It's been a strange, sad week here in San Diego. If you haven't heard, we had the worst devastation ever due to wildfires, so far 350,000 acres burned, 1,700 structures burned (houses, commercial buildings, and outbuildings), 14 deaths, 70 injured, and well over a half million people evacuated (more than Katrina).

More importantly, this tragedy has confirmed the resiliency of the human spirit, imbued by God Himself. Take, for instance, the largest evacuation center located at the Charger's Qualcomm stadium. Many of the nearly 20,000 evacuees would check themselves in and then - even after knowing or NOT knowing if their home was destroyed - would volunteer to help others.

The problem was that there were already too many volunteers coming from the community, including mountains of donated items (food, cots, clothes, blankets, medical supplies). Doctors and nurses voluntarily staffed impromptu medical tents, tending to the vast array of physical needs.

Here's a great story about our denomination's local retirement home that had to evacuate early Tuesday morning and how the community came to their aid in their temporary home. And my own community really stepped it up to help others.

The coolest thing, though, was when it was obvious that the city's and Red Cross' evac centers weren't going to be enough, churches across the county began opening their doors as a literal sanctuary to those displaced by the fires. I can only imagine the amount of physical and spiritual ministry doled out by our churches and their angelic volunteers.

Personally, the fire never got closer to our home than 10 miles away. Folks called at 12:30 Tuesday morning to tell us the fire was coming over a nearby mountain (a sign that we have to be very vigilant). This is what we saw as it crested the Mt. Miguel:

Many of our family members were evacuated. One brother-in-law's aunt and uncle lost a small Christian camp they've run for decades to the fire. Another brother-in-law is still waiting to see if his house is standing (he’s still evacuated).

We're grateful for all the prayers and support from so many around the world this week. Please continue to pray that we can extend substantive ministry to those who have been affected from the fires.

CELL PHONE IMAGES:

Here's the surreal scene from the parking lot of our local mall - the new home to over 100 horses, goats, pigs, llamas, and more:

The outpouring of support for the thousands of firefighters from all over the country was heartening (this on the fence around the tent city for the California Dept. of Forestry fire crews):

More photos of the wildfires

VIDEO:

Timelapse video of the fire closest to us (Harris Fire):