He was in the Fire…..

The last time we spoke, I shared a very private and emotional moment in my life when the Lord spoke to me. Although that was the first and most direct time the Lord spoke to me, it wasn’t the only time in my life that I believe He intervened.

Even before I accepted the Lord into my life and my heart, I have always believed He stepped in to put me back on the path to the life He had always envisioned for me.

In the late '90s and early 2000s, my life had gotten off track, and I found myself truly lost for the first time. I had attended college and earned an Associate's Degree in Business Administration before transferring to a larger university with visions of a future in broadcasting. To say that was not successful would be an understatement. With only a 0.9 GPA, the university kindly told me that I didn’t have to come back the following year.

I knew I wasn’t where I was supposed to be, but I was living with my best friend at the time, and I enjoyed our friendship and the fun we were having. Maybe a little too much.

So, I found myself at 20, turning 21, no longer in school and having to find a job. For the next two years, I worked at a local grocery store and just kind of floated through time. I’m not sure if any of you have been there, but it’s like you’re existing, not living. I got up, I went to work, I hung out with friends, but mostly I just felt empty. When you’re so unsure about life and don’t feel like you have a plan, that’s when you make choices you’ll look back on and wish you hadn’t.

I spent most of those two years hanging out with people—some of whom I loved—in bad situations. Partying was almost a nightly occurrence, but making bad decisions was definitely a nightly occurrence. I could sit here and make a list of sins and admit everything I’ve done wrong, but that’s not the point here. I’ll come back to that another time.

It was amid this storm of bad decisions that the Lord decided to intervene in my life for the first time.

One really snowy night in December, I had gone to my bowling league and had my night of fun, but I returned home to find there was no heat in my house. I had just put five gallons of heating oil in the furnace, so I wasn’t sure what the issue was. Yes, five gallons. The thing about making a lot of bad choices is that you usually don’t have much money.

Even with no heat in the middle of winter (sometimes our fun makes us really stupid), I decided to sleep in my apartment anyway.

My dog at the time was a young pup and had been at my parents' house across the street while I was bowling. He was not pleased with the cold house. For some reason, he would not settle down. He normally slept right next to me and, to be honest, even shared a pillow with me. He kept barking to go outside. I would take him out, and he would pull me toward my parents' house. I kept saying, "No," and taking him back inside.

It kept happening.

I ashamedly admit that I got frustrated with him and began to yell. Finally, I gave up. We went to my parents’ house for the night. I figured, why not? My laundry was all there anyway.

I explained to my father that I had to sleep there because I had no heat. He was upset—but mostly because it was 1:00 a.m.

I told you, bad choices kept me from being a successful adult.

The next morning, I woke up around 7:30 to take my dog outside. As we came back in, my uncle called. He was across the street at my aunt’s house, which was next door to my apartment.

I will never forget what he said.

"You need to call the fire department because your house is on fire!"

I didn’t believe him, but when I walked across the street, there was smoke rolling from the eaves of the house.

To make a long story shorter, my home was burning.

The place where I had made so many bad choices was now on fire. The den of sin I had created was literally ablaze.

That day, it took 13 fire departments, an excavator, and three firefighters being injured to put out the blaze. In the end, the building had to be demolished and was gone.

The fire investigators kept asking if I had been burning candles, but what would I have been burning candles for? I was a single man with no need for anything to smell good.

In the end, the cause of the fire was listed as "spontaneous combustion" because they could not identify any cause, other than a piece of rolled up rug in the corner.  Which is where they identified the fire had started.

To this day, there is no earthly explanation for that fire. But I know Who was in it.

This story is much longer than just one post, but here’s what you need to know.

From that moment on, I was set on the path that led me to where I am today.

Because of that fire, I was able to use some insurance money to pay off debt. I was able to return to school for what I would discover was my true passion in life—education.

On my last day of classes, the professor said to us, "If you want a job tomorrow, move below the Mason-Dixon Line."

So, after making a promise to my little sister, we did just that.

I got my first teaching job and was placed on a team with a young lady who said, "I have a cousin I want you to meet."

Today, I call her cousin my wife.

That day with Joseph was powerful, and to this day it still makes me tear up and feel the weight of that conversation. But it was this moment that set me on that path.

It was this moment that the Lord stepped in and said, "Enough."

He had a path for me.

A path to my life partner.

A path to the passion of my life.

A path to my son.

A path to being whole again.

All without saying a word.

With just a little push... and perhaps a metaphor for where I was heading.

Talk again soon….

His name was Duff. He was a stray when we took him in. He was used to save me. I know he is happy running around the woods of Heaven.