CLEARLAKE >> While so many suffered losses due to the devastating Valley Fire, the Healing Rooms of Lake County was also impacted. Prior to the Valley Fire, the Healing Rooms teams prayed regularly for people at four locations, Clearlake, Lakeport, Cobb Mountain and Middletown. With the Cobb Mountain Community Fellowship church destroyed, the Cobb Mountain Healing Rooms are obviously closed for the time being.
“Cobb Mountain was not the only location where our Healing Rooms were impacted,” Bill Edmunds, one of the Healing Rooms directors reported. “Our sign listing the times we are open at the Middletown Baptist Church was also burned. But signs can be replaced.” Edmunds went on, “We have already done that in Middletown. It is important for the folks in Middletown to know that we are still there for them.”
The devastation surrounding both the Cobb Mountain and Middletown churches is extensive. The difference is that even though buildings all around the Middletown Baptist Church are gone the church itself was barely touched. “It is weird how selective the fire was,” Edmunds observed. “Here and there homes in the middle of the most scorched areas are still standing. I have prayed for evacuees who reported how they stood, helpless, as flames raced towards their homes only to have them turn away at the last moment. How do you explain that?” Edmunds asked. “A couple of them credited angels. Others had no clue.”
“Dealing with the differences between the two locations has been interesting,” Edmunds continued. “Some might conclude that the burning down of one of our host churches as a negative ‘sign’ of some kind. We refuse to go there. Rather we see the fact that the Middletown Church was left standing as affirmation that we are to continue praying there while applauding the Cobb Mountain Community Fellowship’s decision to rebuild.”
Besides praying for the sick, the Healing Rooms are open to those who have lost so much due to the fires. Two areas where they can be most helpful are in helping people deal with hopelessness and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
“So many have been through so much,” Edmunds declared. “Can you imagine just having to drive through the hellish inferno many had to negotiate escaping from the fire? Those who did not lose their homes still had to face the experience of mandatory evacuation. We know of at least one family that, between the Valley, Rocky and Jerusalem fires, had to evacuate four times and a business owner who had to evacuate three, even though the fires never reached their properties. We must not overlook the emotional impact remaining from those other fires,” Edmunds pointed out.
For the time being, the Healing Rooms will remain open at the Middletown Baptist Church, 15576 Graham, Middletown, and the New Life Foursquare Church, 1125 Martin St., Lakeport, the first and third Mondays of each month between 7:00 and 9:00 PM, and the Neighborhood Christian Fellowship Church, 14660 Olympic Drive, Clearlake on the first and third Thursdays during the same hours.
“Look for our announcement of the re-opening of the Cobb Mountain Healing Rooms as soon as the Cobb Church is rebuilt,” Edmunds promised. “Until then we, like so many others, will remain Cobb strong.”
