People seem to be breaking out of the daze they've been in around here for the past few days. The fires continue to burn to the east of us, but some favorable weather has helped a lot. We're actually getting some light rain in some areas.

I was running around yesterday looking for a missing horse. There are several hundred of them being temporarily housed at the county fairgrounds. I also went to the doctor yesterday - it seems I have developed a case of the shingles. That sucks. I think I have a mild case, because it's not as painful as I've heard it can be. It's just uncomfortable and annoying at this point.

Sounds like the people who are trying to buy our house are wanting to play hardball with us since we pulled out of escrow. That's annoying too.

I'm working to maintain perspective in all of this. Things to remind myself of:
a) Even in the middle of all of the devastation, I live in a ridiculously wealthy and comfortable place where needs are easily met.
b) I have innumerable opportunities all around me to extend grace and love to those who are hurting.
c) These are situations in which Jesus can have the greatest impact on people. I get to help just by hanging around him.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning. I get to get out of town for a few hours with Jason and Eddie. We're going up to OC to hang out with Josh Dulaney. It'll be good to clear my head a little. Plus, it'll be good to see Eddie again before he leaves SoCal to be a part of the Jesus folks out in Columbus, OH.

On another note, I was thinking the other day about how incredibly devastating September 11, 2001 must have been in New York City. Here we've had over 1500 homes destroyed by fire, so that's at least a few thousand people directly impacted - it seems like everyone knows at least one or two people who lost something. But these are just homes. Thankfully only a few lives have been lost. September 11, though was so much worse - image bearers of God himself were destroyed. Those lives cannot be replaced.