Why I Pray for Rain

We have had beautiful weather this entire week. Every morning, while I've gone out to run, I have thanked God for it and asked Him to send rain. We've had a lot of fires the past few years. Two were very close to us last year, but the real reason I pray for rain is because of a fire that took place in 2003. Since I didn't have a blog back then, I sent an email to our friends and family about. After you read it, I think you'll understand...

Sunday, 10/26/03, 3:47 p.m.

Hi Everyone,

Some of you are aware of the weekend that Les and I have had and some of you are not. To those of you who have called or emailed with kind words, offers of help, and prayers, we truly appreciate it. I'd like to bring everyone up to date:

Saturday morning Les left the house at 7:45 to go for a bicycle club ride. I left at about 9:00 to run a couple of errands. When I returned, there were 3 messages on our answering machine letting me know that Les had been in an accident in Camarillo and was being air lifted to Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks. The final message was, "the helicopter has gone, but he's okay." What's a wife to believe??

I arrived at Los Robles shortly after the helicopter landed and was told that Les was currently in the emergency room being X-rayed. When I was allowed to visit him in the room, he was covered in blankets (his cycling clothes were cut off at the scene), shivering, filthy, and in a neck brace. His helmet cracked in 3 places, but protected his head from serious injury.

What happened? Les was going down a steep hill on his bike, lost control, regained control, and then lost control again. Thankfully with God's protection and a little help from his helmet, he did not break any bones or have any serious injuries. He did pass out on the scene, thus the reasoning behind the call for a helicopter. He has "road rash" on his left side from his shoulder to his knee and is having quite a time trying to sit down. I was able to bring him home after about 3 hours in the emergency room.

His bike had been taken to the fire station in Newbury Park. Our friend Daisy Mekash (now Daisy Oscal) agreed to go with me Saturday afternoon to retrieve our van from the parking lot in Thousand Oaks, then follow me to the fire station to get his bike. This was just a short trip that should have taken 60-75 minutes. Wrong!! On our return trip to Simi Valley we were stopped on the freeway and had to turn around due to fires that were quickly spreading in Simi Valley and Moorpark.

After about 2 1/2 hours of trying to get to Simi, Daisy and I regrouped at a Chevron gas station and decided to go to the Emery's house in Moorpark. Karin Emery kindly allowed us in and found a phone number to the California Highway Patrol that gave us road conditions. All roads going in to Simi Valley from Moorpark were closed indefinitely. Daisy and I decided to leave one vehicle at the Emery's and traveled for another hour on the 101 freeway into the San Fernando Valley. We arrived home approximately 5 hours after we left and still only had one of our vehicles!

After a restless night, we awoke to more fires in Simi on Sunday morning. Les got up for a while, then went back to bed around 7:30. I was following the news and talking to neighbors. A nearby development received evacuation warnings at about 8:00, they were told to pack up what they wanted to take, and be ready to leave with 10 minutes notice.

I decided to start packing things at that time. If you've never had to determine what is really important in your life and what is not, a fire in the neighbor will help you do that very quickly. I loaded about 3 boxes of pictures and financial records in the back of our van and decided everything else what just that - things!

At about 9:00 our neighbor from across the street, Paul Kovelman, came over and informed me that our hill was on fire!! I ran upstairs to look out our master bedroom and I saw the flames coming over the top of the hill and down our way. I decided it was time to wake Les from his nap!!

We moved our van across the street, turned on the sprinklers, and hosed down our back yard, trees, and house as much as we could. We then joined Paul across the street in his yard to watch, wait, and pray. It was during this time that we received our evacuation warning, but we were never told to evacuate.

What we didn't know at the time was the fire department had set a "back fire" in hopes of controlling the one that was raging. The two fires converged behind our next door neighbors' house and we could feel the heat across the street. Again, God's protection was evident as we watched our entire hill burn, but the flames stopped at our "green belt" and not a single home on our street was damaged! We were able to return to our home at about 11:30.

As I write this, ash is floating in our back yard, helicopters are making occasional passes to check for sparks, the smoke is starting to clear, Les is once again trying to take a nap and I am starting to relax a little - I can truly say "all is well."

We will have pictures of the fire the next time you see us. Thank you again for your kind words and prayers.

Love, Les and Kathy McElhaney

P.S. So how was YOUR weekend???

So now you know. Why I pray for rain...