Fearing and Trembling in the Face of Fire

I heard the high humming of the diesel engines first. Then I went to the window and saw the fire trucks. At

the other window I saw the house—just two doors down—engulfed in flames.

I joined the people on the sidewalk. I've never seen more neighbors outside. I wanted to know, to understand. The two houses directly north of me had burned in two days. Would mine be next?

I left because there was too much smoke. Then I came back because the smoke was in my house. I saw one of the tenants run up to the house, devastated. There were at least four fire trucks, maybe more, and scores of firemen. They stood in knots, and made jokes as they ripped chunks of the house apart.

People stared. They stood in little clumps, or, like me, alone. They made small talk together, or simply gawked. The smoke continued rising. My conflicting emotions really bothered me; I couldn't put it all together.

Life carried on, almost brutally. Whatever I was doing before seemed utterly trivial. But people just moved on. The clumps broke up, and people trickled back to what was normal. The image that sticks in my mind is of a man, dressed sharply in a suit, walking hand in hand with his wife, walking slow down the sidewalk, away from all that they once had.

How dare you make their story anecdotal. How dare you turn this into entertainment. I wanted to smash the news camera on the ground. This is too personal, too raw, for the six o'clock news.

The fires, and the burnt remains 150 feet away, broke through the bubble of all the assumptions that we make. The idea that this flashing life will go on forever, that the newest thing is the real thing. We are safe and young and will live for a long time. I bought into this bubble, without knowing it. And now it disappears.

What can you do?
Make jokes and laugh in the face of the tragic.
Swear, and still believe, against all odds, that it sure as hell won't happen to me.
Trust in electrical inspections.
Sweat, fear, tremble, and hide.

Or, fear, tremble, and see. See that we are fragile beings, scraping by on the face of existence. See that every breath is granted by Another. See that no moment may be assumed, only His providence sought: a sweet refuge and a needed help.