Car Fire!

Rex and I were on the road in the middle of Kansas coming back from visiting an old friend in Kansas City. I just got done with my three hour shift and it was Rex’s turn to drive.  I made my way to the back seat and slept for a couple hours. I woke up and climbed into the front seat and Rex opened the conversation.

“What is this blinking red light for? It’s been going for a couple hours.”

“Hmm, I think that’s the thermometer…” I started to smell something burning, “Maybe we should pull over.”

As we were stopping smoke started to pour in through the air conditioning vents and as we were pulling over we opened the car doors. Dang, the car broke down. We sat in the car trying to figure out what we were going to do. We were in the middle of Kansas, broken car, couldn’t find cell phone service, and no one in sight. I peered out my window and then leaned back and looked over at Rex. “Are there flames on your side too?”

We got out of the car and ran down the street. We watched as the hood ignited. “My cell phone is in there!” Rex screamed, “Should I go get it?”

“No, you shouldn’t go get it!! The car is on fire!!” We started running up and down the street trying to get a signal. (Well, I did…Rex didn’t have his phone) I called 911, and they came 30 minutes later. It was a long wait. As we were watching my car burn I couldn’t help but laugh. Honestly, I wasn’t that bummed that my car was on fire. I was amazed that we were ok. If we had pulled over a few seconds later, smoke could have poured in while we were driving; we could have crashed, and been in that fire. The fact that we pulled over when we did saved our lives. Even though we were in the middle of nowhere Kansas five hours away from home, I knew we were going to be ok.  I remember calling my dad to tell him and him not believing me. I sent him a picture on my phone and he freaked out.

“You’re out of the car right?!?!”

“…yes Dad…we are out of the car…”

 The firemen put out the fire and said we could go through the ash to see if anything survived. I looked inside the trunk and there laying face open was a Bible. I smiled. The pens under my bible were melted, the clothes under my bible were burnt, the backpack around my bible was gone, but the bible was completely fine. It was warm, the cover was a bit crisp, but not one page of scripture was burnt.  I collect hotel Bibles from different states so on this road trip we had about 4 different bibles. We found all four in the same condition.

One man passing by stopped to see if we were ok, he asked us where we were going and we told him that we lived in the Colorado Springs. He happened to be going up to the springs for a business conference and offered us a ride. We got home that night. Not only did God rescue us from the flames but he had someone there to pick us up when we were done filling out insurance information… astounding. The whole experience confirmed that my God is a rescuer and a provider. To me, the Bibles was just him saying that He was in control.