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Newsletter May 2008
May 23, 2008
GervaisNews---May 2008
Fire! Fire! Fire!
I heard via phone calls from friends that there was a raging wild fire ripping through the part of Palm Bay where we lived. As I drove towards home all I could see was black smoke billowing up. When I reached my house I could see that the fire was about three blocks away and south of the main road. I assessed the situation and concluded that I was not in the danger zone because there was a stiff wind blowing in a southeasterly direction, and was therefore blowing the fire away from my house.
I decided to run my sprinkler system anyhow just to be safe. Then I climbed up on my roof to wet the shingles. Within fifteen minutes I noticed that the wind had died down. I looked up and realized that the fire had jumped across the main road and was barreling down towards my house. I ran down the road and helped a few other neighbors by wetting their house down with their garden hoses. No fire trucks ever showed up. There were five different brush fires within a few mile radius so I assumed they were all out fighting those fires. The helicopter was drenching the fire with a bucket that they repeatedly filled from a nearby lake and dropped on the fire. They dropped water all around us but none where we were battling the flames.
A few minutes later I realized that the fire had hopped over our road and was igniting the vacant lot next door to our house. I ran home and tried to control the fire using a measly garden hose but it was a loosing battle. Several of the trees in our yard exploded into flames and the grass started to burn towards the house. Just then I realized that the power shut off which killed our well pump and our water supply. Shortly after that a few neighborhood teens came over and we started a bucket brigade utilizing the water in our swimming pool.
After the fire roared through my yard the threat was there for the neighbor behind us. The bucket brigade shifted as slats were kicked out of my fence making it easier to pass water from our pool to the neighbor behind us.
The immediate threat to my house was over so I went across the street to try to help my neighbor. He had started his generator to power his pump so I helped him try to keep the fire from igniting his house. His house was saved from the flames but a utility trailer and a motorcycle trailer were consumed by the fire.
In all over 10,000 acres were burned, and over 160 homes were damaged or destroyed in the fire. Two of our neighbors on our block lost everything in this fire. Because many telephone poles were destroyed and wires burned in the fire it took over a week to get power and internet restored. Personally, I would much rather deal with a hurricane any day than a fire.
Many years ago I installed a water sprinkler. Everywhere where the sprinkler system watered the fire didn’t touch. You might ask what I learned through all this…Well I now have my own generator ready to be fired up the next time I loose power. And secondly I will fix my nonfunctioning sprinkler heads and plan to install two more zones to extend the reach thereby giving me a larger buffer for fires.
On the good news I had the privilege of finishing the facilitator training at two different churches this past weekend. Lord willing there will be two additional churches who will be kicking off their own Christ-centered recovery ministries in the area. I have several other churches that I am in dialog with as well.
We had Sherry Bolden come down to Florida for about four days to share her testimony in several churches here. Sherry took on a position as one of His Mansion’s interns after completing her year as a resident. She has an amazingly powerful testimony. You can read an excerpt of her testimony by looking up our February newsletter on our web page. http://www.hopeministriesflorida.org/newsletters/newsletter/4929507/49588.htm I had her scheduled to share her testimony five different times in a four days period. In the middle of her time here the fires happened but she was able to share her testimony in spite of the chaos from the fires. Sherry blew so many people away with her testimony that I am convinced someone needs to turn her life story into a book, or better yet a movie. Several of the churches where she shared want to bring her back later on in the year to share again.
June is just around the corner and Barb will be taking a much deserved break for the summer. She plans on teaching summer school but that is not nearly as stressful for her as the regular school year is.
Mikala is now in the process of interviewing for a potential teaching position this fall. Keep her in your prayers as she seeks out teaching positions. She does have a summer job lined up managing the lifeguards at the city pools. She is planning to go to the Dominican Republic for a mission’s trip with the youth from Zion. She is in the process of raising funds for that trip. I fear that if she loves the Dominican half as much as I did when I visited there six years ago, she might not want to come back to the states. Oh well, I have to remind myself that she is old enough and mature enough to fly on her own even though I still see her as Daddy’s little girl.
Micah was up a few weeks ago to attend Mikala’s graduation at UCF. It was great to spend time together as a family. He manages to drive up from Miami once or twice each month even through when he is in Palm Bay we see very little of him. He is usually working on one of his friends cars. It is always great to spend time with him when he is in town.
I have about 15 people taking the Christ-centered addictions classes I teach at Hope Ministries. It is so exciting to see people develop a passion and longing to work with the addicted and wounded in our city. All that I have learned the past 25 years of ministry to the addicted is now being passed down to the next generation of ministers and addictions counselors and that excites me. We thank each and every one of you for your prayers, your financial gifts and for the gift of your friendship. We value you and appreciate you.
In His service
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