"Fire"works in January?

Christmas and New Year's were over. Mom and I were getting back to more decorating in the new apartment. We had only been here for around two months. It was a Sunday night as mom and I were talking about curtains and colors for the living room area. Mom was standing on a chair beginning to measure and hang a curtain rod above the sliding glass door from the living room to the patio. I was watching t.v. Mom noticed an orange glow outside the blinds that the apartment management places on the windows and sliding doors throughout the complex.  She peered out of the blinds to see that the grass was all orange and flickering. As the wife of a firefighter you know what orange and flickering means, fire!

Mom ran outside the building to see where it was coming from. Then she ran back in and told me to call 911 as the building was on fire. She ran to the maintenance man's door directly across from us and starting banging on the door yelling that there was a fire on the third floor and that we all needed to get out. As mom and the maintenance man knocked on all the doors in the building telling everyone to get out, I was on the phone with 911 telling them everything that was going on and that I couldn't get out until mom came back to get me.

As I was being walked out the door by mom, uniformed officers were on their way in. We told them our floor was evacuated as I was the last one to leave the ground floor and to check the second and third floors for others. Following me out the door was a third floor neighbor with his dog. His mom just happened to be someone I worked with, so he was heading to his mom's house for the rest of the night.

Mom and I got in my car and moved it to the street so the fire department didn't have it in the way of fighting the fire. It was a good thing too, as the ladder truck needed to be right in front of our place to fight it from above. It would be hours before we knew what was going on. Mom walked over to the clubhouse where a lot of the residence from our building and the adjacent building were. She had left me in the car so she could just go check on what we were to do. It was nearly 45 minutes before she came back. I had all that time to think about what was going on and come up with all kinds of scenarios in my mind. I didn't know if I had an apartment to go back to or not. I didn't know if all my belongings were ruined from smoke, fire and/or water damage. I was a complete wreck of emotions sitting there by myself, not knowing.

The 2nd and 3rd floor fire damage from the outside of
our building. My place, untouched by the fire, only
had debris and water on the patio outside.

When mom came back to find me crying, she laughed in the panic of knowing that I was ony that way because she had been gone so long under these circumstances. It was a little funny that I was crying, though. I really had nothing to cry about that I knew of. It was just all emotions. Mom got me and my wheelchair together and we rolled over to the clubhouse. Since my apartment was on the bottom floor us the unit that started the fire, I was going to have to go to a hotel for at least that night. Since I was the resident on the lease, I had to go in and talk with the Red Cross volunteers and the apartment management about what was going to happen next and such. It was not a very fun evening.

I texted my boss to let him know what was happening and that I wouldn't be in the office in the morning. We called our family and let them know what was happening and to be praying. The firefighters were very nice and kept us all updated as best they could. After another long while, some of the residents were allowed back into their apartments as they had no damage, only the smell of smoke. Since I had unique circumstances and needed some special items from my place to stay in a hotel, the firefighters and our management escorted my mom to our apartment to grab the things that I needed. in order to leave. They weren't gone too long before mom came back empty handed.

Come to find out, absolutely NO damage was done to my place inside at all. No water damage. No smoke damage. No fire damage. The firefighter came back in complete disbelief at how my place was spared. The apartment manager came back completely awe struck at there being no damage. Mom came back thoroughly elated that there was no damage to my place and we were going to be allowed to sleep there if we didn't mind the smell of the smoke. It was all up to me whether I thought I could handle the smell or not. Mom and I moved back in right away and slept there that night (noise from the firefighters and all).

This was just another blessing from God that my place was spared from everything that could have happened! There was not a doubt about it and we made sure the apartment management and firefighters knew that God had protected us. We also thanked the firefighters for their efforts of saving the building completely. Without them having put the fire out, the building would have been lost. So, between the firefighters and the Lord, I had much to be grateful for.

Next...."Given the ALL Clear."

Reflection:
"Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Daniel’s Friends Disobey the King

Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Saved in Fiery Trial

Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?”

They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.”

“Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Nebuchadnezzar Praises God

Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.

Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king’s word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this." Daniel 3:1-29