Advent Devotional - Day 5

Habakkuk 3:17:  Tho the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vine. Tho the produce of the olive tree fails, and the fields yield no food; Tho the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stall – YET I will rejoice and give thanks to God who strengthens me.

The California wildfires have burned over 200,000 acres; over 80 people have died; over 1,000 people are still missing; and over 10,000 homes have been destroyed.  Many people have lost everything.

The Los Angeles Times reported that in the town of Paradise, California, a young couple, Morgan Shingler and Brian Gobba, had planned to be married November 18^th – but then the wildfires swept through the town.  Their family’s homes were lost, but in the evacuation, Morgan managed to grab her lace wedding dress.
The day after the fire passed through, the families held the wedding in one building that hadn’t been burned.  “We weren’t going to let the fire take anything more from us,” said Brian, the groom. “Those little details that used to seem so important are just an afterthought now. All of us in this room have lost something, but we’re here together,” he said.  So the guests gathered, and the bride and groom enjoyed their first dance, and the people who were going through so much took a moment to lay despair aside and smile at a new beginning.

Rev. Donna Havrisko, Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Greensburg