Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Emerge! Tunneling Out of Life's Trials


Fall down seven times, get up eight.

Japanese proverb

 


            It was one of those phone calls that are forever date-stamped in your mind.

            December 8, 2006 at about 4:00 p.m.

            I’m leaving a gas station near my home and my cell phone rings. It’s my mother. She rarely calls my cell phone so I’m a little alarmed.

            “Am’s house burned down,” she says. “I have the kids in the car with me and they’re crying. Thank God nobody was hurt. They weren’t at home when it happened.”

            Shock settles in.

            This is my youngest brother’s (nickname Am) brand new home. His family had been in there for less than six months. Everyone had gotten up that morning and gone off to work or school. My brother received a call from the fire department around 2:00 p.m. There’s been a fire at your house – it’s a bad one.

            The devastation of coming home and seeing the residence they left intact earlier in the day—with a car still parked in the garage—smoldering from the flames, took an infernal like toll on them. Just thinking about what this experience would be like paints an awful picture for anyone.

            How do you move past that surreal visual?  

            The family literally had only the clothes on their backs. No toothbrushes, valuables destroyed. Family documents, memorabilia, photographs—all gone. They continued to go through the dark holes of necessary and inevitable motions and emotions.

            Is there a path out of this smoky trap?

            An outpouring of support from family, neighbors, friends and church members made its way to them. Money, gift cards and clothing helped them meet immediate needs. Lots of prayers and words of encouragement held them up as they dealt with this plight.

            The next steps were finding a temporary place to stay, dealing with the insurance company and a host of other unpleasant tasks. The emotional needs of the family were a continuous priority for all of us. Comforting conversations with my nieces, brother and sister-in-law were difficult, but necessary. They continued to muddle through—looking for signs that things would soon normalize. Within six months an intact foundation, in spite of the fire, allowed the house to be rebuilt. They made some modifications from the old design that were actually better for some aspects of their family life. In time, they came out of this ordeal tested but with a testimony.

            Trials engulf our sense of security—temporarily. "Trouble don't last always" one of my favorite gospel songs goes. Decisive and strategic digging is what's needed to get us through combustible tunnels with these troubles on every side. Let’s get up and put out the energy to overcome, staring at our trials with a fiery focus.

            Emerging from dark passages with our flashlights, let’s keep looking for new gifts of brightness in solid and sure openings.

Excerpted from my motivational autobiography, Navigating Life’s Roadways: Stories of Insight from My Odyssey and Inspiration for Your Journey in print and Kindle eBook http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008FQDPYE