After the Flames: Bringing Hope to Wildfire Survivors

every house you looked at was gone and then you couldn't even the neighborhood was just flat was just chimneys barely standing and as far as the eye could see it in all directions it was just like that in the wildfires that raged across parts of Southern California thousands of people lost their homes and at least 29 people lost their lives teams of chaplain from the Billy Graham rapid response team have been ministering to those affected one of those chaplain is Scott lash my heart went out to the families and we got together as chaplain and we got to pray in the intersections just pray over the houses and over the families that the Lord would be able to just minister to them you're going to hear Scott share about his experience as a Chaplain responding to the Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires on this episode of GPS God people stories it's an Outreach Of The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association I'm Phil Flashman a little later in the episode you'll hear Billy Graham talk about the comfort that God offers to those who have lost so much in the California wildfires there comes a time when we must bear our grief but God is with us in the midst of the grief in the midst of the suffering God is there whenever you need the comfort that God offers in the midst of suffering you can call the 24-hour Billy Graham prayer line the number is 855255 pray that's 855255 pray if you'd rather connect with us online go to find peacewithgod.net that link and the prayer line phone number are always in the show notes GPS God people stories when the eaten fire broke out in early January Scott lash and his wife were in Long Beach that's about a 40-minute drive from where the fire was but they could still see the smoke rolling over the mountains they watched the news to monitor what was happening now in addition to serving with the Billy Graham rapid response team Scott is also a retired police officer and an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel of Downey California you saw some of the pictures of what was going on and it was just um it is not normal to see a a structure on fire even though we have breast fires all the time in California we have them all the time up North but to see a structure that's on fire even just one is not normal but then just to see the entire neighborhoods in the Devastation no firemen around just watching the news cameras and the helicopters with fire just raging wherever it went with no one there to try to put it out because they just didn't have the resources and it was so widespread and that was something that I'm not used to seeing that so it really just affected me that way not long after that Scott got an email from the Billy Graham rapid response team they were asking if he could deploy with other chaplain to the wildfires Scott was in to start his deployment he was asked to visit the Pasadena conven vention center to see if anyone there was in need of emotional or spiritual care I remember driving by looking at this place and I was just overwhelmed because there were so many policemen so many newscasters people everywhere you can imagine this is a convention center and the whole Courtyard area was full but I remember what happened was the Lord was so good because I know that where he guides he provides and I remember just saying okay Lord I'm going to go up there and I'm just going to try to walk in and whoever ever it is Lord that you want me to speak to please have them there and if this is a place that you want the Chaplin to come and minister to the people praise God but uh Lord use me and I don't want to do it in my own power of My Own Strength but let the Holy Spirit go before me Scott walked past all the news cameras and the policeman and he requested to talk with the site manager but that person wasn't available instead Scott was directed to a member of the Pasadena Police Department so we started talking and I told her who we were from Billy Graham and how just wanted to bless the people and provide the spiritual care for anyone that would need it there and that we wanted to come alongside of them and I remember talking about being a policeman I was retired so we kind of talked a little bit about that and she just said yeah we would love to have you guys come in you guys can just set up in the corner over here and do what she needs to do this open door for Ministry enabled Billy Graham chaplain to talk and pray with people whose homes had just gone up in Flames we were able to just walk right in to all the different areas the gymnasium Museum the areas of the convention center and we were able to go in there and just walk from place to place room to room just praying with people just loving on them and it was so neat because the Lord had so many Divine appointments available for us that day some of those Divine appointments were simply listening to people and being with them in their uncertainty they had lost everything their entire Street had been destroyed the entire area apartment complexes everything they were gone and you had entire areas and neighborhoods there in this Pasadena Convention Center in the shelter just kind of hanging out there was one area that was just rows of cots and we would just go from cot to cot and there's an area where every single person for this long line every one of them their house burned down completely their apartment burned down they had absolutely nothing but what they had on their back at that shelter and I remember just talking to them and they were in a State of Shock because it just happened happened they didn't know how to even react they didn't know what was going to happen I remember talking to one lady and she didn't know would there be supplies later on the day are we going to be able to have dinner you know the next day can we stay here for more than one night those questions hadn't been answered yet but within a short time the community came through and helped the residents who were staying in shelters so much so in fact that the shelters had to ask the community to stop because they had received enough supplies in the meantime Billy Graham chaplain offered the residents emotional and spiritual support there were a lot of questions that needed to be answered so it was just perfect timing just to calm their heart and let them know that the Lord was in control and he would meet them on every single level that they ever came up with he would be there to just to guide them through that process during his conversations Scott met a number of Christians whose lives have been upended by the fires and I remember just praying with people just you know asking them how you holding up everybody was so um forth coming with how they felt and their feelings but then I had a few Christians come by you know I remember a lady in a wheelchair just so excited and she's like oh we're so thankful that you guys are here and so part of the ministry there wasn't just asking people if they were saved which we did but it was also just reconfirming the faith of those Christians that were there like the Lord wanted to tell them hey I have you you know in the passage in the Bible that says be still and know that I am God and also that I will never leave you and I will never forsake