The last few days turned out to be wild.  This leads to yet another apology for missing out on writing here on the blog.  Maybe its that time wasn't spent wisely to allow room for writing.  Some of the absence is just due to the usual drain on the ideas.  Our local school played the big rival last Friday night.  Turned out to be a game that received statewide attention.  We lost.  Now the kids try to regroup for the next game.  I also got to spend time with my favorite daughter over the weekend.  Never thought the sounds of her phone going off with messages would sound so good.  It was truly great to just be together for awhile.  It was the drive home that really changed everything up around here. 

You would think my son and I were seeing clouds as we approached our area of the state.  I knew that it was anything but clouds.  Wildfires are raging all across our area.  Most of East Texas is affected by these raging infernos now.  Thousands of acres are being lost on a daily basis.  Some lives are already casualties of this act of nature.  My hometown is at ground zero of some of the worst fires.  Even where I live now is being affected by fires.  Smoke covers my town much like fog.  You can smell leaves or trees burning even when miles away.  Scores of brave men and women are out in the woods night and day trying to at least make a dent in containing the blazes.  We can only hope that time and effort will bring them success.

Summer continues to take its toll on us.  Rain is almost a forgotten word now.  Temperatures finally broke a tad but it is little comfort without rain.  Now we are losing acres of trees along with the land.  This is something never seen here before.  My time in the Panhandle allowed me a view of how wildfires can grow out of control.  Who would imagine that East Texas could ever become so dry that they would be an issue here?  Our normal weather pattern is more like the tropics than the desert.  Just about any small spark today would lead to a massive firestorm.  I cannot begin to predict how long the fires are going to last.  But there will be no real relief until rain falls for a duration.

Feeling helpless is never any fun.  No one ever enjoys that frustration.  This is why most human beings strive so hard to make life manageable.  We crave that idea of being in control.  Our actions toward others can often be directed by the need for control.  We even do our religion that way.  We claim our faith in God yet avoid any risk to our well being.  Life happens on occasion to remind us that we really are not in control.  But rather than lean upon God we tend to work harder to regain that illusion.  We cannot wish these fires away.  We cannot deny their existence.  We surely cannot control them.  We can seek God for help in times like this.  We can do our part if called upon.  We can learn to be grateful for His many gifts to our life. 

Bro. Trey