Urban Reformation

Last evening about 1:30 in the morning, I was awakened suddenly by my wife saying, “There’s a fire!” I think she had to shake me a couple of times because of my own unbelief, and grogginess.

I soon rose to turn the lights on in my daughters’ room and I saw my youngest daughter sleeping in her bunk bed soundly, while my oldest daughter had awakened due to a strange smell, also still very groggy. I looked up again after having run in to put my contacts in quickly, and I saw a thick cloud of white smoke, surrounding my youngest daughter still sleeping on the top bunk. I gained my senses somewhat and took a breath and the whole upstairs smelled like burning rubber.

My wife had gotten up before me and threw some water on the side of the bed where the sparks were shooting out from the wall, but the bunk bed was pushed close to the wall. I pulled the bunk bed back got my youngest daughter down from the bed and yanked the surge protector out of the wall, and called the fire department.

Just a few charred marks around the little socket have had a huge lasting affect on us this morning as we reflect. The firemen offered little advice. They brought in a heat camera to ensure there was no fire in the wall and then quickly left, all eight of them.

We had taken down our hallway smoke detectors because they were incredibly old and we had redone the hallways with new sheetrock, and we have had every intension of replacing them soon, yet we hadn’t.

Last evening my wife and I went out to dinner reflecting on our lives together, how far God’s brought us, where we’ve been, and yes how much we love our children, and feel so enormously blessed to have them in our lives, words do not describe our gratitude toward our heavenly father.

It was as if last night was to drive home the point of God’s sovereignty and mercy, in our lives. We felt as if last night God literally sent angels to guard us, yet understanding that we are not guaranteed even one more day, or moment.  It is up to our Heavenly Father, when our time is to come, and the time of our children, although it’s something I can’t fathom at this time,  He has been and continues to be our refuge, and He is a Good God.

Psalms 91
1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge —
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

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