you so we you got to really encourage those Christians to say hey the Lord has you here keep your eyes upon him and even though you may not understand he is an amazing God and he has that perfect plan for your life so we are actually equipping them to continue to be that light continue to pass that torch to the people that were there and to give them Comfort to be able to pray with people so it was really neat to see the Lord just open the door in that manner after spending some time helping those affected by the eaten fir Scott drove through Los Angeles to see how he could help residents displaced by another Blaze the Pacific Palisades fire downtown Los Angeles looked like a war zone there was Smoke everywhere you know in in the The Tall highrises downtown and it looked like a battle was taking place and just driving through there and then seeing all the wind damage of the trees and the debris that was still on the ground it was desolate down there and this is a major city a major area where there is restaurants and things like that but it was a ghost town as far as people other than the convention center which was crowded because no one was really there everything was shut down and so it was just kind of like eie as Scott pulled into this next shelter he noticed the parking lot was nearly empty but that didn't stop him from going inside and so I said hey you know what I want to just poke my head inside and just see who's there and just encourage them and so we walked in and I remember talking to a red cross member and I just said hey we're from Billy Graham and we are chaplain and we love you guys and we want to just provide whatever spiritual care that we can for you or whatever it is we can do for you guys we want to let you know that we are coming alongside of you in any way and he kind of looked at us and he goes you guys are chaplains we're like yeah we're chaplains he's all hold on the man left Scott and the other chaplain standing in the lobby of this Recreation Center turned shelter then he comes back and says would you be able to talk to somebody and we're like absolutely that's why we're here yes so he leaves and then he comes back and and then he asks us to come inside of the gymnasium area of this Rec Center then he walks me over to a lady and she was the only lady in this entire facility with her three kids and he says hey this person asked earlier if she could talk to somebody someone that could um just that knows about the Bible and things like that Scott and the chaplain sat down next to the woman she told them that she had recently converted to Christianity from Islam she was a single mom of three young children and had moved to Cali californ from another state she lost her trailer and everything she owned in the fire she had nowhere to go Scott and the other chaplain listened intently and then they talked with her about the hope that is found in Jesus Christ and it was so amazing because she's like I believe all of that you know and she was just very sad because her mother had passed away still believing that faith and so she was distraught kind of about that but we just really prayed with her and I remember saying hey we're going to um bring them back because this was in the early stages of being deployed so we didn't have all the Bibles all the materials but I said you know what I'm going to talk to our team leader and I want to bring a Bible back to you you know because I just want you to know how much we love you and the lord loves you so much and he just wants to minister to you afterwards the chaplain talked with that red cross member again and even though he didn't say he was a Christian he recognized that the chaplain were an answer to prayer and he said I want to tell you guys something this lady came in and she asked for Spiritual care care or I asked her and at that point I didn't know what to do because we didn't have anything as far as anyone there that could provide that care and he's all I just I prayed he's I mean I'm telling you the truth I just prayed that God would bring somebody and he's all an hour and a half later who you guys are standing at my doorstep as the chaplain prepared to leave they told the man another chaplain would be coming back to give a Bible to the woman with whom they had just spoken another Red Cross worker the supervisor heard us talking and he said you're only going to bring one Bible and they're like huh he said why don't you bring a bunch of Bibles and we'll pass them all out I'm like praise God from that shelter the chaplain went down to the front lines of the Pacific Palisades fire so I remember driving down to Pacific Coast Highway right on the street and the devastation was amazing there was every house had been destroyed leveled they had all the National Guard in the next area they had policemen they had firemen they had press people they had all these different areas where everyone was staging we parked and I remember just getting out of our car and talking to a couple of national Guardsmen and we talked to the person that was in charge and we said hey this is who we are and we want to thank you guys for coming down here and we just wanted to be able to pray for the guys and be there for anything that they need in response that National Guardsman went and called the crew together nearly 100 of them surrounded the team of Billy Graham chaplain and one of the guys from our team got to pray for them and it was so awesome to see these men and women bowing their heads down before the Lord as we were just giving them encouragement and then after that we spent the next hour and a half probably with just the national Guardsmen and the women there just being able to talk with them to pray with them just to minister to them and it was such an amazing time just encouraging them that they had been called from the Lord for such a time as this then the chaplain headed to the next area where the policemen and firemen were located they all bonded over the f that the chaplain were retired officers the chaplain encouraged the First Responders and asked them how they could be praying for them many of them had prayers for their families because they also had been deployed for I think two or three weeks so they were going to be out there a long time and they hadn't been home so we were able to minister to them after that time of ministry in the staging area the chaplain headed into the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades one of the areas hit hardest by the fires have you been watching the news this is where the entire neighborhoods were gone and so we got to go up there and I remember just parking our vehicles up there and the devastation was just um mindblowing and I can't even imagine even one family being displaced one family losing everything but let alone the entire neighborhood every house you looked at was gone the neighborhood was just flat was just chimneys barely standing and as far as the I could see in all directions it was just like that and I just my heart went out to these families am and we got together as Chaplin and we got to pray in the intersections just pray over the houses pray over the families that the Lord would be able to just minister to them and as the policemen would um LAPD were up there and as they would drive by kind of just seeing