Together

It was a tremendous demonstration of support as one vehicle after another made its way through our community last Sunday. Fire and rescue vehicles from as far away as Seattle Washington and Redding California came to give their support to a grieving community and to families.

Often at times such as these, loved ones of the victims ask the hard question of "why?".

"Why was it my husband, my father, my friend, who had to die?" "Why didn’t God intervene in this and keep it form happening?" We not only ask those difficult questions, but we will blame God for the tragedy. This is all a very natural response. We ought not to feel guilty about blaming Him, nor should we be afraid to do so. God is big enough to handle our anger as well as our frustrations and disappointments.

The answers to the "why" questions are often long in coming. More often then not, they never come at all. I hope we will all recognize that this tragedy has brought our two communities together in ways that consolidation never could. For that I am thankful.

Come see us Sunday.

Norm Russell

[Mark's note: According to news reports, 291 fire and emergency trucks arrived . I watched the parade which traveled at about walking speed in front of me. The line of trucks traveled past me for a solid 40 minutes. We're located in Southwestern Oregon. Particularly powerful was seeing trucks from FDNY - New York Fire Department some 3,000 miles away. Never before in the history of our city have 3 firefighters been lost in a single structure fire. One suffered a heart attack at the scene, and two perished when the roof structure they were standing on collapsed.Our entire cities and the brotherhood of firefighters grieves the loss. If you would like to contribute to the Fallen Firefighter's Fund, please contact me at mark@wordforlife.com and I'll send you the contact information for the bank managing the fund. The three men lost were volunteers, and leave behind a total of 11 children...]