Sadness and Loss

It looks harmless but smoke like this brought a raging fire within an hour, destroying whole towns in its wake, and shattering communities. We are pretty numb at present, so this blog response will not be followed by others for a while. Lots of things have naturally happened about us but the urge to share them has been taken away by this tragedy. As this is posted, the State's forensic teams are working as professionally and as efficiently as possible, and we now know that 181 people have perished in the bushfires. Many more victims will be found before the work is done.

This tragedy has become real for us as we count the loss of two young girls we both knew. They are Penny and Melanie Chambers, their smiles haunting us from the front page of Tuesday's Herald Sun. Our daughter Bec went out with their brother Luke for a number of years and we got to know them. They were precious people and shared a love for the Lord. Where was the Lord in all this carnage? We really feel for their parents Brouss and Jan, and their brothers Luke and Tom. This family, friends we have known well, are in an unfathomable emotional place of hurt and loss. We are numb with sadness. We are not in that place but might travel there as the Lord leads. May the Lord be in that dark place. May comfort be found!