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Bible Passage: James 4:14
The other day I had to admit to my son that we probably couldn’t get him any gifts this Christmas. We may not even get a tree. But my son knows about the true meaning of why Christmas is celebrated. It’s about the birth of Jesus, even though scholars debate when Jesus was actually born.
Of course, my son wasn’t very happy. The one thing he doesn’t know is that Christmas came early to our house. It’s sort of like a Footprints poem moment. It happened Saturday December 10th at 1:57 a.m. God saved the lives of my son, my wife and myself. I was still awake, listening to Hugh Hewitt interview Rick Warren on KSKY-660AM. As always, the inquisitive nature of Mr. Hewitt made the interview worth my while and kept me up while I worked on my devotional/free sermon illustration website when all of a sudden, I heard a poof.
Not having enough money to use our central heat, we occasionally use a space heater. I looked toward that poof and there was a flame inside the heater. I said a word I never ever never say and I rushed over, huffing and puffing until I blew it out. I then took the space heater outside away from the house.
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Since I was awake, this was really no big deal, but it was and still is unsettling to think what would’ve happened if I had been sound asleep. Our family could have been news fodder for two or three days, “Irving Family Dies in Space Heater Fire,” and then another poof, the mist of our life would vanish.
I have tried to figure out something to do for our son for Christmas. I have not yet told him about how God saved our lives to allow us to live another day. I haven’t told him that he can now become anything he wants and that possibly all of our dreams could still come true. I figure I can tell him how blessed he is, and do so on Christmas morning. But I think that would be better said by others. He may pay more attention to your words than mine.
Please leave a comment for my son about the plans God has for him or about how life or a second chance at life is a wonderful gift. I’d like to get as many comments as possible for him. By the way, his name is Zeke.
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