The death toll from last week's firestorm that destroyed the island town of Lahaina has reached 99. As many as 1,000 people remain missing, and search and rescue crews, using cadaver dogs, are making slow progress among the charred ruins.
"I think people are shocked. I think people are grieving. No, not 'I think;' I know," accounts Pastor Rocky Komatsu of nearby Waiehu Community Church. "I know people are shocked. I know people are grieving. Their entire community is shook by what has happened in Lahaina."
In addition to losing loved ones, thousands of people have lost their homes and businesses.
"The entire community of Lahaina has been displaced, so you're looking at, at the very least, 10,000 people," the pastor figures.
He asks his brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for wisdom as they triage the needs surrounding them.
"This is going to be a really long journey," Komatsu asserts. "We're going to need help, not just months from now, but even a year, two years from now."
Meanwhile, as the smoke clears, he sees evidence that God has not abandoned or forgotten the people of Maui. One small example happened Sunday at his church, when a guest preacher from Kentucky "providentially" preached from Romans 5 about suffering producing endurance and hope.
"That was planned months prior," Pastor Komatsu relays.
