Keeping the faith amid the flames
ALTADENA, CALIF. — “A faith that isn’t tested can’t be a faith at all.”
That’s what minister Rodney Davis told us as we viewed the aftermath of devastating wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
It’s certainly a biblical message.
The recent inferno wiped out entire neighborhood blocks in this Southern California community, northeast of Los Angeles.
Yet Christians who escaped the flames with their lives — and only their lives — keep leaning on God.
Their faith has been tested, but it has not wavered. Praise the Lord!
Christians helping with the disaster relief effort of the Lincoln Avenue Church of Christ in Pasadena, Calif., gather in a circle to pray.
Instead, these believers look to Scriptures such as James 1:2-3 for strength: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of faith produces perseverance.”
The Altadena house that Kevin Anderson shared with his older brother, Warner, burned less than a month after their sister, Beverly Patterson, died.
Anderson’s response?
He points to an Old Testament man of God.
“Job, he went through a lot,” said Anderson, a member of the Lincoln Avenue Church of Christ, the congregation where Davis preaches in nearby Pasadena. “He didn’t do anything wrong, but he went through a lot. We are all going to go through those Job moments … so we just have to have some patience.”
Kevin Anderson and Keith Gibbs, pictured at the Lincoln Avenue Church of Christ, both lost homes in the wildfire that devastated Altadena, Calif.
The fire destroyed Beverly Clay’s home as well as the meeting place of the Altadena Church of Christ, her home congregation. The building of the nearby Pasadena Church of Christ — also known as the Kinneola congregation — also burned.
Still, Clay trusts wholeheartedly in God.
“The Lord is the one who’s in charge,” Clay said, echoing fellow Christians. “The righteous, they can suffer right along with those who are not.
“The Lord is the one who’s in charge. The righteous, they can suffer right along with those who are not.”
“I accept him, and I believe him, and I have faith,” she stressed. “I’m not down. I’m not depressed. I’m just thankful that he spared our lives.”
As we noted in our related news story, Keith Gibbs, a retired U.S. Marine Corps staff sergeant, became emotional as he recounted fleeing his burning house with his wife, Jenifer, and three young grandchildren.
Yet he, too, praises his Savior and counts his blessings, such as having insurance that will allow him to rebuild.
“A lot of people didn’t have insurance,” he said. “A lot of people lost their lives. So I’m in a better place than a whole lot of people. So that’s how I want to look at it. God has blessed me.”
He’s grateful, too, to be able to lean on fellow Christians going through the same circumstances.
“We’re able to give each other spiritual support and guidance,” Gibbs said, “because this is hard.”
The outside walls of the Pasadena Church of Christ are all that’s left standing after the fire.
It’s most definitely hard.
The tears and the choked voices of our brothers and sisters struggling to recover testify to that heart-wrenching reality.
Yet their faith — indeed their perseverance — inspires us.
So, too, does the devotion and hard work of other Christians, who stepped up to provide food, clothing and emergency supplies to fellow believers and suddenly needy neighbors.
“A faith that isn’t tested can’t be a faith at all.”
“A faith that isn’t tested can’t be a faith at all.”
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. He traveled to Southern California to cover the fire aftermath. Reach him at [email protected].
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