A good story out of our terrible fires this past June courtesy of our local Catholic Herald

"When diocesan seminarian John Stearns visited firefighters working on the Waldo Canyon fire, he brought not only food, snacks and water but 17 years of experience in the field.

Stearns, who is spending his summer at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in Castle Rock before heading back to Kenrick-Glennon seminary in St. Louis, accompanied fire department chaplain and St. Francis pastor Father Brad Noonan to the front lines of the fire and spent upwards of 15 hours a day ministering to firefighters’ needs.

Before entering the seminary, Stearns spent 10 years in the Air Force as a firefighter paramedic and seven years with the Tri-Lakes Fire Department.

“People describe it (Mountain Shadows) as a war zone, and having been in the first Desert Storm, I would agree with them,” Stearns said. “It’s very hard to describe. It’s eerily silent. Between the sights and the smells, I haven’t seen anything like it in the United States.”

In God's economy, nothing is wasted if we offer it to Him.