what we were doing we got to pray with them and it was so neat because the Lord opened the door to be able to pray with the Battalion Chiefs and those policemen that were there the chaplain's ministered in what Scott said looked like a battle Zone at that point most of the fires had been extinguished but there was something left an overwhelming smell of chemicals the toxic fumes from burning metals and Plastics had prevented authorities from being able to allow many families to return to the area the sun would be out but you could just tell that you all the trees were black all the you know and you could see that there were still Christmas tree lights on some of the trees how this family were just a couple weeks before that enjoying Christmas you know hanging out with the family now the lights were burned melted to the tree because what happened with this fire as a homicide detective I have been on Fires where people have succumbed to the fire so I've been on several of those but nothing to this magnitude just being able to walk the streets and bivic Palisades looking at all the devastation and it as far as the eye could see every single house had been just destroyed and just the chimneys were were standing and it's just um nothing like I have ever seen in California before in the front yard of one home Scott spotted a swing and he imagined that it might have been used just days before by kids who were playing at Christmas time you just saw how abruptly it came to an end and so those are some things that really impacted me just the the site the sound of just seeing what was going on and just knowing the future of what was going to happen to these houses would they would they be able to rebuild the houses would the families be able to come back you know there's so many um questions that were unanswered at that time so what do chaplain say to people who are in these kinds of circumstances Scott said they talk with them about the Lord because that's the only hope that we have in a situation like that and I just tell them he loves you so much and the fact that we are here and we're talking to you and we both come from different worlds different areas but suddenly here we are it's because the Lord sent us because he wanted you to know how much he loves you he wanted to let you know that he is there for you and that maybe you don't know who he is but I want to tell you who he is and he's a god of comfort and he is a God who will take care of you and he'll be with you everywhere that you go through this time where you're just you're suffering and you're hurting the Lord will minister to them and he will meet you in that trial he would be the one that would Supply their needs that would help them with the finances that would help them with whatever they need so it's just um yes the the cities were there and and the Red Cross and fima and all those different things that they give them are temporary don't get me wrong but what we wanted to give them was things that were Everlasting Scott knows that God is a god of redemption that he will bring good from even the most devastating situations in people's lives even though it was traumatic what happened but it was because of this situation that they had someone to come to them and talk to them about Jesus so in many of these cases where people accepted Jesus this was the same event that took away everything gave them everything because they got saved and now they will have eternal ((music playing)) life maybe you're listening and you've been through a tough situation in your life but you've never trusted the Lord if that is you I'd encourage you to go to our website find peacewithgod.net that's find peacewithgod.net or call the 24-hour Billy Graham prayer line that number is 855255 pray that's 855255 pray in just a moment you'll hear how you can pray for Californians who were affected by the wild fires you're listening to GPS God people stories a podcast production of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association there's a mystery to tragedies like this we don't know the total answer Billy Graham God meant that this was to be a perfect Paradise there would never be any death the Bible says that all of our problems and all of our suffering whatever it may be is a result of man's Rebellion against God and of course Satan was the one that led in that Rebellion but God has provided relief God has planned a gigantic rescue plan and his rescue effort is centered in the person of his son Jesus Christ that's why Christ came that's why he died on the cross that's what the cross is all about and then it's a message of comfort in 2 Corinthians the first chapter is one of my favorite passages of scripture it says blessed be God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of All Comfort who comforteth Us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them there comes a time when we must bear our grief but God is with us in the midst of the grief in the midst of the suffering God is there Billy Graham made those remarks following a deadly fire at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas back in 1980 at the time the Billy Graham rapid response team didn't exist it was formed in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 ever since then Chaplin from the Billy Graham rapid response team have been offering hope and encouragement to people impacted by disasters Scott lash is one of those chaplain and he's our guest on this episode of GPS God people stories he was among the chaplain who deployed to those areas of Southern California that were devastated by recent wildfires we asked him how we can all be praying I would ask for those who want to pray for Los Angeles that the Lord would continue to just minister to the heart of those who are there those who have been displaced those who are working on the front lines the Red Cross the nurse the fire departments everybody that through this situation that he would be glorified and we pray for the hearts would be opened to those in Los Angeles so that would be my prayer is that the Lord would be glorified in this situation that many would come to know him that many would come to trust in him and even though they're in a trial even though this is a devastating thing but the Lord would use this situation to bring them closer to him we're grateful for Scott lash joining us on this episode and for all of those who serve with the Billy gram rapid response team would you please pray for the chaplain and for everyone in California whose life was upended by the recent wildfires you can discover more about the Billy Graham rapid response team by going to billygraham.org and then clicking on the Ministries tab across the top of the page that site will tell you all about the work of this ministry including how you might be able to volunteer with it if you appreciated this episode could we ask you to do a couple of things share share it with a friend leave a review or comment about it and subscribe to GPS WE Post new episodes with stories of God's remarkable work in people's lives every other Wednesday you don't want to miss a single one of them I'm Phil fman and this is GPS God people stories it's an Outreach Of The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association always good news ((music playing)) ((music playing))