Learning about fire
Fires, either man-made or nature-made were a common occurrence in the farming community where we lived. Many of the older farmers felt you had to burn off the hay fields in order to clear the way for the next season’s crops. Sometimes the wind would come up and the thought to be controlled fire became a major one that consumed a lot of property. The whole community would get together to help put out the fire. One time a fire got so large that smokejumpers from Fort Leonard Wood came and helped. What a sight that was.
Fire safety was part of living on a farm, with burning wood for heat and cooking, knowing how to handle fire was a necessity. We all had to know what to do if a fire got out of control. We didn’t have phones to call for help. You had to learn to watch the weather and what smoke coming from the woods smelled like. In the spring my brother and I would climb out my bedroom window onto the back porch roof. There we could see down the valley and watch the fires that had been set at other farms to clear the fields. We would try to guess which farmer’s field was on fire and if it would get out of hand or not. Burning the fields was not a practice that my dad did. He preferred to plow the stubble left from harvesting and replanting.
I was 12 and designated the local babysitter, All the little ones too small to help were brought to our house for me to watch while everyone else helped put out the fire. I had instructions to keep an eye on the direction the smoke was coming and if it got close enough that I could see flames, I was to take; the kids, some towels or blankets to the large round stalk tank by the milk house that was always full of water, get in wet down the coverings, put them over our heads, and stay as close to the middle as we could. I only remember having to do this one time.
The fire came roaring down over the hill and started up toward the house. It was in the middle of the day but there was so much smoke the sky turned as it does just before it gets to be total darkness. The smoke was thick and it was hard to breathe. I got the kids, there were at least 4, the towels and we ran to the tank. It was summer and with the heat from the fire coming up over the hill, we were all sweating when I got the kids into the tank. The water was a cool relief. The little ones were afraid and crying, so I tried to keep them calm by getting them to sing songs. When we ran out of songs we knew I recited every nursery rhyme I could think of and told stories. I don’t remember how long we stayed in the water tank. It seemed like a long time until someone came and got us. It felt like forever.
The barns, animal pens, and house were built in a circle, and dad had cleared and put gravel around them just for the purpose of fire protection. He also had tin roofs on all the buildings and tanks of water in all the pins. I don’t think this would have done much good if the wind had blown sparks into one of the buildings, but it was what we had. The fire destroyed the garden, and we lost several fruits trees, but it didn’t burn any buildings. After we were rescued from the water tank and the kids were returned to their parent’s dad said I did well by keeping a level head and not panicking. I said I hoped I never had to do that again.
Lightning was also a fire starter. I remember watching the fire burning along the electrical wires coming down over the hill toward the house. Dad had shut all the power down but the fire was still coming down the wires from the farm next to ours. Dad took his rifle, went out in the driveway, and shot the wires in half so the fire stopped as the wires fell into the creek at the bottom of the hill. We all had to learn gun safety and how to shoot if we needed to. That is something else farm kids learn growing up. Either to supply food for the table, protect crops from rodents, or whatever else nature throws at you, guns were a normal part of the farming lifestyle.
As I was writing this remembrance of a dangerous part of farm life, I got to thinking how this experience might relate to fire in our spiritual lives today. One way is that we are to be on fire spiritually. We are to be like a fire spreading the love of Jesus to all we meet. We are to let the fire of the spirit consume the chafe that has taken root in our souls, like the farmers burning the stubble left from the harvest. As a forest fire permanently changes the look of the landscape it has just roared through, the fire of the Lord can change the look of your life. If we find ourselves in a difficult situation He is there with us, He will never leave us or forsake us.
ISAIAH 43:2
If you are interested in knowing more about the fire from heaven you can leave me a comment and your email and I will contact you.
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