When Life Isn't Always Safe!

Yesterday morning, in the predawn quiet of the day, a fire broke out in the city of Lancaster, PA. Before its flames were extinguished, two lives were gone and three firefighters were injured, one seriously. Gone in the fire were a 38 year old woman and her 6 year old niece. Both were trapped by the flames and could not get out. The three firefighters who were injured all did what they were trained to do ... get the trapped people out. It did not matter that the fire was engaged at that point. These men and women take the job knowing that on every call they may have to do what these men did. Please pray for these three men (two were treated and released). But pray especially for the one firefighter who remains in the hospital, listed in critical but stable condition, suffering from second and third degree burns. Also pray for the family and friends of the two victims who died. As of this writing, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

As I reflected on this tragedy, I thought of how we are a society of people who crave safety. Just think about all the recalls of products that are considered a  health or safety risk (there is actually a web site, www.recalls.gov) where you can go to find out about the latest recalls. But ... no matter how tirelessly we work at trying to make life "safe," we are always going to come up short. Why? Because we live in a broken world. So life does not always work the way we want it to work. As a result, fires take innocent lives, starvation claims hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, cancer strikes and kills, serious (and far too often, fatal) car accidents occur ... and I could go on and on and on.

In light of this ... it is of great comfort to know that our God reigns (Psalm 93:1; Proverbs 21:1; Daniel 4:34-35; Matthew 10:29-31; Ephesians 1:11). And even though we just cannot see through the misty fog that separates our natural realm from the supernatural, we can rest assured that if we could see through to God's throne, we would see a God who is actively with great power and compassion .... working out HIS plan ... for us and for all humanity.

Thanks for stopping by . . .
pj