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We are here this morning on the heels of a natural disaster. The relentless brush fires which swept through Southern California forced thousands to flee their towns. Now that the smoke and flames have finally been subdued, several hundred homes have burned to the ground. Even today, the smell of smoke and the layers of ash still linger.

This morning I see you, knowing that some of you dropped many tears this past week when the ashes were falling around you. Some of you have lost your home or know someone who did. Many of you have friends whose homes were threatened. I was traveling last week and watched the monstrous flames through the eyes of a television newsman. My wife and I prayed for you in the middle of it all. Fortunately, most of your homes were spared, but others were not so fortunate and today we are praying for them. Thank God that more lives were not lost.

One of my daughters, who lives next door to us, walked to the street outside of her home and saw the ridge of flames intruding on the black solace of night, lighting the hills beyond. What she saw was not just an orange smoky sky, but the one-hundred foot high flames that leaped above the cities of Laguna and Irvine. It looked like entire cities were aflame.

And so I look upon my congregation, here in Southern California today, and I want to deliver to you some words of inspiration. We have been looking at the power of goal-setting. Is this appropriate to talk about now, in the aftermath of disaster? Yes!

If You Will Look To Tomorrow With A Goal In Mind, Half The Battle Will Be Won.

I know the feeling of losing my house. When I was a young college student, the rooming house, where I boarded, burned to the ground. I lost everything. I had very few possessions, but I was at class and so I survived with only the clothes on my back.

What I remember of the first shock was that my almost completed term paper was gone.

Then I lost all my possessions a second time, when I came home for vacation. While I was home, a tornado took away our entire farm, not only our residence but our business. My horse lay dead, pierced by a 2X4. We had only enough time to flee with our lives and a few keepsakes. I remember it well. I can still hear my mother, saying afterwards, "Oh. I don't have this and' that. It was lost in the tornado." The photos, the souvenirs, the wedding presents, the anniversary gifts, the hand-me-down pieces of jewelry my mother had received from my grandmother. It was all gone. When you see your home behind you as you flee, only to return to find nothing salvaged; not a paper, not a photograph, not even a piece of cloth, it's an eerie and lonely feeling. I've been through that twice. Once from the tornado, another time from the fire.

I was deeply touched this past summer when I flew over the flood waters of the Mississippi River and saw all the lost homes. I saw a house that had literally been lifted off it's foundation, drifting down the river like a piece of wood.

Many of you who live outside of the United States may know this feeling. Hundreds, thousands of you, who live in Bosnia or Croatia, or God knows where, have had everything taken from you, even loved ones.

For all of you, from Laguna to the Mississippi to Croatia, I'm giving you a verse that I believe to be the key to surviving disaster. At first, you might feel frustrated when you read it, maybe even angry, but remember, I've made it through two disasters and I am still positive and I still have faith, and I am still smiling. How? This verse answers that. Psalm 103: Verse 1,

Bless the Lord O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

You have a choice. You can be angry at God. You can deny Him and doubt if He was ever there. Or you can bless Him. "How can I bless Him? Why should I bless Him?" I know some of you feel this way; but listen. The following verses will give you seven verbs, the answers to the "how" and the "why." I am a writer, and in composition, verbs are about the most important part of your writings. They create energy and excitement. I pick my verbs very carefully.

There are seven verbs in this text. No contemporary psychologist or analyst or psychotherapist could come up with seven better verbs to elaborate the process of turning a disaster into an opportunity. Psalm 103:1 to 5 reads:

Forget Not all His benefitsÖ

He Forgives all your iniquitiesÖ

He Heals all your diseasesÖ

He Redeems your life from destructionÖ

He Crowns you with loving kindness and tender merciesÖ

He Satisfies your mouth with good thingsÖ

He Renews your youth, like the eagles."

Sensational! Isn't it? Look at the process of moving from the negative reaction to the positive response.

