Fire at Little Portion Hermitage

I am in shock. Before going to bed, I thought I'd just check a blog I read, that I hadn't checked in a while, and there was a link to a Joni Mitchell video on YouTube. I listened to a couple of her beautiful songs. Something (her music? her name? I don't know) made me think of John Michael Talbot, and I thought I'd see if he had anything on YouTube.

And I looked, and found a video of him describing a fire that burned down the chapel and common building of his community. This was not what I was expecting! It happened while I was away, and I had no idea. Of all things, I just put a check to them in my mailbox today. (I'm going to take it out and rewrite the note and send a bigger check....)

This chapel--well, what happened in this chapel--changed my life. One of the dearest mental images I have is of the interior of this chapel, because of what happened to my heart there.

And in August I'm going there for a retreat with John Michael, called "The Fire of God."

It's so strange.

This community blesses so many people. They have helped many people rebuild their lives. If you want to join in helping them rebuild, you can see how at www.johnmichaeltalbot.com

And even in this, they are sharing faith and trust. Please copy and paste the following and watch the video. I think you will find it inspiring, in a sad way. I'm sorry I can't do links, but this is worth the extra five seconds it will take you. And once you get to the webpage, there is another video of John Michael talking about the fire and how things have been going, what they plan to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnnHDQ9uBuA

Below are some photos from our visit there about three years ago. Every structure you see in these photos is now ashes. They lost their kitchen, dining room, library, recordings, photo albums, archives....and the beautiful chapel.

All the people and animals, and even the gardens, are okay. It was all the wood that burned before the fire fighters could get there....

Please pray for them.