Armodoxy for Today: What would you take?

Los Angeles is burning. It might be difficult to call Los Angeles “The City of the Angels,” as flames are about the only thing shooting up to the sky and smell of burnt houses, schools and businesses fills the air and the fear of “Are we next” passes through everyone’s head.

Last Tuesday I got home just before 7 o’clock. My son had called me half an-hour before arriving. He warned me that there was a large fire in the area. That day the winds were blowing like never before in my memory, reaching up to 80 miles per hour, they said. When I arrived, there was smoke and flames just about a mile away. The wind was carrying the sound of sirens and firetrucks that were rushing heroes into the battle zone. The air started getting thick. By 8 o’clock we received a first warning on our phones, to prepare to evacuate. The fire was getting close. By 8:30, the warning had turned into a definitive, “Leave your home” command. And by 9 o’clock sheriff deputies were driving up and down the streets with bull horns ordering, “Evacuate now.”

Between the warning and the order to leave, so many thoughts cross your mind. It doesn’t seem real. Evac orders are common in areas with hurricanes or tornadoes, but in Sunny Southern California? Someone got their plays mixed up. But the order to evacuate was loud and very real.

Quick, you have half-an-hour (and even less when you figure the surprise and initial denial that it’s happening to you) to decide what you’re going to take with you. As you look around at the walls of your house and the room, you think that you may never see any of this again. What do you take with you?

It’s an exercise that I’ve thought about, but it was never as real as it was that night. Pictures, to jar my memory. Those were important to me. But I can imagine so many other things are important for you. What would you take with you if you thought you may never see this reality again? There are no right or wrong answers, but the exercise to question yourself may allow you to understand yourself differently.

Sadly, many people returned to ashes these past few days. Challenge yourself to the exercise of “What would I take with me?” and we’ll continue on this thread tomorrow. For today, we pray from the fifteenth hour of St. Nersess Shnorhali’s Confession of Faith,

Christ, may Your Right Hand shelter me by day and by night, while at home and while away, while sleeping and while awake, so I may never fall into sin. Have mercy on me. Amen.