Verb #1) FORGET NOT: When a tragedy hits, when a disaster strikes, what must you do first and foremost? "Forget not all His benefits. "

Look At What You Have Left, Not At What You Have Lost.

I first got this phrase when a motorcycle accident threatened the life of my daughter who was thirteen at the time. Her life was spared but her left leg was gone. God spoke this phrase to me when I was distraught over her. "Look at what you have left, Schuller, not at what you have lost." And now I am saying the same to you. You weren't killed. You can still think. You've got your mind. Think! "Forget not all God's benefits."

The amazing thing about the horrendous fire here was that it impacted such a large area, not just in devastation but just in letting so many people sense it's presence. It was fifteen, maybe twenty miles away, or even thirty, and there was a layer of ashen dust on this church. I'm going into my fortieth year of living here. I've seen many brush fires sweep this coast. But nothing, nothing like this week. And the amazing thing is that no one was killed in the Laguna fire. Few, very few, were killed in the Malibu fire. No child was lost in the flames. Think a minute how easy it might be for a young teen to be baby-sitting a sleeping infant and in a moment of panic forget the innocent bundle. But it didn't happen. "Forget not His benefits." Firemen and police courageously evacuated over 23,000 people. Look at all the lives they saved. It is amazing.

"Look at what you still have left! Count your many blessings, name them one by one. It will surprise you, what the Lord has done." That is your first step. Forget Not.

Verb #2) FORGIVE: Forgive yourself as God has forgiven you. In any disaster, a very common human reaction is, "Why didn't I do. . . why didn't I grab..." There's almost always a feeling of guilt mixed in with the grief.

Victor Andrews, one of the members of our Board of Directors, lives in Emerald Bay, one of the neighborhoods where few houses survived. When I tried to call him as I was on the road traveling, a recording from the operator explained. "Because of the fire in this area, no calls are going through." Finally, I caught him on his car phone. I couldn't believe it. I said, "Vic, did you lose your house?" He answered, "No. It didn't hit us." Wow, was I surprised! I said, "Do you feel guilty ?" He answered, "Yes, I feel guilty because all of my neighborsí homes are in ashes and mine was spared."

What if your house was spared? What if it wasn't spared but you had a chance to grab some belongings when your neighbor who was at work didn't? What if you failed to buy fire insurance? Forgive. Forgive yourself and forgive others who came out with more than you. Forgive the one who might have caused the inferno. That doesn't mean you are putting a stamp of approval on the act, for heaven's sake. You can separate the act from the person. What if the arson was caused by a young teenager who did something terribly stupid? We don't know. Maybe it was someone with a more wicked motive; revenge maybe. If you want to go forward, you must forgive, or you take on a greater hurt the hurt of revenge, the very motive of the one you are condemning. Don't let it happen.

Forget Not His benefits. He Forgives all your iniquities.

Verb #3) HEAL: The emotional turmoil that you go through from a disaster can be great. There's a sense of isolation the sense of abandonment. Then there's jealousy of those more fortunate. Then the regrets. All of these negative emotions, God will somehow heal. "He Heals all of your diseases." If you forget not His benefits, if you forgive yourself and others just like He has forgiven you, then the healing can begin. And then you're ready for verb # 4.

Verb #4) REDEEM: Now redemption can begin. You can begin to dream again, to rebuild. The architect who helped us with the building here at this church (with the exception of the Crystal Cathedral) was a man by the name of Richard Neutra. He is a well-known architect and was featured on the cover of Time magazine. He is probably one of the five most esteemed people in his field in the twentieth century. His home was renowned, located on Silver Lake Blvd. It was called the Neutra House in architectural journals.

Then, one morning, the news broke that the house had burned to the ground. It was destroyed. It was a piece of history. Richard Neutra was a dear friend, so I went there while the ashes were still warm. All of his important letters and mementos and designs were gone. Do you know what he said to me? He said, "Well, now that the lot is clear, I can design a better house." And he did. Redeem your life from destruction.

