Especially for you fathers this Father’s Day.
These are some thoughts I wrote down after a fatal house fire a few years ago. The points are still valid and I thought I would share them today.
April 13, 2005
Today, with several of my firefighting brethren, I attended the funeral of two very small boys who died in a fire at their home last Tuesday. Their mother who was also overcome with smoke fell from the second story window and survived, although she spent several days in the hospital. Many people were in attendance at this funeral for many different reasons. Some were family… some were friends of the family… some were the horror stricken parents of children in the neighborhood who were acquaintances of the boys… some were community members who had simply heard about this calamity and cared. And then, there were seven firefighters who came to pay their respects because they were thrust into the midst of this tragedy, not knowing any of the victims – that is until 10 am last Tuesday. I watched as these firefighters wept for these two little boys, whom they frantically searched for in that blacked-out home. Men who found the lifeless little bodies and cradled them in their arms as they carried them down a ladder – hopefully to be revived – praying they would be OK. These men attended the funeral today because they stared into the eyes of a terrified mother outside her home as they brought these boys out, and they understood… perhaps more than any other what was in her broken heart that morning. I was overcome myself as this trembling, young mother clung to my uniform, unable to let go as she wept for the loss of her precious boys, Isaiah (8 mos.) and Michael (2 ½ yrs.).
I have thought on this incident all day today, and I know that each of these firefighters gave their all to save those boys. They laddered that home and unhesitatingly crawled through that window, into that smoke filled second story without a hose and without hesitation because they knew there was not time to think of their own safety. They gave their all! Would they have done more if they could have? You bet they would have!
This funeral has given me cause to reflect on what I am willing to give up, not only for some stranger, a child or old person in the event of a fire, but specifically for my own wife and children. Am I willing to die for them? I unhesitatingly say “Yes!” O, but that’s easy to say, isn’t it guys! Talk is cheap! But what about when there is no fire, no emergency? What about during everyday life? Are we willing to die for them then?
· Am I willing to die to myself and my agenda to ensure my wife gets the support and help she needs in schooling our boys? Who’se got time for that……. what about the plumbing and the wiring I’m trying to finish? I haven’t even finished the sheetrocking the basement! I can’t keep up as it is!
· Am I willing to die to myself when my sons want me to spend time with them – just because – on their interests? …….But I need to work on other projects, don’t they realize how busy I am?
· Am I willing to die to myself when my wife just needs to talk and I can’t really relate with what is bothering her? …….. I have problems of my own I’m trying to deal with ….. what about me?
· Am I willing to die to myself and give up my own comfort to ensure theirs? ….. Give me a break, my arthritis is acting up, my knees hurt – I can’t do that without hurting for days! Do we really need that done now?
· Am I willing to die to myself and make the time to study God’s word to find out what being a husband and father is all about? …… Lord knows I have enough to do already! Besides, I want to read a book or the paper and relax – not study the bible!
· Am I willing to die to myself when God shows me truths from his word concerning such things as holy living ….. or compromise? ……… Can you spell persecution, isolation? Do you know what people will say?
· Am I willing to die to myself for my family? ……. I have so much else to do….. so much I want!
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away.
Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin!
James 4:14 & 17
Brothers, it is sometime much easier to rush into a burning home and give of myself, perhaps my very life to total strangers during an emergency than it is to give of myself and my time to my precious wife and boys. This should not be so!!! God forgive me for my selfishness!! We do not know what tomorrow holds for us. We do not know if we will get another chance to hold our family in our arms an tell them just how much they mean to us, that we appreciate our wives for all they do, that we are proud of our sons for the men they are becoming!
Dads, are you willing?
Give up your life!
Don’t waste another day!
Sincerely,
Allen