more than one person has remarked with anticipation how “______ (every-thing) will change on election day”! For us all will surely change, as our next son is due that day, almost six weeks from now. Of course, we cannot schedule when this baby arrives, yet can steward our energies (and emotions) to be the most helpful in our home, church, work, communities, all of life.
Four things and some travelpixels for this week’s travelogue:
1) Are You Able to Help?
A college friend was in a horrific car wreck yesterday and remains in critical care and an induced coma. Jake and his twin brother Josh are truly two of the most able-bodied men I’ve ever met, seemingly as fit in their forties as they were as wrestlers at OSU. All that changed for Jake this week.
Update on Jake as of 7:51pm on Thursday 9/24:
Jake went into surgery at around 4:30pm and both of his legs had to be amputated above the knee… he is still in an induced coma and the swelling in his brain is still a major concern. Please keep praying.
2) Still Standing (& Kneeling) after Wildfires
Tuesday morning September 8th I went on an early ride, as I’m apt to do, yet this time the winds were so fierce, I returned home, wondering how bad this windstorm was and the havoc wreaked in the Cascade foothills. Checking the news for power outages I learned of nearby wildfires, more sparked that night. This set in motion a weeklong sprint, full of opportunities to care, communicate, and prepare to evacuate. Thankful to God, and for all those who served in official and unofficial ways. Some friends worked hard to keep fires from devouring and destroying my wife’s hometown, and the two closest to us have been contained (smaller fires, “incidents” as they’re known). We were drawn to our knees daily, praying for strength, hope, wisdom, and the safety of people we love and care for.
Reuters (see photos and video) on the wildfire headed toward Molalla:
The operation thrived on close and long-standing relationships, [Matt Meyers, a friend of ours] said.
“I’m up here fighting these fires with people I’ve known my whole life,” Matt Meyers said. “Communication was easy: We could just stand at the tailgate of a truck and say: ‘Steve, do you remember where Brian killed his first buck? You take your crew there.'”
The result was a victory – for now – over what had seemed like an overwhelming threat. The Beachie Creek and Riverside fires are not yet contained, leaving residents on edge. But many are optimistic that the miles of fire lines the brigade cut through the forest will provide a buffer if the winds blow the flames back their way.
“I think we saved the damn town, to put it bluntly,” Meyers said. “I’m a humble man, but I feel comfortable saying that.”
Asked what it meant to him to see his community come together to save itself, Meyers said: “If I had not sweated out all my water, I think I would cry just thinking about that.”
3) Patience is the word, and the way.
Today is the third day of forty praying a word and Scripture. PATIENCE:
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…” —Colossians 3:12
How shall we embrace and embody God’s patience?
In her book If, Amy Carmichael says, “If I do not look with eyes of hope on all in whom there is even a faint beginning, as our Lord did…then I know nothing of Calvary love.” Calvary demonstrates how Christ dealt with the incorrigible and how Christ followers likewise ought to deal with slow growers, late bloomers, and those yet unseeing.
—Alicia Akins, writing a new article for United? We Pray: Be Patient with Slow Growers, Late Bloomers, and Those Yet Unseeing
Akins describes three ways to pray patiently for others:
- For humility to engage people at their various stages of the sanctification process.
- For a deeper fuller awareness of our own ignorance.
- For zeal and persistence to pray those faint beginnings into blossoming fruit.
4) How Our Emotions Help Us
Hear here episode eight of the Kari Patterson podcast:
On the one hand, letting our emotions enslave us or dictate our behavior leads to bondage, and keeps us from being useful to serve those around us. But on the other hand, emotions DO play an important role in our lives, if we wisely tune into what they’re telling us. They may not tell us the truth about reality, but they do tell us a lot about ourselves.
Episode seven was recorded in the smoke in the evacuation zone: Emotional health, so we can be useful. The first ninety seconds:
I’m here in Oregon in the midst of the wildfires. What a week. First chance I’ve had to steal away and share thoughts, both on events of this week, and my personal journey through learning about how we must learn to have victory over our emotions in order to be useful and serve others. Something tells me this is something we’re going to need ASAP. 😉
Kari and I are collaborating on a new podcast, and she’s the voice, I’m the tech help and will sometimes chime in. Eight episodes in (see clip above from #7, also #8 embedded), want to say this has been both a long time in the making, and a weekly date for us in the recording studio. For the next while episodes of the Kari Patterson Podcast focus on emotions. What’s the podcast about? …
We need wisdom, y’all. Like, yesterday. Right?! We need God’s perspective. We need His heart. We need joy, resilience, clarity, and conviction. Feeling this need, author Kari Patterson opens Scripture and shares candidly how God’s Word informs her daily life. Appropriate for all ages, relatable and refreshing, join Kari for conversations on responding to unkindness, emotional freedom, parenting dilemmas, self-pity, forgiveness, and more.
Available most all the places you enjoy podcasts:
Travelpixels: clean air & blue skies return!
Bonus: a son’s ride in cleanish air
As the smoke began to clear, with the onset of heavy rains, we thanked God and celebrated lives and homes being saved. Then on Saturday 9/19, on the first morning when the air outside was clean enough to breathe, I set out on an early ride again. Ten days cooped up inside made for an eager cyclist. This day also marked three years since my father’s death, so I imagined Dad riding alongside, teaching me to ride all over again. Benjamin Daniel will be born in about six weeks. The elder Daniel (who had no middle name but gets this middle name!) will have to meet him in glory. #renewrecreate #wearetruesons
A travelogue is “a movie, book, or illustrated lecture about the places visited and experiences encountered by a traveler.” While traveling the Interwebs, here’s what I’ve encountered recently (or not-so-recently), and commend to you. Above are some essentials for the journey right now.
