X Church group tries to bring hope to Pickerington family dealing with fatal fire

CANAL WINCHESTER − A group from X Church tried to bring hope to a Pickerington family devastated in February by a fire that killed a family member.

The group helped to remove debris from the house, along with people from other areas of the community.

"When we heard about the situation we knew that we should try to do something because it was in our neighborhood," care and outreach pastor Steve Rauch said. "Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. And this is just one of the ways that we could love them."

He said people need a reason to have hope when they've suffered such a loss.

"But the beautiful thing about Easter is it is all about hope," he said. "When it looked darkest on Good Friday and confusion on silent Saturday, then it made resurrection Sunday so much more powerful. It gave us hope for forgiveness, for resurrection, for eternal life.

"And that's what we were trying to communicate simply by showing up and bringing hope to this family. Letting them know that they were seen, heard, loved, supported and encouraged, and they were not alone in this situation. There was reason for hope even in the midst of this difficult time."

Sophia Redzinak, a Lancaster resident, was one of the church members who helped the family. She said the family did not want to comment for this story.

"They were asking for some help in just clearing out debris in their house," Redzinak said. "They weren't sure if it was going to sell or they were going to have to clear it out or pay to have someone clear it out. So we decided to just show up and see how many people we could get on the situation."

She said the group was able to clear out most of the debris in the house.

"The mom and the dad were both there," Redzinak said. "And then one of the brothers was there. It was pretty emotional for them to just be on the scene."

She said there were a lot of tears and people prayed with the family. Redzinak said she thinks the visit gave the family a little hope in spite of their tragedy.

"I think it was something that really touched their hearts that we were able to come and do that in like an hour," she said. "Anytime there's a situation like this, me and my friends and our group, we feel like it is our absolute obligation as people who follow Jesus to show up and to just show love and help them out in a time where they feel like they don't get help from anyone."

Redzinak said it is humbling to see people deal with such a tragedy.

"It really opens your eyes to the pain that's all over the world and in our community," she said. "But it's something that's very rewarding. It makes you feel like we really have a true purpose here."

Redzinak said Easter has always represented death and new life to her.

"The story of Jesus has always been impactful on my faith," she said. "This year is not much different. But I have joined those disaster relief teams over the past year. So that has changed some things for me and how I look at these situations and how I imagine Jesus would treat these people."

jbarron@gannett.com

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This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: X Church tries to bring hope to Pickerington family after fatal fire