On a Positive Note

1:30 AM

I was already sleeping when the phone started ringing. I was hesitant to answer the call as I was thinking who could be possibly calling me at this time of the day? But the ringing would not stop. So being irritated by the sound of the phone piercing the calmness of the night, I decided to pick up the call. It was my Aunt at the other end of the line. She sounded so worried and I can sense the panic in her voice. She told me (in tagalog, of course), "Jayr, there's a huge fire and its very near our house!". That breaking news from my Aunt suddenly shook my sleepiness away as if I was being poured by a very cold water. My Aunt's place is around 6 houses away from us, and the fire is 3 houses away from them, which means our house might also be in danger. So quickly I woke up my parents and told them the alarming news.

As we got out of the house, there are already lots of people in our street and with each of them carrying different reactions and emotions. Some are very terrified and scared, some having violent reactions shouting at everyone as if they have done something wrong and some are just bystanders watching the scene as if they were inside a movie house. I believed that by merely looking at their faces, you can see whether their house are in danger or not. But one thing I noticed, everyone is willing to help even if their house are safe from the disaster. But still, there are also some who aside from not bothering to give a hand, further aggravate the situation. One neighbor is using the street as parking space, since they dont have their own garage, and eventhough they saw that the firetruck cannot pass through quickly because our street is not that wide, they didnt bother to transfer their vehicle to another place.

But during these times of tragedy, I can really feel God's protection to us. It is revealed in so many ways. First, there was no wind that night that might quickly spread the fire towards neighboring houses. The fire goes in upward direction, whick makes it easy for the firemen to eradicate the fire. Second, the fire went in the opposite directon away from house since the house beside the burning house which points to our direction has a firewall. Third, the response time of the firemen were very fast. After a couple of minutes, there were 7 firetrucks lined up in our street alternatingly wiping out the fire.

3:00 AM

Fire-out was declared. Although majority were rejoicing, some are in deep grievances because this misfortune has brought some casualties to their family member.

Bad things do happen in a time we least expect them to happen, but if we always put our trust to the Lord, He will surely deliver us and protect us from any harm.


"..God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.." Psalm 46:1