The day before yesterday a scary thing happened….
We live in a neighborhood that is nestled up against the beautiful foothills. We are also fortunate to have a lovely park down the street, with old Oak trees and hiking trails going through these hills. Now that it’s Summertime, there is much dry grass throughout.
Suddenly, we noticed a large cloud of smoke billowing up, coming from the direction of the park. Soon there were airplanes and a helicopter circling the area and dumping water and fire retardant. My youngest son and I went down the street to see if we could find out what was going on, and found a number of fire trucks, police, a news camera crew and lots of neighbors right outside the entrance to the park. We also found the part of our street that is on the other side of the park had been closed off and those neighbors had all been evacuated. I had to think about what we would need to grab (besides our pets) if we had to evacuate too. Wow. You just never know how things can change in an instant.
The good news is that our wonderful fire department got it under control within an hour. It was pretty scary because it was a breezy day and that fire might spread or hop quickly.
After dinner that night my youngest and I walked down to the park to see what had happened. As we walked further and further into the park, I found my self saying, “oh my God…oh my God…” and calling the angels to flood the area with Light and healing. It was such a shock to see how much of the ground was black – and in only an hour’s time.
I wondered about the animals, hoping they had all fled.
It was frightening to see how close to the homes the fire really got! (In the photo below, the dark part of the ground is where the fire line is.)
We heard that three teenage boys had caused the fire (and the person we heard it from kinda gave my son a look; I have three teenage sons!) Yesterday, I found out that the three boys were actually my son’s friends. Oh. My. Gawd. One of those boys had actually used a lighter and lit a piece of the dried grass. When the other two saw what was happening, they all started trying to put it out, but it just got out of control quickly.
Needless to say, the community is very angry at this kid (probably all three). I’ve had a couple moms suggest we not let our son see him anymore. I must admit that this was my first thought as well. Yet, as my husband and I were talking about what happened, we found ourselves feeling some compassion for this kid and their family. Thirteen/fourteen year old boys can make some pretty dumb choices/mistakes. Was he just not thinking? Is he a troubled kid? Acting out? (I know that his parents have recently divorced.) Perhaps he may have been on a not-too-desirable path, but maybe this was the thing needed to jolt him into better choices. Who knows what exactly is going on. I feel bad for the parents too. Now they have the “stigma” of having “that bad kid”, as well as probably being financially responsible for the cost of putting out the fire. The other two boys will be viewed in this light as well. I am grateful that life is Divinely orchestrated – had my boys not been at the swim team’s end-of-season sleep over the night before (not getting ANY sleep) and then coming home and sleeping till 2:00pm, my youngest would probably have been invited to go with these three boys that afternoon. Oh, man!
This morning as I took my walk around the neighborhood, I sent Love and Light to this boy. To the parents. To the park. To our angry community. I prayed for healing. I know that how I am feeling would be considered a little controversial in our neighborhood right now, but this is how I’m feeling guided to shine my God-given Light. And I thank Spirit for using me in this way.
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