The news has been pretty much all bad news for the last week; dominated by the bush fires in Victoria and the plight of all those homeless people.
Every day there are more heroic stories about brave people trying to save their families, their homes, their pets, their cars, everything that they have loved, and in many cases they fought and lost.
So many people have perished, the fire was no respecter of age, young and old alike have gone. Many are still missing. Many people have missing family members. My heart aches for them. What a tragedy. It is especially tragic when you consider that the police believe that many of the fires were deliberately lit. Every summer there are crazy fire bugs out there lighting fires. Do they enjoy seeing the devastation and suffering they cause?
So many animals have perished, livestock from farms, family pets and maybe up to a million wild animals and birds. We have been amazed by stories of koalas befriending people for a drink of water, when normally they would be shy and not go close to people in the wild. It is hoped that some endangered species have not been lost forever.
The people of Australia have rallied. There are fund raising activities happening everywhere. Businesses are donating profits from sales. Individuals are giving like they have never given before. And even more, there are so many people who have volunteered their time and are there with the fire 'refugees' feeding them, sheltering them, clothing them, caring for them, consoling them, counselling them, reassuring and encouraging them, doing everything that needs to be done.
While meanwhile, the fire service, the volunteer firies, the army, the police and all the other government and official groups get on with the work of dousing the fires, finding the missing people and investigating the cause of the fires and hopefully finding the culprits who caused them.
All these people are in my prayers.
