Against All Reason
January 5
The flames will not set you ablaze.
Isaiah 43:2
Ten-year-old Nancy and her older sister, Rachel, jumped off the school bus and
ran into the house. It was a frigid winter afternoon. The house was cold!
“The furnace is out,” Nancy said, her disappointment evident. “Your turn,”
Rachel responded. With Mom working all day for a church-affiliated confer-
ence center, the girls were responsible for restoking the furnace.
Nancy headed to the basement. Tossing some kindling on top of the few
remaining coals, she opened the damper a bit to get a draft going, adding larger
pieces of coal and wood on top of the kindling.
Twenty minutes later, she checked on the fire; it still hadn’t caught. So,
opening the damper completely, she watched until the wood began to burn.
“Finally!” she said, closing the furnace door and heading back upstairs.
Fifteen minutes later, it hit her. I forgot to shut the damper! Running to
the basement, she saw the furnace glowing red hot! I’ve got to cool the fire down
somehow!
Grabbing the garden hose, she opened the furnace door with gloves, stood
back, and sprayed. Foohm! The fire’s reaction was immediate; Nancy’s reaction
was instinct-driven. Her eyes slammed shut, just as hot ash, soot, and flames
shot out the furnace door!
Having heard the roar from upstairs, Rachel ran to the basement. There
stood Nancy—covered in soot from head to toe, except for her eyes, which
she’d managed to open again—miraculously unharmed. Rachel broke into hys-
terical laughter.
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It was a miracle the furnace hadn’t exploded the instant the water hit it. It
defied the laws of physics. Flames and hot embers had been ejected from the
furnace and had landed on her, and though blackened, even her clothes had not
been singed. Nancy had not received a single burn.
Through the hand of God, Nancy was spared tremendous pain and injury,
horrible disfigurement, and possible death. The realization of what could have
happened has been spoken of fondly during the ensuing forty years. The pic-
ture of that little ten-year-old girl, assaulted by fire yet unharmed, speaks of
God’s protection as loudly today as it did back then.
Prayer
“You, God, are the God of promises and
miracles, and we give You praise. Amen.”
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