SO CAL Firestorms

I've gotten numerous phone calls, text messages, and facebook messages asking if we have been safe during the fires. So, I thought I would post a little on that.

We first heard about the fire about 7:00 on Sunday morning when Annie called and woke us up. The fire started in Malibu Canyon, apparently by the extremely strong winds knocking down electrical lines. Between not having had rain for months and months and then having 60mph+ winds, it was a catastrophe waiting to happen. The wind blew the fire towards the ocean and right at Pepperdine. Scary as that was, had the winds blown the opposite direction, it would have headed towards our home.



Its kinda hard to explain, but the fire wrapped around the west side of campus. It even came onto the edge of campus. Burned up the hill right outside my office window. The fire was very sporadic, basically where the wind blew embers. Some areas were charred and others untouched. But I have to say - thank the Lord for our well-trained, well-prepared firefighters. Who knows how much worse it could have been?



They relocated the students to the Waves Cafe and to the Firestone Fieldhouse (which can supposedly sustain flames for several hours).



Once again, Pepperdine's buildings and people survived unharmed. Just a few cars and an equipment shed were lost. Some of Annie's friends who live in the apartments next to campus ("the stinkies" for Pepp reference) were not so lucky. A couple of them lost their apartments just southeast of Malibu Presbyterian. Malibu Pres wasn't so lucky either.




That roof top isn't there anymore. Of course, I immediately wondered what Revelation 4 had to say. So, I looked it up. No, it's not about fire, destruction, or the end of the world.

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
.....

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor and power, for
you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."

Uncanny, isn't it? The Lord is always in control and always worthy of our praise, even in the midst of destruction.

For some reason, Sarah thinks Its MY responsibility to update the blog. Hmmm. Whose name is first in the title?
Any way, I guess I will do a little catching up.
Let's see, September.
I went to DFW for a week as I do every year for work. Sarah was able to join me for a few days as she had a client to visit in Dallas as well. We stayed with Grannydot and Grandad for a couple of night and really enjoyed getting to see them. Cindy came over for dinner and I got to see Max and Sean at other times. Such a busy family! Oh yeah, and I got to have breakfast with Tim Spivey and enjoy one of our extremely long chats.

Right when I got back we actually DID something. We went to a Rascal Flatts Concert with Jeremy and Amber. It was a bit of a drive to get there, but we had a great time. I no idea there were so many rednecks that close to LA. I'm thinkng a bunch of them had to have driven down from Bakersfield or Fresno. The performance was good. Our seats were not cheap, but they were still a little too far back for my tastes. I think the guy in front of us was just as entertaining as the concert.

I was in town for about a week and then i flew out to TN for a week. I got to spend a few nights home in Barlett and then I went to Nashville for several days. I got to spend time with my parents and see old teachers at school. In Nashville I saw a TON of people. The Zoe conference was going on while I was there. I got to spend time with Peter and Lindsey and few of the other Zoe people. I got to hang with Zack Wilson a little. Had breakfast with Randy and Lajuana Gill, which was great.

I've now been back for a little while in the middle of a 3 week break from traveling. We went on the Church Fall retreat last weekend. We had an enjoyable time with some of our close friends and made new ones as well. Ask Sarah about her role of playing Ryan Seacrest in their skit. I was pretty proud of my skit, especially since it incorporated 6 kids! It was fun working with Alan Beard on it.

I just finished my mid-term about an hour ago. I think I did alright, but maybe not an A. So hard to keep up with this school stuff and work at the same time. (And watch TV with Sarah, lets be honest)

There is a huge garge sale going on in our Complex tomorrow. Sarah and I are going to see what we can gather up to sell since there will be buyers coming to us! We'll let you know if we're successful (when I post again in December).

Next weekend I'll fly out to Houston for about 5 days. It will be my last lengthy trip in Admission. I am happy and sad about it. Now I'll have to find some other way to rack up hotel points!