Lord Have Mercy

I don't really know how to start this...it's horrific...devastating...many dead...the firefighters are still fighting the flames. We're waiting anxiously for a call from my dad's friend about news of his sister whom they haven't been able to contact since early this morning because of the raging bushfires that spred throughout the night.

After such a long heatwave of 40+ degrees last week and another heatwave yesterday of again 40+ temperatures some idiot person had to go and light up the dry grasslands and cause all this havoc, killing many people; familes; neighbours; friends. The fires that spread throughout Victoria were so swift that people died in their cars trying to escape the heat. It literally took only seconds before the flames caught up and destroyed lives. The burnt charred bodies of mothers and their children of pets of-

As of 9:39pm (1 hr ago) 8th February 2009, 84 have been confirmed dead and it is still feared that the death toll will rise over 100 at least 750 homes have been destroyed that's 700 families who have lost their memories, everything they're worked hard to achieve - all lost, all gone. And when you hear a meer girl ask her mother whether or not she'll be alive the next day...when you hear of a father who had to awtch his kids burn trapped in the car...when you hear of a grandfather who'd lost his son earlier in a plane crash and be told that his wife had died...what do you feel??

When you hear newsreporters reporting on bushfires raging in so-and-so place you normally don't care. Why? Because it's not my family that's in danger, it's not my house that's being destroyed, it's not my life that's not going to stay the same. I used to think like that...but my mindset's changed listening to all these people crying out for mercy for relief for RAIN and especially because it happened so close to home, dear to your heart, hearing your friends go through the pain of losing someone they love...

I plead all to pray for these people - people who have lost their homes; communities which lost their whole town; for relief; for comfort; for peace; for rain.

Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy on them