Food, fuses and a fire: God's mysterious work

This was intended to be a wonderful evening. There were no students in the detention room I monitor after school; I had time to drive to Sekan and get some papers printed for a speech I would be giving in a couple of weeks; and even though this article was due, I had an entire evening to compose my draft. I wasn't sure what my topic would be, but I had a couple of ideas and knew that God is good and He is in control and He would give me words to write.

Did He ever!

No sooner had I sat down at my computer than the phone rang. It was Dave. He had been burning brush with Adam's ranch hands, Loren and Charlie, and the fire had changed directions and gotten out of hand. They had been fighting the flames for most of the day and they were "exhausted, starved, and badly in need of some 6.5 amp fuses" ... like I had those just sitting around the house. To make matters worse, he really wasn't sure where he was -- "somewhere close to the Missouri line about eight miles off of highway 69."

"Do you need something from me?" I inquired, admittedly with close-to-no patience in my tone. After all, I had a deadline to meet.

"Well, I was hoping you could bring us some food and some fuses."

"What do fuses look like?" I asked.

"Patty, you know what fuses look like."

"Dave, if I knew what fuses look like I wouldn't ask you what they look like. I'm not stupid."

Now that was Dave's cue to agree with me. (After thirty-five years of marriage I am astounded that sometimes he still doesn't get it).

Maybe it was the fumes.

Dave went on to describe what a fuse looks like, where I could buy it, and "if that place didn't have it" he had another suggestion.

I had a few suggestions too, but I decided not to share them right at that moment.

Reminding myself that God works in mysterious ways and He doesn't waste any experience, I realized that He probably had a spiritual lesson for my firefighter husband somewhere in this, and I certainly was up for anything to help Dave be a little more considerate of my time and responsibilities. I submissively drove to an auto parts store and then to Wendy's, hoping that Dave appreciated having such a sweet, considerate wife who was willing to DROP EVERYTHING to help put out a fire ... metaphorically and literally speaking.

But when Dave failed to tell me that the "Z in the road" was not on Soldier Road but on some other road that ran perpendicular to Soldier Road (which he never once mentioned) I slowly lost interest in assisting God to mold Dave to His likeness. I was lost. It was dark. The temperature was dropping rapidly. The Wendy's chicken sandwiches were getting cold and had flopped out of the bag and onto the floorboard when I slammed on the brakes to avoid a pit in the road. I just knew that at any time a deer would run out in front of me or my bald tire would blow and I would be walking to a nearby farmhouse in my house slippers on a gravel road. And probably be abducted by aliens.

My mind works like that.

I wanted to wring Dave's neck. Realizing that probably wouldn't enhance the Gospel, ... not to mention it would get my name in the police reports ... decided to call Loren to see if he could give me directions that actually made sense. Because of his patient explanation, I was soon headed in the right direction. It didn't take a geographic genius to find the men. The smell of smoke and the sight of black land framing both sides of the road told me I was close.

Within minutes the three of them were sitting in my car, gorging their food and sharing stories of just how harried this experience had been. I soon forgot my frustration at not having the evening turn out as I had hoped. One thing led to another as they laughed about their creative ways of extinguishing flames, and then Dave casually mentioned how God probably had a great lesson in this for me somewhere. (Isn't it special how we're both always thinking about the other one's spiritual growth)?

I certainly did not share his perspective.

But later that night when I sat down to write, everything sounded discombobulated. My thoughts were jumbled and out of sorts, and it was obvious that my idea for this week's topic was far different than what God wanted me to share.

And then I got the big picture! All I had to do was recount this evening's experience. Dave would read this column and get something spiritual out of it. He would be changed forever because of this experience.

Why would I ever doubt ... God definitely is in control.