Of Some Having Compassion
One of the things that my husband and I sought to instill in our children is individual responsibility - in other words, accepting the consequences of their own actions without pointing the blame on someone else. One of the other traits that we worked on was that of being independent. I believe that all parents want their children to grow up to be responsible adults that will be an asset to their generation; both of the character traits I mentioned are vital - no one wants their child to be a "flake."
My daughter learned "independence" very early - maybe a little too early as she seemed to be compelled to do things on her own, even if she was too little or too young. I remember one Wednesday evening when she was just 4 years old, I was cooking dinner and we were getting ready for church. My daughter took it upon herself to shower on her own while I was cooking. Being the only girl, she was also very modest, so of course she locked the door for privacy.
At the time the house we were living in was situated so that the kitchen and bathroom were on either ends of the house...I could not hear what was going in the bathroom. When my husband got home from work he asked me who was taking a shower, and I assumed it had to be my oldest son who was 7 at the time; but my husband had just seen all the boys in the backyard, so we knew it had to be our daughter. As we walked towards the restroom we began to hear screaming "help me, I'm burning!" Our daughter who wanted to help me by getting ready all by herself had gotten in the shower with only the hot water turned on. I am sure she did that because she had watched me always turn the hot water on and wait until it was warm before turning on the cold.
We were living in an older custom home and for some reason the builder (or previous owner) had used a solid core door with a key lock for the bathroom. Normally that type of door is used for the front door - never a bathroom! We could not get that door opened! We tried telling her to turn off the water, but it was just too hot for her to even reach up to the handle. My husband tried to kick the door down, he ran outside to see if he might be able to climb in the window, and finally he had to get tools to take the door off the hinges so that we could get our daughter out of the burning water. As soon as he got the door off I went in, turned the water off, and got our daughter out of there.
I found our precious little girl crouched in the corner of the shower. She was slightly pink and a little swollen; I had been instructed to place her in a cool bathtub which I did until she was calmed down and then we took her to emergency. Praise the Lord that she did not suffer any serious burns. What a horrifying experience it was for our entire family! We were crying, and praying, and so concerned about our daughter's pain - we did not want her to burn. The kids were standing by watching and crying and I am sure they were afraid as they witnessed the panic.
When I was a little girl I had met a burn victim and because of her burns her life was never going to be normal. While I felt confident that our daughter was not going to be burned to that degree - I still did not want her to feel the pain of burning. When she was screaming and burning in the hot shower there was no question that we would do whatever it took to get her out of there. Jude 1:23 says, "And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire..."
The Book of Jude is only 25 verses, one chapter exhorting Christians to earnestly contend for the faith. The verse I quoted above is of course speaking of reaching the lost and keeping people out of hell. I believe that the Lord allowed that very frightening experience in our lives so that we could have a heartfelt understanding of the urgency in seeing souls saved.
It is always easy to find an excuse not to hand out a tract, or to go out soulwinning when there is so much to do at home, or to give the gospel to someone; but what could be more important or urgent than pulling someone out of the fire? The preceding verse in Jude says, "And of some have compassion, making a difference:” Christian won't you prayerfully, compassionately seek to make a difference? It is my prayer that I may do so...will you join me? I pray you will.
Have a wonderful day.
My daughter learned "independence" very early - maybe a little too early as she seemed to be compelled to do things on her own, even if she was too little or too young. I remember one Wednesday evening when she was just 4 years old, I was cooking dinner and we were getting ready for church. My daughter took it upon herself to shower on her own while I was cooking. Being the only girl, she was also very modest, so of course she locked the door for privacy.
At the time the house we were living in was situated so that the kitchen and bathroom were on either ends of the house...I could not hear what was going in the bathroom. When my husband got home from work he asked me who was taking a shower, and I assumed it had to be my oldest son who was 7 at the time; but my husband had just seen all the boys in the backyard, so we knew it had to be our daughter. As we walked towards the restroom we began to hear screaming "help me, I'm burning!" Our daughter who wanted to help me by getting ready all by herself had gotten in the shower with only the hot water turned on. I am sure she did that because she had watched me always turn the hot water on and wait until it was warm before turning on the cold.
We were living in an older custom home and for some reason the builder (or previous owner) had used a solid core door with a key lock for the bathroom. Normally that type of door is used for the front door - never a bathroom! We could not get that door opened! We tried telling her to turn off the water, but it was just too hot for her to even reach up to the handle. My husband tried to kick the door down, he ran outside to see if he might be able to climb in the window, and finally he had to get tools to take the door off the hinges so that we could get our daughter out of the burning water. As soon as he got the door off I went in, turned the water off, and got our daughter out of there.
I found our precious little girl crouched in the corner of the shower. She was slightly pink and a little swollen; I had been instructed to place her in a cool bathtub which I did until she was calmed down and then we took her to emergency. Praise the Lord that she did not suffer any serious burns. What a horrifying experience it was for our entire family! We were crying, and praying, and so concerned about our daughter's pain - we did not want her to burn. The kids were standing by watching and crying and I am sure they were afraid as they witnessed the panic.
When I was a little girl I had met a burn victim and because of her burns her life was never going to be normal. While I felt confident that our daughter was not going to be burned to that degree - I still did not want her to feel the pain of burning. When she was screaming and burning in the hot shower there was no question that we would do whatever it took to get her out of there. Jude 1:23 says, "And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire..."
The Book of Jude is only 25 verses, one chapter exhorting Christians to earnestly contend for the faith. The verse I quoted above is of course speaking of reaching the lost and keeping people out of hell. I believe that the Lord allowed that very frightening experience in our lives so that we could have a heartfelt understanding of the urgency in seeing souls saved.
It is always easy to find an excuse not to hand out a tract, or to go out soulwinning when there is so much to do at home, or to give the gospel to someone; but what could be more important or urgent than pulling someone out of the fire? The preceding verse in Jude says, "And of some have compassion, making a difference:” Christian won't you prayerfully, compassionately seek to make a difference? It is my prayer that I may do so...will you join me? I pray you will.
Have a wonderful day.
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