Fort Nelson

My family and I left last Friday to drive up to Fort Nelson, about 6 1/2 hours to the northwest of us. We went to pick up a harp, to visit my brother, to do a concert, and to lead a service. It was a good time. I think the saints there were encouraged, for which we are thankful.

Encouragement is in short supply in Fort Nelson, a town of roughly 6000 people. The Canfor sawmill shut down, much to everyone's surprise. About half the town is directly affected by this closure. I was told that house prices dropped by about 40% when the mill did the deed.

On top of that, I got an email from my sister-in-law there this morning telling us that her brother's house just down the road from them burned to the ground last night. Her brother is in the now-crippled logging industry, and he and his family escaped from the house with the clothes on their backs and nothing more. Fort Nelson is not the kind of place where you can do without a house for the night; it hit -41C when we were there this weekend.

So if you remember, please pray for Jeff and Val Unruh and their family, that the Lord would meet their needs, and that God's people would rise to the occasion and provide for them in this time of great need. And pray for the church in Fort Nelson, that she would be a great source of hope to the people there as they shine the light of God's Word on their situation. And pray for Danny Soles, who is a really good man in a strategic place, that he would be bold and wise to deal with these issues both in the church and in the town, in such a way that many would see and remember and turn to the Lord.