About a week and a half ago, David and I were out driving around Palm Springs. Our journey took us back to the Indian Canyons entrance. This is a place we often drive to in the evening when it is quiet. The view from there is breathtaking, with a quiet peacefulness that permeates right into your being. That particular night, as our car coasted back out of the area, I had a random thought pass through my head as I looked out at all the dry brush – “It would be really bad if this caught on fire.” Though I didn’t say a formal prayer, when a random thought like that goes through my head, I generally ask God to intervene.
Three days later, when it was 119 degrees out, the scent of smoke started pouring through our air conditioning system. At first, I thought it was someone barbecuing, since it had that nice Mesquite smell, but I quickly realized that it was a brush fire. Our house is about 5 minutes from the spot where I had that random thought and it was now on fire. This time, God got my full attention and I prayed for the people fighting the fire, the people who live in the area, and that the fire would not spread.
Over the next three days, the wind kicked up and included a haboob (a major dust storm). Then an unusually high humidity level settled in, holding the dust and smoke close to the ground, and decreasing the normal 20+ miles of visibility down to less than a mile, as the fire burned on. 
Based on what I am describing, you might think that this fire would be completely out of control and burning through acres of land; however, that is not the case. The damage was limited to approximately 80 acres, one fire fighter with minor heat exhaustion and three “out-buildings” on the Andreas Ranch. (Yep, I have a special affinity to that land – just one apostrophe short of me owning it.)
Though I know of and appreciate all the fire fighters, from all of the different governmental agencies that were involved in the effort to squelch this fire, both from land and air, I have to think that God did intervene. Even in bad situations, you can find God working if you are hunting for Him.
