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Minister Rodney Davis poses a question to the congregation that most Sundays, would just be hypothetical.
How do we start a day when there may be a crisis?
The 40 or so people in the pews nod as he answers his own question — even if it’s uncertain for them, it’s certain for the Lord and in that, there’s solace.
And in times like these, solace is sorely needed for members of the Church of Christ in Pasadena. At least 10 families from the church with roughly 75 members lost their homes in the Eaton fire.
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In the weeks since, they’ve looked back at their upended lives, remembered lost heirlooms, photographs of precious memories, and more. Those with faith, who understand that you arrive into life with nothing and leave with nothing, can find strength in the body of Christ, the 64-year-old minister said.
As congregants shared what they lost after a recent service, they choked back tears and pledged to persevere.
Over the last month, congregants have distributed clothing, groceries and other goods out of the church parking lot to the greater community even as many of them need help themselves.
Despite everything, the congregants of the church on Lincoln Avenue feel their faith is stronger even as they are unable to go back home.
Kevin and Warner
Brothers Kevin and Warner Anderson heard about the Eaton fire before they went to bed Jan. 7. They packed some things into a car, but were convinced the fire wasn’t going to be a problem and went to sleep.
“It’s a miracle Kevin and I are still alive,” 81-year-old Warner said, looking back on that night.
At about 3 a.m. they woke up to the sound of loud knocking at their door. Their neighbor said the Eaton fire had arrived in western Altadena. Thick smoke blanketed the neighborhood and winds sent roof shingles soaring through the air, 65-year-old Kevin Anderson remembers.
Aside from their neighbor’s wake up call, the Andersons didn’t receive any orders to evacuate, Warner said. The former computer contractor for Jet Propulsion Laboratory tries not to harp on what would have happened if they’d kept sleeping.
“We never would have woken up, I suppose,” he said.
The Andersons’ home for the last half-century was among the more than 4,800 single-family homes the Eaton fire destroyed on its 44-day run. Pictures of late relatives, jewelry, priceless heirlooms, Warner’s collection of UCLA sweaters and urns with the remains of their two late brothers are all gone.
Starting over from square one is humbling, Warner said. He and his brother have relied not only on the kindness of the church community, but also family, friends and strangers who have provided clothing, household items and a place to stay. The brothers relocated multiple times after the fire and are now settled in Monrovia with Warner’s former co-worker. The Andersons try to claw back some sense of normality by attending their second home — church.
“We’re not going to let our house burning down keep us from coming here,” Kevin Anderson said from the front pew at a recent Bible study.
A gardener by trade, he wants to volunteer at the church he’s been going to since he was a kid, even as his work has slowed after several of his clients lost their homes too.
“It hasn’t destroyed me even though I lost everything,” he said. “I still have my faith in God and that he’s gonna bring us through to something better.”
Keith and Jenifer
Keith and Jenifer Gibbs are expecting the arrival of their third grandchild while they try to rebuild their lives.
They raised their son in their four-bedroom west Altadena home and hosted all the big family gatherings, including a birthday, Christmas and this past New Year’s Eve in December.
But the raining ash and burning embers the night of the fire is the final image of their home stamped into their memory.
“We could have been added to the ... people who died in these fires,” Keith Gibbs said.
At the church, he stood before the congregation and thanked God for saving him and his wife. The death toll from the fire — 17 — has stirred up memories from his time in the military that continue to haunt him.
Gibbs said he was at Camp Fuji in Japan 1979 when a fuel leak caught fire and wind-driven flames roared through the camp, burning more than a dozen huts where Marines slept, killing 13.
Now, he takes long walks through his new Tarzana neighborhood to clear his mind when he’s overwhelmed and he’ll suddenly find himself lost. He uses his phone to find his way back to Jenifer.
“She has definitely been my rock,” he said.
But Jenifer said even she has her moments of grief. Earlier this month, she said she got emotional reaching for a spatula that wasn’t there and it reminded her of the home in Altadena.
Together though, the couple have been trying to stay strong for their grandchildren, 3-year-old Knox and 2-year-old Malia, who have been a welcome distraction and don’t realize the house with the long driveway and backyard with the trampoline is gone.
“It was like their safe haven,” Jenifer said.
She does not want to have to explain to the toddlers that their home is gone. But caring for them means she doesn’t have to focus all her energy on the loss. She can be present for her family and that’s enough.
The kids call and say they went to go over to their house in Altadena. Keith wants to show them what happened, but Jenifer is against the idea.
“I don’t want them to see the devastation,” she said. “It’s a question they have and they wonder what happened.”
While Jenifer feels like she’s had some time to heal since the fire, Keith says he’s still on guard and regularly draws strength from an inspirational quote for comfort that he pulls up on his phone.
“Heavenly Father, I may not understand how everything will work out, but I trust you,” he said. “Things may look dark and bleak now, but I have faith that my dawn is coming. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
On Thursday, the grandparents welcomed their grandson Kody who was born at 8 pounds, 4 ounces.
Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said that the fire department has deployed all available resources and positioned fire patrols and engines in high-risk areas across Los Angeles.
‘Give it all to God’
It can be difficult to make sense of a calamity.
The Church of Christ in Altadena, with its humble storefront on Fair Oaks Avenue, was a sister church to the Pasadena house of worship and was destroyed in the Eaton fire.
Church member Linda D’Aguilar was out of town when her church burned, but she received an alert on her phone to evacuate her home in the Altadena foothills nonetheless. She called her granddaughter, who was staying at D’Aguilar’s home with her own baby, and told her to leave.
“She didn’t hear any alerts, so I said, ‘You have to evacuate and you need to take the baby and run as fast as you can,’” D’Aguilar, 73, said. “By the time she got herself together and tried to pack up some things, the fire was right there in our backyard.”
The two escaped, but most of the homes on D’Aguilar’s street were destroyed — all except hers, which was only slightly damaged. Still, the smoke damage has her living in a hotel for now.
She doesn’t have an explanation for why her home was spared when her church was not. D’Aguilar thinks maybe the large rocks and cement surrounding a part of her property helped beat back the fire, but who knows.
“I’ll just give it all to God,” she said. “He’s the only one that sets my home.”
Her Sundays are now spent at the Pasadena Church of Christ surrounded by friends who rejoice together.
The need is still there
While the traffic passing through the Pasadena church’s parking lot has slowed down in recent days the church remains open three days a week to provide.
The impulse from volunteers is to give to those in need as much as they can carry when they stop by, but that’s not always possible. Many people in need are living in hotels and or in rooms with limited space. Still, every little bit helps.
One couple picked up diapers. Volunteers helped another man buy clothes for work.
“It means the world,” one man who stopped by said as he carried out a box of goods, but declined to give his name out of privacy concerns.
Dorothy Broadway, 74, was volunteering at the church on a recent Sunday. Her son, James, lost his home in the fire as well.
“The need is still there and it’s gonna be there for a long time,” she said.
Her son agreed.
It’s not just a few hundred homes that were lost, but thousands, and people are going about their lives as though there isn’t some great challenge ahead for everyone in and around the church, said James Broadway, 55.
“There’s a lot of people out there, and I can say this, a lot of people out there feel like there’s no tomorrow, but there is,” he said as he lugged crates of water and helped volunteers sort through donated goods. “He puts nothing in front of you, you can’t handle.”
Broadway then had to step away. Someone else at the center was in need.
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