Ignorant Historian

This month’s “What I Learned From…” is about adversity.  Immediately when I heard this topic, I knew I had to talk about what happened to me a year and a half ago.  Many of you are new around here, and probably don’t even know about it.

In August of 2007, I had a small apartment fire.  Pictures can be found here, but they don’t do justice to the amount of damage done to our apartment, primarily through the sprinkler that shot out 45 gallons of water a minute (it was on for about 20 minutes).   While cleaning and packing up the apartment in just a couple of days, we had to withstand 90 degree heat (the air conditioner wouldn’t work because it was clogged up with smoke) and the overwhelming smell of burnt oil and mildew (the water was still standing in our apartment for several days).

Yet through it all, I learned to trust in God in a way that I’ve never had to trust in Him before.  As organized and as type-A as I am, I was thrown into a situation where I didn’t know how I would get through the current day, let alone what was going to happen the next.

More than that, I learned that God is trustworthy.  I’ve never counted myself as blessed as I did during those days.  As soon as a seemingly-insurmountable need would present itself, someone would offer to help or provide what would meet that need.  Just a few examples:

We had no where to spend the night – the seminary put us up in an emergency apartment, complete with washer and dryer (we needed those to wash all our clothes that now smelled like smoke)

In the first few minutes we were scared and emotionally exhausted – a friendly paramedic checked us out to ensure we hadn’t inhaled too much smoke while the firefighters completely cleared out the living room, used brooms to get the foot of water out of our apartment,  and put our belongings back inside on tarps

We had so much to pack, both in our bedrooms and in the common area – women from church came and packed up our kitchen, so we wouldn’t have to

We had a whole dining room full of furniture and other items that were ruined in the fire to haul to the dumpster – several able-bodied teenagers and a woman with a van hauled it all out

We needed tons of workers to move our items into the new apartment – the seminary hired us movers so we didn’t have to touch a thing

We lost our small kitchen appliances in the fire – every one was replaced at no cost to us

Every other little need we had – the church provided us with a substantial gift card to care of them

These are just a few of the little things that blessed me those days.  We didn’t have family that lived nearby, but the church was our family and acted accordingly and sacrificially toward us.  Just like they helped me financially in my hard time, I’ve been working on doing the same to others while so many are struggling with the loss of work.

This will be quick, because I have a busy day in front of me. Normally I like to keep one post on one topic, but this will be random. Sorry.

Kerry mentioned the other day that maybe it’s time to update on the smelliness of our apartment. And she’s right. I mentioned way back that our new apartment smelled like a couple of smokers lived there. The smoke was drifting over from the apartment next door. After many efforts to rid the smell ourselves, we didn’t get very far. With the help of friends and heavy-duty air purifiers, it had gotten better. Then slowly the lingering smell faded away. I still ask people that come to visit if it smells like smoke, and the answer is always “no.” There’s an occasional time if I’m standing in the just right place of my bathroom or dining room that I smell it, but other than that it’s gone. I think our property manager told our neighbor about how it was affecting us and he has started smoking more outside or at least inside with the window open. He should be moving out by the end of the month, so that’ll be even better.

I have a friend visiting this weekend which is a lot of fun. I’ll also be starting back with Sunday school and Awana. The beginning of the year can be overwhelming at times.

Since everything is starting back, I think about what was going on a year ago. Things looked a lot different, that’s for sure! Thursday night before we started Sunday school was when the fire took place. It definitely threw me off a little bit, but I learned more than I ever thought I could through that experience.

Work is uncharacteristically busy today for a Friday. Goes along with the theme of the week!

A lot of my friends are going through changes of various types at this time. They’ve all been on my mind a lot, which inhibits blogging some. After all, I can’t really talk about what I’m thinking about if what I’m thinking about is someone else’s business. It also doesn’t help that I haven’t been reading; I’m sure that has stifled my own creativity. I’m definitely not winning any blogger of the year awards for this week’s material: some disorganized posts, a couple random posts, and a meme. Hope to back in better form come Monday!

Hope you all enjoy your last pre-Labor Day weekend!

Disclaimer: I’m not complaining. I don’t care what I eat on, to be honest. One day when I have my own home I would like some pretty dishes, but for now I’ll settle for whatever is the easiest to clean and comes free!

I’ve already talked here about the fire, but after a couple of months of reflecting, I felt like I should add to it.

As one person asked in a comment (okay, so it was the ONLY comment on yesterday’s post, why don’t y’all leave me a comment today?), “How do you even know where to begin cleaning?” That was exactly our problem. I remember going in the day after the fire with my roommate and think, “Where do we begin?” We already knew that we’d be moving into a new apartment, so I had to think about packing everything we owned. The task was overwhelming emotionally and physically.

While my roommate and I struggled with what to do, we had church members and friends come by and help. A couple of people went through our dishes and helped us pack them up to be washed. Another packed up and cleaned out our entire refrigerator, rearranging it in our new apartment so that we could see what we still had.

A couple of teenagers in the church came and packed up our coats, some food, and other miscellaneous items. They hauled bags and bags of trash that filled our dining room to the dumpster. One dear friend helped me pack up my bathroom. Another packed up my nightstand, filled lots of little things: nail polish, hair products, etc. Two different friends took some of my smokey bedding and washed it for me so that it’d be ready for the new apartment.

