FIRE !!!

FIRE!

First rain, then wind, and now fire. Life is never dull at Roseland Plantation.

Looks like we’re working our way through all possible natural disasters. I really am not excited about experiencing earthquakes and tsunamis; fortunately we’re not in California or on the Gulf Coast, so we should be spared those calamities. In the meantime let me recount our latest adventures.

A few weeks ago we had the tornadoes and they did quite a bit of damage in the woods, although the buildings were spared any damage. However, one should not tempt fate, so we called Erasmo, our tree guy, to trim some of the trees that were already dead, almost dead, or severely threatening some of the buildings. He cut down or trimmed about a dozen trees; about half of them were red oak, the remainder mostly pine.

Alejandro at work

Since we have a fire pit for burning dead brush and limbs, we told him to leave everything and we would burn it. All winter Alejandro has been diligently cleaning up the unsightly fallen trees and limbs and we have been burning them in our fire pit without problems.

Making progress

At first we used to stretch a water hose to the fire pit and Alejandro would monitor the progress of the fire. Little by little we gained confidence and became less and less diligent. By the time we started burning Erasmo’s debris, Alejandro just threw the wood on the fire and went about collecting more. After all, there was no reason to expect any problems based on all our experience to date.

Firefighters arrive (truck too big to get near fire)

I had just arrived home from errands on Tuesday when Alejandro came running, “Fire! Fire!”

“Of course there is a fire. We’re burning brush,” I thought to myself.

But he insisted, “We need shovels and rakes.”

Finally, after much cajoling I decided to humor him, get the shovels and rakes, and go look at the fire.

Fire truck on the scene

“The worst it could be is just a little blaze from an ember,” I thought.

When we arrived to the fire pit, we were engulfed in smoke everywhere. Then we saw flames next to the driveway. “Oh, that’s not too bad,” I said. Then Alejandro pointed about 50 yards farther in the woods. More flames. Hmmm. Not promising.

Fire fighters at work

A quick survey of the area showed we had a fire about the size of half a football field on our hands. The fire was quickly spreading amongst the dead leaves and pine needles.

We ran back to the Windsor House, grabbed every garden hose we could find on the property, hooked them up and started hosing the fire. It continued to spread. “This is not good,” Alejandro said to me. What an understatement!

We asked Christina to call the fire department. The Midway fire house is less than two miles down the road. Surely they’ll be here soon. So we hosed and waited.

Out in the country we only have a volunteer fire department, so they had to page everybody, then the fire team had to assemble at the fire house, and finally they could make the run to Roseland. The entire process took about 30 minutes. We were delighted to have their assistance and expertise; about 5 hours later we declared victory at last, and everybody went home.

Going home!

Later in the evening I checked the scene, and found that several small fires had reignited. I doused them with the hose and went to sleep. Next morning, first thing I found several more small fires burning, and doused them. Total victory, at last!

As I thought about the events of the past several days, it occurred to me how this whole experience mirrors sin in our lives: We live every day and get into a routine. Pretty soon we go on autopilot and start taking shortcuts. Then we get so comfortable we think everything is under control, and let down our guard.

The End

All of sudden something unusual happens in our life, something sinful, that starts a small fire.

“No problem,” we think, “I can control it. Always have.”
But soon we find that little fire spreading out of control until we are burning up in the middle of a huge forest fire which consumes us. Worse yet, even if we are successful in controlling it at first, it will return again and again.

Furthermore, the past is no guarantee of the future. Just because something bad didn’t happen when we last took that little detour off the straight and narrow doesn’t mean it won’t happen next time. (Just because we didn’t get caught at that speed trap two weeks ago is no guarantee that we won’t get caught tomorrow or the day after. In fact, sooner or later we are certain to get caught!)

Therefore, dear friends, don’t run on autopilot and take no shortcuts - not even once, else the fire of sin consume you.