It has been almost 4 months since Thanksgiving. My wife Cheryl and I had a wonderful dinner together, followed by a Hallmark movie and cozy fire in our fireplace. It was the perfect day, and Cheryl even expressed how wonderful the day was. She also reminded me how blessed we were to have the beautiful home God had blessed us with.
I was awakened at 2:00 a.m. when Cheryl told me, “I smell smoke”. My sense of smell isn’t very good, as a matter of fact, I didn’t smell a thing. When she opened the bedroom door I was able to see what she was smelling…the house was filled with smoke. I immediately ran to the fireplace, but there was nothing but cold black ash inside of it. It was a moment later I noticed the paint on the walls next to the fireplace was bubbling. When I opened the linen closet I saw embers falling on the sheets and towels, and it only took a second before they burst into flames.
Cheryl ran outside and called 911, while I grabbed the car keys to get the cars as far away from the house as possible. After moving our cars I realized our daughters car was in front of the house. She left it with us while she was visiting family in San Diego. I ran back into the house to find her keys and move her car so the fire trucks had access to the front yard. Once I found the keys I ran back through the house past the wall that was fully engulfed in flames.
It didn’t take long for the house to be fully engulfed, and the roof caved in shortly after. Cheryl and I were standing in the middle of the street in our pajamas with our car keys and 1 cell phone, thanking God, but in disbelief. Our world had changed in a moment.
It was just 2 days earlier that I posted the blog “Center Yourself”, with the Scripture being Jeremiah 29:11. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Since the day of the fire we have been working to get our lives back in order. The outpouring of love from our church family, and the community we live in, even from people we haven’t seen in years, has blessed us greatly. God is continuing to comfort and strengthen us through this trial, and we have found peace even in the midst of it.
The rebuilding should begin soon.
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