Let Your Hopes, Not Your Hurts Shape Your New Goals. Yes, Let Your Dreams, Not Your Disaster, Motivate You.

Forget not His benefits. He Forgives your iniquities. He Redeems your life from destruction. He brings you from destruction to new construction .

Verb #5) CROWN: "God crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies.î You are now changed; forever; permanently. You won't be the same person that you were before.

Trouble Never Leaves You Where It Found You.

In love's service, only broken hearts qualify. You are now credentialed, and you will understand other's hurts. You will now be a different person. You will be Crowned with loving kindness and tender mercies.

My wife, Arvella, went to the supermarket the other day, where the checkers know her. When she got to the head of the line, the checker said to her, "Oh, Mrs. Schuller, did you folks have any church members lose their homes?" Arvella nodded and said, "Yes, we know one right now. Maybe more." She said, "One of our checkers lost her house." She looked at Mrs. Schuller and lowered her voice and said, "All of the checkers here took up an offering for her. We just started yesterday and we've already collected $9900. Isn't that wonderful?î

He will crown you with loving kindness and tender mercies. Help comes from unexpected sources and you experience the goodness of God through the strength of a fireman, a policeman, or a supermarket checker.

Verb #6) Satisfy: You will be satisfied if you follow these steps. You will speak a different language. You will think differently. You will become a positive person. If you focus on blessing the Lord instead of cursing, you will be satisfied. "He satisfies your mouth with good things." You will taste the goodness of the Lord. You know the feeling of hot soup on an empty stomach, the warmth, the satisfaction that you didn't think you would experience when you were still hungry. This is what the satisfaction of the Lord is like. He will comfort you. He will warm you. He will satisfy you with good things.

Verb #7) RENEW: "He renews your youth like the eagles." I feel as young today as I did when I started this ministry thirty-nine years ago. Despite tornados, fires, motorcycle accidents, brain surgeries, cancers; all of these I have known in my family and in myself. But I feel as young as ever. I have been renewed again and again and again. What is it? What keeps me young and hopeful and positive and creative and constructive and optimistic? We, my wife and I, my family and I, bless the Lord. And we encourage people.

This week I received a very tender note from someone. I will read, to you, just a few lines:

My Dear Rev. Schuller,

I hardly know where to begin to thank you for saving my life and helping me to begin to have a daily walk with the Lord. Nine years ago, I was in a deep depression I had lost a fourteen year teaching job. It was my only security at that point. And I was being abused, physically and emotionally, by my husband. On top of that, I was struggling with colon cancer and I feared I would not be around for my little daughter, who was only five years old. So, I prepared to take my life. I chose a Sunday morning Then your program came on television. I heard you say, 'Turn your scars into stars.' And for the first time, I suddenly did not feel hopeless and abandoned by God. "

I know what it's like to be homeless. I know what it's like to find a spare bedroom in a friend's house because your bedroom is gone. I lived through that. But you know what? I have never had the experience of being spiritually homeless. Never!

"Bless the Lord, O my soul. All that is within me, bless His holy name. Forget not all His benefits. He forgives all your iniquities. He heals all of your diseases. He redeems your life from destruction. He crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies. He satisfies your mouth with good things. He renews your youth, like an eagles." Choose life today. Choose to bless, not to curse. Your goals hold the power of your future. Every goal has its problems but if your goal is to bless, you will see grand possibilities. Bless the Lord - that is your responsibility, and see what He will do.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for Your promises of good things. Give to everyone listening now, whether they have lost their home, a loved one, or have simply lost hope for the future, give each one the ability to bless You. Remind them of all the good things You have done; the salvation You have brought which they cannot recall because of the black cloud of despair that has hidden the memory. Then Lord, place in their hearts the seed of faith that You will deliver. You will forgive. You will heal. You will redeem. You will crown. You will satisfy. You will renew. Thank You Lord. We love You and we do bless You.