Scripture Reading:
PSALM 5
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
ISAIAH 43:2
BARBARA EVANS HAD EYED THE HOUSE in the Santa Monica mountains for ten years. It was a Victorian with a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean and it left her breathless.
“That’s my dream house,” she told her husband, Ted. “If it’s ever for sale, I’d love to own it.”
At the time it was only a dream, but as Ted did increasingly better with his business, the idea of affording such a house became a reality.
On an anniversary, Ted told Barbara, “I’d give you the moon if I could.”
Barbara laughed. “I’d settle for the house on the hill.”
Ten years went by and Barbara gave up on the idea that it would ever be for sale. Then, one month when she was in Vermont, the dream house went on the market. Ted worked frantically with a realtor and two weeks later when Barbara returned, Ted handed her a key at the airport.
“I have a surprise for you,” he told her. “Because I never want you to doubt how much I love you.”
Six weeks later they were settled in. “It’s everything I dreamed it would be,” she whispered to Ted. “But it wouldn’t be anything without you.”
Five years passed and one hot August Sunday a firestorm raged through the Santa Monica mountains. Barbara was visiting her sister in the San Fernando Valley. When Ted returned from church, he could see smoke. And he prayed that God would keep their home from danger.
About two hours later, he smelled smoke and looked out his window. The fire had gained ground and seemed to be heading in his direction. Ted went outside to watch the fire’s progress and was joined by his neighbor Roy. Despite the dry brush that surrounded their homes, they felt certain that firefighters would contain the blaze.
Ted decided to gather old pictures and other irreplaceable items and packed them into his car, and Roy went to water his roof down.
Then Ted called Barbara. “Honey, the fire’s close. Pray.”
Barbara hung up the phone and bowed her head. “God, please keep my love letter from Ted safe.” Then she had an image of a circle of protection. “Lord, place a hedge of protection around Ted and our home. Circle it with your angels.”
Meanwhile, Ted began spraying water on his deck with his garden hose. Since he had no ladder that would reach his roof, he could not saturate it as he would’ve liked to.
Then suddenly the wind changed directions and sent the fire directly toward Ted’s house. Almost immediately, Roy came racing back to Ted’s house. Together the men stood, trancelike, as they stared in horror at the approaching wall of flames some thirty feet high, consuming everything in its path and gaining strength.
“We’re in big trouble,” Ted muttered as the ferocious blaze leaped over a gorge and moved up the hillside toward their homes.
“Come on!” Roy screamed. “Run for your life!”
Ted dropped his hose and the two men began running. The men jumped into their cars and sped away. Once he got to a parking lot on the beach below, Ted stopped his car and stepped out. Other fleeing homeowners did the same. All they could see was a fog of flames and smoke where the structures should have been.
Ted felt helpless and sorrowful, but at that instant a Bible verse came to mind: “In all things, God works for the good of those who love him.” Ted closed his eyes and forced himself to believe that promise. With everything disintegrating in flames, he was determined that his faith would stand.
As the fire moved closer, firefighters told the group to head for shelter farther down the highway. Ted walked back to his car as a young man approached him.
“Hey!” he called, speaking to Ted. “Don’t worry. I got on your roof and watered it down for you.”
With flames crashing into the Evanses’ yard, that wasn’t possible. Convinced that the man must have confused him with someone else, Ted said, “Well, thanks. I sure appreciate that.”
The man nodded and walked away as Ted climbed into his car and drove to the place where evacuees were being directed. Then he called Barbara and told her the bad news.
“Thank God you’re all right,” was all she said. “I care more about you than the house.”
The fire continued to burn through the night, and no one had word on the status of the houses. Then, late that night, he remembered some friends who lived across the valley and could see the Evanses’ house. He called them immediately.
“You won’t believe it, Ted. We saw the flames change direction and head right for your house. Our family formed a prayer circle and prayed for your safety and the safety of your house.” The man paused. “Your house looks absolutely untouched.”
Ted thanked his friend but was convinced the man had mistaken his house for another. It was impossible.
The next morning, it was safe to return. When he arrived home Ted was stunned by what he saw: his friend had been right.
The ferocious fire had burned to within ten feet of his house and then abruptly stopped. All around his house the brush and wood were destroyed, but the house was untouched. The power lines that fed electricity into the house were melted and telephone lines were fused together. Even their expansive wooden deck was only lightly scorched.
Then Ted spotted the hose he had dropped on his deck—it was now draped up over the house and lying on the roof.
When Barbara got home later that day, they clung to each other and wept.
In all, there were seven houses along the narrow, hilly road where Barbara and Ted lived. Three were completely destroyed and three seriously damaged. Only the Evanses’ house stood undamaged in any way, in the middle of a house-sized piece of the hillside that alone remained unburned.
In the weeks that followed, Barbara spent a great deal of time wondering why their house had been spared. Research told her that the heat would have had to have been 1,800 degrees or hotter in order to melt the power lines. With temperatures that hot, the house should have burst into flames by spontaneous combustion from the heat alone. Yet not only was it unburned, but it was also undamaged in any way.
They later learned that three witnesses had seen someone on the Evanses’ roof watering it down after Ted and Roy fled the area. Yet there was no ladder with which to climb on the roof, and no way water could have flowed from the Evanses’ well since power lines had been melted, thereby cutting off electricity to the water pump.
“I prayed God would send a hedge of protection.” Barbara smiled through her tears. “He sent an angel of mercy to save the greatest gift Ted had ever given me.”
In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
ISAIAH 63:9