"Beauty for Ashes" -Again

"He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;" (Psalms 113:7)

 Besides that, this is about God's glory being displayed in His chosen people. He puts His Spirit in us, and we become vessels for His glory; or as Matthew Henry puts it: "The treasure of the gospel is put into earthen vessels, and the weak and foolish ones of the world are pitched upon to be preachers of it, to confound the wise and mighty." We are more than just earthen vessels when we are serving the Lord, we are transformed into messengers of the Light; the Light the shines in and through all the darkness of this world. I have witnessed a lot of kindness over these last few days, people going out of their way and trying to do whatever they can to help out in all the devastation from the fire. I lent out my house to family members that have been evacuated from theirs, and I have now taken my wife to a part of Oregon where the air is not contaminated by smoke. I was beginning to wonder if this was such a smart move, because all I saw was smoke, until I made it through Grants Pass. Now I am at a rest stop north of Roseburg, and it is blue skies! It's funny how we really don't think much to thank God for the beauty of the morning sky, until it is no longer what we see or have been seeing. Passing through Redding yesterday, everything was covered in ashes; the cars on the sides of the road, even the roads, it was all covered with ash and grey colored. Businesses were closed that were usually open, roads were blocked off, and neighborhoods were sealed off by the National Guard; it really did look like some kind of a war zone. They are predicting that it will take at least a week for them to get the fire out, so for the next week I will be staying in Lebanon overlooking the beautiful golf course at Mallard Creek. Please keep those families displaced by the fire in your prayers. They are saying that a thousand or more homes were destroyed, and there are still thousands of people that are evacuated from their homes. But even in all of that, God can and should be glorified...

""When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil, I am the one who keeps its foundations firm. Interlude. "I warned the proud, 'Stop your boasting!' I told the wicked, 'Don't raise your fist! Don't raise your fists in defiance at the heavens or speak with such arrogance.'" For no one on earth -from east or west, or even from the wilderness -should raise a defiant fist. It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall." (Psalms 75:3-7) NLT