Thrown into the Fire
Mark 4:35-41
Illustration
by James Merritt

I read a story about an Ohio gentleman whose oil well caught fire, and he put out an all-points' bulletin for help, to make sure that anybody and everybody would come and help him. He offered a $30,000 reward to whoever could put out that fire. With all the large firehouses from cities like Newell, Chester, Wellsville, Dillonvale sent help. They sent their best companies accompanied by the most modern fire- fighting equipment available, but not one of the trucks could get within 200 yards of the blaze because the heat was just too intense and the fire was too big.

Finally, the Calcutta Township Volunteer Fire Department appeared on the scene. Amazingly they had only one rickety truck equipped with a single ladder; only two buckets of water, three buckets of sand, and a few blankets. It didn't even come with a hose. When that old truck reached the point where all those other fire companies had stopped, the driver didn't even hesitate. He just kept barreling ahead until he and his crew were right in the thick of that blaze. They jumped out of that truck, threw the two buckets of water and three buckets of sand on that fire and then beat the fire out with those blankets.

That oil man was so impressed by that unbelievable display of courage, he gave the driver $30,000 in cash on the spot and said, "What are you and your men going to do with all of that money?" The driver, shaking like a leaf, said, "The first thing we're going to do is to get those stupid brakes on that truck fixed."

Sometimes we are thrown into the fire through no fault of our own.

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., ChristianGlobe Illustrations, by James Merritt