Putting Out A Fire Can Be Messy

Ever wonder what you'll do in the case of an emergency? I do. Will I keep my head? Will I get too scared and do nothing? Will I let the actions of others hold me back? Yes and No. I've actually done all of these. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to see what I'd do in case of a fire. So, as the story goes, we wanted hamburgers for dinner. I cook them in the broiler when I make them, because they come out sooooo good. We have a gas stove, so it's almost as good as outside on the grill. This most recent batch of Angus burgers has been especially delicious, and so I rarely say no when the guys want them. BUT... this batch seems to have a higher fat content than is usual for this brand. And, as the fat gathered in the pan, it caught fire. This has hapened before, but was never a big deal. Turn off the flame; out it goes. However, not this time. There was so much fat in the pan that when I unsuspectingly opened the oven door to turn the burgers, the flames came shooting out at me. I shut the door quickly, and grabbed for a big pot lid to smother the flames. But I realized it was too small. I also pressed the OFF button on the broiler, but I think it was overheated because it didn't respond. I hit that thing 4 times before it shut down. I climbed up into the food cabinet and grabbed the flour....opened the container, then the oven, and threw most of the flour into the flames. WHOOM! (FOR LACK OF ANY OTHER WORD THAT SOUNDED LIKE WHAT I HEARD) The flames were instantly quenched. Hallelujah! Paul said, "couldn't you just have thrown a handful or two?" And I responded, "NO" Do you remember being taught emergency procedures when you were growing up? I do. I taught them to my children. You hope you'll never need them, but you're glad to know what to do just in case. When you act quickly because of something you learned, even if you never used it before, you do it exactly as you were taught. And it works. I actually used the same technique two summers ago when the gas grill caught fire. Paul closed the lid, but the flames were shooting out and I was yelling at him to turn off the gas tank, even as I ran to do it. And then ran in the house to get the flour to suffocate the flames. Paul had the same reaction then as he did today. And he told me that the flames wouldn't reach the propane tank underneath, but I wasn't taking any chances. In both cases, the fires were extinguised, nobody got hurt, and I made a big mess. So, what did I learn? I almost always ask the LORD for what lesson I might not have seen. And I got it. Sometimes when we're putting out fires, we make a big mess in the process. It doesn't mean we did it wrong. Sometimes there's no way to avoid making a mess; we just have to be willing to clean it up. It can be the same with our relationships. Sometimes there are hard things that we're dealing with, and we don't like it very much. We can choose to ignore the situations or we can choose to try and work things out. Both options have the capacity to make a big mess, but ignoring it can let the problem grow so much bigger. That's pretty messy. Dealing with it can also make a big mess, but it might just stop the mess from growing out of control, like an untended grease fire would do. We get to choose, and we do, even if we do nothing....