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Verse:“When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. . . .For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” —Isaiah 43:2, 3, NIV
One month ago today, as I began my morning worship time, I noticed that the sunrise was extraordinarily beautiful. I went outside to take a picture. Then I saw that what sounded like rain showers on our two opened deck umbrellas was actually falling ashes! I called Ben, my husband, to look outside. “Those clouds are black with smoke, soot, and haze!” he quickly informed me. Back inside, I phoned my cousin, Carrie.
“Feather River Hospital is being evacuated right now!” she informed me. “We are hooking up our RV and loading our trucks. We’re evacuating as soon as we can.” Ben came in to tell me he had located on Google a fire burning thirty-five miles away from where we lived.
“Mary, you need to get all the clothes into the RV and anything else you want to take.” Having just returned from a discipleship seminar in New York, I still had a partially unpacked suitcase into which I threw two pairs of jeans, a couple of tops, a sweater set, a skirt, and a camisole. That will be enough to last a week or so, I told myself. Then we’ll be back home again.
We’d previously had to evacuate four times since moving to Paradise, California. This would be the fifth—but we had always returned. So I didn’t worry about what-if. I simply grabbed my computer, my Bible, Dad’s Bible, my iPad, phone, and CPAP machine with all the battery connections. At the last minute, I said to Ben, “Better get your passport in case we need identification documents.” As Ben backed our RV down Crestmoor Drive, I was strangely convicted to take a picture of the RV and the house. (Later, we learned that the first thing insurance investigators request is a recent picture of one’s property.) I followed Ben in the truck with our dachshund, Buster. Soon I could barely see the backlights of our RV. As telephone poles burst into flame and crumbled just feet away from my vehicle, the heat inside the truck became intense—even with air-conditioning. Buster trembled.
In a sinful world, disaster can burst upon us without a moment’s notice. Are we walking so closely with Jesus each day that our faith will look beyond our circumstances? I pray we are.
Mary H. Maxson