Texas is experiencing one of its worst droughts in recorded history. We are SO dry, (officially, we are in a state of "exceptional drought") and nearly the entire state is under a burn ban, Worst of all, we are dealing with wildfires all over the place. 170 fires have erupted this past week alone. Many of you have heard about the fires outside Austin in the Bastrop area. The pictures circulating all over the web and on Facebook have made my heart sink. I love Texas...and it hurts to see so much of the land burned beyond recognition.
Closer to home, there have been fires about 20 miles west of us, in Montgomery, Grimes, and Waller counties. My hubby works in Hockley, and one very large fire, the "Riley Road" fire was burning about 5 miles north of his office. Here's a few pictures he sent me from his cell phone. These were all taken in the same day...you can see how the fire was burning hotter, and how the clouds of smoke grew bigger.
This one is right outside his office, facing north.
Here's another one...right off of FM 1488
And here's one he took at sunset on his way home.
About 12,500 acres has burned from this fire, and an entire subdivision (about 80 homes) was destroyed. That sounds so awful, but Bastrop has it much, much worse. Over 1,300 homes have burned, and 4 people have died. That fire has blacked 45 square miles (nearly 40,000 acres). I don't have any pics of that fire, but I'm sure you've seen them on the news reports.
We desperately need rain here in Texas. Ironically, there is a tropical storm (Nate) out in the Gulf of Mexico. People here are actually praying it comes right at us and drenches us with tons of rain. Isn't that crazy...we actually want a tropical storm that could potentially strengthen into a hurricane to hit us!
This past Sunday, our pastor asked everyone to pray urgently for rain. We have started to add that prayer request when we say prayers with the kid at bedtime. Here's the prayer Father N. suggested:
Prayer for Rain
Lord God,
in you we live and move and have our being.
Help us in our present time of trouble,
send us the rain we need,
and teach us to seek your lasting help
on the way to eternal life.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Please pray for us...especially anyone reading this who lives outside of Texas. Thanks y'all. :-)
