The Earthquake

Dear Prayer Partners,

Yes! It was a rather earth-shaking experience... especially for Rachel, Kristi, and Christopher, who were in our home just 25 miles north of the epicenter.

They said it sounded like a big truck driving by or an airplane overhead, but it just kept getting louder. Then the whole house began to shake and make creaking sounds. There was hollering and praying and Rachel was trying to remember what they were supposed to do. They ran to the dining room table and were about to crawl under when it all stopped just as suddenly as it started. The chandeliers and the hummingbird feeder outside kept swinging for awhile longer. I give them all credit for handling the situation very well!

Marcel and I are quite disappointed we didn't get to feel it at all because were were driving in the Choice Books servicing van in-between stores. The van kinda shakes and rumbles along anyway and so we noticed nothing. But at every stop, folks detailed how they had experienced the quake... so we knew it had been all around us. One fellow had been driving down the I-10 freeway and he said it made his car swerve, but I think you'd have had to be going highway speeds for that effect.

Carita felt it in Fontana where she was working. She was the only one close to a TV so she got all of the immediate reports. Asher heard it, but did not feel it in Pasadena where he was working. He said it sounded like thunder off in the distance.

Cell phone service was jammed within minutes, and I couldn't get through to Rachel on the landline for quite a while too. And she had been trying to get through to me. We had our XM radio with us, so Marcel immediately tuned to Fox News where we were assured there were no reported damages or injuries. So we just went about our day, finished our routes, and got everyone's stories when we arrived home.

Tinker, our cat, achieved a full Mohawk during the episode and kept it for several minutes afterward. And our dog Caspian barked and growled his way through and seemed edgy the rest of the day. He was convinced that the reflection he saw in the fireplace glass was to blame for it all.

It reminds us that we do indeed live in earthquake country and that they come with absolutely no warning. According to seismiologists, southern California is due for a megaquake any time within the next thirty years. It could be tomorrow, next week, or twenty years from now.

It also reminds us similarly of how imminent the Lord's return is. God's Word makes clear that He too will come without warning, as a thief in the night, and the only way to be ready is to prepare beforehand. Just as we are learning and doing all we can to be prepared for the next earthquake, so we are doing all we can to prepare for the Lord's return, and to help as many others as we can to get ready too. That's why we're here on this earth, and that's why we are here in Los Angeles.

Thanks again for your prayers!

Ernest