One family in my ABF class helped me by fixing my toy box (I use it for linens now) that my dad made me as a kid. It is a part of the my bedroom set that I’ve used all my life and plan on giving to my kid one day, so it was important to me to keep it. The bottom had to be removed and replaced because of the water damage, and I probably would have taken forever to get around to it. Instead, this family carted it away, delivering it to me the next week completely fixed.

There were also several things in our apartment that had to be replaced. Our kitchen appliances were completely water-logged. Our dining room table and chairs couldn’t handle all that water either. Our new-to-us microwave hutch carried more mildew than I’ve ever seen. Friends, family, and co-workers donated many of these replaceable items. The church also provided for us a generous giftcard to take care of a lot of the little things that had to be replaced.

I love seeing the church work as it should. God has allowed us to be His body here on earth. As we show love to one another, we further demonstrate John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” By loving one another, we not only get the blessing of serving them, we get the wonderful opportunity to show the world the character of our loving Lord.

In what way have you been encouraged by the body of Christ, the church? In what way can the church be a better be a witness to its community?

On a almost completely unrelated note, I was greatly touched by this blog entry about a meeting with Mike Huckabee. I tell you, he’s not your average politician!

Also, did you notice I used a Southernism in this blog post? I’ve been trying not to use “y’all” for years, but saying “you all” over and over again as I do eventually leads to the shortened “y’all.” Yuck! Someday soon I’d like to post on the Southern words and phrases that I hope NEVER to say. I’m still a Kansas girl at heart!

Ronnica
NaBloPoMo, Day 9

So finally here are the pictures I promised about the fire. It was two and a half months ago, and it was a relatively small kitchen fire. However, between the fire and water damage, we had to move out the apartment.

The cool thing about the fire, is all the things that happened afterwords, and the neat way that the church really took care of us. I hope to be posting about that tomorrow.

This first picture is of the damage done directly by the fire. The pot was on the front right burner.
When I left the apartment, the flames were up to the cabinet above. Interestingly enough, the fire didn’t ruin much that was in those cabinets.

When the firemen came in, they took out all the drawers to make sure that the fire was completely out. You can also see that they removed the charred vent over the stove as well. After the water stopped going off, they took out all of our furniture in the dining and living rooms and swept out the standing water. Before that day, I hadn’t realized all that they do. I am very thankful!

Fortunately, only one sprinkler went off since they are on individual sensors. The water damage was mostly limited to the kitchen, dining room, and about 6 inches of most of the rest of the apartment, particularly my bedroom since it was the closest.

The crazy thing about the water damage, is that it stayed for days. As we worked on cleaning and removing our belongings, the apartment started to smell of mildew, and not just the after-fire smell. Here you can get a glimse of the standing water on the ground in the kitchen, several days after the fire.

Take a look at our fridge. It was covered with magnets, photos, and other momentos, so it said white underneath all of that. Many of the magnets had plasticy-papery fronts to them that were ruined by all that water. One of the girls from the church who helped us left her mark in the soot on the fridge, “Nat.”

This last picture shows you the pot that was actually on fire. Other than the oil that was caked on it, it remained intake. Needless to say, we decided to throw it out.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you more what happened in the days after the fire.

Ronnica

NaBloPoMo, Day 8

When I first saw the fire, I felt nothing. In fact, I don’t ever remember an emotional reaction at all until 3 days later. Instead, my mind was racing as what to do and what all would need to be done. Even standing barefooted in the dark outside of our apartment without a clue to the extent of the damage, I was focusing on what I needed to do. This is apparently my crisis mode. It was easy to be upbeat about the situation, because I love to do.

The next several days were spent trying to pick up the pieces. We found that almost everything was salvagable, but there was a lot of work to do to get everything moved to our new apartment. I found myself occasionally being frusterated by different aspects of the situation, but it was relatively easy to stay energized and active.

The following Sunday, I finally cried. I was already amazed with the way God has provided through His church for us and our needs, but I would still be blown away the next day. His provision and care was more real to me then than it has been at any other point in my life.

Monday we received blessing after blessing. I think I counted at least 7 major ones in my journal that night. It was overwhelming to see one need after another taken care of until they all were met. I know that one reason God waited to give them to us until 4 days later was so that we would have 4 days of awareness of our utter dependence on Him.

I found it much easier to give praise to God in those first few days after the fire, even when I didn’t know how everything would work out, than I have in the last week. It seems easier to trust God, praise God, look to God when I’m reminded the answers aren’t in myself.

The last couple of days I’ve noticed this inward focus and have made more of a conscious effort to work on my spiritual life. It’s not about trying to earn merit, but seeking to put myself in appropriate relationship with God. I need Him now, not just when my things are a mess. He is THE reason for everything.

Thank God for the blessings, both big and small. Thank God that He not only has provided for my life on earth, but for my life forever. He has provided a way for me, a vile sinner, to escape the just punishment of eternal hell. He has done this through the death of His sinless Son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth to demonstrate God’s love towards us by dying on the cross in our place.

By trusting in Christ, I am no longer a slave to sin. Instead, I get the immense pleasure of serving the One who loves me and helps me, both now and forever. But it’s not just me–God offers the same gift to all men, women, and children on the earth, regardless of their background. The Bible tells us that God showed us His love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were sinners. There is no sin too horrible to keep you from that love unless you choose to let it. God is offering you a gift, but the question is whether or not you will take it. Will you?

I’m praying that God can use my story to bring others to know Him and trust Him more. If you have any questions, feel free to email me: ignoranthistorian (at) gmail (dot) com.