Help in the Fire

3 fire fighters, reaching out to "library kids"

This morning I attended the story time at a public library with my granddaughters. The special feature this week was a visit by three fire fighters, who's fire station is right across the street from the library.

They read a couple of books for the mostly 2-4 year-old crowd. But then one of the men put on his uniform with the special mask, tank, boots, gloves, etc. He was quite unrecognizable, even as a human being, when he got all decked out for fire duty.

I was surprised that several of the children were quite scared of him and retreated to the arms of their mothers. I thought at first that it was not very wise to make these toddlers feel so insecure, but then the men explained that if they had a fire at their house, they didn't have to be afraid of someone who looked like this. There was no need to run away from him. Instead he was there to help them. He kept saying through the mask, "See, I'm still Fireman Bob." After "high-fiving" several of the kids and letting them touch the uniform and get close if they wanted, he took the uniform off so they could see he was still who he was before.

There are many things in life that frighten all of us. How many times do we run away from what we perceive is danger or hard trials, but it turns out to be our salvation? That's why it's so important to get to know God, just like the children needed to know it was really Fireman Bob under all that garb. Because God is a real, caring Being too...and we shouldn't run away from Him, even when there's not a fire.

Proud to Be Humble

“The Story of Ferdinand” has another story; not about Ferdinand, but about the storybook itself. The book, which I checked out awhile back, has been due at the library for a few days, and I have begged my daughter to look for the book at HER house, because I was sure she took it home to read to her girls. Today I had the very humbling experience of discovering the book behind MY couch! Ouch…

My daughter had a humbling experience of her own today too. She was feeling very good about getting “fixed up” to go out on some errands. She didn’t often go to such lengths to make herself presentable, so she actually felt proud to have just the right clothes and makeup on to go out and meet the world.

Just as they were about to go out the door, her three-year-old daughter told her she had “mud on her bottom”! Well, it wasn’t “mud”, but some embarrassing substance she must have sat on somewhere! What a relief she hadn’t made it out the door yet. It just goes to show that none of us are as good as we think we are.

So, why do we lowly human beings find having humility so difficult? I’ve actually found myself feeling proud of myself for being so humble. Maybe it’s because the sin of pride has been around longer than any other sin. After all, pride was behind Lucifer’s downfall in heaven. Our only hope is to keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ…who left the highest position in the universe to reach down to our level (with books behind our couches and “mud” on our bottoms), which, face it, is about the lowest He could come. Talk about humility…