Fire

A couple of weeks ago our dishwasher quit working…it just stopped. I have, at one time or another, repaired nearly every appliance in our home. For example, when the Crock-Pot began throwing sparks across the countertop like a sparkler in the hands of a 6-year-old celebrating their independence, (at least until their bed time), my wife seemed to think that we needed to purchase a new slow cooker.    

“Non-sense! I’ll bet I can fix it.”

And I did. I took apart the appliance that, incidentally, was NEVER intended to be taken apart, and rewired the internal power supply, and voila…it was like new!  That is…until about a year later when the smell of hot electric wiring and circuitry began emanating along with smoke from the tiny seams of the metal shell. 

“Now can we get a new Crock-Pot?!” she bequeathed.

“Non-sense! I’ll bet I can fix it.”

There are times in one’s life when you learn something new.  It can be generated from an unexpected experience or, in this case, a simple look from the face of my wife that instilled sheer terror which penetrated to my very spleen.  “Ummm…sure…we can maybe get a new one…”

I have repaired, the washing machine, the dryer, the refrigerator, the toaster, the oven and a number of other small appliances…the dishwasher however…that one I replaced.  Before it suddenly quit, it was sounding like a diesel locomotive grinding to a stop every time it worked to make dishes come out dirtier than they went in.

A mere 8 days after the dishwasher was replaced…the refrigerator quit working…it just stopped.  My wife was the one who noticed, when she went to scoop some ice cream into a bowl and instead had to drink it.  I don’t handle these oppressive woebegone events well. The first thing I did in response to the news was to leave the house, hop on my bike and ride away from the house trying to convince myself that if I just ignored the problem then the problem would just go away.  It didn’t.

This isn’t the first time I have ignored an issue hoping for a self-rectifying solution, only to find greater catastrophe arriving in its wake. 

One day after cooking about 30 greasy pre-made burger patties for the youth group, the inside of my grill caught fire. 

“Ryan! The grill is on fire!” my wife exclaimed in alarm.

“It’s a grill…it is supposed to be on fire.”

“No! This looks like something more!”

“It’s fine…the grease just caught fire.  It will burn itself out.  The grill is supposed to hold fire…it is built for this.  It will be fine.”

It was at about this moment that the bottom of the grill fell off and burning grease and flames scattered across the deck and began to burn the wood.

“Is the deck also supposed to ‘hold fire?’”

“Ummm…negative.”

In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, Paul reveals a similar and significant truth.  It is in these verses that Paul speaks of the coming of the “Day of the Lord,” and whether we acknowledge it or not, does not change the reality of its coming.  We can pretend that there is nothing wrong and everything will just go away, yet the Lord is revealing to us that the day is coming like a “thief in the night,” and some day the proverbial “deck will be on fire.”

May we come to see the immanence of His coming and put our trust in Him today!