The Day a Fire Came to Hot Springs

Smoke billowed above the hill.  It got darker. 

And then, as I watched from my kitchen window, some flames flickered over the top of the hill, as if to say "we're headed your way!"

Fresh fear struck my heart.

Life in the Black Hills has always presented some form of wildfire in the area, but this was the first time since I have been living here that a fire has ever come so close to town that homes were being evacuated.

Some of our friends' homes were being evacuated.

I texted them to let them know they could crash at our place for the night if they needed to.

In the meantime, I started a pile of necessities in case we ourselves also had to evacuate.

I nervously packed a couple changes of clothes into a suitcase, loaded essential documents and bedding into the car, and piled some snack food into a basket.

And then, with the essentials taken care of, I started scanning the house for extra stuff we could take--items that weren't vital to living life away from home for a few days, but things we would want to have, should the fire actually burn down our home:

What about those framed wedding pictures? No, we can always print another copy.

Books? Not crucial.

Kitchen items?  Those are replaceable.

Music? DVDs? Laundry detergent? More clothes? No, no, no, and no.

I kept scanning the room. 

Family recipe book?  Maybe.

Journals? Yes.

The more I looked around our house, the more stark the realization became: all this stuff that we cling to so tightly in this life is all just that--stuff.

In the grand scheme of life, they really don't matter.

Yes, it would be a big bummer if our house burned down.

Yes, it would take some money to replace things.

But things can be replaced. 

While we never did have to evacuate and our lives never were in danger, these kind of moments are instant reality-checks and make us quickly realize that there are more important things in life than that handmade quilt or those Marvel DVDs that are so fun to watch.

Perhaps if we had actually had to evacuate, I would have a different perspective on this situation.  

I don't know.

 

But I do know that on that Sunday afternoon, as the fire struck fear in my heart and had the potential of burning down homes, I was quietly, yet unmistakably reminded that even with a potential crisis close at hand, my eternal home is in heaven.

I was reminded that my hope lies not in this world but in the one to come.

I was encouraged to remember that no matter what happened, my ultimate source of comfort and strength is found in the Lord.

I was reminded that, even a fire that has the potential to consume everything one owns here on earth, is still in the sovereign control of the God who made it.

And I was quietly and extremely grateful for the firefighters who fought to put out the fire.