|
On March 29, 2001, I received a phone call at work from my neighbor that would have a dramatic effect on myself and my family for a long time to come. She said, "your house is on fire" What happened after this call is somewhat foggy, but I remember telling my employees to take care of things for me because I had to go home. I got in my car and told myself that I had to keep myself together and I tried to pray, but a spirit of hysteria was trying to take me over. I finally just started yelling "Jesus" because that was all of the words that I could speak without being overwhelmed. I was trying to believe that what my neighbor had said was a lie , or if it was true, that angels would somehow take care of it (stupid religious teaching), but when I got to South Fork Ranch, I could see the smoke and the reality of the situation set in. I told myself to suck it up and get a grip and start BELIEVING! We live in a small bedroom community that has a volunteer fire department. It was the noon hour on a weekday and I knew I had better start believing God for some firemen and fast.
When I got to the house, the old City of Lucas fire truck and two firemen were there and they were casually observing the situation. I could see flames shooting out of the roof on the south end of the house and a tree caught on fire and I thought, THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH, JESUS! We need more help! I ran to the back to check on our dogs. They have a doggie door so they can come in and out of the house, but they were no where to be seen. I started to go into the back door, but there was an explosion and flames were everywhere. I decided at that point that I was not going to be stupid and risk my life for the dogs. I remember thinking, Lord, you're going to have to take care of them. I ran back to the front and another fire truck was pulling up. It was the city of Parker, TX. They are also a volunteer fire department. I then remembered that we had a nearly new Jeep Grand Cherokee in the garage and I ran back to see if I could get the garage door open. The electrical system in the garage was burned and the door wouldn't?t open. I realized at this moment that there was absolutely NOTHING that I could do and I had to trust God. That is not an easy thing to do when you are standing there watching your house being engulfed in flames, but I felt a calmness coming over myself.
I left for a few minutes to change clothes at my neighbors (I happen to have had a change of clothes in my trunk) and when I got back, the City of Murphy Fire department was there. By this time they had started getting out the hoses and were doing something! Next thing I knew, the brand new City of Lucas truck was on the scene followed by the City of Wylie In all, there were 5 fire trucks from four cities. Two were totally volunteer, one was a part time fire dept. and that day they had paid firemen, and Wylie had the only full time fire department. They all cooperated with each other and were able to contain the fire and save a large amount of our personal belongings. I talked to several of the firemen later and it was amazing to hear how they just happened to be off that day, or had decided to come home for lunch. Murphy was there because they had nothing else to do. A couple of volunteers firemen from Parker were hanging out at the station and they decided to check it out since our house was so close to them. I can't remember why Wylie said that they showed up, but I just thank God that they did. I was told later by a friend of mine that works for the city of Plano Fire Department that their insurance would not have allowed them to save as much of our property that the volunteers did due to the danger.
I found our two little dogs hiding under our deck in the back yard. They were very scared, but unhurt. The Jeep was another miracle. Several hours later after most of the flames had been put out, a couple of the firemen lifted the garage door open. The roof had caved in and the jeep was covered with sheet rock, insulation, and stuff that had been stored in our attic. We removed all of the debris and backed it out of the garage. A car wash revealed no damage to the exterior and the rubber hoses and tires had not been affected even though they had been subjected to high heat. We never had to replace any parts as a result of the fire.
I reflect back on the events of this day and I can see the power of God every step of the way. He made four fire departments come together. He kept our dogs out of harm's way, and He brought our jeep out of the fire unscathed. I made this comment to an acquaintance of mine and their reply was , how can you say that God was with you when such bad things happened to you? God doesn't take you around the fire , he takes you through the fire. If you will believe the gospel, the power of God, you will experience salvation in your life, and if you will call on the name of the Lord you will be set at safety as we were that day.
|
