Please Pray

I got the above picture from Foxnews.com (they have more good pictures of the smoke). This is what the the cloud looked like just a few minutes after the blast.

These two pictures are from our front yard, about 9:30 am.

At about 8:15 this morning, my house literally shook. I was still in my bed (I'm sick today) and I bolted up thinking my house had been hit by a falling tree or a car. What happened was worse...the Alon Refinery here in Big Spring had a major explosion. We ran outside to see a huge mushroom cloud in the sky...about a mile up. For those of you who don't know, we live on the opposite side of town from the refinery. Several schools on that side of town have been evacuated due to the smoke. My plan is to leave if the smoke comes this way.

We do have several friends that work out at the refinery and as far as we know they are all okay. Since today is President's Day, a lot of people were home from work. Today was the first day off in a month for one man we know...praise God. We don't know anything yet about injuries or fatalities, but we're sure it can't be good. Please pray.

******************** UPDATE ********************

The reports coming through right now (10:30 am) are that everyone has been accounted for at the refinery. There have been three injuries within the refinery and one injury suffered by a passer-by on I-20. Hopefully that is it. The fire is under control and supposedly the smoke does not pose a threat to the community.