Night time nightmare...

It is 7:06 am, and I've been home for about an hour. Patrick and I spent four hours at the farm last night. We got a phone call from Carol at 1:30am, telling us that the barn (at the farm) had caught on fire.

We jumped out of bed and drove to the farm as quickly as we could. When we got there, there was not much left of the 6000 square foot barn. Everything inside - a tractor, a four wheeler, tons of tools, all of the guys hunting stuff, and so much more- was gone. Burned to the ground. Perhaps the worst part was that two of the five dogs that Carol and Frank have were lost in the fire, too. It was quite unfortunate to find them under the rubble.

There were eight fire trucks (that brought a lot of fire fighters), a water tank truck and a few cars from volunteer fire fighters. Everyone was so friendly and so compassionate. I sincerely appreciated them. They worked hard to get the fire under control quickly and they made an effort to console us as we grieved our loss.

I took a lot of pictures while we were out there. I just wasn't sure what else to do. They are all on Frank's camera, but I'll be sure to post a few when I get them. It's so surreal to think that the huge building with so much in it is now a pile of metal and remains. Catching it in a picture seemed to bring more life to it. It made it seem more real to me.

While all of this is very burdensome and causes us much sorrow, I can't help but gaze directly at God....and praise Him. There were so many little things that He took care of to make this situation so much lighter. Here are a few examples of God's goodness to us in this hard time:
*Frank waking up in time to catch the fire. Had he slept for five more minutes, he would have died.
*The direction the wind was blowing kept the fire contained in the barn and therefore, it didn't spread to the trees.
*Frank had charged the RV two days ago, otherwise it may not have moved at all.
*Frank was able to save a tractor and a truck through quick thinking.
*There were a few things left out of the barn to work on this weekend.
*I was going to take Piper to the farm yesterday at the last minute since we were leaving town, but ran out of time.
*One of the dogs wouldn't go into the dog room for bed time.
*We had all the papers we needed to make emergency utility phone calls

That's just the beginning of how sweetly God handled this situation BEFORE it even happened. I'm so grateful for a God Who cares deeply about us as we are going through trials. It just so happens that I'm memorizing James 1 right now....

"Consider is all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trails, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance and let endurance have it's perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:3-4, NASB

How appropriate. *Lead us closer to you, Lord.* While we are called to look joyfully at trials, God still understands and allows us to grieve freely. He created us this way! My heart was constantly brought to this verse throughout the night:

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;
persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed." 2 Corinthians 4:8-9.

We have HOPE in something so much greater than ourselves and our strength and power come only from an eternal source, God! We are a blessed people, well on our way to maturing through endurance and growing in our faith!

Please pray for us (Frank, Carol, Patrick and I) as we need wisdom and guidance on where to go from here. Please pray for Carol (and Frank) as she mourned the loss of her sweet dogs. Finally, please pray for God to be glorified in our lives as we seek to follow Him through this trial.