california wildfires... a wild time

so as im sure you all have been reading lately, california is burning. well, los angeles and san diego anyway, and that makes up a huge part of it. im in los angeles, and while no where in the near vicinity of me did fires come near, i was definitely affected, in a few ways. one sunday afternoon a group of us went to six flags. riding roller coasters amidst a smoke filled sky (so heavy the sun was red and easy to watch) with ash raining down on us, we rode coaster after coaster, and scared ourselves silly in the haunted house (it was fright fest, after all), all the while looking into the horizon and thinking, "wow, thats intense". didn't see it coming, or what was actually happening. the next day it started to click. los angeles was burning, and it was right next door. the santa ana winds didn't help, and blew the door to the girls bathroom clear off its hinges. it was a weekend.
after many prayer and intercession meetings, and news watching and reading, we realized we needed to do something. after calling the red cross, and calling churches in san diego, we got hooked up with a southern baptist church in chula vista to go down for a week and help with relief efforts. that next sunday we took 6 students down to do what we could for those in need. the pastor of the church set us up in a few homes of people in the congregation, (talk about blessings! we were spoiled) and connected us with the southern baptist convention disaster relief. (for the sake of time and typing well shorten it to so-bap)
the so-baps convention works with the american red cross, and any time a disaster hits, they are there to help out however they can. its an international organization, and man, these people live it. they see a need, and they meet it. serving their communities in this way opens so many doors to praying for and speaking into the lives of those around who need the love of Jesus, its amazing how God multiplies the blessings. the amazing thing about working with them, was the fact that almost (if not) all of them were retired. many of them had rv's, and would wait for a disaster to strike, then pack up and take off to help out. working with older people was SUCH and aaaaamzing blessing! the wisdom, life experiences and humor these people brought to the job made it irresistable to have a good time, and a little heart0breaking to leave behind. talking with one of the red cross workers, he said that when a disaster hits, if the so-baps aren't already on the scene washing dishes by the time they get there, we will all be in trouble.
ok, so anyway, every morning at...4 AM (!!) we arose and drove to parking lot c of Petco Park in downtown sd to prepare meals for the evacuees and newly homeless. that first day we showed up, we prepared 33,000 (thousand!!) meals. the so-baps had two operating kitchens to work in, so we split up and got our elbows deep in cream of chicken soup and macaroni noodles (some casserole dish). in the mornings we would have a small devotion and a briefing for the day, and then we would head to our appointed stations and do our thing. my station, i like to call it, was the "carbs and starch" station. we made everything from rice to noodles, mashed potatoes to beef barbecue. working with the same people everyday, you become familiar and comfortable with them (interesting considering we were only there for four days). that first day alone, i managed to pick up a nickname, which im convinced has everything to do with my coordinated nature. after dropping a pound of butter not into the pot, but the ground, they started calling me butterfingers. it didnt help that i managed to do it again the next day.
so being the youngest people there was a blast. it also ensured all the grunt work fell on our shoulders. literally. one day, as we prepared sloppy joes, my job was to empty the humongous gallon pots in to the cambros (containers the red cross uses that depending on the food product, can hold up to 250 servings) and proceed to carry those onto palates for the red cross to load up and take to the emergency shelters. i worked physically harder this last week than i can ever remember doing, and what joy it was! keeping the perspective of why we were there, and working with the fabulous people we did made it an experience i will not soon forget. my feet are still mad at me. i cant wait till the next time i can do something like this (not that im wishing for a disaster or anything, definitely not, but if another one blows, floods, or burns my way, i know who to work with).
it was a quick week that came and went, and at the end of it all, what i recall the most is the people who had such servant hearts. and, oh yeah, all the nicknames and wrong turns we made along the way.