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Hills of
Fire

Gentle autumn winds sweep across the Northeast
and the Midwest U.S.,
Beautiful yellow, orange and flame-red colored leaves blow in the
breezes--
Yet--
No rain for months dried out all of 'SoCal'
--Southern California--
As trees, bushes, grass and houses all became fuel for the fire:
Then gale-force winds whipped up the canyons and the hills--
And just one spark by someone somewhere started it all--



Hills
that were once graced with green palm trees and beauty
are now black and charred with ugly ashes, smoking, smoldering...
Houses and mansions, cars and hopes and dreams all destroyed:
People flee from the cities, running for their lives--
bringing their girls, and their boys--


Hospitals and senior centers are all forced to evacuate:
They all need to get out of there before it's too late!
The warning goes out over and over again, "This is not a drill!"
"Evacuate now--avoid the canyons and the fire on the hills--"
"This is not a drill!"

Huddled in a stadium or a school wondering what will happen next,
Families hug one another, realizing that they are safe, and blessed...
All those things they left behind can be replaced with something else:
What matters most is they've escaped the flames on the hills--

"It looks like hell" one firefighter said to the reporter,
overwhelmed by the whole ordeal--
 
In the end when the hills of fire burn so hot and so fast,
this material world loses its grip, its appeal
Look up to Jesus!
--bro.
tim pickl
Tuesday October 23, 2007
....during
the fires of 2007, when over 1 million people fled their homes in 'SoCal',
U.S.A.
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