I’m dedicating this message to our Hearts Being Healed board members who have lost their homes to this devastating Camp fire. I was going to write a message of encouragement to all the victims of this ongoing  fire, but God pointed out to me that those victims are probably not in a place physically or emotionally to be reading this blog right now. So instead, I’m encouraging all the rest of us to bless them with our love and service.

Have you ever thought about what the hands of Jesus looked like?  Various artists through the years have painted their idea of what Jesus looked like, but I am much more interested in what his hands actually looked like. Jesus had a lot to say about hands, and his hands were a big part of his ministry.

As a child Jesus grew up using his hands helping Joseph doing carpentry work.  As an adult, he used his hands deftly as a fisherman. As he began his ministry, he used his hands to hold children in his arms and celebrate the wonder of God with them. And with compassion he laid his hands on people and healed them.  Likewise, he used his hands to bless people.

He spoke a lot about hands. In the garden before his crucifixion, he told his disciples that he would be “given over to the hands of men”.  On the cross, he said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”.  After he rose from the dead and met with his disciples, he urged them to look at and touch his hands where the crucifixion nails had gone through his hands on the cross.

It’s impossible to talk about Jesus and not include something about his hands. Likewise, it is impossible to be made into the likeness of Christ without using our hands as an extension of the hands of Jesus. Because we have been redeemed and live by his Holy Spirit and desire to become more and more like Jesus himself, we are to be his hands of compassion and comfort to the world.

What do our hands look like? Do they bear the spirit of the scarred hands of our Redeemer?  Are they in motion, serving and ministering to the people he places in our lives? Right now those lives are the traumatized victims of the devastating Camp fire.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “  Matt  25:34-40

Jesus makes it abundantly clear that serving him means serving the needy and hurting people around us. We can’t afford to think that just singing love songs to him without action and sacrifice qualifies as the life he desires for us to live, the life he commands us to live. We are to be a living sacrifice to him, which in turn means being a living sacrifice for our neighbors in need.

The first step, and perhaps greatest need at this moment with these fire victims, is to comfort them.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”  2 Corinthians 1:3-4

How do we do that?

Pray for them individually. I have no doubt you have already been praying for all the people impacted by this fire in general terms. But as each person God places on your heart, and each person you personally come in contact with, pray specifically for that person by name and specific needs, first praying for their comfort and peace.

HUG them! Use your hands and arms to wrap them tightly in hugs.  Everything Jesus did was intentional and that includes the way he used his hands in ministry so it is important for us to be a “hands on” servant and communicator. There is healing simply in the act of one human being touching another.

Sit with them and listen. Allow them to share their stories, their thoughts, their experience, their feelings. Listen with compassion without offering advice, or spitting out platitudes and clichés. Listen with your spiritual ears to what their hearts are needing. Listen to what Holy Spirit instructs you to do for each individual soul.

Volunteer at evacuation centers.

If you have the ability, open your home to displaced people while they are in transition.

Donate to your church or other personally known charities that are raising funds specifically for Camp fire victims.

Purchase gift cards to be given to fire victims. If you know of a specific request for donated items, new or used, then certainly donate what you can. But in most cases, the most efficient and beneficial way to donate is by cash or gift cards.

Offer services such as rides, babysitting, providing food, running errands, etc., for those living in transition.

Offer to read to the elderly or to children in evacuation shelters.

Pray for God to give you a special purpose to be used during this time that perhaps no one else is doing or has thought of, or to people that might have not been included in the general population we’ve been referring to, but still impacted negatively by this fire.

This is the most important outcome so this fits the “last but not least” label:  Pray for the salvation of every unsaved person in this population. What they need even more than a home and food is JESUS!  Pray for them privately until the time they may ask for you to pray with them for salvation. Remember, in times like these, we are to be the Light that brings hope.

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Pray for them that they might be able to stand on this scripture because they know our Savior.

“My comfort in my suffering is this:
    Your promise preserves my life.”  Psalm 119:50