When the Fire Comes
by Phil Pearlman
This month, I have chosen to report to you about
something
that has been happening to me in my personal life. I work
for a manufacturing company, located in the Seattle area.
It is a family business, owned by my wife’s brother. On
the 30th of June, a fire broke out early in the morning in
one of the main buildings. The building was one of the
oldest in the town, and was completely burnt to the ground.
An electrical short had caused the fire. We lost all of our
offices, shipping and receiving, and research and
development. Needless to say, it was very difficult to fight
back, losing most all of our accounting records, etc. We were
fortunate because the fire didn’t effect about 90 percent of
our production. We relocated our offices in an available
space in town, and rebuilt our shipping and research
department in other buildings that the company owns. It took
a good month until we even began to recover from this
unfortunate fire.
Then on September 3rd, barely two months after the first fire,
another fire broke out in the middle of the night. This time,
at our main production facility. It wiped out about 75 percent
of our production, and for the 2nd time in 2 months, destroyed
the shipping department as well. The investigators believe that
the fire was suspicious, and are looking for an arsonist. This
time, the company was all but wiped out. We have been trying to
do the best that we can, but it will be a long road towards
recovery.
In the midst of all of this tragedy, it brought to my mind of
how the Lord allows us to go through "the fire", not because
he wants to harm us, but because He loves us. He wants us to
grow in Him, and out of tragedy can come a greater maturity
in our walk with Him. Our reliance on "things" is often the
focus of our lives. We want better cars, houses, toys and
possessions. We often look toward our "things" to somehow
smooth out life’s bumps, when we should be looking to the
one who created us all! I have learned over the years, and
especially from these 2 fires that we need to look to and
rely on the Lord for our walk through this life. "Things"
will come and go, but the Lord and His love for us is forever
and ever. I know that I will continue to learn, but I’ve got
the best teacher there ever could be. |
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