TO GOD BE THE GLORY...was in bold print on the top of the Cross Plains Baptist Church gym. Mom, Dad, Camille and I spent Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning setting up a shelter for victims and firefighters of the Cross Plains fire with the Red Cross. Mom and Dad just started to volunteer with the Red Cross and this was actually their first time out...Camille and I have actually helped our sister in Austin a few times. We rolled out around 6:00 and had no idea what we would see once we entered this little city of about 1000 people. It looked almost like a battle field. There were little patches of fire everywhere it was dark but we could already see that this fire had devastated this little town...we went there thinking only 20 houses had caught fire, but left knowing 60 to 100 had burned to the ground. We got to set up the shelter at the first Baptist Church there and they were so great. Their facility was incredible a huge gym and then a side activity/kitchen area which was perfect to serve food in. We set up 30 or so cots not knowing how many people we would have that night...Most had been evacuated to Brownwood. The Methodist Church down the road set up a shelter as well but we heard later in the night it burned to the ground. I do not believe anyone was in it though.
We had one family come in the whole night. They lived down the road and they lost everything it was a grandfather, gradmother, two women and a little boy named Matthew. They came in and we fed them, they were in shock. Matthew and I played some basketball and I wanted to pass out. Later though the grandfather started to shake and apparantly had, had a stroke earlier that week...Camille was the only person in the building that had any type of medical training so she was trying to ask questions and see what was wrong...Suddenly though he stopped responding and we called 911 poor Camille lost it ...it was so scary though. They took him to the hospital and he came back later he just went into diabetic shock along with having a seizure.
All night firefighters came to eat and sleep and then go back out to fight. They were exhausted...they would almost have a fire out and would run out of water and by the time they got back with more the fire would be roaring again.
Through out the night tons of food came. Walmart and the Salvation Army brought tons and tons of food. It's incredible the response when tragic things like this happen. So many people and organizations called to see if they could help. It's a horrible thing that has happened to this town so many people have lost their homes and what they know of life. Matthew the little boy told us when he woke up this morning that he dreamed his house was back. How does a little boy like this ever understand or comprehend what just happened to him. Throughout the night I just kept reading ...To God be the Glory...and I remembered God will bring good from this. God is faithful and that was already evident through the responses we saw from the people there.
Pray for this town and all the other towns around Texas that have been affected by all these fires.
