January 29, 2008

• Putting things in perspective

  Ron and I were kind of moaning and complaining about  some things the other day.  We are struggling with a few things...  we need some things for the house...  we have lots of things we need to do and don't have the money to do it.  We have bills to pay and have gotten ourselves in a bit over our heads (yeah, that happens, right?)....  And we were both frustrated with a situation that had just happened at a church meeting....  So we were in the car kind of venting and complaining...blah blah blah...kind of childishly....not yelling at each other, but feeding off of each other and having a self righteous pity party.... As we were driving toward home, we saw a column of thick, dark smoke coming up from the direction of our neighborhood.  We drove closer, hoping that it would prove to be in a different direction (you know how that works sometimes), but it didn't...so our hearts kind of started pounding, even though we pretended that they weren't....  As we pulled into our street, we were relieved to see that the smoke was not from our home, but was very close.  By this time, our conversation had completely changed from our problems to concern for our neighbors...we drove toward the column of smoke, feeling a bit like the Israelites in the desert, and this is what we found.... http://www.wlhvfd.com/  (hopefully this link remains current....scroll down about halfway to see 7401 Lake Ora Dr)  We didn't pull into the street, but we could see the house from across the lake.  We got there just as the first fire trucks were pulling up...so we saw the smoke as it is shown in the first picture and the fire as it is shown in the second picture...  I can't imagine what these people went through in losing their home....  But as we God showed us that our problems are trivial...and that as long as it takes to build up our treasures here on earth...they can all be taken in an instant....

  
  

  Ron and I didn't really talk about much for the rest of the evening...we both felt so drained and impacted by what we had seen...and guilty for wallowing in our self pity....but before we went to sleep, I grabbed his hand and in the darkness said....well...at least our house didn't burn down today....  and he said...yup.  And somehow that said it all. 

  
  

  peace...

  • 10:56 am
  • 4 Comments