O God, our times are in your hands: For a Birthday, p. 830, BCP

Rarely have I been forced to trust more completely in this most basis tenet of our faith than this past week. The Holiday Farm fire has devastated our beloved McKenzie Valley. It pains me to even imagine driving through this valley that for as long as I've lived in Oregon I’ve considered one of the most beautiful anywhere. Vastly more important than scenery, of course, is the fact that this conflagration caught the residents of Blue River completely by surprise Labor Day evening, forcing them to flee for their lives leaving their homes to the flames.