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Blaze of Glory

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Blaze of Glory

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The brutal sun crowded out the promise of coolness among the trees that were heavily laden with the weight of the sun's glare. With brief, merciful intervals, wind gusts hurled leaves, dust and grass clippings dehydrated by the sun's blistering rays. It was the wind—an unwitting accomplice—that conveyed the initial telltale sign of the coming terror.

I was the first to detect the strange color of a passing gust—a hint of darkness, a faded wisp of gray undulating with the passing wind. I called to my mother as I bolted out the back door. A mystery was afoot—what was happening?

Outside, I was greeted by a shocking reality. The sultry afternoon—heavy with the dampness of a humid summer—was alive with an unquenchable, crackling fury.

A Wall of Fire

A wall of fire hundreds of feet wide advanced eagerly like a Roman legion—impervious to any obstacle in its path. Flames were leaping higher, rising in the air and eagerly racing ahead, leaving behind a charred graveyard of blackened soil.

Struck with awe, I was shaken violently as a deafening, thunderous BOOM reverberated through air that was suddenly tense with newfound stress. It was an enormous sound that stretched into my chest and shook my lungs. A propane tank, then a car, then excavating equipment, then gas tanks reacted violently to the heat and combustion.

The neighbor's empty house, an initial victim of the day, was scarred beyond recognition. With an angry thirst the flames reacted with greater fervor—dashing onward—scaling the hill toward my home. Confused thoughts bounced and echoed in my mind—action, do something, water, run, do something—a hurried, disorganized jumble.

After alerting my mother to the danger, I began unfurling the garden hose—act, do something!—THE HOUSE! THE CAR! ACT, DO SOMETHING, pray.

The Prayer of a Child

It was the simple, uncomplicated prayer of a child—unfettered by practice, wrought in the clarity of danger: "Dear God—keep us safe. Turn the fire away. Don't let the house burn. Don't let the car burn. God, keep us safe."

With my mom commandeering the only hose, I set out with a rake—carving a break in the underbrush where the forest rubbed shoulders with the beginning of the yard. "Dear God—keep us safe. Please stop the fire. Keep us safe."

It was a repeated prayer—not vain but intense. The spreading fire—approaching with the vigor of an unrelenting tormenter—licked the base of ancient trees and rushed onward in search of easier prey in the underbrush. "Dear God—keep us safe!"

The dreaded moment came all too quickly. The firestorm reached the property line poised to strike—25 feet from the house, peril balanced gingerly on the razor's edge. Dear God—keep us safe—make it stop!

An Invisible Barrier

An invisible barrier tempered the fiery beast. Small sorties of flames attempted to break through this impenetrable line only to be pushed back with a rake, a stomp, a loss of fuel or an unexplained fizzling of the flames themselves.

For hundreds of feet, even into the woods at the rear of our family's property, an unseen bulwark guarding the land, the home, the car and the family refused to yield. The enraged fire was pushed north where it danced across the back of the property before fanning out to extinguish numerous acres before dying a slow, exhausting death in the hours to come.

Thank you, God!

A palpable relief flowed over me as the hurried moments began to settle; and calm returned amid the smell of soot, grime, sweat and scorched earth. An eerie coolness began to fill the space left vacant by the passing flames.

An investigation would reveal that a careless fire left unattended had wasted dozens of acres.

A Day I'll Never Forget

But for me, a young lad just becoming aware of and learning to understand and appreciate the delicate balance of life and death, it was a day I'll never forget. I learned, firsthand, that our God is God.

Moses recorded: "Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other" (Deuteronomy 4:39).

On a summer afternoon, I stood awestruck by the mighty hand of God. In the path of a raging firestorm, I had witnessed a glimpse of the mercy, goodness and deliverance of God.

In times of distress or despair or in the fiery trials of life, I often hearken back to the image of that little boy, the blazing fire and the reality that is the glory of God. "The Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other." UN