Trial by Fire

Bang!!!  I sat straight up in bed immediately awake.  It was still Monday night and later when I had time to look this would have been around 3:30 in the morning.  My first thought was that someone had ran into the gate.  The house we were renting was at the end of a road and it had a gate across the road before the house.  As I was rushing over to the closest window that looked towards the gate, I could see light coming from outside.  This only confirmed it in my mind, Someone had ran over the gate with their vehicle and they were trying to rob the house!!!  Once I got to the window I looked outside and I could see the gate was still shut and the light was not coming from headlights.  The light was coming from the opposite direction from the gate.  But there was nothing over there that should have been making light.....I hurried over to the window on the back side of the house in the bathroom and that is when I saw it, fire was coming from somewhere on the outside of the wall and it was starting to lick at the underside of the roof.  From the time the Bang had woken me up until this point had only been maybe 10 seconds.  I guess Kalina had gotten up to go to the bathroom but did not realize why I was up.  She walked into the bathroom about the same time I said "Oh no, it's on Fire!"  I did not realize she was behind me and when she heard me say that she sleepily asked "What?".  I repeated, The House is on FIRE!!  I took off running towards the front part of the house where everyone else was sleeping.  I guess Kalina looked out the window for herself and a couple seconds later she was screaming FIRE, FIRE!  At this point I had reached the bedroom where Sherry, Lindsey, Olivia and Logan where sleeping.  Thankfully Sherry had been woke up by the bang us well but did not know what it was.  I yelled that the house was on Fire, get everyone out!!  I threw open the door across the hall and yelled the same at Keith.  Everyone was heading out, so I started dragging suitcases away from the burning end of the house towards the front.  I checked on the fire again and it was still just barely flaming.  I knew the walls of the house were solid concrete so I figured I had a few more minutes to grab our clothes so if the worst happened we would not have to run around in way too tight clothing.  These people are a lot shorter than we are!!  As I was throwing clothes into a suitcase, and Kalina was trying to grab some essentials in the bathroom, the second explosion happened.  I have never seen my wife move so fast, screaming at the same time!  She was headed out the door in a flash, and I was right behind her dragging what I had thrown into a suitcase.  As we came out the other end of the house we looked back and saw a huge 10-15 foot long jet of flame shooting out of the side of the house.  I really wish someone had thought to take a picture of it, but all things considered I doubt anyone was even contemplating pictures.  (Well, Kalina informs me when everyone was outside the house up the hill, she pulled her camera out and then realized the battery was in the burning bathroom on the charger.)

It was a very scary night for everyone, but praise the Lord that we woke up as soon as it started and everyone got out.  The lady that manages the house we were in, graciously took us to a different house that she also managed, and that is where we would end up staying the rest of the week.  As soon as I knew everyone was ok, Keith and I headed back to see what had happened to the house. 

We knew that it was a gas fire and the neighbors told us there was no shut off valve, so I was wondering if the fire fighters would be able to put it out.  More prayers were answered when we got back and saw the fire was already out and had only damaged the bathroom and master bedroom we were staying in.  We soon found out the the source of the fire was the water heater and propane tank attached to it.  Whoever had worked on our hot water earlier that day had messed up something and the gas line had a slow leak that eventually started the fire from the water heater pilot light (First bang).  The heat built up enough that it blew the gas line completely open (second bang) which caused the gigantic blow torch.  The combination of the concrete walls and relatively fast response of the Fire Fighters limited the damage.  It was also a small propane tank, probably about 20 gallons, and it probably burned up the fuel quickly.

The fire fighters let us go back in and get everything out that we could salvage.  Once again the Lord was looking out for us, and we were able to get just about everything out except some things that were in the bathroom closest to the fire.  After collecting everything we headed back to the new house.

It was still early in the morning at this point and while we were all tired, no one was in the least bit sleepy at that point.....  After the adrenaline wore off Kalina noticed that she had jammed her toe really bad during the screaming sprint to safety.  It was swelling up and pressure was building under her toenail.  Immediate action was needed.  We went by the local clinic and quickly decided that would take all day and cost a fortune.  So my wife is a nurse, and she decides that she will just operate on herself (she is such a tough lass!!)  We went by a pharmacy, and she bought the supplies she needed, then we went back to the house.  After a failed attempt to inject a pain numbing medicine in her toe, she decided to turn to a wise and vastly intelligent entity that we all know as Google..... if Google says it, it must be true right?  Anyway she found a DIYS (all the handy guys out there will know what that means) article on the subject to confirm what she thought she would need to do.  Using a paper clip heated to a molten red consistency she was able to slowly drill a hole (2 holes actually) in her toenail and successfully relieve the pressure.

As I mentioned earlier, we were supposed to be at the Orphanage today but the fire changed things.  We did decide to go ahead and go buy supplies for them, and we would bring them with us when we went on Wednesday.  We ventured into Escazu again and bought the supplies then headed back to the house.  We were supposed to be meeting another one of our contacts for dinner.
Tim and Cindy are friends of Kathia.  We had not met them yet but I had talked to Cindy over email.  I had read her blog and Tim's as well, so it was kind of weird just meeting them but knowing a lot about them.  Cindy is a Nurse, and Tim is an architect, so we had something in common there.  The main thing we wanted to do was talk to them and get to know each other a little better, as well as talk to them about Chirripo.  Chirripo is the tallest mountain in Costa Rica, at over 12,500 feet, but it is also where a Natural Park is located.  This is also what we would call in the US an Indian reservation.  It is home to pretty much the entire population of the Indigenous tribes of Costa Rica.  We wanted to get some more information about these people thinking that this may be another opportunity to spread the gospel.  We had a good meal and conversation together, and hopefully, we will have the opportunity to continue this new relationship in the future.

It was a long day that started out in a scary, frantic, no need for coffee wake up call.  But in the big picture of life, it was just another bump in the road.  It may have just been a coincidence that we just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time but it could have also been something more.  1 Peter 5:8-9 says;  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.  Satan is always looking for ways to make the lives of Christians miserable, ways to make us discouraged and give up.  Well, it will take more than a log in the road and a house fire to slow us down.  Phillipians 4:13 says I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.  When we are doing the Lords work it is hard to get discouraged when you recognize that Christ is your strength.
We did in fact get to go to Hogar de Vida the next day without any more houses catching on fire.  I will cover Wednesday in the next post.  Here is a closing verse to leave you with.  It is amazing to think of all the things that God can accomplish when we serve him.  And he can do things far beyond the best we can think of!  The important thing is that we have to work for his glory, not our own.

Ephesians 3:19-21: And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Dios les bendiga
-David

(Note:  I will post more pictures of the fire damage later, I have to get the pictures from Keith)