I couldn’t believe it Saturday, late morning, when I looked over at our mountains and saw smoke. My heart sunk. I knew what it was. We’d been “safe” down in our neck of the woods while so much of the rest of the state is up in flames…mostly we had been keeping our eyes on the fires that continue to burn up near Fort Collins. But it happened down here.

A wildfire.

I think emotion struck me as I gathered my guys and we went upstairs to my room where we have a clear view of Pikes Peak and the mountain range below it.  Take a look:

This is what we could see mid-day Saturday.

The boys and I said a little prayer for all involved and just couldn’t take our eyes off it. We are now hearing that this fire, the Waldo Canyon Fire, is the biggest natural threat this community has seen in 40 years!

Then it got worse.

This smoke was rising into the sky over our city making it seem like dark storm clouds were coming in…we had to remind ourselves that there was most certainly no rain coming and that all of this dark grey, orange and red smoke making its way through the sky over our house was indeed that. And, while never to welcome it, this was something we would need to get used to seeing for a while.

We knew of friends on the west side of town that were being evacuated from their homes. We heard that our favorite Thursday spot, Garden of the Gods, was being evacuated. The sweet little neighboring town of Manitou Springs, set in the foothills, where I last had Mother’s Day brunch with my mom and mother-in-law, was being evacuated.

This is the front page of our paper this morning.

With more than 3,600 acres currently burning, the blaze is now under federal control. They are saying that the dry weather conditions, 100 degree temperatures, rough mountain terrain and wind make it very difficult and dangerous for firefighters.

It’s really hard to watch. I know the fire has moved west. The view looks different from my house than it did Saturday.

The view from my room today…

I heard during a press conference Sunday with Governor Hickenlooper that of all the big-time firefighting equipment that the entire United States has….it is all in the state of Colorado right now!

Something like NINE wildfires are burning in our state as we speak. Some won’t even be considered done burning until the fall! It almost seems impossible to imagine this. It was especially harder to imagine before Saturday, when the fire wasn’t in my city. Before the time when I looked at the mountains and didn’t constantly see at least one steady stream of smoke…

So now we just wait. And, even though I am so grateful that we are safe on our side of town…just miles away people are in turmoil, desperation, pain…I can’t imagine. I feel for the more than 6,000 evacuees and 450 firefighters. What can we do but pray? For them. For their families. For rain…

I often always try to end my blog post on a positive light. I’m not sure I have ever written anything heavy or sad. This may be a first. I sat just for a moment now and wondered how to end this on a light note. To think of the positive. I think of my friends who live in Tanzania and lead a tiny little Christian community of Indian people. Though dealing with a number of daily hardships in a third-world country – intermittent electricity, lack of water and adequate healthcare and uncertain financial security, first and foremost they always say how thankful to God they are! It kind of makes me put my life into perspective!

And, if you know me and my writing, not often do I write about faith, but today, that might be how I end it. Of all the hardship happening to our neighbors to the west (and the rest of this state), I am grateful that there have been no lives lost. I heard of a man Sunday who lost his entire home to a fire. Nothing was left. Nothing. But in paraphrasing what he said about it after the fact was this: I have my family. All the other is just stuff.

My prayer for these folks is that they are able to remain by the sides of their loved ones.