graduation.

Graduation is supposed to be a time of celebration.  Granted, it's a time of anxiety about the future, sorrow about leaving a home and family of upmost importance, and fear at facing life apart from the community that has been a source of support and endless love.  But, even in the midst of all of these other overwhelming emotions, it is a time of joy.

Or, at least, it's supposed to be...

Instead, this past weekend was a time of celebration overshadowed by sorrow, fear, worry, and remembering tragedies of the not-too-distant past.  Last Tuesday, another fire broke out in Santa Barbara.  The Jesusita Fire was the third major fire in the area in the past year.  Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated (including many who lost their homes in the Tea Fire in November and Westmont's campus...again...), close to 80 homes burned down, many firefighters were severely injured, and the city was, once again, put on hold as we all watched flames burn so much of our beloved home.

Some graduation events were cancelled, some were relocated, and I am grateful for the incredible amounts of hard work that went into making sure that the celebration we deserved was still given to us.  However, it was hard to celebrate in the midst of the drama of the fire.  Knowing that people were losing their homes, that firefighters were in the midst of the danger working to keep the rest of us safe made it difficult to fully live in joy.  And at the back of everyone's mind was the fear that gripped us all in the midst of the Tea Fire which only 6 months ago devastated our beautiful campus and community.

However, over it all, was something stronger, something greater, something more powerful than even the most frightening of flames.  Great is His faithfulness.  Never before this year had the words of that sweet hymn meant more to me.  I woke up on Friday morning to the news that Westmont had been evacuated again and that Baccalaureate had been relocated to City College, but that it's status was contingent on the air quality.  I looked out my window at an orange sky and falling ash, and turned on the news to announcements of a raging fire that had spread 5 miles that night, taking down houses and defeating the firefighters' most valiant attempts at stopping it.  And yet, this was the only thought I could keep in my mind: "when you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." - Isaiah 43:2-3.  He is our Savior.  And He never ever fails at saving us.

So now, as I watch the small trails of smoke come up from the mountains where days ago were billowing clouds, I thank my God that He never leaves.  That He never fails.  That His ways are higher than my ways and His plans are greater than my plans.  And I thank Him that, by His grace, through the love of some dear friends and an incredible family, my graduation was still a time of celebration.  It was joy in the midst of heartache which, I believe, makes it all the sweeter.

Great is Thy faithfulness, oh God my Father...