The rains are coming to Southern California right now and, boy, is it needed. This is our rainy season and, as many of you may remember, we could have used this rain a couple of months ago when those fires were raging through San Diego County and Malibu. I tell you, that was one frightening experience for all of us who live in this part of California. My husband and I were watching the TV constantly and tuning into our radios. I remember keeping an eye peeled on the window at both our office at Joni and Friends, and also the window of our home which is just on the other side of the canyon from Malibu – that’s where we live -- I was looking for smoke. I mean, we’d leave work and our vehicles would be speckled with ash from the Malibu fires just ten miles or so over the coastal mountains. And at night, there Ken and I would be glued to our television sets again, watching the fire fighters do their work. We were so grateful, we all were, for those brave men and women who were battling those blazes.
You know, shortly after those fires died down, I received an email from a fire fighter who attends a church near our office at Joni and Friends. He told me that as a member of the Fulton Hot Shot Fire Crew of the U.S. Forest Service… he said that during his first fire school, he had to memorize the Ten Standard Fire Fighting Orders.
Order number 5 said, “Have ESCAPE ROUTES for everyone and make sure those escape routes are known.” My fire-fighting friend then added, “You know, Joni, many times as we walked into the fire our supervisor would point to a rock and tell us, “Your escape route is to that rock, the rock is your safety zone.”
Well, that directive certainly was not lost on this young man; as I said, he’s a Christian who attends a nearby church. Because this fire-fighting friend of mine added in his email, “You know, Joni, those experiences always reminded me of David’s cry to the only Real and Dependable Rock of Life—The Rock Higher than I, the only Shelter and Strong Tower of life.”
Thankfully, no fire fighters lost their lives during those California fires last fall. And if my young fire-fighting friend ever finds himself in a life-threatening situation… if he’s facing a conflagration about to consume him, he’ll have an escape route… he’ll be holding onto the High Rock, God Almighty Himself, who is his shelter and strong tower of life. Friend, believe it or not the flames are real… yes, they were real in California; but, yes, they will also be real on the other side of many people’s tombstones. So make certain the escape route is known to everyone you know. It’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ… it’s Psalm 61 – that escape route – where it says, “Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You. When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Remember that today if you begin to feel the heat of the flame.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends